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Table of Contents
Settings
Customize this program to your needs with detailed, even aircraft-specific settings. Change map colors, SimConnect settings and many more options available.
But although a lot of very detailed customization options are available in this modules, FS-FlightControl is designed in a way that you do not have to touch anything here to just use the program.
It is perfectly usable with the default settings and only if you need something special then this is the right place to look at.
Simulator Related Settings
All settings in this area will be saved together with the corresponding simulator.
Simulator
At the very first program start one simulator is automatically created, but you can add more simulators and then switch between them at any time.
Select Simulator Type
After you have clicked on the button Create New Simulator
this dialog will appear asking you which type of simulator you want to create.
Simulator Settings for Prepar3D/FSX/FSW
If a simulator of type Prepar3D, FSX or FSW is selected these settings will be available.
Main
Below the not changable simulator type you can define a custom name for this simulator.
Additionally you can choose the simulator documents folder which is automatically detected if the simulator is installed locally.
If the selected simulator is currently not active, you can use the buttons Activate Simulator
to activate it or Delete Simulator
to delete it again.
Note: You can change the active simulator also by clicking on the connection status in the Title Bar.
Database Build
The database build is explained in the Database Build installation section.
Navigation Data Update
This area is explained in the Navigation Data Update dialog section.
SimConnect
You can choose here if FS-FlightControl should connect to a local or remote flight simulator installation.
Remote Flight Simulator Installation
If you want FS-FlightControl to access a flight simulator installation that is not located on the same computer as FS-FlightControl itself, these SimConnect Network Access parameters need to be defined.
Note: To make this configuration as easy as possible you can use the SimConnect Network Wizard.
Simulator Settings for X-Plane
If a simulator of type X-Plane is selected these settings will be available.
Main
Below the not changable simulator type you can define a custom name for this simulator.
If the selected simulator is currently not active, you can use the buttons Activate Simulator
to activate it or Delete Simulator
to delete it again.
Database Build
The database build is explained in the Database Build installation section.
UDP Connection
You can choose here if the connection parameters should be detected automatically or you want to set them manually.
In most cases all connection parameters can be automatically detected even if X-Plane does not run on the same computer as FS-FlightControl.
Manual Configuration
But if the automatic detection does not work for any reason, you can configure the connection manually here.
Position
These settings are related to the Position module.
General
You can choose here if the scenery should be reloaded after a position is changed.
Note: The forced scenery reload is enabled by default as disabling it may lead to unexpected results (like aircraft crash) especially if the new location is far away from the old one.
Conditions
These settings are related to the Conditions module.
Weather Engine
Let FS-FlightControl know here which software is used as weather engine to ensure all features of the Conditions module work properly.
Note: For Active Sky additional parameters need to be entered in the Third Party settings first.
Third Party
Here you can define necessary parameters to connect to third party products supported by FS-FlightControl.
ProSim
The host or IP as well as the port that should be used to connect to ProSim can be entered here. The ProSim connection then can be used in the Flight Plan and Failures modules.
AST
The host or IP as well as the port that should be used to connect to AST (Aircraft Simulation Technology) can be entered here. The AST connection then can be used in the Failures module.
Project Magenta
The path to the NetDir
of Project Magenta can be entered here. The Project Magenta connection then can be used in the Flight Plan module; the Failures module uses FSUIPC to connect to Project Magenta.
Flight Sim Labs
The path to the FSLabs
directory of Flight Sim Labs below the flight simulator directory can be entered here. The direct Flight Sim Labs connection then can be used in the Flight Plan module.
Brunner Elektronik
The host or IP as well as the TCP port that should be used to connect to the CLS2Sim
software by Brunner Elektronik can be entered here. The Brunner Elektronik connection then can be used in the Motion module.
Note: CLS2Sim
version v3.20.0 or newer is required.
Note: Please make sure that Remote control
is enabled for TCP in the CLS2Sim
settings and the TCP port is set accordingly (only TCP is needed for FS-FlightControl connection). UDP communication is not used by FS-FlightControl.
Active Sky
The host or IP as well as the port that should be used to connect to Active Sky 16 (SP1 required) can be entered here. The Active Sky connection then can be used in the Conditions module.
