Need Help / Advice with Simulator Cockpit / Avionics / Etc

[alphatheory2]

I’m needing some overall advice on my flight sim home cockpit build. This will be a long post so apologies in advance. The use of the setup will be for my son and I (he’s 10 and obsessed with planes and flying and wants to go through all of the lessons) in MSFS. I have done flight sims for quite a while and know what they entail for the most part. I have done all of the lessons in MSFS 2020 and can do the basic VFR and IFR stuff. I want to go to the next level though and do flight plans, full navigation, and maybe do training (FS Academy, FS Flight School) or join a VatSim server. UPSVAC looks cool too.

Here’s the PC I have currently:

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X CPU

Sapphire Toxic AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT 16 GB GDDR6

Gigabyte X570S Aero G Motherboard

64 GB RAM (4 x 16GB TeamGroup T-Force Xtreem 3600 MHz PC4-28800 DDR4)

Hard Drives: 3 x 2 TB SSDs and 1 x 4 TB SSD for a total of 10 TB of space

Windows 11 Pro

Main Monitor: Samsung Odyssey Ark 55”

Secondary Monitors: 2 x AORUS FI32U 32” (stacked)

It might be relevant to know that I am also a musician and I have a Fiio K9 Pro ESS DAC/Amp that drives Focal Clear MG Professional headphones or my pair of Audioengine A5+ speakers with Audioengine S8 subwoofer. I list this in part because I’m interested in some kind of bass shaker in my setup and I’m not sure how adding a soundcard for the bass shaker stuff would work.

Flight Sim Stuff

I’m pretty sold on a Honeycomb XPC Yoke and Bravo Throttle Quadrant, and a Thrustmaster TPR Pedal system but haven’t purchased these yet.

Also pretty set on a Tobii Eye Tracker 5 as I don’t want to go VR (see more below)

I have a large L-shaped Uplift sit/stand desk that my monitors, speakers, are on.

I generally want to fly GA aircraft starting with single engine, then multi-engine, and eventually business jets, and airliners.

Where I am stuck is that I work from home, and I use this setup for work during the week. If I mount things to my desk, I need a quick and easy solution to go back and forth.

I also want to invest in some of the avionics equipment out there, but I’m torn on what route to go. I love the idea of the RealSimGear G1000 suite, but it seems limited to only G1000 equipped aircraft. Should I look at stacking stuff like the RealSimGear GNS750/650/530/430 instead? Do I just go with Saitek or Logitech G panels? I even went down a rabbit hole of adding two touchscreens and running them as monitors with a knobster through AirManager because it seems extremely versatile. I would love the versatility of being able to do as much as possible. I have an Oculus Quest 2, but don’t really want to go the VR route as I think I’d prefer the panels. If I wanted to, I could add a tri-monitor setup for standalone use.

Also, do I just bite the bullet and invest in a cockpit that I can move into place when flying and out of the way when working? Because my current setup just uses a SecretLab chair, should I just invest in something like a Next Level Racing Boeing Edition Cockpit and mount everything to that to keep it mobile?

Lastly, I want to add a bass shaker type system to the setup. I’ve seen a lot of people that go with a Buttkicker solution, but some people swear by the AuraSound Pro Base Shakers paired with a Dayton Audio amp. Do I need an additional sound card to feed the bass shaker system? Can a PC output to speakers / headphones, and a soundcard at the same time?

If I build a rig with the Boeing Edition Cockpit, I’d have to find a way to connect and disconnect everything quickly. Maybe a powered USB hub that I can mount on the cockpit seat and disconnect with one USB cable? Quick disconnects for the bass shaker stuff?

Open to any and all ideas. I assume that most of these options will work with MSFS2024 too. That’s a concern. Thanks for the help!

TLDR Questions:

If I buy a Honeycomb Yoke and Throttle with a Thrustmaster TPR Rudder system and Tobii Eye Tracker, should I just invest in a flight sim cockpit that I can store out of the way and quickly bring in when we want to fly?

