X Plane Using XPUIPC (DEPRECATED)

X-Plane Setup

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Note: The latest beta version of MobiFlight has native support for X-Plane data refs and commands right in MobiFlight connector.

XPUIPC still works, since it uses the FSUIPC API that is still used by Prepar3D and FSX for example, so the instructions on this wiki page still work, however, the native dataref/command support is likely much easier to set up and use.

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MobiFlight was developed to work best with the very popular FSX and later Prepar3D. For both sims there is FSUIPC and this allows us to interface with these simulators and access values of displays or provide input for switches and buttons in the virtual cockpit.

X-Plane is a different but very exciting platform that has evolved over the last couple of years and really has become a great alternative. Especially since X-Plane 11 and the overhauled User Interface, the great graphics and more and more free as well as professional addons, the sim has never been more popular.

Fortunately, for X-Plane there is a plugin available that mimics FSUIPC. This is really great because this allows us to use MobiFlight not only for FSX and Prepar3D but also X-Plane.

The following tutorial will help you to get started quickly and understand what it takes to make MobiFlight work with X-Plane.

Install the XPUIPC Plugin

First of all you have to download and install the FSUIPC version for X-Plane called XPUIPC.

Download XPUIPC

You can download XPUIPC on the official FSUIPC page, which is new and really convenient.

http://www.schiratti.com/xpuipc.html

Please remember that XPUIPC was not developed by Pete Dowson who is the creator of FSUIPC. I don't believe that Pete offers support through his forum. Still it is good to know that he provides a download :-D

Install XPUIPC

After downloading XPUIPC, extract the contents of the zip file in a temporary folder and then copy the "XPUIPC" folder into the plugins folder of X-Plane under [X-Plane-Directory]\resources\plugins.

Restart X-Plane in case it is running and you will have a new menu item "XPUIPC" in your plugins menu.

Use XPUIPC with MobiFlight

If you made it so far: Congratulations! You mastered the hard part.

You can now use a lot of the common FSUIPC Offsets to control your flight sim or extract data that you can visualize in your cockpit. The author of XPUIPC has already built-in support for the most frequently used offsets, like COM1, NAV1, Lights etc. All these things will work using the presets that ship with MobiFlight or if you take the offset information that comes with FSUIPC.

Try some of the MobiFlight Tutorials that work with FSUIPC Offsets and you will see that it will work quite well.

If you get to the point that a FSUIPC Offset doesn't work out of the box you will have to add your own custom configuration. The next sections will tell you how to do that.

Custom XPUIPC Configurations

Now you might get to the point where you will have either a FSUIPC Offset that is not supported by XPUIPC or you want to control or access something in X-Plane where you cannot find a FSUIPC offset for. 

Fortunately, the author of XPUIPC has done a great job and provides us with a possibility to extend the built-in Offsets and Values with your custom ones. Actually it seems to me that any DataRef or any Command that is provided by X-Plane default aircraft or 3rd party addons can be mapped to a FSUIPC Offset and controlled by MobiFlight. THAT IS AWESOME!!!

XPUIPCOffsets.cfg - Your tool for customization.

Custom Offsets can be configured in a special config file that is part of the plugin. The file is called XPUIPCOffsets.cfg and resides inside of the XPUIPC Plugin folder: [X-Plane Directory]\resources\plugins\XPUIPC.

When I first had a look at it I assumed that the entire set of supported Offsets is configured in there, but this is not the case. In fact a lot of Offsets have to be built-in and the config file only illustrates how they could be defined using the syntax that is available. Why I think that? Because a lot of Offsets just work without being defined in the file.

Add your own entry

If you would like to create your custom configuration you just have to edit the config file and you will have to follow the syntax that XPUIPC supports. The config file itself explains the different options. It might be a little overwhelming in the beginning but take the time and read it a couple of times and you will understand how it works.

Basic Syntax with Examples

There is a nice tutorial that slammer88 has provided on the forums: https://www.mobiflight.com/forum/topic/2926.html 

It explains how the syntax of how to read and write a DataRef and also how to trigger a command.

Thanks to slammer88 for providing the examples!

Example: Zibo Mod 737-800

There is another config shared for the popular Zibo 737-800 Mod:

https://www.mobiflight.com/forum/topic/5648.html

Thanks to Banzay for sharing this with us!