PFPX
You can enter the path to the PFPX documents directory here. The PFPX connection then can be used in the Flight Plan module.
Aerosoft Airbus
Now you can enter the path to the Aerosoft Airbus documents directory (also the older Extended Version is supported) here. The Aerosoft Airbus connection then can be used in the Flight Plan module.
Wilco Airbus
You can enter the path to the Wilco/FeelThere Airbus directory here. The Wilco Airbus connection then can be used in the Flight Plan module.
Mindstar
You can enter the path to the Mindstar G1000.ini
file here. The Mindstar connection then can be used in the Failures module.
Additionally the offset for the SimConnect event IDs need to be specified as hex value. Starting from this ID the SimConnect events will be assigned to the Mindstar G1000 failures.
Flight1
The host or IP as well as the port that should be used to connect to Flight1 VISPRO flight simulator plug-in can be entered here. The Flight1 connection then can be used in the Failures module.
Note: To be able to trigger the Flight1 G1000 failures from FS-FlightControl not only the Flight1 G1000 plug-in needs to be installed in flight simulator, but also the Flight1 VISPRO plug-in.
General
Additional you can define the time interval for third party synchronization here.
Aircraft Related Settings
All settings in this area will be saved together with the corresponding aircraft profile if aircraft related settings are enabled.
Aircraft Profile
By default aircraft related settings are disabled as this is not needed for many users, especially also if you only use FS-FlightControl with one specific aircraft type.
But if you want to use FS-FlightControl together with very different aircraft types it makes sense to enable aircraft related settings here.
Profile Settings
If aircraft related settings are enabled the profile settings section gets enabled as well.
You can edit or create new aircraft profiles here and change the flight simulator aircrafts that are assigned to the current aircraft profile.
Additionally you can copy all settings from another profile or revert all settings to default.
Position
These settings are related to the Position module.
Final Position
Here you can define the distance of the short and long final approach as well as a vertical and horizontal offset to the glideslope if you want.
Vectors Position
The distances for the vector positions can be changed here as well as the final intercept angle.
Base Position
Define here the distances for the base positions.
Downwind Position
Here you can define the lateral distance to the runway for the downwind positions.
In contrast to the other positions where the altitude is calculated based on the runway glideslope automatically, the altitude for the downwind positions can be customized here.
Airworks
You can define the flight levels of the four airworks buttons here.
Options on Position Change
Depending on the aircraft capabilities you can change the parameters that are used when the aircraft is positioned.
This includes whether the heading, course (CRS) respectively omni bearing selector (OBS) or ILS frequency (if the runway is ILS enabled) should be set automatically with the aircraft position change to a certain approach.
Map Colors
These settings are related to the Map module.
Colors and Text Settings
In this area you can highly customize the appearance of the map.
We decided to put this into the aircraft related settings. Although this seems not to be aircraft related at first sight, but this enables you to emphasis certain map parts based on the currently loaded aircraft: For example when using a small aircraft you might want to highlight more the small gates and do not care a lot about ILS, but when using a big jet the large gates are much more interesting. Same goes for other parts on the map which might be more interesting for certain aircraft types than others.
All colors and text sizes can be defined per map type.
Therefore please first select the map type.
Colors and Text Sizes for Map Type
Here all currently defined colors and text sizes are displayed for the selected map type.
The Structure Color
is always the color of the item itself, like the runway surface of the runway, whereas Text Color
the color of the corresponding text is, like the runway idents of the runway.
The Min. Zoom
next to the Structure Color
defines the minimum map zoom level needed that this structure (like the runway surface) is shown. Accordingly the second Min. Zoom
next to the Text Color
defines the minimum map zoom level needed that the corresponding text (like the runway idents) is shown.
Font Size
, the last column, enables you to define the size of the displayed text.
Parking
This area lets you define colors and text sizes for the different parking types like gates and ramps depending on their sizes.
Additionally you can define text prefixes to be used for a certain type like fuel, cargo or military.
Tooltip
When hovering over certain map elements like an airport a tooltip is displayed shown the full name of the airport.
In this section you can define the appearance of this tooltip as well as the maximum map zoom level until that the tooltip should be displayed.
Map Other
These settings are related to the Map module.