What avionics solution should I consider for the most versatility and stuff? RealSimGear G1000s? RealSimGear stack? Saitek? Logitech? Or touch screen monitors and AirManager?

What bass shaker setup would you consider with the above? Keep in mind that I’ll need to have some kind of quick connect/disconnect setup since I work from home and my desk and equipment are where I work 40 hours a week.

[BoboSkypark]

You are going to get the gamut on replies. First off lets talk Honeycomb they seem to be having issues at the moment and it does not look great (not fulfilling orders, not replying to customers, not responding to warranty claims). TPR great choice. I would look to an alternate solution for yoke and throttles. I own an RSG 750 and a RSG 650 use the TDS GTNXi and can use them in just about any aircraft I want (no G1000 equipped aircraft). I am running two Butt Kicker Pros. If you get the plus or the pro they both show as USB sound devices no other hardware required.

I also own a NLR Military Edition that is customized(extruded aluminum is your friend for this). Stock out of the box it has some issues in the stability dept. I am not sure what your need to disconnect everything quickly is in regards to. Not easy to accomplish with all the hardware you are wanting to utilize, unless you will be disconnecting directly at PC. Get high quality USB hubs do not skimp what so ever.

Pictures are before all the cabling was complete and joystick extension was installed. There were a lot of cables!

Also listen to suggestions but build what YOU WANT TO BUILD or you will constantly be second guessing yourself. Also keep in mind that you can build as you go. You do not need to go all in at once and break the bank per se. I started with all of this mounted and setup on a desktop. After 3 years of perfecting my setup, I then transitioned into the NLR simpit.

[alphatheory2]

Thanks so much for your well-thought out response. Your information was very helpful. I’ll need to look at the differences between the military and Boeing edition NRL cockpit and decide what works best.

What did you mean by using extruded aluminum to customize the NRL cockpit?

What did you use to mount your StreamDeck, RSG 750, and RSG 650? That looks like a after market mount or something different than NRL accessories. I would need to mount those if I bought them.

Also appreciate your advice on the cockpit/aluminum and TDS GTNXi. Also extremely helpful!

On the yoke and throttle, I may pivot to the Thrustmaster Yoke Pack and add an extra TCA Quadrant to get the full throttle setup. I do have a VKB Gladiator NXT EVO Space Combat right-hand edition with a VKB Gladiator NXT EVO Omni Throttle - Left Hand. So I guess I could switch if I ever want to fly fighters or do a space sim.

[BoboSkypark]

The mounting plates for 750 and 650 came from RSG. No special mount for the StreamDeck. They are all mounted to extruded aluminum. Nothing up front in my picture is stock. It’s all built from extruded aluminum and added to the NLR Cockpit. The Military Edition and Boeing Edition are the same except for the seat covering and seat belt color (I own the Military). The seat covering looks much nicer on the Boeing Edition.

10PCS 48inch T Slot 2020 Aluminum Extrusion Profile (1220mm), European Standard Aluminum Linear Rail–Easy to Use for 3D Printer, CNC DIY, Workbenches, Brackets, Furniture and More https://a.co/d/7qXJYRS

[ClayishCoast9]

I also use a NLR ‘cockpit’ for flightsim. It does keep everything together and can be moved (noting that it is quite heavy!). As the icing on the cake, I also use a NLRv3 motion base which adds a little more immersion, although it is quite expensive icing to be honest. I have a Buttkicker attached to that and in my opinion - a bass shaker is something I wouldn’t be without now - especially for piston-engined aircraft!

My Buttkicker is a Gamer 2, so run off of the standard audio output. I simply use a splitter from the headphones I use. This works fine for piston-engined aircraft although you can get some odd effects if listening to music while flying! There are some utilities out there that will let you configure a bass shaker in a much more sophisticated way if you want, and plenty of threads on that topic. Nice thing about the ‘cockpit’ is that you will get a sense of vibration through the whole structure and controls too.

No comments on control peripherals - I do all my flying in VR exclusively so other than basic yoke, quadrants and pedals - don’t use any of the other control systems.

Sounds like you’re putting together quite the rig! Good luck!!