Cheers Rob, do they pre announce twitch streams?
Yes, they do through blogs on development update. Also a new section on the forum in the Community section called DEV Q&A Questions will appear.
I will tell here when iâll see it.
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We will need to be as present as possible during the DEV Q&A to make it as visible as possible. I look forward to
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Weâve seen a lot of new content in 2022 but not as much in the way of new features, I would put this one near the very top for 2023.
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+1 to this. Great idea.
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I like this proposal, but I would like to suggest additional or alternative methods on a few things:
- I think having âseatsâ type is a bit too complex to do. I suggest to just have 2 types: âPilotâ and âPassengersâ. Thereâs no difference in terms of views on both types. both Pilots and Passengers have complete viewing access to the entire aircraft at any time, no input or permission needed. The only difference is, âPilotâ types can actually interact with any and all instruments in the cockpit, while âPassengersâ donât, in other words view/read-only. Aircraft developers can just specify the maximum number of each âPilotâ and âPassengerâ types. Or infinite if they wish.
- Now the Pilot type will have its own sub-types that can be switched across different pilots at any time during the session. Pilot Flying (PF) and Pilot monitoring (PM). The PF Flag can only be active one at a time for one Pilot type user. Switching it to another pilot user will automatically flag them as PF and the original user as PM, and vice versa. If there are 2 pilot types, then itâs PF-PM, or PM-PF. If there are 3 pilot types. Then itâs PF-PM-PM, PM-PF-PM, or PM-PM-PF.
PF will have the aircraft receive signals for primary flight controls and power management. The Aircraft developer can flag each instruments to either be âPF onlyâ or not. PF only instruments will only be controllable by users that have the PF flag active. PMs will not be able to access those instruments unless they have been switched to become PF. But both PF and PM will have access to the rest of the instruments simultaneously.
This flag is to avoid conflicting inputs. Because when one pilot pulls the control to pitch the aircraft, the other pilot would be in idle position, and we donât want the sim to receive both inputs together at the same time. Thus, only PF will have some instruments flagged as PF only accessible, while the rest are accessible to both.
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There are a lot of aircraft and different build versions available. We need a way to have this completely synced across different users. Perhaps, leave it with the host. So if the host is using an aircraft of a specific build and version including livery files, etc. That file needs to be synced through the rest of the users, especially pilot types. Passenger types would still need it but we need to address an issue of payware licences. Pilot types would need to have the same payware license, if they donât, they canât join the session as guest pilot type until they purchase the aircraft themselves. Passenger is fine, they can join the session as passenger and the server will sync their computer with the payware aircraft for free. The developer can just lock the aircraft for free passenger types.
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The host server would need to do a hash check on all the files used in that session. This includes the aircraft itself and the build version, liveries used, and air traffic and ground services addons used as well. Any mismatches with any users, the server would need to stream and upload the files to their computers and do a final hash check to make sure every pilot and passenger in that session is using the same file that has a matched hash. This is to make sure everyone is seeing and interacting with the exact same thing.
Donât forget aircraft with a Flight Engineer (FE), the FE has control of the power management while the PF is flying 
I didnât forget it, I deliberately omitted it for the sake of simplicity. no modern airliner in use today since the 80s requires FE anymore. Those who do are pre-80s legacy aircraft and I donât see the need to develop an extra scope that only caters to a small number of niche users. And I just donât see a reason why the power management done by the FE isnât just merged with the PF role like it is today. Thatâs why I just merged the FE as a PM instead, so they can sit on the same cockpit, and have a shared function, it just depends on where the aircraft developer places their âdefaultâ position, so the FE can still interact with the instruments near them. But function wise, both FE and PM can interact with any instruments since they are both flagged as PM.
Weâll have to disagree there. There are many users of these aircraft. By the same logic, helicopters and gliders are ânicheâ and shouldnât have been added.
Because it isnât merged for many aircraft featured/available in the sim.
There are more and more aircraft as time goes on (including base game) where the PF doesnât control the engine power. e.g. Asobo DC-3(Copilot/PM controls engines), PMDG DC-6(FE controls engines).
If youâre creating this system from scratch to support switching of control surfaces and power management between a PF and PM, the extra work to split controls and power seperately to add a FE/PM-with-power-management option in addition to PF and PM is negligible.
At the very least, I donât see why you wouldnât just separate controls and power to allow users to switch them separately.
The seperation of controls and power is a core function of a shared copilot system (third party shared cockpit mods are even adding this) and should be included natively.
Hmm⊠in that case, maybe thereâs an easier way to do this similar to what we already have right now. Using the Control profiles but expanded to make it shared across the entire session. The control profiles would be validated across each other to make sure only one control command is bound to one control profile.
For something to be included natively, it needs to be generic enough for users to be able to configure it themselves regardless of the aircraft, rather than locked to a specific role in the aircraft coding level.
You mentioned an example with the PMDG DC-6 where the FE controls engines. Thatâs true and itâd be nice to have it work like that on a shared cockpit. But if this is coded directly to the aircraft where only an FE role have access to power management. That would locked away other players who are not flying in a shared cockpit environment (flying solo). Youâd still want the PF to have full control over the entire aircraft in that scenario.
