SimVimX is our personal hobby project, available for free download and use by the flight simulation community for personal use only. It is not intended for professional use.
SimVimX users agree to use it "as is", at their own discretion and for their own purposes, at their own risk and responsibility.
We do not assume liability or responsibility for any damages occured in the use of the SimVimX software, or caused to any hardware equipment connected to your Arduino Mega2560 master board.
So make sure you understand what you are doing. Please read the basic safety precautions below and in other relevant web recourses related to use of electric and electronics equipment.
We reserve the right to make changes or improvements to SimVimX without any obligation.
To reproduce all tech solutions presented here you should understand all possible risks and carefully learn all aspects of using electric and electronic equipment. Keep in mind the basic rules of connection and powering to prevent controller damage, short circuits, etc:
And finally - keep your wiring clean!
Don't create a mess of wires, don't create multiple ground loops, don't use unnecessary, overlapping/doubling wires, etc.
Use the thin (30-26 AWG) single-core wires for signals.
Cut the wires to the minimum required length, make some groups of wires (using flexible tubing or electrical tape).
Use soldering everywhere when possible, check all headers for contact reliability and solder quality.
Read the wiring guide here.
! While using the SimVimX system can greatly simplify the process of creating a home flight simulator, you should have some handicraft, basic wiring and soldering skills and sufficient technical knowledge in an aviation related field. Basic knowledge of electronics can be useful (but not required).
It is not necessary to know X-Plane's data structure and scripts, only a basic understanding of commands and datarefs can be useful for custom data conversion.
Before building a home cockpit (especially if this is your first project), you need to realise that it can be a complex and time-consuming process. Please first carefully study the pages of this site (all information is presented in a fairly understandable form).
The over-commercialization of the home cockpit building hobby over the past decade has resulted in a number of overpriced cockpit parts being introduced into the market that can be simply cheap boxes or bezels with a few buttons and a couple of cheap common components (such as GPS, G1000, etc.), but are often presented as complex devices for home cabins due to the lack of available information, that builders may have to easily make the same "complex" devices themselves.
Any enthusiast with the desire to create a home cockpit simulator has an opportunity to get all needed technical information, and know that instead of purchasing expensive hardware, they can build a panel themselves, spending a few hours and using very cheap or free materials and free software.
Of course, there are plenty of reasonably priced cockpit parts and handy “do-it-yourself kits” on the market for home cockpit builders, as well as learning resources, 3D printed parts, free 3D models, etc.
The SimVimX System is very easy to use with your DIY cockpit hardware. You can easily create or change the configuration for your cockpit of any complexity. The firmware is updated automatically after the initial upload from the plugin menu. You don't need to buy something special, all you need is common switches, buttons, LEDs, display modules and one controller board. And few plastics (PVC), wood, cardboard and your hands. Read "To buy or make?" here.
If you are going to buy some panels, modules, devices to implement them in your cockpit and use with SimVimX interface only, note that all you need is that they have the necessary switches, LEDs, displays to which you have free access to connect (solder) wires, without built-in Mega2560 board inside this device.
! We do not provide support for any commercial cockpit hardware that you could buy somewhere as a module for SimVimX interface.
We are not responsible for any problems that you may encounter, or once this device stops working after next SimVimX firmware automatic update or with newer SimVimX plugin.
If you produce and sell hardware for home cockpit builders and you would like it to be used with the SimVimX, please consider the following:
- It is forbidden to use software in any commercial products, to embed SimVimX firmware (or older ArdSimX) to any commercial hardware and use it as a part of commercial panels and modules. It's not allowed to distribute your products with any SimVim, SimVimX, SimVimPanel software or keep any of our files on other web resources and include them in the package of any products you sell.
SimVimX/SimVimPanel software can be freely downloaded from this website only.
This project is in a constant development, the hardware design can be improved and extended, the communication protocol can be changed frequently. The firmware has changed significantly from version to version several times to comply the SimVim(X) plugin protocol, and further changes may be made to the protocol and configuration.
For the purposes of children education and creativity in some non-profit institutions, museums, or schools (NO MILITARY purpose!), you can contact us and we will concider a way to provide a version for you.
