sthompson

VAICOM Pro is not a fraud. But before it will work, you need to also purchase a license for VoiceAttack. See the following statement from the VAICOM Pro FAQ: Q: Is this a stand-alone app? A: VAICOM PRO is a plugin specifically for VoiceAttack which means you need to have VoiceAttack (licensed version) installed on your system to be able to use VAICOM PRO. Your screenshots indicate that you are not running a licensed version of VoiceAttack.

No. The training "sticks" whether you do the Finish step or not. Training helps Voice Attack recognize those phrases. But it won't pass them to VAICOM unless you do the Finish step.

It appears you are not using a licensed copy of VoiceAttack. VAICOM requires a licensed version.

skypickle, you are confusing the training process with the Finish process. They are independent. You can train without doing a Finish or vice versa. You need to do the Finish process whenever new keywords are added to the dictionary. Do follow the directions in the Finish instructions exactly. It may appear that you are deleting the entire keyword list and then re-adding it. What you are doing is deleting all keywords from the VA profile and then adding back in all keywords that are in the VA keyword database. Those may seem the same, but they are not the same if the Finish button is hilighted.

Use Multi instead of Normal on the PTT page rotary switch and it will be available. And the ground crew hears anything you say on any radio anyhow, so you don't really need that unless you are stickler for realism.

It's also a good idea to update the registry keys that point to DCS when you move the installed location. Some utilities use these to find the installed location.

@skypickle: The 416 aliases missing issue is not related to the keyword training. It simply means that you haven't copied all of your keywords into the Voice Attack profile so that VA will invoke VAICOM when you say one of them. That's what the "Finish" button, and the dialog that appears when you push it, are all about. It would be nice if VAICOM could do this automatically, but apparently the VA profile needs to be updated with the keyword list manually.

Yup. I see that all the time. I have a button bound to the DCS radio menu, and tapping it twice makes the menu go away. I suspect it has something to do with how VAICOM queries DCS for mission information and status when you first drop into a cockpit.

In another thread Hollywood says that Instant Select is not supposed to tune the radio by design. So I'm a bit puzzled why that was even brought up.

@Weegie: Using a separate PTT to actually talk on SRS is brilliant. Never thought of that. Thanks. @ZBoT: I have not had the trouble you mentioned with VAICOM recognizing "commands" during SRS speech to other players. But then I don't use SRS all that much. Furthermore, using Weegie's approach you would use a different key to talk on SRS even though you are using the same keys to select the radio. That would completely avoid the problem.

I gave up on the VOIP integration also because I didn't like the need to issue an AI command (or "Switch") prior to talking on SRS. However rather than have separate bindings you can just use the same PTT for both, and have whatever you say to the AI go out over the SRS channel. This is not entirely unrealistic because in RL you would be broadcasting calls to ATC, your flight, etc., and anyone on the same frequencies would hear them. (Your team mates on SRS will wonder what you are up to, however, since they aren't used to hearing a player talk to the AI.) It gets unrealistic when you start using VAICOM specific commands such as "Select" or use the radio channels to talk to ground crew. (The latter can be avoided by using a separate keybind for TX6.)

I've created a simple mission with me in one A-10C II and the AI driving another one, NOT my wingman. He doesn't show up on the TAD or HMCS and I can't figure out how to make that happen. Obviously it is happening in Wags' videos. Any clues will be appreciated. Edit: I found that the AI unit was set as A-10C not A-10C II. Changing the unit type solved the problem. Feel free to delete this thread.

Update: Reset my profile and keyword database, and did a DCS repair before restarting. The issues with Krymsk and Krasnodar becoming Hatay and Haiffa are gone, but the problem with Instant Select remains. That is, Instant Select does not tune the radio even if Select Tunes Radio is ticked in the configuration. See attached log file VA log.txt copied from the VA log window. (BTW, is it possible to get VA to save it's own log? It has info about what was heard and recognized that is not in the VAICOMPRO log.)

