| What is "Virtual Flight Online Transmitter" ?
It is a small Windows application that transmits your position in Microsoft Flight Simulator to an online database. Anybody running Transmitter can then be plotted live in LittleNavMap, and on a map at https://virtualflight.online/who.
Why?
If you and your friends want to see each other on mapping software such as LittleNavMap to run your own air traffic control sessions for group flights, you will no doubt have discovered that Microsoft Flight Simulator only communicates AI aircraft to external mapping applications such as LittleNavMap - not users. The VirtualFlight.Online Transmitter application addresses that.
How It Works
The desktop application connects to a running copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator via the SimConnect interface, and reads your aircraft's type, latitude, longitude, altitude, and airspeed. It combines the data with your keyed callsign and name, and sends it to a server on the internet.
The server then provides access to data that has updated in the last 5 minutes in "whazzup" format - a data format commonly used with the likes of VATSIM and IVAO - and crucially LittleNavMap. The URL of the server can be used to configure LittleNavMap to show you and your friends aircraft on the map.
Running the Program
- Launch Microsoft Flight Simulator.
- Run "VirtualFlight.Online Transmitter".
- Fill out the text boxes for your callsign, aircraft type, name, group name, and server URL.
- Click Connect
After clicking connect, the application will broadcast your location within the simulator to the internet once a second.
My Antivirus says Transmitter is unsafe!
Your antivirus is wrong. It's a "false positive". Depending on your antivirus solution, you might need to white-list Transmitter. In Windows defender you can do this by:
1. Visiting "Virus and Threat Protection" in Windows
2. Click on "Protection History"
3. Look in "Recent Threats", and allow Transmitter (or the installer) to run.
Configuring LittleNavMap
If you would like to see everybody broadcasting their position with Virtual Flight Online Transmitter, follow these steps in LittleNavMap:
- Click on the Tools menu
- Click on Options
- Select the Online Flying section within the Options panel
- Choose the radio button for "Custom" within the Online Flying section
- Fill the URL https://virtualflight.online/whazzup_ivao into the URL field (and make sure you have no spaces in the URL)
- Set the update rate to something sensible (e.g. 5 seconds)
- Make sure IVAO is chosen in the format drop-down
- Click Apply, and OK
Who is online?
You can find out who is online at any time by visiting the following URL:
Help Support Transmitter
If you are able to assist with the operating costs and continued development of Transmitter, please consider joining the patreon - for the price of a cup of coffee each month, you'll be helping the entire community.
tiltedracer
Just installed this and love it! One very minor suggestion: As-is, you either have to disable LittleNavMap's user aircraft overlay or you get a ghost of your own plane and its variables on the map, and you also have to reduce your plane's update rate to the same as that used for other aircraft.
It would be really nice if you could disable display of your own plane's position in the map while retaining everyone else so that you could have the best of both worlds: Your own aircraft update quickly by LittleNavMap, and everyone else's online aircraft at a reduced rate using VirtualFlight Online Transmitter.
I get that the whazzup_ivao map is shared between everyone and there's no possibility to filter out a specific user from it in LittleNavMap. A suggestion, though: Could you please consider adding an environment variable option to the URL and allow users to pass their own ID to it, eg: https://virtualflight.online/whazzup_ivao?mycallsignhere and then do the filtering of that user on the server side instead?
Many thanks both for the extremely useful addon and for taking the time to read and consider this request!
aviateur
Just installed the latest version and can't see anybody nor my own red plane on Navmap ?
jonbeckett
If your antivirus software says Transmitter is a virus, it is wrong. It's a "false positive". Depending on your antivirus solution, you might need to white-list Transmitter.
In Windows defender you can do this by:
1. Visiting "Virus and Threat Protection" in Windows
2. Click on "Protection History"
3. Look in "Recent Threats", and allow Transmitter (or the installer) to run.
blb
Sorry I didn't see coments below
blb
FractalSystems 2 month(s) ago
Same
blb
hello, since few days, VFT does not function ???
jonbeckett 4 month(s) ago
Did you read any of the news over the last couple of months both in the app, and on the virtualflight.online website and discord server about the URL changing?
