Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Support
We’ve now created a new input plugin to add support for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. As this is a very important title and we are only part way through the development cycle for the next release, we have decided to make this available as an installable plugin rather than simple adding it the the next release.
In fact, this is the very first plugin that we have made available using the installable plugin feature, so this post will also act as a little “how to”. The next version of Actuate will have this information in the user manual.
Plugin Installation
The first thing that you will need to do is to download the plugin file. Head on over to the Downloads section, and locate the download called “FS2020 Input Plugin v1.05”. Download it and make a note of where the file is saved. As the download name suggests, this plugin is for use with Actuate Motion v1.05. You’ll need to unzip the file so that you end up with inputplugin_fs2020.plugin saved.
Next,open up the Actuate GUI and navigate to Configuration->Plugins->Install Plugin. On the window that appears use the browse button (magnifying glass) to browse to, and select your plugin file.
Once you have selected your plugin file, click on the Install button and the system will attempt to install the plugin. Please be aware that in order to install plugins, the system needs raised privileges so may prompt for these permissions.
Once the system has installed the plugin, you will get a message on the bottom of the screen saying “Plugin Manager Complete”. The plugin should now be installed.
Game setup
In order to use the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 input plugin, you will need to add the provided support application to the game, and it must be running to produce motion. To add the support application to the game, first locate the binary folder of FS2020.
If you are using the Steam edition, then you can find this folder from within steam by using the “Browse Local Files” facility within Steam. This folder is normally located under:
C:\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator
You should copy the actuate_fs2020_telemetry.exe file from your actuate installation folder (probably C:\Progrram Files\Actuate) to the FS2020 binary folder.
Plugin configuration
If the binary path for your copy of FS2020 is not the default steam location (shown above) then you must also now configure the input plugin with this path within Actuate.
To do this, open the Actuate GUI and follow the menu through Configuration->Plugins->Input Plugin Setttings.
On the Input Plugin Configuration window, find and select FS2020 in the Input Plugins list. The right hand side of the window should now populate. You must update the “FS2020 Folder” setting to the location of your FS2020 binary folder, and click Save.
Please note that when the FS2020 input plugin is activated, it will check to see if the support application (actuate_fs2020_telemetry.exe) is running, and if not it will attempt to start the application. This application must be running for motion output from FS2020.