Camera Deck for ChasePlane (Stream Deck plugin)

From ACMS Digital Systems, makers of Datalink Pro: a Windows app that puts a virtual ACARS terminal in your MSFS 2020 or 2024 cockpit, with an automated airline dispatch office on the other end.

A group open (seats laid out as a cabin)	SimDeck's main page, restyled to match

Setup guide for users: docs/Camera Deck for ChasePlane Setup Guide.pdf.

Stream Deck keys and dials for ChasePlane in MSFS 2024: your camera groups and views, live traffic, nearest airport and runway cameras, and Smart Cam, which picks cameras by flight phase. The plugin mirrors what ChasePlane reports, live, over ws://localhost:8652. It never changes ChasePlane, through its API or its files, and it only reads from the sim.

Built for the owner's Stream Deck + XL (its six dials and the packed profile assume that layout), MSFS 2024 from Steam (ChasePlane's group files are read from %APPDATA%\Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024\WASM\...) and Windows. UUID com.acms.chaseplane; the version is in the manifest.

The camera folders on the SimDeck profile are built by the generator in tools/generate/ (see its README). Verified ChasePlane facts and open work are in PLAN.md.

Actions

Action	Press	Key shows	Settings
Camera	Switches ChasePlane to the view (set_view_by_guid)	Glow (state 1) while that view is active	guid, name, mode, draw, liveTitle
Flashlight	cam_flashlight_toggle	Glow while sim_state.flashlight_enabled	none
Cinematic	cam_cinematic_toggle	Glow while cam_mode_set.cinematic_enabled	none
Traffic Slot	Camera to that aircraft (cam_go_to_traffic)	Aircraft number slot of ChasePlane's traffic list, drawn in the airline color; glow while viewed	slot
Traffic Page	Previous or next page of slots	Page as 2/5	direction (-1 or 1)
My Aircraft	Camera back to your aircraft (user_aircraft_track)	Fixed image	none
Status	Nothing	Green dot, CHASEPLANE and the loaded aircraft while connected; red OFFLINE while not (the plugin retries every 3 s)	none
Deck Key	Depends on its job (below)	One key of the live deck, drawn by the plugin	none; its job comes from its position
Deck Dial	Depends on its dial (below)	Its section of the touch strip	none; its job comes from its position

Deck Key: a page filled with Deck Keys works like an app, entirely live.

• Home: one row each for onboard, outside and world; the area's name in column 1, then its groups in ChasePlane's order with their view counts. A group shows only while it has views on the loaded aircraft; the group holding the active camera glows.
• A group: A1 returns home; the other Deck Keys show the group's views in ChasePlane's order, the active one glowing. When they do not fit, the last two keys page.
• Groups come from ChasePlane's group files (work\group\onboard|outside|world\*.json), which the API does not report; the plugin reads them, never writes them, and rereads them when they change. Views come from the API; each names its group (profile_preset).
• Hold to peek: hold a view key for half a second or more and the camera goes back to the one before when you let go. A quick press switches as usual.
• node tools/testbed.cjs fills page 1 of CP Test Bed: Deck Keys, plus Flashlight, Cinematic, My Aircraft and Traffic at columns 6 to 9 of the bottom row. Quit Stream Deck first; it backs up the profile to tools/backup_testbed/.

Deck Dial, by position on the + XL (turn / push; a tap on the touch strip counts as a push):

Dial	Turn	Push
1 Group	Steps through the groups; the deck keys follow	Home
2 View	Steps through the open group's views (else the active camera's group)	Its first view
3 Mode	Cockpit, Exterior, World, then the nearest Tower and Runway, every runway end at the airport by name (RWY 36L), the nearest Parking and Spotting	Frees a look-at lock
4 Cinematic	Next shot	Cinematics on/off
5 Director	Stopped: Smart Cam or Auto Tour. Auto Tour running: its speed, 5 to 120 s	Start, stop, or resume from HOLD
6 Traffic	Steps through nearby AI aircraft, colored by airline	Back to your aircraft

Director:

• Smart Cam reads the sim (SimConnect, read only) and works out the flight phase: GATE, TAXI OUT, TAKEOFF, CLIMB, CRUISE, DESCENT, APPROACH, LANDING, TAXI IN, AT GATE (Datalink Pro's OOOI thresholds, src/sim/phase.ts). Each phase tours ChasePlane groups of one theme every 20 s: spot views at the gate, airframe cameras taxiing, runway for takeoff and landing, chase in climb and descent, ChasePlane's cinematics in cruise, tower on approach, parking at the gate. Without the sim it waits. Checked at the gate only; a full flight test is pending.
• Auto Tour moves through the group open on the deck (else the active camera's group) every 15 s, and follows when another group is opened.
• Choosing a camera yourself puts either on HOLD; a push resumes.

