Starting a Boeing 737 NG project, wonder what software to use

[fsacademy]

Hello,

I'm Samuel, I live in Luxembourg (Europe). I'm 45 years old and I decided to fulfill myself a dream, building a Boeing 737 cockpit. It's a long time since I'm in flight simulation, starting with a Psion flight simulator on a Sinclair ZX Spectrum with 48k of memory. There were some pauses with my hobby in between as I have 4 kids and a wife with whom I share my time after work. But life is too short, so I decided to start planning and ordered some parts to get off the starting block. I intend to sacrifice my parking place in our garage as there is no space left in the rest of the house.

I ordered the parts to build the overhead and the mip from cockpitsimparts in the UK as they seem to have an interesting price/quality ratio. The shipment is underway as I write these lines. I also ordered 3 BU0836X USB interfaces from Leobodnar. But I discovered afterwards that Prosim supports Pokeys and so I did also order the two Summer promotion deals from Wendy of Flightsimparts.eu since I need more interface cards for the MIP too.

I like the easy concept from Prosim, but I have to admit that I don't really know any system. So there is Prosim and Project Magenta, but are there others? Do you have some advice for me on what to settle as I haven´t ordered any software yet and it seems a very important decision to me! I'll start building and testing with FSUIPC until I have made up my mind. I'll try to post some pictures now and then to illustrate the evolution from my project.

Cheers,

Sam

[claushansen]

Hi Sam

Welcome to this great hobby ! I have been on the same journey and more or les done today.

I have also build my sim with parts from cockpitsimparts and they are great ! Around interface cards
you have have a great mix of Leos and Pokeys card. I have one Leo card for my throttle and 3 Pokeys
for input and LED's.

I can only recommend Prosim, it's great and very easy to deal witht !

You can take a look at my site, perhaps this can help you

Regards
Claus

www.737sim.dk

[Geremy Britton]

Hello Sam,

Welcome to the MyCockpit.org forum. Great to have another new fellow simbuilder join our ever expanding group.
With regards to software, I assume you are starting with the MIP first as you have invested in one, and therefore avionics suite is one of the next purchases you need to think about.

As Claus has said, ProSim avionics software is the most popular for it's usability and versatility however other avionics suites for the 737 are out there. Sim-avionics is another fairly well regarded software, and have all appeared since the introduction of P.M many years ago.

The decision is yours!

Good luck with the build.
Regards

[fsacademy]

Hello Claus, i had a look at your website which I find very nice and really helpfull. Th are really similarities between the components you and I are using. I did already watch your Youtubevideo from your mip which I discovered through cocksimparts website. After watching it, I was convinced that I wanted to place the order at cockpitsimparts which I am eagerly awaiting delivery. I didn't decide for the software yet, but I will attend FS Weekend in Lelystad after which I decide for a lot of things. I was already there several times. It's the best place to meet cockpit builders (except mycockpit.org ;-) ), but it's the first time I'll attend with a real project myself.

I saw on your website that you did even build your throttle quadrant yourself. I'm not skilled enough in hand craft to do that. I will start with my Saitek and Boeing style levers and save money to buy a piece from Throttletek maybe next year.

What do you enjoy most, the building part or the flying part?

Regards
Sam

[fsacademy]

Hi Geremy, thank you for your interesting answer. I'd had a quick look on Sim-avionics and I'm interested to learn more about them. I'm already a customer of yours. Two years ago, I bought a great Cessna glareshield at your shop and I have to admit that I'm interested in eventually buying the gear lever and some other small parts from you.

Regards,
Sam

[Westozy]

I have just "launched" my 737NG cockpit with Prosim737 and cannot praise it enough - great value for money no doubt!

Cheers Gwyn

[claushansen]

Hi Sam,

The Throttle Q is a big work, and I have just sold my old one, and bought a new, so I fully understand you.

I must say that a big part is building, testing and getting things to work, and I have enjoyed this very much. But now
it's great to just plan a flight, sit back in the cockpit with good pilot friends and enjoy all the work. Did this last friday
with two great Vatsim flights, that so fun ;-)

See you in Lelystad, as far I know we are 3 here from Copenhagen who will be there.

