Boltz

Front Extension WIP & Screen Stand A "fun" project I made a few weeks ago when I realised I needed a step for entering my pit:

Thank you very much! This is a big help to us all.

Very good work. Looks nice!

Hi ClayM, If you are changing switches to matrices then you can change your wiring whenever. That code will not change. As for anything else, you should probably wait till I have final code for that part. Currently everything described in the release is final. Boltz

I have been away for a while so looks like I missed some stuff here. Got a small update to add in soon. When I get some time I will answer some questions and put in the update. Good to hear it is working ClayM and I hope you get flying with your pit soon :)

Works fine for me. I can run a Helios profile and A2DCS with no problems. Don't know what the problem is for you.

I found a couple of small problems in the Arduino.lua. It seems the released version was not the current version I was running. Very strange indeed. I now have confirmation that it works so I will update the folders tonight with an updated Arduino.lua. Thank you everyone for your patience with this small technical problem :)

Helios is only used to create the export.lua. I thought it would be simpler to use it rather than try to create file structures from scratch. It works well so we may as well use it. Helios does nothing else other than setup an export.lua. If you already have an export.lua then you could just insert the dofile line yourself but that will probably complicate matters. I have been busy at work recently but I will write a debug script for you to try. As for what to do next, I think you should wait for me to recreate your setup and find a fix. Should be able to do that tomorrow evening. If you haven't already noticed I have not been near the software for a while so I have forgotten a lot about the formats and exact procedures but I will get back to it. It is amazing when you think something is done just how much more there is to do to finish anything. I just wanted to release A2DCS since I could have kept working on the first release for months more. My niche certainly is not in writing instructions and I certainly see why a lot of freeware, and some payware, has very little instructions. You have to be prepared to do some tweaking, searching and figuring stuff out to get this sort of software running. It may look like a lot to start with but just take a break and go back a few times and quickly it will make a lot of sense. I will look over everything to make it easier to understand but again that will only happen when i have time. Boltz

I will have a think about this tomorrow and then give it a fresh test on a 64 bit machine. There is a debug mode in the arduino sketch but that is for arduino to A2DCS comms. I don't understand it since I did a final test before releasing the code. You could check the generated logs to check if the file is run but I don't remember where they are and I am not near my pit. I will look at it again and create a simple config file for a 2x2 matrix.

I have missed something out in the instructions. You need to open the A2DCS.exe.config file and change the the following line to the same port number as you entered in the arduino.lua. <add key="tcp-port" value="8989"/> Also check that no firewall software is blocking the port.

DCS uses the export.lua in Saved Games/DCS/Scripts. I should have said to use 127.0.0.1 if it is on the same PC as DCS. That option is really there for networking. 3001 came from the myconfig.xml which is the config file I use in my cockpit. C24 is the device ID for the UFC. I left key empty so that you could put in whatever you wanted.

It seems you have fallen victim to my difficult config file. For input it should be: <add key="" value="C24,3001,1" desc="Master Caution Push" /> <add key="" value="C24,3001,0" desc="Master Caution Release" /> The complication is caused because of the way ED has designed DCS. Input and output use a completely different system and that took my a while to understand. I do not know where 144 has come from. I really do apologise for first telling you your config was correct. I was just looking at the controller stuff and skipped the input stuff. Edit: I was wrong. Fixed now

That is very good news! That means that A2DCS has registered the correct switch and has set the correct output command. Now if you follow the instructions in the PDF you will get the interface with DCS set up. After that just start A2DCS and then DCS, load a mission and test it out.

Actually your init string is set for a 3x3 matrix. I first though that was what you were running. For a single 2x2 matrix you could have the rows on pins 40 and 41 with the columns on pins 42 and 43. The init string would be A2DCS[iD:0;DO:2;MI:40,41,42,43;]. A 3x3 matrix with rows on pins 40, 41 and 42 and columns on 43, 44 and 45 would be A2DCS[iD:0;DO:2;MI:40,42,43,45;]. A 5x5 matrix with rows on pins 40-44 and columns on rows 45-50 would be A2DCS[iD:0;DO:2;MI:40,44,45,50;]. There can be more than 1 matrix but to add more they must be declared in the Arduino sketch. I kept them out since I was running into memory errors while doing some extreme testing on an Uno. I hope this helps you :)

Should you want to check switch numbers etc you can use the Serial Monitor in the Arduino software. Just send the initialisation string (in your case A2DCS[iD:0;DO:2;MI:40,42,48,50;]) to the Arduino. Then flick some switches and you will be able to see the direct results in the serial monitor. Ensure the baud rate is set to 9600 otherwise you will get some very strange results.

The switches start with a 0 so your first switch will be <add key="I[0,M1,0,0]" value="144,1" desc="Matrix MI, Switch 1, Value 1 mapped to DCSWorld Command 144 Args 1"/>

Yes. That is correct so far. I take your point on the config file. When I have some time I will try to see if I can make it easier to understand. That is the problem with creating things like this. I am so used to how it works that I forget I need to show others how it works. I'll get either a new config file or pdf up soon.

Testing sig

Thank you Aginor. I can't believe I didn't think of that before :doh:

Wow! Excellent work Mark.

Thank you everyone for your kind words! Please let me know when you get it working. It would be great to know that it is actually working for you all.

Pikey: I only have 1 SSD with no HDD. The PC is only for my flight sims and I have not yet found the need to expand on storage. This is so difficult to decide. I think I will get a 780Ti and then soon upgrade the processor and mobo. Further in the future I will change RAM, maybe add a HDD and some other parts.

They are different for input and output but all are hard coded into DCS. They can be found in various files but there is no single place unfortunately. I will upload more when I have the time to find them.

The actions names are references deep in DCS. They have nothing to do with Helios and there is no way to change them. DCS will export those names and values. You just have to specify which ones you want to listen to. I hope that explains it a bit clearer. Boltz

I like the idea of two GTX780 Ti in SLI but that is highly unlikely seeing as I am also upgrading my workshop at the moment. Looks like a mixture of thoughts here and I really can not decide between the two GTX770 4GB or one 780Ti. I think I will go with a 780Ti since I will not have to upgrade the motherboard and processor yet. I might try an overclock but I'm not sure if my motherboard will be up to it. I think it's time for some testing.