Setting up Opencockpits CDU (V1.0) with FSX

[bratwurstdimsum]

Given the amount of help from fellow enthusiasts out there I have decided to put in writing my efforts to set up my OC CDU v1.0.

I bought this lovely OC CDU v1.0 second hand from one of our forum members a few months ago.  I had thought long and hard over a year which one to buy.  Should it be VRinsight?  how about using an iPad with the airscreen functionality?  But no, OC CDUs had the aesthetics and good reviews to boot so... thinking that I had a registered version of FSUIPC and FSX installed with goflight MCP, Saitek multipanel and custom 737 throttle assembly already, how hard can a CDU/FMC be?  Honestly?

[bratwurstdimsum]

Well I had realized about a week into setting it up something was wrong, very wrong...I had inadvertently stepped over the line from PC Flight Sim enthusiast to Simulator technician with the amount of prerequisite insanity and tenacity that had to come with that change of role.

1) First of all OC components cannot interface directly with FSUIPC like other off the shelf products. it requires SIOC, a program that acts as the interface layer and software driver between, what is essentially an alien keyboard and the PC.

2) Secondly, the CDU will stare at you very dumly with a blank desktop wallpaper until you "load" an aircraft's software CDU onto it.   Most airliners in FSX will have the software CDU but in FSX, its very hard to align this (even when undocked) to the window of your OC CDU because no matter how you tug and pull on the edges, it wants to fit the whole CDU (with buttons and frame) into the tiny window of your hardware CDU

3) Thirdly, you have to research your aircraft thoroughly because most aircraft you try to interface with, you might have to use only the outside view of FSX, as nothing you type into the CDU will ever reflect visually onto the on board gauges of the aircraft you are using unless you have a dedicated program that communicates between FSUIPC and the SIOC itself.

[bratwurstdimsum]

My goal is not to rant about FSX, OC or anything else.  I just wanted to put down a simple guide to helping anyone in my position who thought OC's CDU was any other kind of plug and play device and didn't bother reading all the FAQs that are no doubt all over this forum



Basically if you are like me and you:

* Don't want to build a full 737 cockpit
* Want to fly a 737 on a single home PC with OC v1.0 and just the bog standard FSX

Here is what you need:

1) S/W that will register the keyclicks of your CDU and map them to commands;
2) FSUIPC, a program that allows you to map physical devices to Flight sim functions;
3) Sim Aircraft that supports OC CDU v1.0 - in that it is able to process your commands from the CDU and reflect them on instrumentation such as the PFD (Primary Flight Display glass thingy) and ND (Navigation Display glass thingy);
4) Some kinda interface program that links the software mentioned in 1. to FSUIPC that will ultimately control the aircraft in FSX;
5) Some way to adjust the software CDU so that only the montor part of the software CDU shows in your hardware CDU

Here are my answers to the above:

1) Sioc with script for OC CDU Version:4.0 (version number is the SIOC not the OC CDU!): http://www.weitling.info/projectb737/index.php/file-library/viewdownload/22-ifly-scripts/36-sioc-with-script-for-oc-cdu;
2) FSUIPC registered: http://secure.simmarket.com/pete-dowson-fsuipc4.phtml;
3) iFly737 with Feature pack:  http://secure.simmarket.com/flight-1-ifly-737ng-feature-pack-edition-edition-fsx-(box).phtml;
4) Some kinda interface program that links the software mentioned in 1. to FSUIPC that will ultimately control the aircraft in FSX: http://library.flight1.net/?p=3681;
5) modify the panel.cfg file of the airplane you are flying - see below...

[bratwurstdimsum]

Here is how you do it (I am going to assume you have read and followed the hardware installation instructions for the OC CDU already):
1)     The SIOC v4 Zip file (shown above) downloads as a folder with everything you need almost 'out of the box'
a)     Run the attached USBCheck.exe and look for the line that says:
        "IOCardS-Keys - V1.00 - Device=XXX"

        Where XXX is the device assigned by your computer to the OC CDU

b) You need to then change the sioc.ini file in the SIOC folder to match the following:

        [MASTERS]
        [IOCARDS-KEYS CDU...Do the same here just change the last number to match yours]]
        MASTER=13,13,1,XXX
        USBKeys=13,XXX

save and exit.

c)     Then run SIOC.exe

When it starts up it will come up with a screen like the one attached.
It is very important that you test the connection at this stage, I always do this everytime I start the sioc as sometimes it fails to connect properly.  To do this you should press the "sioc monitor" button, then choose the card by double-clicking on the card from the "tree".   Then perform the keyboard test.   If you find your keypresses don't work you should go back to the sioc main screen and press the "reload" button a few times and repeat the test.  Once it works proceed to the next step.

[bratwurstdimsum]

The next three points are fairly obvious,

2) download, PURCHASE, register and install FSUIPC;
3) purchase and install the ifly737 with features pack;
4) download and run IFLYTOFSUIPC;

Even if you do not use FSUIPC for anything else, having it will allow you to send / receive information like this:

OC CDU <-> SIOC <-> FSX <-> FSUIPC <-> FSUIPCTOIFLY737 <-> ifly737 software CDU

[bratwurstdimsum]

5)  I finally wandered upon this "mod" on the internet when I was finally thinking of chucking the OC CDU v1.0 out my window or doing a complete reinstall to FS9. 

I found it was possible to trim the software CDU to a size which you can actually stretch and pull to fit into your OC CDU window.

When you have installed your ifly737 plane; 

a) edit the panel.cfg file found in the model number of the plane you are flying (in my case the 737-700):
[install directory]\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\SimObjects\Airplane\Ifly737-700\panel.wide\panel.cfg

b) find the section beginning with [window08] and scroll down to the gauge00 definition. 

c) Change this to the following line: gauge00=iFly737-700!CDU1,-65,-130,460,1760,Standard

This will trim the software CDU from the standard one to the the trimmed one (attached)

d) Just undock the CDU in the SIM and move it across to your OC CDU and voila!

[bratwurstdimsum]

Integrated in flight... A thing of beauty!

[fordgt40]

Thanks for the guide and sharing this information. I think that you have now crossed the line "from PC Flight Sim enthusiast to Simulator technician"

Well done 

David