Jeeez....FSUIC...Pokey...Prosim...have no clue, need help!

Hi Clint, welcome to the insanity. :)

I would advise you to not get too wrapped up in attempting to plan out the entire project from top to bottom right away (I know, it goes against conventional wisdom). What happens is this: as you learn the various products and technologies, figure out which ones you like or don't like, discover the pitfalls as well as capabilities of different solutions, you're going to come up with your own preferences....and you'll probably change course more than a few times. Plus it gets overwhelming.

Getting a basic idea of what you're going to do is important, but focus on what you WANT, not how you're going to get there. It will come in time. It's fun to dream, and it helps you set goals for your project.

For instance, the most basic thing you need is switchology. Perhaps you could start by looking into various digital input solutions, learn a couple, and go with the one you're most comfortable with.

Don't even worry about all the third-party solutions until you actually identify a specific need that some piece of hardware or software would fill properly. Actually, my advice is to rely on third-party stuff as little as possible. The problem is that you get locked into a certain person/company's way of doing things, and when you eventually discover down the road (as you certainly will at some point) that there is some specific stability issue, a project-killing limitation, persistent annoying bug, or general difficulty, you more or less have to live with it, because major components of your sim are relying on that hardware or software. In my case, I use Arduino almost exclusively for my hardware interfaces. The reason for this is that Arduino is an open-source platform (both hardware and software), the suppport community is huge, add-ons and compatible parts to do all sorts of things are cheap and plentiful, and considerable (almost total) control of the device is available to users. A great example is how I used to rely on serial communications over USB to talk to my Arduinos. When I eventually realized what an awful interface USB is, I was free to switch to UDP over ethernet (in my case) with NO change to the actual logic that drove my instruments. I could also have switched to TCP over ethernet, CANBUS, I2C, MODBUS, RS-482/485, etc. And for my software, I mostly write in Python (again: free, open source, mature, has a huge community and lots of extra modules for added functionality).

Of course, there are plenty of options besides Arduino, that's just the route I've chosen. Try to focus on versatile, general-purpose solutions, rather than very specific, flight simulator centric products.

As to sim software, here's my completely biased and worth-what-you-paid-for-it opinion:

1. Microsoft Flight Simulator. It's been around since Carter was president. Tons of community support and add-ons. Microsoft has killed this series, so MSFS is technically dead. Stick a fork in it. Anyways, it's considered a very "polished" sim, and has lots of bells and whistles, if that's what you're into (such as lots of automated ATC interaction, "scenarios" you can set up, pretty menus, helpful on-screen messages, good built-in radios and GPS software, that sort of thing). Unfortunately, much of this stuff is largely irrelevant to cockpit builders. The flight model continues to be laughable....it can be whipped into matching the "numbers" of a specific aircraft, but the aircraft movement and control response leave much to be desired. And don't even think of poking around the extremes of flight. But, if you're just going to be flying straight-and-level on autopilot in a Boeing-something, it's not such a drawback. Interfacing into the sim was never intended by the designers, but Pete Dawson has done an admirable job hacking it up with his FSUIPC product. You're going to want FSUIPC if you go the MSFS or Prepar3d route, just be ready for some primitive limitations and random instability (this is not really Pete's fault). Fortunately, FSUIPC is very reasonably priced.

2. Prepar3d: https://www.prepar3d.com/ Think of this as the continuation of Microsoft Flight Simulator. Lockheed Martin has taken the MSFS code and revamped it to more modern standards (they don't seem to have overhauled the flight model, unfortunately). At least now it scales up better to modern hardware. If you want to go the MSFS route, I'd recommend getting Prepar3d instead of Flight Simulator. There are vast improvements.

3. X-Plane: http://x-plane.com My weapon of choice. I was a long-time Flight Simulator guy until I found X-Plane. X-Plane used to be at a disadvantage for visuals, scenery, and systems/procedural simulation, but this is largely a problem of the past. Recent versions of X-Plane have some of the best graphics you'll find in ANY flight simulation software, and the API has allowed developers to conjure up some very sophisticated systems for individual aircraft. The flight model is incredible, along with the ground-interaction model (you can literally scrape your wingtip on a mountain and deal with the ensuing yaw). Extreme edges of the flight envelope are a mixed bag, and vary with the particular aircraft, but generally X-Plane at least behaves itself when you start pushing the envelope (it still does better than any other flight sim I've flown, with the possible exception of the old Flight Unlimited sim back in the 1990s). Hooking into X-Plane is a dream: several years ago, the developers came out with an extensive, powerful API. Interfacing with the flight model, graphics model, weather, systems, flight and engine controls, switches/buttons, menus, is done in a very orderly and controlled way. It's just the ticket for us cockpit builders. Stability is excellent...on decent hardware, under Linux or Mac, you'll almost never see a crash.

4. FlightGear: http://www.flightgear.org/ This is the ultimate for cockpit builders, as it's open-source. If you're up for writing your own code, you can get it to do just about anything you want. Unfortunately the graphics and scenery model is still not up to par with the aforementioned sims, but the team is making progress all the time. This one is worth keeping an eye on, and at this price (free), you should at least download it and check it out.

You might be surprised how much "R&D" of your own must go into every step of the project. Imagine your dream sim, then start with some small task to get you there (like the switching/digital input suggestion). Then maybe look into analog inputs (for flight and engine controls). Then you can actually "fly" your sim from there on out as you work on it. :)

Matt