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I'd like to see Aircraft Virtual Cockpit "markup" saved as some sort of XML file so that the community can improve support for various aircraft, allowing the developer to concentrates on bug-fixes / features.

The XML file could allow for editing things such as...
- The 3D position of the "ghost" image of a switch when hovered over in VR (which are sometimes misplaced)
- The type of interaction that each switch /dial / slider should use (I find that behaviors in the cockpit are not always consistent when they could be - some acting like dials even though they are switches, and vice versa)
- Whether the drag operation should produce an inverted value (eg. the windows in the B-17 - one is reversed)

I am assuming that it takes some effort on the developer's part to manually get each switch and knob in each cockpit to work properly? If not, then nix this idea

Quick question: Are you aware of the FlyinsideAnnotator? (If not: you might find a "preview version" of it in your FSX/P3D folder, I'm not sure whether it's included with all FI releases or only the beta ones.)
That seems to be a first step in the direction you're proposing.

I had not found that tool on my own - Thanks for the tip! I spent the day tuning up 3 of my favorite planes with this tool and it has significantly improved my experience using FlyInside!

If this tool has documentation somewhere, please let me know where it is. I've not found it yet. I also don't know of any documentation that mentioned the tools' existence either.

What I've figured out so far (which may help others get started too if there's no documentation yet):
- The tool is in your FSX folder, and is called FlyInsideAnnotator
- Choose an aircraft to edit from the aircraft drop-down. In this example, I chose the "Flight Test Aircraft E4" which in my case, is the VRS F-18 Superbug.
- Drive around the cockpit by holding down the Left Mouse Button and pressing W,A,S,D.
- Select elements of the cockpit to modify by left clicking on them. Sometimes, I find that the object I am clicking on is made of several sub-components, and maybe the handle (not the knob on the end) is the actual object that needs to be modified.
- I was able to fix the "Hook" handle and several other buttons (which were all using inverted gestures) by using the "Reverse Direction" check-box.
- It is necessary to click the "Save" button towards the lower right hand corner of the app, in order for the change that was just made to stick. Do this after editing each and every button. If you navigate away (eg. to examine another button) without first saving, then your changes to that previous button are instantly lost.
- The actual save-data is stored in your FSX folder, under DCOC/Annotations/<aircraft-name>.xml (if you wish to share the file, or make a backup copy of it).

I have not been able to figure out what the Event Types do yet (eg. Wheel, LClick/RClick, or LClick/LClick). They don't seem to help in any of the above situations, unless I'm using them wrong. Or maybe it's expected on account of still being in Preview? Any tips?

All 3 airplanes I worked on, have very much improved cockpit controls now - Thanks!

The annotator is quite new, and still rather experimental. It's discussed in this thread: *link removed*
You seem to have figured out its quirks on your own pretty well though!

Sharkku wrote:The annotator is quite new, and still rather experimental. It's discussed in this thread: *link removed*
You seem to have figured out its quirks on your own pretty well though!

I want to read this discussion but I receive the message "You are not authorised to read this forum."
Why?

That's because the posted link is in the testers section. I'm not sure if it's released to the masses yet. I'll check and let you know.

Tony

Oh, right, sorry, didn't think about that it was in the testers section.

Rogermilne wrote:What I've figured out so far...

Thanks for the post. I'll be checking this tool out when I get time.

Cheers,

JB

Hi guys.

Has anyone made any progress? Can anyone fly with touch?
Am i missing a forum post that solves this?

For example:
I tried to fix A2A C172, and started with the comm1 inner dial.
The smaller front dial worked, but not the inner-back one.
So i entered flyinside-annotator and saw that it did not have the "Twist" action. Fixed that and "Saved".
Now the dial responded to the touch, and the axis appeared for selecting. But - it did not affect the selected number shown in the digital display .

I am using P3DV2.5 with the matching FlyInside version.
Do the later versions solve the touch issues?

Israel