Auto Zoom
The Map module also features an auto zoom function which will zoom the map in and out according to the current aircraft altitude.
You can configure this feature here by first entering the maximum zoom level (fully zoomed in) that should be reached if the aircraft is below the entered altitude above ground.
Then, for the upper end, you define the minimum zoom level (fully zoomed out) that should be reached above the entered altitude.
Between these two altitudes the zoom will be equally divided automatically.
Aircraft Display
Here you can choose from certain options related to the display of the aircraft on the map.
First you can define if the user and/or AI aircraft are only shown as squares instead of an aircraft image. In this case you can also enter a size for the squares.
Furthermore you can enable or disable a distance vector being displayed in front of each user and/or AI aircraft. In this case you can enter the length of the vector in minutes.
Additionally so called afterglows - dots behind the aircraft - can be enabled or disabled for user and/or AI aircraft. In this case you can enter an interval as well as the number of dots that should be displayed.
Reposition
In this section you can define if certain map features are automatically turned on after the map reposition function was used.
Compass Rose
Use these settings to define the maximum zoom level up to the compass rose (when this function is enabled) should be displayed and how wide its radius should be.
Other
Here you can define at which altitude the display should switch from precise altitude display to flight level.
Note: Above this altitude it will also switch from show MSL altitude to indicated altitude.
Pushback
These settings are related to the Pushback module.
Speed Options
Here you can define the pushback speed as well as the turn radius.
Failures
These settings are related to the Failures module.
Failures Source
Here you can choose the source of the failures that are displayed in the Failures module.
Note: For some options additional parameters need to be entered in the Third Party settings first.
Aircraft
These settings are related to the Aircraft module.
Aircraft Warnings
Here you can set limits for some parameters like pitch or bank angle for the aircraft.
Speed Below Altitude
Additionally you can define maximum speeds below certain altitudes above mean sea level (MSL).
These settings are used to change the color of the corresponding value to red on the Aircraft module and also to shown warning indicators when exporting graph data to Google Earth on the Statistics module.
Aircraft-Specific Options
For some third-party add-ons there are some additional options available. You can enable this support here.
Note: Some third-party add-ons require additional parameters to be entered in the Third Party settings first.
Other
Here you can define if flap positions should be shown as degree number.
Statistics
These settings are related to the Statistics module.
Google Earth Export
Define all Google Earth export related settings in this area.
Every certain time interval a flight track point is shown in Google Earth with detailed flight information. You can set this time interval here.
Additionally you can define the range for including VORs, NDBs and waypoints if their export is enabled.
Other Settings
All settings in this area are not simulator and not aircraft related and will be saved globabally.
Position
These settings are related to the Position module.
General
You can enable or disable some automatizations after an aircraft position is changed.
First choose if position freeze or pause should be enabled after aircraft move.
Additionally you can define if the program should automatically switch to the Map module after a position change respectively to the Statistics module when an approach is started.
Flight Situation Presets
You can choose here to not automatically save the flight plan together with a flight situation preset.
Map
These settings are related to the Map module.
Data Update Rate
You can define here how often the map view gets updated.
By default that is set to once per second.
Custom Update Rate
If you uncheck the Default Update Rate
checkbox you can define the update rate yourself.
The slider then ranges from very low (every 60 visual frames on flight simulator) to very high (every single visual frame).
Note: Please keep in mind that setting the data update rate to very high may lead to performance issues.
Grid and Minimum Sector Altitude (MSA) Display
First you can define here the altitude that is added to the highest elevation in each sector when calculating the Minimum Sector Altitude (MSA).
Additionally you can choose when the map grid including the Minimum Sector Altitude (MSA) is displayed in the first place.
Aircraft Information Text
You can customize the text that is displayed next to the aircraft here.
Different texts can be defined for the user aircraft, AI aircraft as well as aircraft from online networks.
