Headspace

The problem is that in many cases it isn't possible to perpetually support a free mod on a regular basis without funding. This is particularly true when the technological sophistication of the mod goes up. It produces an exponential curve in the form of programmer-hours needed, literature review required, and project management effort. All of this costs money. When I originally developed TARS, some of the features it currently has were entirely unplanned. As both Teamspeak 3 and DCS changed, significant amounts of time were required to compensate. When TARS was originally developed, it was done so with a single pair of games in mind (BS1 and the original A-10) along with a Teamspeak 3 that had built-in sound support. None of those things exist anymore. Over the years, development efforts were made to integrate the mod into currently existing versions of both software products, which consumed all of the donations we received and then some. A project on this scale simply can't exist soley as donationware--it is economic reality. Unfortunately, this isn't my first rodeo and I don't develop software soley as a hobby. I have supervised enough of these sorts of projects to have a general idea of what happens when the long term health of such a project begins to wane. When funding is needed, charging for work is the tried and true method of doing it. I am afraid that the only way certain large-scale mods are going to remain free in the future is if investment comes from the commercial sector in some form or another. With that said, TARS will never go away (if I have anything to do with it) and this isn't necessarily a foreshadowing of things to come for my particular mod. I'm only trying to point out why it's laughable to suggest that creators of sophisticated mods that you get to use don't deserve some kind of compensation for their work, especially if they are sacrificing opportunities to do paid work in exchange for working on their mods.

Thanks, I have one more to go. Grading exams is what takes a long time. Stuka: This is interesting. It could be a port conflict, in which case you can easily change that in the settings for TARS. If it turns out that the NVidia service is using the default TARS port it may be time to change that. TARS requires a UDP connection. 99% of the time it goes to localhost, but some users prefer to run TS3 on a different machine.

Okay. Then you can rule out the export issue. I will need to see logs to be able to provide any further assistance. This week is finals week at my university so I am busy taking and grading exams. Anything of substance will need to wait until next week. Checking logs yourself at this point is your best bet. It will tell you if the export side of TARS manages to connect to the plugin.

howie87: I received your PM but I am going to answer this here since it will benefit everyone. First, there is never, under any reasonably likely circumstance, going to be a need to do a clean OS reinstall and/or drive format to correct issues with this mod. It is middleware; it doesn't interact nor utilize low level aspects of the kernel nor does it change anything on your computer that might. If you had to reinstall your OS, it meant something else (something serious) was amiss with your computer. I doubt that is the case, though. Second, if it "just stopped" working, my first guess would be that whatever server you are using decided to disable export in the Saved Games\DCS\Config\etwork.cfg file. If you are hosting then you will need to re-enable export if you have done this. If you are not the host, check with the host to see if export is enabled. I doubt the issue is serious. Make sure you are using a TeamSpeak version that supports DI.

I appreciate the feedback. My primary stick since I added DI support for multiple joysticks has been a TH Warthog. I haven't tested it with any of Saitek's profile software. For now, the raw directinput should give you the best results with the DI-supported versions of TeamSpeak.

If you're on the latest TeamSpeak, it's probably the Directinput issue. I'm not in a position to do additional work on this mod (I literally cannot afford to set aside time to at the moment) but it will be the next thing that I address in it. Get a version of TeamSpeak (one of the last two versions back, IIRC) that supports DirectInput.

Work obligations are occupying most of my schedule. Something might happen over the holidays, though.

The landing fundamentals video isn't really intended to be a comprehensive guide to landing--it's a beginner's guide. It has a lot of gaps. It's not intended to be an ILS guide. The other issue with is that I'd made it after a ~10 year hiatus from aviation, so it could be better. Eventually I will do a video about instrument stuff in DCS, it's just that it would require some kind of approach procedure which doesn't exist. RE: the ILS, I wouldn't start slipping until you are on final and nearly about to land. Make sure you have visual contact with the runway.

It has to do with which APIs are supported and which are planned to be supported in the future for Windows. DirectInput is obsolescent.

The log doesn't state that at all. Rex's log doesn't show him receiving any signals other than on UHF. You need to check your keybinds and make sure everything is set up correctly because whatever is going on, it isn't sending out (on your end) anything other than the primary UHF radio. Rex appears to be able to send on all three radios. Make sure you're using a compatible version of TeamSpeak (the very latest two have DirectInput removed). Perhaps clear out your tars.ini file in TeamSpeak and let it recreate from scratch.

It sounds like your keybinds might be messed up. From what you describe it seems like on his side that he's getting stuff over UHF from you. You really need to make sure, beyond any doubt, that you are sending over the other radios and not just the UHF radio. The log that the TS3 plugin leaves, which is in your C:\Users\$yourname\AppData\Local\TARS folder will contain more diagnostic information, but my money is on it sending through the wrong radio due to keybind issues.

Do what Kaiza says but in addition, check your logs--it will tell you what radio is transmitting. Also have your friend check his. This stuff is difficult to deconflict even in real life.

Even if it says "game not found," it doesn't necessarily mean that TARS isn't installed. If everything is lit up and you see a TARS folder in your DCS user directory then you're good to go. There's a lot of code in the installer from the pre-Steam years.

VJS161_Fire: Your friend needs to point the config panel at his DCS user directory, usually found in C:\Users\$USER\Saved Games\DCS.

I'll look into it tonight and get back to you.

Point it to his steam installation with the TARS control panel.

Dart: TARS SDK is still being worked on but unfortunately other stuff had to come first on my schedule. Rest assured you'll get access to it once a testable beta comes out if you want it.

Tacview and TARS play nicely together. I think Helios' installer may not account for other mods. The solution is to install Helios first, then install TARS and Tacview (in whatever order you like) afterwards. If you find that TARS isn't working even after you've installed mods in that order, send me your Export.lua file and I will investigate it for you. You should be able to play with TARS and any other export mod, reasonably speaking.

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DI will be used to get the keys input for anything. As a result of that, you're going to find it difficult to use DI unless you only use one radio and never switch from it. Even then, it's going to try to look for a DI instance. I haven't actually tested it yet, but my prediction is that TARS is going to quit if you try that.

I'll probably have the Mi-8 integrated in the forthcoming version.

Important Update (and part of the reason I've seemed a bit incommunicado): TS has removed DirectInput from its latest release, so the entire input scheme for the TARS application is being converted. For the time being, don't update your TS if you want to use the multiple-PTT features of TARS. I'll get you an updated version as soon as I can. TS' developers have stated in the past that DI would be removed, but there wasn't much warning that it would be so soon. Of course that's what everyone is saying, but we shouldn't have taken it for granted. We'll be up and running with a solution before much longer, so don't worry.

I am hoping to integrate it into the new code (SDK based). Right now there's extra code for each aircraft that I'm planning on getting rid of. The whole system is becoming more universal.

This feature is in development. But since TARS is (currently, still) free software, these things take time. I can assure you that we are making headway on this feature, but it's not going to be out till it's done.

If that's the case, Sharpe_95, then go into your TARS control panel after you've installed Helios and then make sure your "Install TARS" checkbox is lit. The TARS CP tries not to delete anything already in Export when it edits Export. TacView is similarly friendly to other mods.