Over 10 years ago Michael Nagler was developing and abandoned ‘GaugeBook’ version 0.7 which utilised SimConnect to display different sets of gauges on a separate PC.
I’ve briefly checked it with MSFS2020 and - it works! I ran it on the same PC as the sim and I haven’t yet managed to link between a laptop running GaugeBook and the sim PC - but it will work, I’m sure.
It’s really quite good - considering you get it for nothing (thanks Michael) - and it is worth looking at. There are 12 sets of gauges, including C172 and BE58 - and there’s a Garmin 1000. All the gauges are editable and so customised sets can be made. As well as gauges a large number of switches can control comms, lights and so on. There’s chart and navdata functions waiting to be commisioned also; quite a package for nowt!
Anyway here’s the details:
DOWNLOAD - GaugeBook download | SourceForge.net
INSTALL on your client PC. It needs the free Java Runtime Environment to run: https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/javase-jre8-downloads.html
PORT - check the SimConnect port number in C:\Users\your-name\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\SimConnect.xml. The Static IP4 port 500 seemed to be the only one that worked for me.
NETWORK - wireless or cable TCP with ports 500 open. Access PC ports with: Start/Settings/Update & Security/Windows Security/Firewall & Network/Advanced Settings/Inbound Rules/New Rule/Port/TCP, Specific local ports: 500/Allow connection/Private/give-it-a-name
OPERATION - start MSFS2020 and get ready for a flight, click on the ‘gaugebook.bat’ file, set the IP address of your host PC running MSFS2020, port 500 and your preferences and Connect. To reset the utility, go into the ‘cfg’ folder and delete the ‘GaugeBook.properties’ file which will be re-built after the next startup.
GaugeBook is licensed under GPL3 - so give Michael credit if you manage to develop it further.
2 Likes
Little progress but no success. GaugeBook runs OK on the same PC as MSFS because it works through the Static IP4 Port 500 in the SimConnect.xml file. Adding a Global IP Port according to Dutch and Leeijo (https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/using-simtoolkitpro-on-a-remote-computer-with-msfs.449055/) didn’t work even though all firewalls were disabled. I wonder why is that?
A few more hours on this - but no success. I followed Evan Reiter’s FSX-SimConnect setup as closely as possible - https://forum.bvartcc.com/topic/4411-how-to-setting-up-a-networked-simconnect-configuration/ and the original source plus others. It looks like a network problem which I can’t solve. Perhaps the ‘simconnect.dll’ in my client is the incorrect version - but GaugeBook can be run on the same PC as MSFS - so it may not be the case. I configured and checked shared folders but I may have missed a vital MSFS one. I’ve tried several combinations of IP addresses and Ports - and taken down all firewalls.
I think I’ll leave it here.
Really interesting… might be something for me too look into, as I have Msfstools app running a Garmin on a seperate tablet, that works really well. To be able to have the guages on another pc would be epic, and it would be free of resources almost also.
GaugeBook works on a remote PC with MSFS 2020.
- With Notepad, open simconnect.xml in -
C:\Users[user name]\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache
- Just below -
<SimBase.Document Type=“SimConnect” version=“1,0”>
SimConnect Server Configuration
SimConnect.xml
- Add the following lines -
<SimConnect.Comm>
Global IP Port
False
IPv4
global
your MSFS PC IP address, eg. 192.168.1.12/Address>
64
7421
4096
False
</SimConnect.Comm>
- Double-click on the ‘gaugebook.bat’ file in the GaugeBook folder installed on your remote PC
- Enter your MSFS PC IP and port 7421
You now have an extremely useful gauge panel to suit your aircraft. There are work-round ways to hide the existing 3D panels until Microsoft gives us this facility. Did I say there’s 12 different gauge panels with lots of additional features - and did I say it’s free? Give it a go!
I used open firewalls on both PCs just to get it up and running. Again, thanks to Michael Nagler for GaugeBook and Dutch for his xml settings.
1 Like