Honeycomb Aeronautical Alpha Flight Controls User manual

Manual
Alpha Flight Controls

Honeycomb Alpha Flight Controls
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Manufactured by: Honeycomb Aeronautical
Manual: Aerosoft
Manual
Honeycomb Aeronautical
Alpha Flight
Controls
Copyright: © 2019 / Aerosoft GmbH
Airport Paderborn/Lippstadt
D-33142 Büren, Germany
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-Mail: [email protected]
Internet: www.aerosoft.com
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schutzrechte vorbehalten .

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Content
Advanced Functions .................................................5
Use in X-Plane ....................................................................... 5
Use in Microsoft Flight Simulator X and in
Lockheed Martin Prepar3D .................................................... 6
A Short Explanation ................................................... 6
Our Solution .............................................................. 7
The Configuration Programme ................................... 7
Default Assignments .................................................. 9
Links.................................................................................... 10
Used Software..................................................................... 10
Advanced Functions
The Honeycomb Alpha Flight Controls can easily be used with the
different flight simulators. The default functions for each simulator
are pre-assigned to the control elements of the device.
Use in X-Plane
In X-Plane 11 the default assignments for axes and switches are
already included. You can customize these assignments in the X-Plane
menu according to your wishes.

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programme custom behaviour like defects or monitoring of power
supply. If you would use the default settings and their functions, in
the worst case nothing would happen at all. Luckily, almost all
developers of add-on aircrafts offer lists with variables or SDKs (SDK =
Software Development Kit) which you can use to switch their
functions. This is also what home cockpit builders often use.
Our Solution
Our solution is the AFC_Bridge.dll.
The AFC_Bridge.dll is registered in the flight simulator, monitors the
switch inputs from the Honeycomb Yoke and upon operating a switch
executes an execute_calculator_code function that gets its values
from the YokeConfig.json. Actually, it’s pretty simple.
If that was a bit too fast or you do not want to get into programming,
here is a more detailed explanation.
We have written a programme that monitors the switch inputs while
the simulator is running and acts accordingly. What this programme is
supposed to do for a specific switch can be controlled using a
configuration programme.
The Configuration Programme
On the desktop you should find a shortcut (“YokeInput”) which starts
the configuration programme. If no such shortcut exists, open
Explorer, navigate to the installation directory, start the “YokeInput.
exe” found within the “bin” folder.
Use in Microsoft Flight Simulator X
and in Lockheed Martin Prepar3D
Using the Honeycomb Alpha Flight Controls with these two flight
simulators is also rather simple as long as you limit yourself to the
default functions of the simulator. From the settings menu you can
assign the axes and functions to the yoke and the various switches.
However, many add-on aircrafts extend the feature range. The
developers have invested a lot of effort in order to include additional
functions, thus making operating the respective aircraft even more
realistic. For such aircrafts it is usually a bit more complicated to
realistically map their additional functions to an external device like
our Honeycomb Alpha Flight Controls.
A Short Explanation
If you look at the settings of your flight simulator, be it FSX or P3D,
you will notice it only gives you the option to assign a switch with a
so-called toggle function. Even that only works if you use simple push
buttons. You assign a toggle function to a button that then, depend-
ing on the state of the function, reverses it. To give an example, if the
landing gear is extended and you push the button, the simulator will
retract the landing gear.
Some buttons can be used this way in the simulator for the Honeycomb
yoke as well. All buttons located right at the horn of the yoke. Things
are different for the switch panel. The switch panel consists of actual
on/off switches. While these can be assigned a toggle function, this
does not make much sense in most cases since you never really know
the current state. To circumvent this problem, we came up with a
solution that switches the corresponding variables right in the flight
simulator. Within the flight simulator we have the possibility to address
far more functions than would be accessible from the usual settings.
So far so good, but there is another problem in the flight simulator
before we can come to the actual solution. Many (not all) add-ons use
their own logic and custom variables to switch default features like
taxi lights. This can make sense, for example when you want to

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You should see your Honeycomb yoke. When you operate a switch at
the yoke the corresponding image should appear in the middle,
allowing you to read the corresponding switch numbers.
At the right side you can select the desired switch and enter the
variable and value you wish. You can give the switch a function that
will be executed when it is pushed and one when it is released again.
This is suitable for a push to talk button (activate when pressed and
deactivate again when released). You can however also leave the
release event empty and only define the press event.
When you define something, make sure the variable is entered correctly.
Example:
We want to turn on the strobe light in the Aerosoft Airbus. To do this
we need to switch the variable “AB_VC_OVH_ExtLight_Strobe_
Sw”. Since this is a local variable, we need to enter the following in
the “Variable” field:
>L:AB_VC_OVH_ExtLight_Strobe_Sw
As “Value” below we simply enter “1” in this case. If we want to use
another switch to turn the strobe lights off again, we simply enter the
same variable and the value “0”.
Once we have completed the profile we want, we can save it via
File->Save. All saved profiles can be found in the folder “[installation
folder]\bin\UserProfiles”. When saving you will be asked whether you
want to activate the profile. If you confirm with “Yes”, the newly
created profile will not only be saved in the UserProfiles folder, but
also als YokeConfig.json in the “bin” directory where the AFC_Bridge.
dll can load and use the file.
In the flight simulator menu Add-ons -> Honeycomb you can reload
the new profile while the simulator is running so you can test it and
try it out immediately.
Since this way will be too difficult for some users, we have imple-
mented a template feature.
All templates are stored in the “[installation folder]\bin\Templates” folder.
In the YokeInput programme you can load your desired template from
File -> Load Template, then save and activate it as described above.
Templates are pre-configured profiles for various aircraft types which
will be expanded over time. If the right template is missing you can
either write it yourself and copy it into the template folder or contact
us. We will try to add it as part of the next update.
Default Assignments
Usually the flight simulator assigns a default assignment to the
switches and axes which will not make much sense in most cases,
especially for switches, and only distract us. Using the YokeInput

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programme you can delete the default assignments for the switches.
To do so, simply click on “Flight Simulator”, then the corresponding
simulator in the menu, and the programme will remove them for you.
Note that this only deletes the switch assignments. Assignments for
the axes and hat switches (to look around in the cockpit) will remain
and will still be managed by the flight simulator.
The configuration programme will be improved and extended over
time, and the included templates will be expanded as well. For this
the Aerosoft Updater will be installed so you have an easy way to
keep the programme up to date. If you have defined a template for a
specific aircraft and want to share it with others, you can of course
send it to us so we can include it with the next update.
Links
Below you can find some links that help you search for variables.
P3D Learning Center (all default variables)
http://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv4/LearningCenter.php
All variables for the QualityWings 787
http://qualitywingssim.com/files/ultimate_787_collection/docs/
QualityWings%20-%20Ultimate%20787%20Sim%20Builders%20
Kit.pdf
All variables for the Airbus X Extended
https://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/64255-airbus-x-extend-
ed-sdk-variables/
Doug Dawson’s website offers many small helper tools, among them
the Gauge p3_xml_vars_x64 that displays the current local variables.
https://douglassdawson.ca/
Used Software
SharpDX (http://sharpdx.org/)
Newtonsoft (https://www.newtonsoft.com/json)
SDL2 (https://www.libsdl.org/)