Lua C Fly Script
Summary
Lua is a popular scripting language designed to extend platforms written in some other language, particularly C/C++ that, usefully, X-Plane is written in. In answer to the question 'can I do this...' in X-Plane, the answer is 'yes'. If Laminar haven't already implemented it then you can add that capability yourself via X-Plane's support for 'plugins', and those are most straightforwardly produced in Lua. X-Plane has a comprehensive programming interface (SDK API) available in the more complex and detailed 'C/C++' programming language and the Lua support in X-Plane is effectively a bridge from that simpler language to this API.
This Lua script will calculate the GPS heading your plane is flying and give the following outputs: PHDG - GPS Heading. Hout - Bearing of the plane from the pilot (start) location. If you fly due north, this should say 0. Hbak - Bearing for the plane to return to the pilot (start) location. Pastebin.com is the number one paste tool since 2002. Pastebin is a website where you can store text online for a set period of time. OP SCRIPT NEW ARSENAL HACK (AIMBOT, ESP, FLY, WALKSPEED AND MANY MORE!). Status: WORKING. OP LUA EXECUTOR NEW UPDATED NONSENSE DIAMOND V4.9.4 (FULL LUA EXE, LUA C, MANY MORE) Status: WORKING. OP SCRIPT NEW UPDATED COUNTER BLOX HACK (AIMBOT, KILL ALL, INF MONEY AND MANY MORE) Status: WORKING.
Lua plugins have the advantage of being 'operating system' agnostic, i.e. plugins developed in Lua typically don't care whether X-Plane is running on Windows, Linux or a Mac.
xlua vs. FlyWithLua vs. SASL
An easy point of confusion is that there are three completely independent implementations of Lua as an X-Plane plugin scripting framework. They all exist for the same reason but the basic differences are:
- xlua is developed (nominally for internal use) by Laminar Research (who make X-Plane). So you can write a simple xLua script with reasonable confidence. The fundamental capability required of any plugin support is to read 'datarefs' from the core sim (like the current altitude) and issue 'commands' or publish new 'datarefs' that causes a change to some aspect of your flight (e.g. giving a 'gear up' warning or moving a needle on an instrument). xlua provides this capability and so is suitable for 80% of plugins. But xlua is by far the most limited of the three options (e.g. no sounds, filesystem, debugging). There is neglible documentation
- FlyWithLua has comprehensive support for the X-Plane API, and by using an add-on library can provide a way of natively accessing any methods in the X-Plane SDK API. The code is partly open-source and community support is available. Debugging is primarily based on writing your messages to the X-Plane log file. There doesn't seem to be a definitive FlyWithLua website where you can download the add-on, access its documentation, etc. The documentation is contained within the actual download
- SASL also has comprehensive support for the X-Plane SDK API, and also available is a commercial version for payware add-on developers. Debugging support is well implemented, with a per-project in-sim debug window available to see your error messages.
Resources
Lua language online reference manual.
Lua C Fly Script Roblox
Programming in Lua online programming guide.
X-Plane xlua programming guide
this page contains hints I extracted from a forum thread. Not much else available.
X-Plane FlyWithLua programming guide
Lua Fly Script Roblox Pastebin
FlyWithLua install & first steps:
.. more to come ..
X-Plane SASL programming guide
Lua Fly Script
Homepage for the Scriptable Aviation Simulation Library.
Roblox Lua C Fly Script
SASL forum on X-Plane.org.