Camera settings:

• guid picks the view. World views (Tower, Traffic and the rest) get new GUIDs, so name and mode are kept too: a GUID ChasePlane no longer lists falls back to the same name and mode, and the saved GUID is updated. With no match the key shows an alert.
• draw: the plugin draws the key, name and tags in the view's ChasePlane theme color, for views without a glyph image.
• liveTitle: the plugin keeps the title on ChasePlane's current name and tags, so renames show without regenerating. A title stored on the key wins over it.
• The property inspector lists every view as INT|EXT|WORLD · name (tags).

Naming views and groups in ChasePlane

Keys show names as ChasePlane serves them, so the names are the layout:

• Views: SUBJECT / DETAIL in capitals, at most two lines of about 9 characters (13 at most; longer is cut). / (a slash with a space each side) breaks the line: GOPRO / CAPT 1. F/O and WATER/TOILET (no spaces) stay whole. Names up to 11 characters need no break.
• Leave out the side: ChasePlane adds L, R, FWD, MID and AFT from the camera position and the key shows them on its bottom line.
• Groups: 10 characters or fewer. The group name is the caption band on every one of its view keys; up to 11 shows at full size, longer shrinks, past about 17 it is cut.
• Same words every time: CAPT, F/O, FWD, AFT, ENG, GSX; CLOSE for close-ups.
• Seats: a name ending in row and letter (1A, SEAT 14F) lays its group out as a cabin, one deck row per letter, front to back.
• | also breaks a line, but ChasePlane drops it when it loads its view files ("GOPRO|CAPT 1" came back "GOPROCAPT 1", 2026-10-31), so it lasts only until the next sim start. Group names keep it, since the plugin reads groups from ChasePlane's files.

The traffic list follows ChasePlane Remote's traffic filters. Page size is the highest slot number on the page.

Build, package, install

npm install
npm run build
npx streamdeck pack com.acms.chaseplane.sdPlugin -o dist --force

Double-click dist\com.acms.chaseplane.streamDeckPlugin to install it. Raise Version in the manifest first: Stream Deck skips a package whose version is already installed ("AlreadyInstalled" in its log, 2026-10-27) and replaces the installed copy otherwise.

Developer mode is off in Stream Deck on this PC. Stream Deck then does not load a copy linked with streamdeck link (its keys show "unable to identify plugin"), and it refuses streamdeck restart ("Feature only enabled in developer mode" in its log). So every code change goes through build, pack and install.

Source

File	Does
src/plugin.ts	Registers the actions and connects
src/chaseplane/client.ts	The one ChasePlane connection: handshake, requests by id with timeout, reconnect, events for camera, flashlight, views, traffic and the airport's runways
src/chaseplane/groups.ts	Reads ChasePlane's group files (read only) and watches them
src/chaseplane/themes.ts	Key colors per ChasePlane theme and the view tags (L, R, FWD, MID, AFT)
src/sim/sim.ts, src/sim/phase.ts	Read-only SimConnect link and the flight phase
src/actions/deck.ts	Deck Key: the live home screen, group pages, traffic group, hold to peek
src/actions/dial.ts	Deck Dial: the six dials and their touch strip
src/actions/director.ts	Smart Cam and Auto Tour
src/actions/key-style.ts	Draws every key and touch-strip section
src/actions/status.ts	Status key
src/actions/camera.ts	Camera action
src/actions/view-key.ts	Drawn camera keys and two-line names
src/actions/toggles.ts	Flashlight and Cinematic
src/actions/traffic.ts	Traffic Slot, Traffic Page, My Aircraft
src/actions/traffic-key.ts	Drawn traffic keys
com.acms.chaseplane.sdPlugin/	Manifest, images, property inspector (ui/camera.html); bin/ is built

Tools for checking ChasePlane by hand (they read, except where a mode toggles something and puts it back):

Tool	Does
node tools/probe.mjs switch	Switches to another camera and back, logs cam_mode_set
node tools/probe.mjs toggles	Flashlight and cinematic on, then off again
node tools/probe.mjs idle [seconds]	Holds a silent connection, reports if it drops
node tools/probe_traffic.mjs	Logs the ai_traffic pushes
node tools/probe/cp_command.mjs <command> ['<json>']	Sends one ChasePlane command, prints the reply and pushes (changes the camera)
node tools/probe/simconnect_probe.mjs	Reads the flight-phase values from the sim once

Licence note: node-simconnect (LGPL-3.0-or-later) is bundled into bin/plugin.js.

When something goes wrong

What you see	Cause and fix
Keys say "unable to identify plugin"	The plugin is not installed. Install the package (above).
Keys do nothing, dropdown empty	ChasePlane is not running, or the plugin has not reconnected. Start the sim and ChasePlane; if it persists, quit Stream Deck from the tray and start it again.
A camera key shows an alert	ChasePlane has no view with that GUID, name and mode. Pick the view again in the key's dropdown.

The plugin's log is in %APPDATA%\Elgato\StreamDeck\Plugins\com.acms.chaseplane.sdPlugin\logs\; Stream Deck's own log is %APPDATA%\Elgato\StreamDeck\logs\StreamDeck.log.