Fergo Virtual CDU

For Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and PMDG 737

USER MANUAL

Last updated: 11/07/2022

http://fcdu.fergonez.net
1. INTRODUCTION
Fergo Virtual CDU (FCDU for short) is a virtual Control Display Unit for MSFS’ PMDG 737
aircraft series. It allows you to remote control the plane's FMC externally with soft-
buttons on the screen and have a 1:1 representation of the display in real time.

As it’s accessible through your regular web-browser, you can use it in a second monitor
or any other device connected to your home network, such as a phone or tablet.

The software consists of two fragments:

Server: Windows software (Fergo CDU.exe) that connects to MSFS, interfaces with the
aircraft, retrieves CDU data and send button commands through the SimConnect
interface. The server must be run in the same computer as MSFS.

Client: a web page, accessible with any modern browser, that connects to the server and
acts as the front-end of the remote CDU. This is where all the interaction takes place.
The client can be accessed on any device on the same network (or even on the same
computer as the server), as it’s simply a web page.

2. REQUIREMENTS AND INSTALLATION

You will need the following software and components to properly use Fergo Virtual CDU:

• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 – Steam or Microsoft Store version

• PMDG 737 for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
o Versions: 3.00.0024, 3.00.0025
• Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.6.1 or above (Windows 10 version 1511
includes this by default)
• Firefox, Chrome or Edge to access the remote CDU

Installation is very uncluttered and straightforward. Simply extract the contents of the
ZIP into a folder of your choice (not inside the Community folder) and run Fergo
CDU.exe.

3. FIRST TIME LAUNCH

When using Fergo Virtual CDU for the first time, you’ll be prompted with the following
steps:

1) Activate the product

FCDU uses an offline and hassle-free activation process. Just enter the serial number
you were given when purchasing the product into the activation form and you are good
to go.
2) Check for proper PMDG configuration

FCDU will then check if the PMDG configuration file 737_Options.ini is properly
configured to broadcast the CDU display. The program will automatically look for the file
and add the required entries. Before making any modification, a backup copy
737_Options_backup.ini is created in the same directory as the original file.

It’s highly recommended that you let FCDU automatically change this file for you. If not
properly configured, the CDU display won’t work.

3) Firewall rules

FCDU will automatically check and add firewall rules for the HTTP and web socket ports
required for the server to run properly. If the rules can’t be automatically added,
Windows will also ask you to allow incoming connections to the software. This should
be allowed, otherwise FCDU client won’t be able to connect to the server.

4. USAGE

After the initial steps above are completed on the first launch, you’ll be greeted with the
software’s main screen, which looks like this:
FCDU is basically config-free. Simply run the program and you are good to go!

You can access the remote CDU using the button Launch CDU on web browser, which
will execute the web client in your default browser, or by manually typing one of the
following addresses:

a. If you want to access the client on the same computer as the server:

http://localhost:8080/ or http://127.0.0.1:8080/

b. If you want to access the client from another device connected on the same
home network (phone, tablet, etc.):

In this case, you need to know your local IP address. FCDU already helps you in
this regard and the address you need to type into the device’s web-browser is
shown in the log window. In the above example, if I wanted to use my phone as
the CDU, I’d open its browser and type:

http://192.168.1.100:8080

By default, the server runs on port 8080 (HTTP) and 8081 (WebSocket). You can change
this by simply modifying the HTTP Port field and clicking the Restart servers button.
The WebSocket port is always automatically set to one number above the HTTP port.
When changing the port, always remember to also change it in the web addresses after
the colon, following the pattern http://IP:PORT

The Verbose log checkbox is more of a debug tool. If checked, it shows every event
that is sent and received by the server.

In the image above, FCDU was launched without the simulator running (orange box
displaying Waiting for MSFS…). You can still access the client using the IP addresses
above, but you won’t receive any simulator data:
When FCDU detects that MSFS is running, it will show both boxes on the left as green.
That means that all connections were successfully established, and the software is
running properly.

After you are in-game and inside the cockpit of your PMDG 737, with the CDU properly
powered on, you should be able to see the virtual CDU in your web browser, replicating
what is shown in the game’s CDU.

Fergo Virtual CDU mimic the in-game aircraft and only display data if the in-game
CDU is also powered on and showing data on its screen.

The plane needs to be at least battery powered.

5. TROUBLESHOOTING

a) The application won’t start or is showing a message about .NET framework not
being installed

Download and install .NET Framework from the link below:

https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet-framework/net461

Newer versions should also work just fine

b) Why Fergo Virtual CDU needs administrative privileges to run?

This is needed because FCDU will automatically check and add custom rules into
Windows Firewall to guarantee proper client-server communication. Windows
requires elevated privileges to perform this task.

c) When I try to access the CDU in my web browser, the page won’t load

1) Make sure the green box saying Servers running is shown.

2) Try changing the HTTP Port to something else and restart the server (make
sure you also change the port when typing the IP and port into the address
bar of the browser).
3) Make sure you are typing the IP addresses correctly.
4) Try to use the button Launch CDU on web browser.
5) If you are not running the client in the same computer as the server, make
sure you are typing the local IP address of your machine instead of localhost
or 127.0.0.1 (the correct IP address is shown in the log window).

d) FCDU client only shows “CONNECTED TO SERVER – NO SIM DATA”

The client will only start displaying data after you are inside the plane and the
aircraft is powered. Make sure the in-game CDU is displaying something on its
screen and try refreshing the client page (either by clicking on the display or by
pressing F5)

e) I tried step D above, but I’m still not receiving any data

PMDG needs a special configuration to enable the broadcast of CDU data. FCDU
check this when launching, but if this fails, you can try to change this manually,
following these steps:

1) Open the file 737_Options.ini with Notepad

For the Steam version, this file is located in:

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Flight
Simulator\Packages\pmdg-aircraft-737\work
For the Microsoft Store version, the file is located in:

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimu
lator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\packages\pmdg-aircraft-
737\work

2) Add the following lines to the end of the file:

[SDK]
EnableDataBroadcast=1
EnableCDUBroadcast.0=1
EnableCDUBroadcast.1=1

3) Save the file and restart the sim

f) I’m getting the message “SimConnect message: Client connected but PMDG not
loaded” on the log

You are trying to interact with the CDU without being in-game. FCDU will only
establish communication with the aircraft after the plane is loaded.