SimConnect module

The SimConnect module reads flight data from a Microsoft Flight Simulator or Lockheed Martin Prepar3D installation over Microsoft’s SimConnect API, and publishes the user’s own aircraft as one entity per capture tick. It is read-only: it never writes state back into the simulator.

One module, two simulators

SimConnect Module appears once in the module catalogue, but there are two separate builds behind it, one per simulator:

Build	Simulator
`SimConnectMsfs`	Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024
`SimConnectPrepar3D`	Lockheed Martin Prepar3D v6

Install whichever matches the simulator on that workstation. They are not interchangeable: each bundles that simulator’s own vendor SimConnect client library, and the Prepar3D build adds weapons/combat and cockpit-display capture that the MSFS build does not have - see Data produced.

A different lifecycle from most modules

Both packages run continuously from the moment HEAT Capture starts, independent of any capture session, the same way the Open DIS module does. That is what lets this module start and stop a capture session by itself as the simulation starts running or pauses - see Configure.

Vendor binaries and licensing

Both packages bundle their simulator’s own SimConnect client binaries, which are vendor SDK material, not VRAI’s. Redistribution terms differ by simulator: treat a Prepar3D package as restricted to recipients who already hold a Prepar3D license, and confirm MSFS’s SimConnect redistribution terms for your specific deployment before distributing that package externally. This is packaging guidance, not a legal determination - confirm with whoever owns licensing decisions for your deployment.

Interface Control Document

See Interface control document for simulator variants, connection and reconnect lifecycle, variable mappings and units, automatic session control and frame publication.