Volanta

Volanta is an easy-to-use smart flight tracker that integrates flight data across all major flight simulators including FlightGear.

Getting started

Windows

1. Download the Volanta installer from here and run the installer.
2. Open Volanta with administrator permissions (If already open, close Volanta completely by right clicking the Volanta icon on the system tray and pressing exit).
3. Once a Volanta account is created and logged in, Volanta will automatically search for available flight simulators and prompt to install the FlightGear plugin.
4. Press install and follow the prompt shown in Volanta to add the C:\Users\USERNAME\FlightGear\Downloads\fgdata_2024_1\Addons\volanta folder to your add-on modules in the FlightGear Launcher.
5. Fly!

Ubuntu

1. Download the Volanta AppImage from here.
2. Make the file executable by right clicking on it and selecting "Executable as program". After that, run the file.
3. Once a Volanta account is created and logged in, Volanta will automatically search for available flight simulators and prompt to install the FlightGear plugin.
4. Press install and follow the prompt shown in Volanta to add a folder to your add-on modules in the FlightGear Launcher.
5. Fly!

Common issues

I press Install (plugin) in Volanta and it says installed but Settings > Simulators show uninstalled

Windows

You're probably storing your FlightGear data directory in a different location than the default. There are two ways to fix this: you can either manually copy the files to your FlightGear data folder or even better - use a simpler workaround.

Option A: The AppData Workaround (Simpler)

FlightGear doesn't actually require you to copy the add-on to the FlightGear data directory. Therefore, there's a simpler solution where you don't even need to know where the FlightGear data is located, and the Volanta add-on files are stored in one place:

1. Go to the %appdata%\Orbx\Volanta\plugins\ directory.
2. Create the FGData\Protocol subdirectories there, i.e., %appdata%\Orbx\Volanta\plugins\FGData\Protocol\.
3. Copy the %appdata%\Orbx\Volanta\plugins\volanta.xml file to the %appdata%\Orbx\Volanta\plugins\FGData\Protocol\ directory.
4. In the FlightGear Launcher go to "Add-ons" tab, click "Add" button by "Add-on Module folders" section and select the %appdata%\Orbx\Volanta\plugins folder or add the option --addon=C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Orbx\Volanta\plugins in the additional settings/command line options. You must change "USERNAME" to the actual username of your system.

This solution means that the FlightGear simulator will mark the plugin as not installed in the Volanta settings, but that doesn't affect anything. You can also uncheck the plugin installation notifications option if you don't want Volanta to nag you about it, as the tracking will work fine for FlightGear anyway.

Option B: Manual copy to the FGData directory

If you want Volanta to explicitly show the plugin as "Installed" in its Settings > Simulators menu, you must manually copy the files to your FlightGear data directory. By default, FlightGear downloads its data to a specific folder (like fgdata_2024_1, default: %UserProfile%\FlightGear\Downloads\fgdata_2024_1\). You can manually copy the Volanta plugin files there:

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to your FlightGear data directory. By default, it is located at: %UserProfile%\FlightGear\Downloads\fgdata_2024_1.
2. Inside that folder, create a new folder named Addons, and then inside it, create a subfolder named volanta (resulting in the path: ...\fgdata_2024_1\Addons\volanta).
3. Open another File Explorer window and go to the Volanta plugins folder: %appdata%\Orbx\Volanta\plugins\.
4. Copy all files starting with addon- (e.g., addon-config.xml, addon-main.nas, etc.) and paste them into the newly created Addons\volanta folder.
5. Go back to the %appdata%\Orbx\Volanta\plugins\ folder, copy the volanta.xml file, and paste it into the Protocol folder inside your FlightGear data directory. (Resulting in the path: ...\fgdata_2024_1\Protocol).
6. Finally, in the FlightGear Launcher go to "Add-ons" tab, click "Add" button by "Add-on Module folders" section and select the C:\Users\USERNAME\FlightGear\Downloads\fgdata_2024_1\Addons\volanta directory or add the option --addon=C:\Users\USERNAME\FlightGear\Downloads\fgdata_2024_1\Addons\volanta in the additional settings/command line options. Remember to replace "USERNAME" with your actual Windows username.

Ubuntu

If FlightGear was installed from a repository or from a package, FlightGear files are located in the system directory. Volanta doesn't have permission to change or write here so you have to install the plugin manually. However, FlightGear doesn't require you to copy the add-on to the FlightGear data directory, which Volanta doesn't seem to know about. Therefore, there's a simpler solution, see #Volanta_can't_recognize_FlightGear_and_it_doesn't_prompt_to_install_the_plugin_(Ubuntu_specific)

However, if you want Volanta to notify you that the plugin is installed, execute the following commands in the Linux console:

sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/games/flightgear/Addons/volanta
sudo cp ~/.config/Orbx/Volanta/plugins/addon-* /usr/share/games/flightgear/Addons/volanta/
sudo cp ~/.config/Orbx/Volanta/plugins/volanta.xml /usr/share/games/flightgear/Protocol/

Now in the FlightGear launcher, specify the add-on location as /usr/share/games/flightgear/Addons/volanta/ or add the --addon=/usr/share/games/flightgear/Addons/volanta/ option in the additional settings.

Volanta plugin is "unable to be installed due to permissions" (Windows specific)

Exit Volanta completely (from taskbar) then reopen the program with administrator permissions.

Volanta can't recognize FlightGear and it doesn't prompt to install the plugin (Ubuntu specific)

This issue occurs when FlightGear is run from an AppImage file. Because the simulator doesn't use standard installation paths, Volanta cannot find it automatically and won't prompt you to install the plugin.

Fortunately, FlightGear's flexible add-on system allows us to completely bypass Volanta's default (and somewhat clunky) installation method. You don't actually need to copy any files into FlightGear's internal data directories. Instead, we can set up a minimal add-on structure directly inside Volanta's config folder and simply tell FlightGear to read it from there.

You can set this up using either the terminal or your file manager.

Option A: Using the Terminal (Faster)

Open your terminal and paste the following commands to create the directories and copy the file automatically:

cd ~/.config/Orbx/Volanta/plugins
mkdir -p FGData/Protocol
cp volanta.xml FGData/Protocol/

Option B: Manual Setup

1. Open your file manager and go to the ~/.config/Orbx/Volanta/plugins directory.
2. Inside it, create a new folder named FGData.
3. Open the FGData folder and create a subfolder named Protocol.
4. Copy the volanta.xml file (from the plugins folder) and paste it into the newly created FGData/Protocol directory.

Final Step: FlightGear Launcher Setup

Once the files are in place, you must tell FlightGear where the add-on is located.

In the FlightGear launcher, do one of the following (remember to change "USERNAME" to your actual Linux username):

• go to "Add-ons" tab, click "Add" button by "Add-on Module folders" section and select the /home/USERNAME/.config/Orbx/Volanta/plugins folder.
• OR add the following parameter in the additional settings/command line options: --addon=/home/USERNAME/.config/Orbx/Volanta/plugins

Note: The plugin is now fully installed. Even though it still might not appear in Volanta under Settings > Simulators, the tracking will work correctly once you start your flight.

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