But if we set it on the control profile level, it can work for both. For example on a DC-6:
PF Control Profile: Bound to primary flight controls only.
PM Control Profile: Bound to secondary flight controls only.
FE Control Profile: Bound to Power Management controls only.
If they want to have an online session, then the host server will validate which user have which of the above control profiles active, and make sure thereâs no conflicting controls over all of them.
But if they want to fly solo, then can just switch to a Solo Control Profile that has all Primary, Secondary, and Power Management controls bound together. But since itâs a non-shared cockpit session, thereâs no server validation needed. But the player can still fully fly the aircraft without the need of other players.
This way, the aircraft themselves are coded the same way as it always has been, and it receives all signals simultaneously from the sim, but the roles are managed natively through the control profiles that the users have to configure in advance.
Still⊠I canât imagine the latency it would take when you want to Go Around.. if a separate person is managing the power, you start seeing something wrong and wants GA thrust, you call through the mic, wait for the voice to go through the internet to be received by someone else at the other side of the world, if that takes 300 ms to go through, and have the other person reacts half a second later. And wait for the power input to go through the simulation engine and actually apply the thrust. I would think it would react over a second later than when they want it. But I guess it is what it is.
SorryâŠ.Ive been looking for Shared cockpit for yearsâŠwhat do we already have?âŠ.The GitHub app?
Thanks, and good luck yall! Iâd love to be a part of this both dev and participant.
Chas
Uhh, no I was referring to the way to avoid control input conflicts. What we have right now is the Control profiles. That we can set our own control profiles to enable or disable certain functions that we want so that we donât get any conflicting inputs from our own hardware. But this only applies to ourself as a single-player only function.
So what I meant for that is we use the same way with the control profiles but elevate it in a way that it can become a shared profile with other players in a multiplayer environment. And set them in a way that only one profile is active at any one time per session. That way, thereâs only one Pilot Flying with a control profile active that can control the aircraft including/excluding power management. While the pilot monitoring or the flight engineer can have their own profiles that have their own sets of controls that they have access to.
So the changes to a shared cockpit doesnât have to be rebuilt from the ground up, but instead improving the current way we handle control profiles.
This is currently the best MSFS shared cockpit mod. You can download directly from their Github or grab an installer from their website. They also have a discord for information/discussion/support 
âOur next developer livestream is scheduled for Wednesday, February 1. Unlike previous Q&A sessions, this stream will have a specific focus on Missions, Localization, Points of Interest, Airports, and World Update 12: New Zealand. If you have questions about any of those topics youâd like to see answered by our usual panel of Jorg, Seb, and Martial, please respond to the forum topic here.â
This is taken from the last development update on 19th january.
The thing is that âYourControlsâ is not even a solution at this point, because they donât update the profiles often and it causes a lot of desyncs in the game especially when the copilot wants to take control of the plane, but the pilotâs perspective he doesnât see the plane moving now as the copilot point of view he can see the plane moving. but the thing is that I would suggest is that Microsoft Flight Simulator should add shared cockpit natively. Because what is the point of downloading a shared cockpit mod and after you download it, the mod doesnât work like itâs supposed too, in my opinion YourControls is not really a solution at the moment.
They were supposed to be releasing v3 last year too, but that never happened.
I wonder if theyâve stopped putting as much work into it now a native shared cockpit is definitely coming?
Unfortunately, itâs the best weâve got in the meantime, until native shared cockpit support is released.
Yeah, I guess we just have to wait and see what Asobo/Microsoft might be up to.
Keeping the thread alive. We were promised shared cockpit in '22
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Specially, since the quality and quantity of airliners is constantly improving. I canât wait to say âmy controlâ
Mod note: This post was merged from another topic.
My friend from another country is a real-life pilot. It would be great if he could somehow join me in my plane when I am flying in MSFS. Ideally, we would have the ability to talk with each other, i.e., I talk into the microphone on my computer and he hears me on his speakers and vice versa. Sort of like being in a Zoom session together, except we are both in the same plane flying inside MSFS.
In addition to voice, there could also be a little chat box to type messages to each other, just like in Zoom. The difference to Zoom is that my friend could perhaps even push some buttons on the instrument panel, or even fly the plane together with me as a co-pilot. All the while seeing the same graphics as I do, i.e., as if we are flying together.
Each of us has our own copy of MSFS. We would launch it at the same time, and then Iâd like to somehow invite him into my cockpit, maybe via his username or similar. This way, he could teach me how to fly, what the various buttons on the instrument panel do and so on. I think this would be a much easier way for me to learn, than to watch the built-in tutorials or read pages of PDFs.
I am aware of the multiplayer mode in MSVS, but this is not the same. In the multiplayer mode, each person flies their own plane. Iâd like both people to be in the same cockpit.
I can also imagine that some people may want to do this commercially. It could be a new revenue for real-life flight instructors, as they could join their clients in a MSVS cockpit and teach them how to fly, all inside MSVS. Obviously not a substitute for real-life learning, but I can see myself paying for such a service to someone. I know how to fly inside MSVS, but there are so many buttons that I donât know what they do, and, because I have a time-consuming job, I donât have the time to search through pages and pages of PDF documentation.
Thank you for considering this feature.
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