FlightSimBuilder 530 Instructions
General Setup
The great news is that this is a Plug and Play solution so once you plug your unit to your PC or Mac, it will recognize it as "FlightSimBuilder 530" joystick.
Once in flight simulator, you would just undock the GPS unit and move it to the unit screen.
If you have FlightSimBuilder 530 v2 (with cables on the back), there are additional functionality available:
1. Power On/Off. "C <-> (left)" hold for 3 seconds
2. LCD Menu Mode ".C" hold for 3 seconds. The top red LED one the left side of the unit will light up indicating you are in LCD menu mode.
2a (once in LCD Menu Mode). Menu Enter "Left Encoder Press"
2b (once in LCD Menu Mode). Menu +/- "Left Encoder Small Knob"
2c (once in LCD Menu Mode). Cycle through different video inputs (VGA->HDMI) ".v"
2d (once in LCD Menu Mode). Exit LCD Menu Mode ".C"
3. Switch between 530 and 430. ".V" hold for 3 seconds
Advanced / Beta functions
4. Encoder Speed Mode. This will enable to increase / decrease encoder speed mode on a scale from 1 to 10 (by default it's 5). However currently, if you increase beyond 5, X-Plane / MSFS will not be able to read it. "Right Small Knob Press" hold for 3 seconds. The bottom red LED one the left side of the unit will light up indicating you are in Encoder Speed mode.
4a (once in Encoder Speed Mode).Encoder Speed Change. "Right Small Knob Rotate". The red LED will blink several times indicating the new encoder speed (i.e. 5 blinks - encoder speed is set to 5)
4b (once in Encoder Speed Mode). Exit Encoder Speed Change. "Right Small Knob Press"
MSFS Mapping
1. Download FlightSimBuilder Launcher
2. Run Setup, this will install the launcher and create a link on desktop
3. Run Launcher from Desktop
2. Select your Installation Type
4. Click "Launch MSFS 2020"
IMPORTANT: There will be no bindings showing in MSFS controls screen. The mapping is maintained in the WASM module since not all 530 functions are available in the controls mapping.
Once it's moved hold Left Alt and press Enter to get rid of header on top.
NOTE: If the GNS530 did not fill full screen, this is a weird MSFS bug. I found that it fill the screen differently when you resize it. Try not resizing the screen but just pop out, move, press ALT+ENT. If it doesn't work you can try to resize first and then ALT+ENT.
6. Optional but recommended. Install WT 530 free mod from the Marketplace.
X-Plane Mapping
There are two opions to get the mapping to X-Plane.
Option 1 (beta).
1. Download configuration .joy file here
2. Place the downloaded file to "X-Plane 11\Resources\joystick configs" folder
3. Open X-Plane and select "FlightSimBuilder GNS 530" on top left side
4. Click "Reset to defaults for FlightSimBuilder GNS 530" on bottom left side
Option 2 (manual). Manually assign buttons (one time) Please see below screenshots of appropriate mapping.
2. To remove the bezel around GPS:
a. If you are using with default X-Plane 530, you need to download the following file Garmin_530_2d.png (right click and select "Save Link As") and place it "\X-Plane 11\Resources\bitmaps\cockpit\radios\GPS FMS" folder. It will ask to replace the default file, say OK.
3. Launch X-Plane
3. Left click on GNS 530 in the sim
4. Click on top right corner to Undock it. The button on the top right corner is somewhat hidden but you can see it in the video.
5. Move the GPS to the unit screen
If you are using Reality-XP GNS 530, you can find the instructions on how to remove bezel in the RealityXP instructions. Here is a quick summary
1. Open X-Plane folder and find you favorite airplane folder location (i.e. X-Plane 11\Aircraft\Carenado CT210M_Centurion)
2. Find RealityXP.GNS.ini file, right click and select Edit
3. Find nobezel = false
4. Change it to nobezel = true