Thanks very much for this. Could have done with this when first using flight sim, as you probably guessed from earlier comments, lol. :-) Was still unsure what some of the other indicators did so thanks for clearing them up.

Using a widescreen notebook I didn't even know there is a heading indicator. Thanks for the info.

Thanks for the tip. I looked in the folder and found the configuration files for my joystick, a Saitek Cyborg Evo. When I first heard about the flight sim, I tried it out, but the throttle was assigned to the rudder twist axis and the rudder was assigned to the throttle. However, when I tried the stick today, it worked just fine. I think that the configuration files are being streamed down and modified as GE is used, just like the different layers. Right now there are a number of different ini files for different joysticks in there that I don't own.

So to summarize, if your joystick isn't working now, try it again in a few days, it seems like more are being added. Also, try some of the other buttons. My cyborg doesn't have anything mapped to it's buttons yet, but that could change.

hi, if you want to change the display for the speed and altitude from knot and feets to km/h and meters so change in the file(for f16 plane):
C:\Program Files\Google\Google Earth\res\flightsim\hud\generic.ini the following lines
AirSpeedFactor = 3.6
AltitudeFactor = 1
now your altitude will be shown in meters and the speed in km/h, please note that 1 mach is 1,193.839 km/h

I have to say that I love this article. This blog has been so simple and has a lot more features than other blog articles. The layout and design is great. I will continue to come back here for every articles! Thanks ...... .
Eva Maryam

I've got a Cyborg 3D Rumble and its working apart from the fact that the throttle was assigned to the rudder twist axis and the rudder was assigned to the throttle. Is there any fix i can do ? or do i have to fait for them to fit it ?

I have to admit, Frank. I've been exclusively in simulator mode since this started -- and I'm wanting SO BADLY to make all that imagery look pretty!

The more I fly this sim, the more I enjoy it. It's way more accurate than I thought it would be -- and now I'm lamenting the loss of a joystick.

And if they include a helicopter physics model, I think I'll wet my pants. (Umm, not literally.)

(Me and the helicopter sims at IITSEC.: "Oh man, you again. *sigh* You went back around to the end of the line again, didn't you? We know you worked on the imagery, and we know you're good in a helicopter. But come on, man!")

I can't help myself around those.

There is a key, described in flightsim\keyboard\generic.ini, which is not documented, but rather useful:
key "V" restores pilot viewpoint to its original position.

Comments from Google:

Tim Froehlich thinks that the joystick configs are streamed. This is definitely not the case. They're installed by the GE installer and stay the same unless the user modifies them.

We hope that joystick manufacturers will figure out the config file format and then they can offer specialized configs for their joysticks. The format is pretty much self-explanatory.

No caution needed when playing with the config files---you can always reinstall GE if they're messed up.

Ctrl+Alt+Shift+R will reload the *aircraft* and *planet* config file on the fly. This is very useful for tuning the flight model.

The HUD compass can be moved by adjusting the Y coordinates of the tick marks (Compass{Small,Large,Huge}Y{0,1}).

@Douglas: I had the same problem with a Microsoft Sidewinder Precision 2. The solution for me was to move all files except generic.ini away from the res/flightsim/controller/ directory and to change the axis section in the generic.ini to:
axes = [
A1 set(DE, 1.0, 0.0)
A0 set(DA, 1.0, 0.0)
A2 set(DR, 1.0, 0.0)
A3 set(DP_0, -0.5, 0.5)
]
I hope it helps you too.

Good flight good night.

I have the Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 controller.

Can anyone help me configure this for GE Flightsim???

Finally got it to work (sort of)by using the suggestion of Julian (above) to change the generic.ini fileand also changing the controller section to

controllers_supported = [
Controller('Microsoft*Sidewinder*Force*Feedback*2', 0, 100, 0, 100)
]

However - sometimes it works and sometimes not - so it is not 100%, to say the least :-)

Hopefully someone on the Flight Simulator team can figure this out...

aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!

Today, the joystick no longer works at all with the GE Flight Simulator!!!

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted....

About the HUD compass adjustments, what numbers should I change them to? What is there is just vague.

Flying with GE-FS F-16 looks nice but that HUD looks like something out of a comic book. So I went and changed some here and there. Looks a lot more like an F16 now! I cant get the compass to show heading every 10 degrees. Can anyone help??

