OnCourse Software

Hello everyone, let me start off by saying how much I am enjoying PF3. I actually am moving over from a competitor, I won't mention names, whose software was immensely frustrating for me to use. So, thank you for bringing excellent ATC back to flight sim.

I am using MSFS with VR and everything works great. The only thing I am wondering about is the Hotkey window. If I have a request to make with ATC, I have to pull up the visor and read the choices off my computer screen, put the visor back down, then I have most of the hot keys mapped to a thumb/hat switch. I'm wondering, would it be possible to display the Hotkey menu the same way Navigraph displays its charts, through an in game panel? Or maybe there is a way to get it to display inside VR now and someone can point me to that method?

Anyway, I want to wrap up by saying thank you again. I have already started spreading the good word about PF3 and at least one person from one of the Discord servers I frequent will be requesting a trial.

Respectfully,
Ed

Thank you for your kind words Ed, much appreciated.

We don't have any plans to change the hotkey window I'm afraid. I don't/can't use VR due to a medical condition, so wouldn't be able to even think about changes to support that.

Welcome and glad you are enjoying PF3. There is a summary of hotkey functions on pp. 137-140 of the User Guide (located in your PF3\Help folder). It may be easier for you to print those pages and keep them nearby (I must admit that's what I do).

Dan77 wrote: *

Sun Feb 06, 2022 7:33 pm

Welcome and glad you are enjoying PF3. There is a summary of hotkey functions on pp. 137-140 of the User Guide (located in your PF3\Help folder). It may be easier for you to print those pages and keep them nearby (I must admit that's what I do).

The choices change during the different stages of flight. I was looking for an active list depending on what choices I have at a given moment. I can't print it out as that would still require me to remove the VR headset to read it. That would not work for the same reason as stated above, it would break the immersion. Besides, I have already copied the most common commands into an EFB. That is accessible through the cockpit.

dmarch wrote: *

Sun Feb 06, 2022 6:21 pm

Thank you for your kind words Ed, much appreciated.

We don't have any plans to change the hotkey window I'm afraid. I don't/can't use VR due to a medical condition, so wouldn't be able to even think about changes to support that.

I can certainly understand that. VR is extremely enjoyable. Actually, it would not require VR support at all. What I proposed would be to route the messages through in game panels. These are the same panels that Navigraph uses for moving maps and charts, EFB software uses to display and make on the spot hand written notes, the default ATC panel, checklist panel, and many others.

EdS2022 wrote: *

Sun Feb 06, 2022 9:20 pm

Actually, it would not require VR support at all. What I proposed would be to route the messages through in game panels.

Have you looked at PF3 Display or PF3 Web Display - both of these provide a window showing list of hotkeys for the currently tuned ATC facility.
If these don't work with VR 'as-is' then I may look to see if something can be done to present the information in an in-game window - no promises!

Cheers,
Martin
(PF3 Web Display developer)

Let me check into those and get back to you. Had another great flight using PF3. I'm just thankful for having something that works and doesn't take a lot of time and frustration to set up. Really wish I had made the switch a long time ago. Well, hindsight is 20/20. At least I'm here and enjoying flying again.

OK, I've managed to bring up PF3 Web Display using an in-game window - it works as a proof-of-concept, but needs a fair bit of work:
(This screenshot isn't great, something's happened to limit the size of the presentation area - it was fine earlier.)

I'll work on a better version when I have time and will then document the changes needed to include this capability in MSFS.

Cheers,
Martin

That is looking sharp already. I'm going to try to PF3 Display and PF3 Web Display if I can get a flight in tonight. I just got home and showered, still need to cook something for the wife and me.

OK, if you unzip the attached zip file into your MSFS Community folder it will add 'CUSTOMPANEL' to your MSFS in-game toolbar; in my case the full path is C:\Users\Martin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Flight Simulator\Packages\Community.
If you configure Web Display to use port 9000 (Webport=9000 in PF3WebDisplay.ini - see documentation) you will then be able to access it in-game - for some reason the icon is blank, but the name will appear as you hover over it.

This is not my work, I found this build on Github based on a great template provided by someone called 'Maximus'.
I would prefer a version using the default Web Display port (7339), but I haven't yet been able to get it to work correctly.

I hope this helps, but do come back if anything is unclear.

Cheers,
Martin