Today we want to introduce you to a really cool project that Jean from DLR has implemented for his in-house training programme. It is supposed to give the possibility to communicate with the simulated air traffic control from the cockpit. For this pu...

We often receive questions about which software we recommend and which is compatible with our hardware. The answer depends on various factors, which we would like to point out here. Hardware Environment ProSimA320 JeeHellFMGSFlyByWire (FBW)FlightSimL...

In flight simulation, the environment is usually transmitted via a screen or TV monitors. This creates a physical effect. What is straight for one pilot is crooked for another. The pilot steers the aircraft in a dead straight line on the taxiway and ...

During computer maintenance and when we want to try something out, we usually have our projectors switched off to save power and wear and tear. However, since switching our visual system to the new projectors, we have had an annoying problem. If the ...

Warping is the most demanding part of the conversion in terms of software. We use Immersive Designer Pro for planning with our customers because it is easy to calculate various scenarios in advance. This software is usually too expensive and too diff...

New day. Firstly, we prepare the installation of the projectors. To do this, we first fit the projector holders to the projectors. Then the first projector is mounted. One thing we can say in advance. The overhead work left us with sore muscles the n...

The preparations have been finalised. We have bought three new projectors. Optoma with 4K resolution. You have to realise that we have a very special installation situation in Bottrop. Like many others, we have space problems in the showroom. That's ...

Initial situation Installed ProSimADIRS are alignedArtificial horizon is not active (red markers) Solution Please make the appropriate settings in ProSimSystem | Combined config:

In a closed cockpit, the air can get a bit stuffy. Especially when several pilots are working in it for a long time with strenuous approach training. VIER IM POTT offers a suitable product for this. But we thought that the topic is also interesting f...

We made ourselves comfortable and will now start with the software installation. We have run through the installation process of Prepar3D (v3), Skalarki Profiler (Version 5), ProSimA320 (Version 1.03 latest beta) and FSUIPC4. One note if you have missed that: you will need a paid version of FSUIPC4 to run ProSimA320.

First we start with setup of the Skalarki Profiler. This is rather easy as the profiler software is delivered already with the correct matching of hardware button with the Prosim software.

If you have successfully installed Skalarki drivers (see last article) you will find the profiler like this. One hint: Profiler software starts minimzed. So search for it in the desktop tray.

We stop the SDK Mode. P & P Hardware shows YES for all components we have (hey - for sure we need the refuel panel some day.... :-)

Despite of the mandatory software you need to run a Premium A320 Flight Simulator there is a couple of additional software you can use to increase realism and flight experience. In this article we list some ideas for additional software you might like. This list is based on our personal experience without claim of completeness.

Scenery and Airports

Orbx is a great source to improve your simulator visuals accros the entire globe. In other words. Orbx is more or less essential for every simulator. In addition you will find mamy add-on airports to improve your local scenery. We personally like the fact that all software comes with one central management software (Orbx Central) which makes installation and maintenance very easy.
https://orbxdirect.com/

Simmarket is a very big market place to find additional software. You can buy add-ons from different vendors in one central store. We personally like that you have all serial numbers and downloads in one single place.
https://secure.simmarket.com/

Weather

Hifisimtech provides a software called Active Sky P3D. This add-on allows you to inject real weather into your simulator environment so that you can always fly under the current weather conditions. It also provides historical weather so you can recall interesting weather conditions any time.
https://hifisimtech.com/downloads/#ASP3D

Due to the specific wall and ceiling situation we needed to find a custom solution for our projection area. Today we assemble our construction.

Preparation of elements.

Right aft section completed.

Computers are now rack-mounted and prepared. The room is finally ready for the cockpit floor.

Cockpit floor delivered.

We decided to use the standard VIER IM POTT cockpit floor for the shooroom without any modifications.

Wiring of power supply has been done. Projectors, sim, computers and network environment can now be switched on and off via the central 19" computer rack. This is more a matter of convenience than a technical issue. Due to the narrowness of the room and the projection area we don't want to crawl just to switch on some power.

Projectors are wired.

Central power supply with relays

After adjusting projectors we can start with configuration of the visual. (Apologize screens in German language).

We know that there are probably much better tutorials out there but we decided to publish our way. Maybe it's helpful for some of you.

Important: As we learnd you should use separate screens. In our case screen 2, 3 and 1. Display 4 is our maintenance computer. Do not use nVidia surround in combination with P3D.

We will user Fly-Elise Immersive Calibration PRO to prepare warping and edge blending.

Next step: Cockpit floor.

Important hint: Do not buy the cheapest carpet you can. Simply image how many hours it will take to replace it ;-)

Placing the carpet seems to be rather easy from a customers point of view. Even cutting the carpet's edges was not really difficult.

We are happy with the result. :-)

Issue Definition It is a rare but annoying problem when MCDU or display windows move to a different location or are not displayed at all after the computers are switched on. To be fair, this is not a ProSim problem. It happens when Windows (10 and 11...

One of our customers has built a closed single-seater cockpit with a 180° outside view. To give flight simulator enthusiasts some hints for building such a cockpit, we include the description of his construction in our blog. On the other hand, we are interested in learning about a potential demand for prefabricated VIER IM POTT parts for a single seater. Please contact us if you have questions or suggestions.

Design Objectives

• The simulator fits in a small room.
• The simulator can be positioned in a corner of the room in order to save floor space. To provide adequate access for maintenance work, the simulator is relocatable off the walls.
• The simulator can be disassembled. Even the largest part can be fed through a standard size door (73.5 x 198.5 cm).
• 180 degree outside view with 4K TV monitors. TVs have been preferred over projectors/screens as they use less space, have more luminance and a better contrast ratio.

Construction

• Dimension of the simulator: 240 x 170 x 200 cm (width x depth x height).
• The simulator base consists of two 19 mm MDF boards (170 x 120 cm) bolted together. 24 rotating wheels are attached to the bottom of the boards:

To keep the simulator base free from intruding screws, the wheels and struts are glued to the boards. This ensures area-wide 19 mm depth for wood insert nuts.

• All decomposable parts of the simulator are tied together by M bolts and nuts:

Wood screws have only been used for the reinforcement of non-detachable bonds.

The cockpit rack (side stays and roof beams) is built for adequate load bearing and torsion resistance:
   
   

Some VIER IM POTT shell frame parts have been shortened to make the shell frame fit onto the simulator base plate. The overhead panel is suspended to a roof cross-beam in order to obviate positioning restrictions for the monitors.

Our cockpits are very modular and we have different options for the sidebase. Sidestick handle  Bellow Tiller The sidestick mechanism is available in two versions: Original-like high-quality mechanism with oil damping.This mechanism is...

Did you know? Projector bulbs loos up to 50 % of its brightness over the years. This is the reason why we deliver our professional computer packages with spare bulbs - to ensure investment security!

After almost five years of use we change the lamps in our showroom in Bottrop.