How to: using the charts

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Slayer
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How to: using the charts

Post by Slayer » Fri Dec 27, 2019 3:01 pm

I've seen quite a few comments about not being able to use the charts function. I understand there are no directions how to do it so here is a short tutorial. No it is not Navigraph but it DOES work.

Finding the "Milviz charts manager":

1.The quickest way to locate the program you will use to load the charts is to right click the MVAMS icon on your desktop and pick "open file location".
2. In this MVAMS folder you will have a "utilities" folder in the folder is a program named "ChartsManager.exe"
3. Right click , hold and drag to desktop when you release RMB choose the "create shortcut here" so you have a program shortcut for future use

Getting usable charts into the program:
1. You will need .jpg files of airport diagrams , approaches etc. I use flightaware.com Here you can type in any airport ICAO code in the search box and on the subsequent page you have a tab for "IFR plates" The files you will download from here are all .PDF so you will have to convert them to .jpg
2. Download whatever plates you plan to use for your flight
3. Go to the Microsoft store from your start button . There are 2 free programs you can use to convert the .pdf to .jpg I tried two they both work ok. 1st one is called "pdf to jpg" the 2nd is called "Any PDF to JPG"
4. Convert your downloads. Rename if necessary I recomend naming them exactly the same name as flight aware used.

Using the charts:
1. Open the charts manager
2. Add an airport, add a diagram etc one the airport is added you can add the approach plate or whatever else you have converted. It's fairly straight forward so I'm not going into great detail on this part.

Once you are in P3D and loaded into the aircraft, fill out your flight plan as normal, below the FMC are the buttons to access the charts , press chart and a menu on middle display will show your departure and arrival airports. When you are on this screen you can either use the little joystick on the 2d FMC by clicking the arrows and the "push select button" OR you can use the arrow keys and enter on your keyboard (with the chart active it temporarily takes over those keys)

Press the ESC button below the FMC to close the chart. The ZOOM and rotate functions don't work but IMO what is displayed is fine.

Ephedrin
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Re: How to: using the charts

Post by Ephedrin » Fri Dec 27, 2019 6:30 pm

I would have hoped for an even more complicated and time consuming way.. But I see that Milviz have probably thought of those who don't have a Navigraph subscription.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the explanation.

matpietsch
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Re: How to: using the charts

Post by matpietsch » Fri Dec 27, 2019 6:47 pm

As long as Navigraph is coming with the service pack...

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doodlebug
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Re: How to: using the charts

Post by doodlebug » Fri Dec 27, 2019 6:59 pm

.pngs can also be imported

iangrant1981
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Re: How to: using the charts

Post by iangrant1981 » Fri Dec 27, 2019 8:34 pm

Another method for saving the charts as JPEG is to use the snip tool while the chart is open in your browser. If you are unfamiliar, snip lets you grab a section of your current screen with a marquee and allows you to copy it to the clipboard or save it as a number of image formats including jpeg. Click the start menu and type 'snip' and it will come up.

matpietsch
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Re: How to: using the charts

Post by matpietsch » Fri Dec 27, 2019 10:08 pm

Or i just open the navigraph browser

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trevorbair
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Re: How to: using the charts

Post by trevorbair » Sat Dec 28, 2019 6:16 am

Trying to add my own from a PDF source but I'm not sure what the size of the image should be? As mentioned above, the zoom and rotate orientation buttons don't appear to do anything. For example, here is the airport diagram for APA being cut off (at the native chart dimensions scaled down to 800w x 1300h jpg).

Image

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Slayer
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Re: How to: using the charts

Post by Slayer » Sat Dec 28, 2019 2:19 pm

Unsure what size it expects. Maybe try the charts from flightaware. All of them I tried from there worked.

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trevorbair
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Re: How to: using the charts

Post by trevorbair » Sat Dec 28, 2019 8:37 pm

I had the chance to mess around with the charts feature a little more and had decent luck with converting the airport diagram to a 1:1 sized jpg converted from my source PDF. Since the chart scroll buttons don't seem to work, this accomplishes what I'm after for now.

Image

Also did some more digging and found that the chart manager associates files with an airport and stores the .jpgs/.pngs in separate directories in %localappdata%\Milviz\ECV\{Airport ID}. Though I'm still trying to figure out the naming convention to get the corresponding approach charts to show up - is there a trick? I see that APD.jpg/png is the airport diagram, which works just fine. However, any file I've associated via the chart manager and confirmed it was placed in the APP folder (or ARR, DEP, or DIA folders) doesn't show up in the charts menu on the MFD. I've setup the FMS with the approach I'd like to fly and verified it's in the correct place with the chart manager but nothing appears other than the airport diagram for the destination. Then again, perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself and there will be documentation forthcoming with details... ;)

paul.ziegler96
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Re: How to: using the charts

Post by paul.ziegler96 » Sun Dec 29, 2019 9:47 pm

Is there any plan to implement Navigraph Charts directly into this function?

alex.767
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Re: How to: using the charts

Post by alex.767 » Sun Dec 29, 2019 10:13 pm

paul.ziegler96 wrote:
Sun Dec 29, 2019 9:47 pm
Is there any plan to implement Navigraph Charts directly into this function?
Supposedly it’s coming with the service pack.

Turbofandude
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Re: How to: using the charts

Post by Turbofandude » Wed Mar 04, 2020 10:41 pm

Navigraph, zoom, pan, and rotate are all implemented in the beta version. https://gyazo.com/ab32c8ec280d855856a694e4905b702b

kimmry
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Re: How to: using the charts

Post by kimmry » Thu Mar 05, 2020 12:14 am

Turbofandude wrote:
Wed Mar 04, 2020 10:41 pm
Navigraph, zoom, pan, and rotate are all implemented in the beta version. https://gyazo.com/ab32c8ec280d855856a694e4905b702b
HOLY moly!

THAT is one sexy aircraft WITH Navigraph charts! AMAZING! Milviz keeps surprising!

The KA350 is one of the best if not T.H.E best addon so far!!

Hope FMC inputs as well can be added so we can use keyboard such as PMDG, FSLabs and Aerosoft has!

matpietsch
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Re: How to: using the charts

Post by matpietsch » Thu Mar 05, 2020 9:21 am

Turbofandude wrote:
Wed Mar 04, 2020 10:41 pm
Navigraph, zoom, pan, and rotate are all implemented in the beta version. https://gyazo.com/ab32c8ec280d855856a694e4905b702b
Looks great, that was really missing!

matpietsch
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Re: How to: using the charts

Post by matpietsch » Thu Mar 05, 2020 10:17 am

kimmry wrote:
Thu Mar 05, 2020 12:14 am
Turbofandude wrote:
Wed Mar 04, 2020 10:41 pm
Navigraph, zoom, pan, and rotate are all implemented in the beta version. https://gyazo.com/ab32c8ec280d855856a694e4905b702b
HOLY moly!

THAT is one sexy aircraft WITH Navigraph charts! AMAZING! Milviz keeps surprising!

The KA350 is one of the best if not T.H.E best addon so far!!

Hope FMC inputs as well can be added so we can use keyboard such as PMDG, FSLabs and Aerosoft has!
Keyboard is there with 1.0.6. just click on the scratchpad line. :)


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