Following placeholders are available within those texts:
Placeholder | Description | User | AI | Online |
---|---|---|---|---|
{latitude} | Aircraft latitude. | X | X | X |
{longitude} | Aircraft longitude. | X | X | X |
{altitude} | “GROUND” if on ground, altitude MSL in feet below switch to FL map setting and FL above that. | X | X | X |
{altitude_indicated} | Aircraft indicated altitude. | X | X | |
{altitude_msl} | Aircraft altitude above mean sea level (MSL). | X | X | X |
{altitude_agl} | Aircraft altitude above ground level (AGL). | X | X1 | |
{airspeed_indicated} | Aircraft indicated speed (IAS). | X | X1 | |
{airspeed_true} | Aircraft true speed (TAS). | X | X1 | |
{ground_speed} | Aircraft ground speed. | X | X | X |
{heading_magnetic} | Magnetic aircraft heading. | X | X1 | |
{heading_true} | True aircraft heading. | X | X | X |
{vertical_speed} | Aircraft vertical speed. | X | X | |
{aircraft_title} | Aircraft title. | X | X1 | X |
{aircraft_type} | Aircraft type (like the manufacturer). | X1 | ||
{aircraft_model} | Specific aircraft model. | X1 | X | |
{current_state} | Current aircraft state: Like Parking , Taxi or In Flight . | X | X | |
{atc_call_sign} | Call sign. | X1 | X | |
{atc_airline} | Airline name. | X1 | ||
{atc_flight_number} | Flight number. | X1 | ||
{atc_airport_departure} | Departure airport as filed. | X1 | X | |
{atc_airport_arrival} | Arrival airport as filed. | X1 | X | |
{atc_flight_rules} | Flight rules as filed. | X1 | X | |
{atc_airport_alternate} | Alternate airport as filed. | X | ||
{atc_route} | Flight route as filed. | X | ||
{atc_remarks} | Flight plan remarks. | X | ||
{atc_etd} | Estimated time of departure as filed or (for online aircraft) actual time after departure. | X1 | X2 | |
{atc_ete} | Estimated time en-route. | X2 | ||
{atc_eta} | Estimated time of arrival. | X1 | X2 |
Note X1: Not available for X-Plane. Note X2: Not available for PilotEdge.
Print Options
For map printing you can define here which printer should be used.
Additionally, if you own a commercial license, you can also change the footer text or remove it completely.
Within the footer text you may use the placeholders {date}
, {time}
and {simulator_name}
to insert the current date and time.
Display Options
You can define several display options here.
First you can set a window width below that the left and right action buttons are hidden.
Note: This is only used for detached map windows.
Below that you can choose if you want the map scale, cursor position and frames per second displayed on the bottom of the map view or not.
Additionally you can disable the automatic re-center of the map and clear aircraft trace (if enabled) after the aircraft position has been changed from the flight simulator itself (after there was a crash, for example).
Online Networks
If you enter here your user ID of the available online networks your own user aircraft will not appear additionally as AI aircraft.
Flight Plan
These settings are related to the Flight Plan module.
Flight Plan Folder
Here you can change the path to the saved flight plans of flight simulator.
Conditions
These settings are related to the Conditions module.
Real-Time Weather Source
Define here the real-time weather source that should be used for receiving weather METAR data if this is not provided by flight simulator directly.
In this connection you can choose from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), VATSIM (Virtual Air Traffic Simulation) and IVAO (International Virtual Aviation Organization).
ILS Visibility
In this section the ILS Visibility presets can be customized.
You can define the decision height as well as the runway visibility for each ILS category.
Failures
These settings are related to the Failures module.
Color Settings
Use this area to change the colors.
You can also use the button Reset to Defaults
to revert all your color changes.
Other
Choose here if random failures should be automatically re-enabled on program start if they were enabled before.
Statistics
These settings are related to the Statistics module.
Color Settings
In this area you can customize all colors used to draw the statistics graphs.
All colors can be defined per display type.
Therefore please first select if you want to change the colors for the normal in program display or for printout.
Revert to Defaults
You can easily revert all colors to their defaults by using the Revert to Defaults
button.
Colors for Display Type
Here all currently defined colors are displayed for the selected display type.
Click on any of the button to select a different color.
Print Options
For statistics printing you can define here which printer should be used.
Additionally, if you own a commercial license, you can also change the footer text or remove it completely.
Within the footer text you may use the placeholders {date}
, {time}
and {simulator_name}
to insert the current date and time.
Network
These settings are related to the Network module.
