HOWTO Guide for Livewire Assistant v0.2.594

This HOWTO Guide, or cookbook, covers only a small amount of the functionality of Livewire Assistant (LWA). The most complete guide to LWA features is currently the Primer which is available on the Bitspring web site and is also included in the LWA installation package. This guide is a collection of step-by-step instructions to perform some of the most basic functions for new users of LWA.

1. How do I install Livewire Assistant?
2. What should I do the first time I run Livewire Assistant?
3. How do I launch an unmodified flight?
4. How do I launch a custom flight?
5. How do I use Sim Run-up?

How do I download and install Livewire Assistant?

Note: LWA does not have an automated installation program for a number of reasons. It is, instead, released as a compressed archive of files that can be installed to any empty directory.

1. Download a version of LWA from the official LWA site, only. It is available as a compressed ZIP, as a compressed RAR, and as a compressed EXE. If you have a utility to extract the files from the ZIP or RAR, you can use that version. Otherwise, the EXE version is self-extracting and will ask you where to extract its contents. Always scan files downloaded from the internet with an up-to-date virus scanning utility.
2. Extract the files to any empty directory. You should create a new directory for this purpose.
3. The file LWAssistant.exe is the program file that launches LWA. You may wish to create a shortcut to this file on your desktop or Start menu.

What should I do the first time I run Livewire Assistant?

1. When launched, LWA will ask if you wish to run LWA in Livewire mode or Universal mode. All current or aspiring pilots of Livewire VA, should choose Livewire mode. All other pilots should choose Universal mode. This can be changed .later.
2. File->Refresh Local Flight Cache
3. File->Refresh Local Aircraft Cache (It is not necessary to refresh the local panel cache at this time as this is done automatically whenever the aircraft cache is refreshed.)

How do I launch an unmodified flight?

Note: Generally you will want to launch customized flights instead of the default unmodified flights as most of LWA's functionality is based on launching customized flights and therefore most of these features will not be enabled.

1. Ensure Action->Flight Launch is Enabled is showing in the Action menu. Otherwise, click on Action->Flight Launch is Disabled to enable Flight Launch.
2. Select a flight in the Flight List by clicking on it. It should become highlighted.
3. Action->Launch Flight

How do I launch a custom flight?

1. Set all settings per your preference in the Flight, Aircraft, Panel, Simulator, and Options menus.
2. Ensure Action->Flight Launch is Enabled is showing in the Action menu. Otherwise, click on Action->Flight Launch is Disabled to enable Flight Launch.
3. Select a flight in the Flight List by clicking on it. It should become highlighted.
4. If Use Selected Aircraft is enabled, ensure that you select an aircraft in the Aircraft List by clicking on it. It should become highlighted.
5. If Use Selected Panel is enabled, ensure that you select a panel in the Panel Selection List by clicking on it. It should become highlighted and indicated in the bar just above the list.
6. Action->Launch Customized Flight

How do I use Sim Run-up?

Note: Sim Run-up is a sophisticated feature requiring complex synchronization between LWA and MSFS. On some systems, it will not work as reliably as most. The only dysfunctional symptoms you might encounter are that Sim Run-up does not start or does not stop. To resolve the latter, simply hit the Abort button in Options View->Flight Options->Sim Run-Up.
Prerequisites: FSUIPC.dll (version 3.12 or greater) must be installed.

1. Ensure Simulator->FSUIPC Features are Enabled. Otherwise, click on Simulator->FSUIPC Features are Disabled to enable them.
2. Ensure Simulator->Sim Run-Up is Enabled. Otherwise, click on Simulator->Sim Run-Up is Disabled to enable it.
3. If the Options View is not currently showing, click on Options->Show Options.
4. (The Sim Run-up settings section is in the Flight Options section.)
5. Set Minutes to the number of minutes to run-up the simulator. The default value of 10 minutes seems to work well.
6. Set Accel to the time acceleration rate to use for Sim Run-up. Unless MSFS is unable to cope with the maximum value of 4x, it should be used to minimize the time the run-up will take.
7. (Set any other settings per your preference.)
8. Action->Launch Customized Flight
9. (Once the flight has launched, Sim Run-up should engage. The flight will start Minutes minutes early and time acceleration will be set to Accel. This will continue until Minutes minutes have elapsed. At this time, MSFS will pause.)