That's a sign that it does not have a keywords database loaded in VAICOM. I'm guessing that if you press the "Test" button on the Editor page you will get a message in the log about a large number of mismatches. Try pushing the Reload button, and if that doesn't help, then go to the Reset tab and Reset the keywords and profile.

You don't say what you are flying. However I just did a test in the Hornet. It does not show the frequency of the transmission even when using the radio menu instead of VAICOM, so I think that is unrelated, and probably reflects a change in DCS itself. I did see that the little window just above the channel selector (the one that shows an M if you are tuning manually) changes to an inverted triangle while you are transmitting, and this is true whether you use VAICOM or the radio menu. You also do not say whether you are using Select or Instant Select, and whether you have "Select Tunes Radio" turned on. It might be helpful to know more precisely what you are doing to call the carrier. That is, tell us exactly what you do and say, and give us the log file (saved in the VAICOMPRO folders) with debug mode enabled.

I'm sometimes having an issue where I attempt to "Select" an airfield, e.g. "Krymsk, Select" but then find that the command fails with recipient not available. The reported recipient in the log in this case is Hatay -- not on the Caucasus map, even though that is where I am flying. Similarly, "Krasnodar, Select" is recognized but the command fails with recipient Haifa not available reported. It's as if VAICOM is confused about the recipient. "Anapa, Select" works just fine. In each case I've checked the radio tuning and it is correct. I can contact these airfields using the radio menus without trouble. I've also noticed that often when I use Instant Select and Select Tunes Radio at the same time, the radio does not get tuned. For example, if I detune the radio from Anapa and then call "Anapa, Inbound" the call is recognized and an inbound call to Anapa goes out, but the radio tuning does not change to the correct frequency and so there is no response. On the other hand, "Anapa, Select" followed by "Anapa, Inbound" works fine. The first call tunes the radio and the second sends the inbound call, and Anapa responds. I tested all of this in the Mig-15 with Easy Communications turned off. I don't know if these are bugs or a problem with my understanding of how it is supposed to work.

Get VoiceAttack and VAICOM PRO with the enhanced carrier communications option and you can do all of this with your voice using natural language.

Try again. The one I just downloaded from Mudspike is dated 11/11/2020.

You can put pdf files on the kneeboard. Look at the third party utility Kneeboard Builder for an easy path to doing that. Each pdf page becomes a kneeboard page. I'm not sure I would do it with a 300+ page manual, however!

An important caveat is that you sometimes need a lot of rudder to counteract torque/gyro effects when flying warbirds with massive rotary engines, especially when taking off. The engine itself will "throw the nose around" in such aircraft and you need the rudder to counteract it. You sometimes need a lot of rudder to keep the slip indicator centered when lining up guns shots or bomb drops in such planes. Warbirds also often require you to "dance" on the rudders during landing to keep the nose straight and avoid a ground loop. This involves big rudder inputs for a very short period. That said, using curves for the rudder is good advice even in warbirds. And while I don't fly helicopters, my understanding is that the "rudder" (that is, pedal control of the tail rotor) gets a lot of use in those as well. Jets are a lot easier to fly.

I'm a bit unclear about the CH mainboard replacement. Is this for the CH Pro Throttle? For the Fighterstick? For either one or both? Also, I'm wondering whether you have any replacements for the CH throttle ministick. BTW, I finally received my CH sensor only six weeks after you shipped it! It's working great.

Based on current state of that thread, it appears that the new API that permits bypassing export.lua is not yet feature complete. In any event, using the new API would require rewrite by Hollywood. I imagine it will get some attention eventually.

If there is an API then possibly it could distinguish between arrival and departure runways if these are ever different. There are quite a few airports with multiple runways (sometimes parallel as at Nellis) on some of the maps. Even on the free map you have Krasnodar and Sochi.

yes. Same problem.

Can you be more specific about what you mean by "radio buttons?" The F10 menus still work for me using a mouse or function keys..