FS-FlightControl Client
First you can change the network client port here that defaults to 2047
, but can be changed to any other port number if needed.
Note: If you change the port you need to re-build the network client executable.
Customize Start Waiting Screen
If you own a commercial license you can completely customize the start waiting screen that is shown on the network client computers.
You can select a background image as well as customize the colors and the shown texts.
In the Remaining Text
input field you can use the placeholder {remaining_seconds}
to insert the remaining seconds.
Program Close Options
You can define here if a shutdown, hibernate or sleep action should be sent to all connected network computers when the FS-FligthControl software is closed.
Additionally you can decide if the same action should be executed on the computer running the instructor station itself.
Status Page for Web Display
In this area you can define the method that should be used for the status page output.
Output Directly as Web Server
If this method is selected FS-FlightControl will listen on the defined port for HTTP web requests and will reply with the status page accordingly.
Save as HTML File
This method will save the status page as HTML file to a certain directory location in the defined time interval.
Upload to FTP Server
You can also enable this method to automatically upload the status page to a FTP server.
Then you need to define again the update interval as well as all parameters that are needed for FTP server access.
Mobile Devices
This section is related to the mobile devices support.
Android and iOS Client
There is an Android client app that makes it possible to use FS-FlightControl also with your Android Tablet device.
You can define the port here that should be used for the connection. It defaults to 2046
.
In the following you can see the IP address that you need to enter in the Android app once for connection.
Note: It rares cases it is possible that there is more than one IP address displayed here. In this case you just need to try which one works.
If you should see a Windows Firewall message popping up - normally on program start - asking you to give FS-FlightControl access please confirm that. Only with this approval you will be able to connect with your mobile device.
You can directly download the Android app from the Google Play storeas well as the iOS-App from the iOS App Store.
Units
Here all units for input as well as output used across the whole program can be defined.
Altitude Unit
Choose if feet (ft) or meters (m) should be used for altitude values.
Temperature Unit
Choose if Fahrenheit (°F) or Celcius (°C) should be used for temperature values.
Atmospheric Pressure
Choose if Hektopascals (hPa) or Inches of Mercury (inHg) should be used for atmospheric pressure values.
Short Distance Unit
Choose if feet (ft) or meters (m) should be used for short distance values.
Far Distance Unit
Choose if nautical miles (NM) or kilometers (km) should be used for far distance values.
Weight Unit
Choose if kilograms (kg) or pounds (lbs) should be used for weight values.
Speed Unit
Choose if knots (kt), miles per hour (mph) or kilometers per hour (km/h) should be used for speed values.
Liquid/Fuel Unit
Choose if kilograms (kg), pounds (lbs) or US gallons (gal.) should be used for liquid and fuel values.
Visibility Unit
Choose if feet (ft), meters (m), kilometers (km) or statute miles (M) should be used for visibility values.
Other
In this section all other settings are located that do not fit into another category.
Input and Help
Here you can define if a touch input helper should be used for text and selection input fields.
Note: While the Android or iOS app is connected both touch input helpers are activated automatically.
Additionally you can choose if the small help icons should be displayed in the top right corner of all sections.
Furthermore you can make the FS-FlightControl window to stay always on top of all other applications.
Program Startup Options
To allow a program start without user interaction you can define here that program updates as well as navigation data updates should always be applied without confirmation by the user.
Alternatively you can also disable the question regarding an update completely (which we do not recommend).
Furthermore you have the option here to activate an additional confirmation message before the program is really closed - in case of accidental clicks on the Exit
button.
Online Network Status URLs
Here you can change the URLs where FS-FlightControl gets the status updates for VATSIM, IVAO and PilotEdge from.
This might be useful if you operate your own multi-player server. If you use, for example, the VATSIM format for providing online client information, you can inject this information into FS-FlightControl by pointing the VATSIM URL here to your own server.
You can also reset these URLs to their defaults.
Color Settings
Use this area to change colors used all over the software.
You can also use the button Reset to Defaults
to revert all your color changes.
Unpause Delay
You can configure the unpause delay to your needs here.
This will be used to slowly accelerate your aircraft after the simulator was unpaused through FS-FlightControl.
Note: This option has no effect if you are connected to X-Plane.