In littlenavmap the URL needs to be:
https://virtualflight.online/whazzup_ivao
blb 4 month(s) ago
Ok, thanks , I did see that 😉
nbrich1
NEW LNM URL (Effective Jan. 4, 2023 >> Whazzup File URL must read: https://virtualflight.online/whazzup_ivao
Grimbo
My antivirus is saying that this contains a Trojan?
jonbeckett 4 month(s) ago
It's a false positive then 😊
wiersma.mc
Looks like a perfect program. But.. it will not connect to the MSFS. Is there another setting within MSFS that I am not aware of. ?
jonbeckett 4 month(s) ago
It should just connect?! I suppose you might have antivirus software that is blocking it? It just reads simconnect data.
antonvs
Hi, I have been using online transmitter for sometime now and wonder if there is a problem since SU11 as I have had several times when LNM loses simconnect connection. And today after it happend again on the second leg of a flight. I shut down the sim and restarted the flight I had been doing without using online transmitter and so far there has been no problem with LNM. Has anyone else reported the same experiance?
jonbeckett 4 month(s) ago
No other reports like this - it may have coincided with me upgrading the servers.
fussvolk
Thats great! Thank you very much!
Now I need a Mod to bring LNM to the Toolbar, because its easier for VR.
jpfil
Hi, I cannot start installer of the new update (2000-09-23). Windows tell me that i have to be logged as admin...
EDIT : problem fixed by a new download version.
jonbeckett 8 month(s) ago
Sorry if it caused trouble 😊
blb
Hello Guys, I don't see other player but a see my plane double!!!! one plane in red and one plane in yellow, but it's still my plane ...does anyone has an explanation to it ??
jonbeckett 11 month(s) ago
If you're seeing both yellow and red planes, it's because you have a different callsign in MSFS than you have in Transmitter 😊
Seralia
Hey, Thanks for ur Work.
It worked with littlenavmap, but maybe there is a way to get it work with Aivlasoft too?
Greetings
jonbeckett 11 month(s) ago
It actually works with anything that will use a whazzup file - if Aviasoft can do that, then you're in luck - if not... not so much luck 😊
Didierma34
Hello,
Good soft, just 2 questions
Why transponder is always 1234 ?
Is your soft is now open source ?
Thanks
jonbeckett 11 month(s) ago
The transponder is always 1234 because there is a bug in the simconnect implementation that I use. I will eventually get around to fixing it.
GAF5006
Thank You so much for this littlew piece of software!
Our Group used JoinFS, because JoinFS showed up the Partners as AI, so that they are visible in LNM. But since update 6 JoinFS has problems to show the orientation of the other Airplanes. It look als if they fly sideways - in MSFS and in LNM - this of course looks very strange.
With Your transmitter we can use the native Multiplayer-System if the MSFS without missing an option to control the gang...
Parorng
Nice, LNM needed something like this!
If flighttracker.tech as been able to do this since alpha, there has to be a way for them to get it to work natively. In the meantime, thanks!
KennyPDY
Nice app and feature that MS doesn't bother to implement. Enjoy the group flight more. Hopefully setting LNM to poll every 2 second will not overload the server.
captmatto
Hey, great little app!
I'm currently building my own webapp in PHP to help with flight planning, sharing and recording and your program looks really interesting! Is it possible to send the data stream to my webapp instead of your own php processor?
I'm assuming it's sending $_POST data to the receiving PHP file?
jonbeckett 2 year(s) ago
It uses very simple GET calls (I kept it very, very simple on purpose) - if you install a packet sniffer you can watch the calls leaving it once a second.
bstikkel
What a great idea, especially the possibility to see groupmembers.
I do know one other addon that should be able to show groupmembers only - FSBlackbox- , but it does not work at my pc.
Would it be possible to devellop your tool in a way it shows group members at the VFRMap in FS2020?
jonbeckett 2 year(s) ago
I have no idea - this tool is very specific in that it targets the whazzup file format which LittleNavMap can show.