Copy this generic.ini:

% Generic Head Up Display Config
AirSpeedX = -0.4
AirSpeedFactor = 0.194384 % 1/kt
AirSpeedY0 = -0.2
AirSpeedY1 = 0.1
AirSpeedRange = 16
AirSpeedDV = 1
AirSpeedSmallInLarge = 5
AirSpeedLargeX0 = -0.05
AirSpeedLargeX1 = 0
AirSpeedSmallX0 = -0.03
AirSpeedSmallX1 = 0
AirSpeedValueX = -0.06
AirSpeedValueTextFlags = [left middle]
AirSpeedPointerX = 0.005
AirSpeedPointerAngle = 3.14159265
AirSpeedPointerLength = 0.015

AltitudeX = 0.4
AltitudeFactor = 0.0328084 % 1/ft
AltitudeY0 = -0.2
AltitudeY1 = 0.1
AltitudeRange = 16
AltitudeDV = 1
AltitudeSmallInLarge = 5
AltitudeLargeX0 = 0
AltitudeLargeX1 = 0.05
AltitudeSmallX0 = 0
AltitudeSmallX1 = 0.03
AltitudeValueX = 0.06
AltitudeValueTextFlags = [right middle]
AltitudePointerX = -0.005
AltitudePointerAngle = 0
AltitudePointerLength = 0.015

VerticalSpeedFactor = 196.85 % min/ft
VerticalSpeedRound = 10.0
VerticalSpeedX = 0.4
VerticalSpeedY = -0.25
VerticalSpeedTextParams = [center middle]

VelocityMark =
[
-.01 .00 .00 .01
.01 .00 .00 .01
-.01 .00 .00 -.01
.01 .00 .00 -.01
-.03 .00 -.01 .00
.01 .00 .03 .00
.00 .02 .00 .01
]
VelocityMinSpeed = 0

CompassSmallInLarge = 2
CompassLargeInHuge = 3
CompassTextParams = [center bottom]
CompassSmallY0 = -0.310
CompassSmallY1 = -0.295
CompassLargeY0 = -0.325
CompassLargeY1 = -0.295
CompassHugeY0 = -0.330
CompassHugeY1 = -0.295
CompassTextY = -0.331
CompassRange = 20
CompassX0 = -0.15
CompassX1 = 0.15

RollScaleHalfAngle = 60
RollScaleR = 0.2
RollScaleCenterX = 0
RollScaleCenterY = 0
RollScaleLarge = [30 60]
RollScaleSmall = [10 20 45]
RollScaleLargeR0 = 0
RollScaleLargeR1 = 0.025
RollScaleSmallR0 = 0
RollScaleSmallR1 = 0.0125
RollScaleTextR = 0.07
RollScaleTextParams = [center bottom]
RollScaleSegments = 10
RollScalePointerR = 0.005
RollScalePointerL = 0.02

SkidIndicatorMark =
[
-.01 .005 .01 .005
.01 .005 .01 -.005
.01 -.005 -.01 -.005
-.01 -.005 -.01 .005
]
SkidIndicatorY = 0.17
SkidIndicatorX0 = -0.1
SkidIndicatorX1 = 0.1
SkidIndicatorMin = -2.5
SkidIndicatorMax = 2.5

PlaneMark =
[
-.01 .04 .01 .04
.00 .05 -.00 .03
]

PitchLadderDV = 5
PitchLadderSmallInLarge = 2
PitchLadderSmallMark =
[
-0.08 0.0 -0.04 0.0
0.08 0.0 0.04 0.0
]
PitchLadderLargeMark =
[
-0.13 0.0 -0.04 0.0
0.13 0.0 0.04 0.0
]
PitchLadderY0 = -0.35
PitchLadderY1 = 0.35
PitchLadderXOffset = 0
PitchLadderLetterOffset = 7000

HUDColor = 65280
StallColor = 255
StallX = 0.7
StallY = -0.65
StallText = STALL
StallMinSpeed = 6
StallTextParams = [center bottom]
GearX = -0.85
GearY = -0.65
GearText = GEAR
GearTextParams = [center bottom]
FlapsX = -0.7
FlapsY = -0.65
FlapsText = FLAPS
FlapsTextParams = [center bottom]

HUDLineWidth = 1.3
HUDLineSmooth = true

ThrottleIndicatorX = -0.95
ThrottleIndicatorY0 = -0.8
ThrottleIndicatorY1 = -0.8
ThrottleIndicatorWidth = 0.00

ElevatorIndicatorX = -0.7
ElevatorIndicatorY0 = -0.5
ElevatorIndicatorY1 = -0.5
ElevatorIndicatorWidth = -0.0

AileronIndicatorY = -0.5
AileronIndicatorX0 = -0.8
AileronIndicatorX1 = -0.8
AileronIndicatorWidth = 0.0

RudderIndicatorY = -0.6
RudderIndicatorX0 = -0.8
RudderIndicatorX1 = -0.8
RudderIndicatorWidth = 0.0

This is a very accurate ground reference sim. It is extremely valuable in familiarization with strange airports. I can't say how utterly fantastic it is to be able to "fly" approaches to unfamiliar airports and be able to reliably identify ground reference markers accurately, without having to deal with flying an actual aircraft, ATC, circuit traffic and weather while you're trying to learn the approach plate and spot reference landmarks.

This is probably the single most undervalued familiarization tool available to pilots today. Kudos to the developer(s) that decided to include this feature. It is very, very much appreciated.