I use Spad.Next I’m very very happy with it.
I’ve been using for more than 1 year and it never ever had a crash or problem and is constantly being updated and improved.
There is already a Saitek Multi-Panel for the DC6 available in the public Spad.Next profiles.
I based my setup on that so far I have:
- The Multipanel working as per the public profile with some small changes.
- The switch panel almost done with switches for landing lights, nav lights, beacon etc.
- A quadrant throttle lever mapped to the alt hold lever so I can just put it up or down as in the real plane.
- The gyropilot roll and pitch commands mapped to my joystick, I can turn using the gyro without taking my eyes off the cockpit window as in the real plane.
And a few extra tidbits…
Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Spad, I enjoy enormously configuring hardware for planes, it’s like a therapy for me, I spend hours mapping buttons and levers to actions I want and that makes me happy. YMMV.
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then you clearly didnt read enough, i saw a lot of helpfull posts.
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Do you remember which Spad.Next profile you used? I’m having trouble finding one for MSFS.
For the DC6 there are already several things, I based mine in the profile published by user “woodstock” for the Saitek Multi-Panel.
To make it work you need the alpha or beta version of Spad as it needs the Spad bridge to access LVARs from MSFS. I’ve always used the alpha without problems, more features…
Gotcha, I couldn’t find anything under profiles but I can see woodstock’s settings under snippets for the device. I’m already running the beta version which I installed for the CRJ.
Thanks for your help!
Could you publish your Saitek switch panel settings when you finish them please?
Yup, snippets for the whole device works.
I will publish my switch panel as soon as I have it ready, so far is very incomplete and I have my own personal tweaks. For example I use the switch gear for the parking brake because I use a quadrant lever for the landing gear up/down.
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I think that’s a bit unfair to many other users - myself included.
Or am I on Santa’s “bad” list, too?
You are absolutely right Alan, your posts are very useful and some other users were also very helpful and very well thought. Sorry!
And Fabio is really awesome because he is very active and very helpful and never harsh with any new user.
Maybe the problem is with the moderators as the harsh messages are never a problem and they care more about the signature issue.
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Thanks! And no harm, no foul. I pretty much got what you were saying… just wanted to go on the record for the people who actually are helpful.
The PMDG forum has had some tone issues going way back, to Avsim days (and of course Avsim has its own tone issues). There was a fellow named Kyle Rodgers who was their forum rep for a while. He was smart and knowledgeable and could be very helpful, but he was also too inclined toward snark.
I actually get a pretty good hit off Rob most of the time - though I agree his message to you could have been a lot better. I think it may be one of those cases where written messages come across a lot harsher than they were intended. An ongoing hazard with forums.
My problem is more with that subset of the user base that thinks it’s hot [stuff].
Bu the top users, like Carl and Dan, don’t fall into that category, at least for me.
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Ah, something I see quite a bit. Just recently I remember posting something with a semi-smirk on my face, not being very serious about it, but rather my usual… dry and cynical self… About a few minutes later someone asks me if I am going through something because lately my posts have been “spiteful”. I chuckled at that, genuinely. It’s funny how things get lost in translation sometimes when it comes to written communication on message boards. 
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Wow… don’t pull up the flaps one notch when your approach is too slow… she drops like a brick… had to do a go around…
We survived…
For some reason my throttle is extremely sensitive? It’s like shift it a milimeter and the gauges jump… have the feeling there’s some calibration necessary…
Agreed. The lower third of my throttle quadrant is very touchy. Just a little movement moves the MP by an inch or more. I’ll see if I can fix that in the sensitivity curve…
I don’t mind fiddling with the curves, but wouldn’t that mean on any other plane it’s changing too?
I more or less get the sense it’s a bit wonky in general. I have the feeling the fact that Jim is moving them around somehow loses the binding with the throttle position. So maybe it’s fine before start, but gets messy during the flight. I’ve tried moving the control along with Jim, but that’s not helping much either.
Next time I’ll try if the throttles are less sensitive, before Jim gets his hands on them.
There is a thread on another problem with the throttle (how to get it into the right spot after Jim is disconnected). Might be sort of related…
I’ll never forget my first flame war - 32 years ago on CompuServe. I’d never seen anything spiral out of control like that. Convinced me this was a whole different medium. I’ve lived in it ever since, but I’m still not used to it.
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I think it will mess with every aircraft’s settings.
What I did for keyboard bindings (thanks for the idea Captain Randazzo!) is set up a keyboard profile for the DC-6. It really simplifies things, especially when you can quickly keypress to change views in the cabin.
I haven’t tried it yet for the throttles, but I’d be willing to bet you can save a profile unique to the DC-6, and for your flight controller. I’ll try once I land…
Yeah. That. And AOL back when it was (pretty much) exclusive to Mac users. The PC vs. Mac conversations got old in a hurry…
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Oh, I remember those religious wars…
The paid services were still more civilized than what we’ve got now, though.
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Yeah that will work, I did the same before I was able to figure out how to map throttle etc to my Logitech controller in spad.next. The beauty of using something like spad for all your mappings is that it auto-detects the aircraft you are flying and automatically selects the right profile, whereas in MSFS you have to change the controller settings every time you switch to another aircraft
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