Possible GTN650 integration?
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Hello!
Is the Starship compatible with the TDS or PMS50 GTN650 instead of the GNS430?Thank you!
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I hope you don't mind me copy-pasting this answer, but I've seen it come up a lot. Here is the answer I gave to one of my beta testers just last night:
"You're not the first one to ask for a GTN. I went with the GNS, since that's what Starship NC-51 has installed, but also because it's included natively in MSFS 2020 and 2024. Adding any 3rd party GPS units generates a substantial amount of work when we upload the aircraft to both Marketplaces, and can possibly render the aircraft unusable until an update if there is an issue that emerges with the GPS addon. It might seem easy, since they are similar form factors, but I apologize that it's not my intention to add at the present moment."
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As far as I understand it and correct me if I am wrong, appart from convenience, the GNS 430 only lacks the ability to fly holds. The flight plan from simbrief can be imported to MSFS and from there to the GNS 430.
So I think most of us will be fine. I appreciate the GNS 430 being included in the Starship.
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Totally understandable! I also like the 430, I am just a bit spoiled by the touch ui of the 650 :-)
Looking forward to this piece of art! -
I'm hoping to mod a GTN650 in place of the 430 based on "JayDee's GTN750 On Others" mod for both 2020 and 2024. How successful this will be in 2024 is somewhat dependent on how the GNS is instantiated. If it is defined in panel.cfg, it'll should work just as well as my other GTN mods. If it's defined in attached_objects.cfg, it will probably work ok but the display may not be as sharp as the native GNS.
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No reason to leave you in suspense. I don't use attached_objects.cfg for any of my aircraft. I'm happy to help you make this modification when the time comes.
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No reason to leave you in suspense. I don't use attached_objects.cfg for any of my aircraft. I'm happy to help you make this modification when the time comes.
@Black-Square That's excellent news, Nick, thank you!
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@Black-Square in the panel.cfg files, what is the difference between the GNS430 entries at VCockpit16 and 17? They appear the same save for the texture definition, which is '$GNS430Screen_ApEnabled' on one and '$GNS430Screen_ApDisabled' on the other.
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I almost don't want to give away the secret... This is how I implemented the GNS "takeover" of the autopilot. There are actually two GNS's in the airplane. One is passive, and the other takes control of the autopilot when it's enabled. This is because Working Title has not implemented some of the hot-swapping features that other GPS developers have, which would allow me to toggle their autopilot features on and off live. Come to think of it, you're going to have a tough time getting the GTN to do more than appear in the cockpit for reference, if you also want it to control the autopilot. Still very possible, but you will need to make some code modifications that I can help you with.
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I almost don't want to give away the secret... This is how I implemented the GNS "takeover" of the autopilot. There are actually two GNS's in the airplane. One is passive, and the other takes control of the autopilot when it's enabled. This is because Working Title has not implemented some of the hot-swapping features that other GPS developers have, which would allow me to toggle their autopilot features on and off live. Come to think of it, you're going to have a tough time getting the GTN to do more than appear in the cockpit for reference, if you also want it to control the autopilot. Still very possible, but you will need to make some code modifications that I can help you with.
@Black-Square aha! I was wondering how you had worked around the WT hot swapping issue since we were dealing with it with the Caravan (in my case) in the last year or so.
Don't worry, unlike learning how a magic trick is performed, here the wonder and marvel still remain 😉
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D Dingle referenced this topic
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Is there a way to use the TDS GTN in standalone mode with the Starship? I tried it (having it open in a window on a second monitor) and it seems it messed up the flightplan and autopilot (for the autopilot only the assignments from the manual where used). After takeoff it was not following the plan (GNS was set as source) and autopilot did all kinds of crazy stuff.
@Black-Square Would it be more "easy" to somehow implement the use of standalone mode for GTNs? I am fine if this is not possible at all, I am just curious!
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As I also have the PMS50 GTN installed I tried this one. it seems the PMS50 can directly modify the Starships CDU flightplan - I am currently testing....
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It works like a charm with the PMS50 GTN - I use it as a pop out on my second monitor and it is writing directly into the cdu.
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@Rhinozherous what do you mean as a pop out? Just open it from the top menu and use it?
@Dingle said in Possible GTN650 integration?:
@Rhinozherous what do you mean as a pop out? Just open it from the top menu and use it?
This works at least in MSFS2020, i did not trie it in 24 so far:
Open it from the top menu, minimize it (the arrow symbol in the top left), now you can drag it onto another monitor and resize it to your liking. -
It does work in 2024, I use it all the time with the Starship
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@Black-Square thus far I've only been able to get the GTN650 to replace the 430 in the N2000A plain livery, which is the panel folder without a tail number, and then only after configuring a hardware switch in AAO to turn on the avionics master (I don't think you're using this switch, but the GTN unit needs it). I've had a series of, shall we say, "adventures" with the other liveries, depending on which method I use. If I put everything in an external mod (like you're supposed to), the GNS430 continues to show up in the non-plain liveries. If I make the changes directly inside the aircraft folder (bad bad bad), the GTN650 appears but cycles on and off at short irregular intervals. I suspect this latter item might have something to do with the dual-GPS implementation. The GTN replacement method is one I've used on over 70 other aircraft in both 2020 and 2024, including other Black Square offerings, so I'm at something of a loss to understand why this plane is so different.