Regards
Claus

[stephanev]

Hi Sam,

I’m currently building my 737NG cockpit as well, and have been using Prosim since the beginning and I can confirm it's a great software, easy to configure, compatible with a lot of boards from different vendors, forum is great and updates are more than regular.
I have different boards that I use, Leo, Pokeys, Pololu, Opencockpits and they integrate flawlessly with Prosim.

I work in Luxembourg and live nearby so get in touch if you want more information or you could also come for a test flight that will give you a good idea.

You can also see my project at stephane737ng.wordpress.com (http://stephane737ng.wordpress.com)

Regards,
Stephane

[made_rm]

Hi Sam,

I’m currently building my 737NG cockpit as well, and have been using Prosim since the beginning and I can confirm it's a great software, easy to configure, compatible with a lot of boards from different vendors, forum is great and updates are more than regular.
I have different boards that I use, Leo, Pokeys, Pololu, Opencockpits and they integrate flawlessly with Prosim.

I work in Luxembourg and live nearby so get in touch if you want more information or you could also come for a test flight that will give you a good idea.

You can also see my project at stephane737ng.wordpress.com (http://stephane737ng.wordpress.com)

Regards,
Stephane

Hi Stephane,

I'm studying a lot before starting to buying components and building.
Can i ask you why you use different vendor IO cards (Leo, Pokeys, Pololu, Opencockpits).

For my understanding:
- Leo are to emulate Joystick for building Throttle
- Pokeys are for "newbies" with the help of FSSimphony
- Opencockpit for what is not covered from the previous

Could you explane for me and other newbies the best use for each card and why your choice?

Really many thanks!

[claushansen]

Hi Sam

My few thoughts:

Leo card - Yes great for throttle and simple buttons (encoders - not supported in Prosim)
Pokeys - not only for "newbies", very advanced by the software/drivers. If you are using Prosim, Pokeys can control inputs and outputs to LED's trough a LED card. You can use auto configure in Prosim, very easy.
OC also have great cards but require SIOC to be installed, some configuration need to be done manually, and the script for
inputs/outputs have to be made manually.

Again it's depending on the software you choose. Some needs a second/third part software/utility to make it all work together.
Thats not a good idea, to many layers of software talking together = delays/problems.

Claus

[stephanev]

Hi Stephane,

I'm studying a lot before starting to buying components and building.
Can i ask you why you use different vendor IO cards (Leo, Pokeys, Pololu, Opencockpits).

For my understanding:
- Leo are to emulate Joystick for building Throttle
- Pokeys are for "newbies" with the help of FSSimphony
- Opencockpit for what is not covered from the previous

Could you explane for me and other newbies the best use for each card and why your choice?

Really many thanks!

Hi,

My cockpit is mainly based on Opencockpits hence a couple of Opencockpits Master cards, USB expansions and servo cards and other ‘Plug and play’ modules.

You are right, my Leo card is indeed used in my throttle.

The pokeys I already owned it before to build my cockpit so when I needed to interface some potentiometers instead of buying a dedicated card from OC I used the Pokeys that was lying there. Note that mine is a USB one that does not work with FsSimphony (Ethernet only). It is natively supported by Prosim737 and does not require SIOC

Finally the Polu is the micro maestro, it is used to connect servos only. I bought this one instead of an extra servo card from OC because it is cheaper and more straight forward to use as it is also natively supported by Prosim737 and does not need any sioc to run.

In the future I’d like to replace my OC USB modules by idc one as I’d like to reduce the number of USB ports used on my PCs.

Don’t hesitate if you need other information, in PM or another post so we don’t hijack Sam’s post ;) .
Stephane

[made_rm]

Really MANY thanks Stephane, everything is very clear now! ;)

Cheers,
M.

[fsacademy]

Hi Claus, which TQ did you buy. I would be interested to meet you and your danish friends in Lelystad.

Regards.

Sam

[claushansen]

Hi Sam,

It's from www.flightsimpm.com

Let's meet in Lelystad and have a drink ;-)

Claus

[fsacademy]

Hi Stephane, I had a look at your blog and I see that you are already at an advanced stage with your cockpit. You also use the throttletek unit I find very interesting in the case I decide to settle for an unmotorized TQ.

I am actually very interested to meet you and have a look at your cockpit and a nice chat about the challenges you did encounter as a few tips you could give me for my project. I'm actually travelling for a few weeks and I'll contact you around mid september.

A bientôt.
Regards,
Sam