Loophole

Helios Fix Yes, it is definitely the Export.lua that is causing the problem - just reproduced the same thing here. Are you using the standard Helios export.lua, or a customised one (maybe one I did?). I'm going to see if I can debug the issue. [later...] OK, I seem to have fixed it. I don't really know what the error was - the logic was dying on some aspect of trying to read the DCS settings to send to Helios. What I have done is made the script significantly more conservative. The attached Export.lua will handle Helios for A-10C or Ka-50, or FC2 aircraft (that bit's not fully debugged). Any other aircraft it will simply ignore, and not export anything (though you should still be able to get Helios to send keystrokes). Export.lua

While poking around with the Kneepad system in DCS, I discovered how incredibly easy it is to add your own custom pages to the kneepad. I couldn't find a thread here on the topic, so I thought I would create one! (I'd add it to the wiki, but I don't seem to be able to edit anything - what use is a wiki you can't contribute to?) Anyway, to add custom pages to your Kneeboard: In your <user>\Saved Games\DCS folder, create a folder named KNEEBOARD In that folder, add the images you want. They can be PNG or JPG (maybe other formats too?), and any size - they will be scaled to fit. Keep them to a 3:4 portrait aspect ratio, though, or they will become distorted. That's it! In game, open up your kneepad, then hit "previous page" to flip through your custom pages! Enjoy!

Have you found your answer regarding the kneeboard? If not, I can help - I've successfully repositioned my kneeboard display. Just takes a couple of text-file edits.

As far as I know it should work on all FC3 aircraft. Only one it doesn't work on at the moment is A-10C.

Interesting! Looking at the KA50 scripts in DCS (Mods\aircrafts\Ka-50\Cockpitt\Scripts\SHKVAL\SHKVAL_init.lua), it appears to look for a viewport named either "Shkval", or "LEFT_MFCD", preferring "Shkval" if both are present. It is odd that LEFT_MFCD didn't work for you; it ought to have. However, your discovery has identified a couple of interesting and useful facts: 1. The viewport names are case-sensitive, and 2. The viewport names don't have to be an exact match. The latter conclusion comes from the fact that it is finding "ED_KA50_Shkval", even though the call to try_find_assigned_viewport() only specifies "Shkval". Handy to know; thanks!

doveman, my Export.lua doesn't have any affect on where displays appear; it only affects the data sent to and from Helios. Shkval and ABRIS are displayed directly by DCS World - Helios is not involved. If your displays are appearing in odd locations, I would look to your MonitorConfig files!

I've been playing around with the F-15C and Su-25T for a while, as an alternative to my workhorse A-10C, but I always found the control of the F-15 radar cursors, and the Su-25T's optics system to be problematic. Cursor movement was laggy, and then too fast, making accurate positioning and designation of targets way too painful. I tried all sorts of approaches to programming the keystrokes into my joysticks, to no avail. So I started poking around with the mouse control option. The mouse mini-stick on the joystick wasn't much better than keystrokes, but using the normal mouse (with my throttle hand, which wasn't too busy) was smooth and accurate, but was still missing one thing - I wanted to be able to left-click with the mouse to designate a target, but the UI wouldn't let me assign a mouse button to that function. So I found out how to hack it in. And I have to say, it works very sweetly. See a target on the F-15 radar? Grab mouse (with throttle-hand), point, click - designated! Doing some SEAD in the Su-25T? SAM target pops up on the HUD; Grab mouse, point, click - designated! And so on. The trick involves hand-editing the required line into a saved profile for the mouse settings, and then reloading that. I won't go into the details, but a couple of usable examples are attached. Don't forget to assign the mouse X & Y to the TDC Slew axes (F-15) or I-251 Slew axes (Su-25T). Hope this is of use to some of you - it certainly has improved my enjoyment! DCS Mouse Sensors.zip

Excellent! If you have success, may I incorporate your improvements into my file?

On the topic of problems connecting to the DCS World login server, I have identified that DCS World uses the following ports to contact the authentication server: TCP to 178.32.247.144 port 443 (causes "can't connect to server" if blocked) TCP to 176.31.233.120 port 5222 (causes hang in "connecting to server" if blocked) Thereafter it uses UDP packets to get the list of servers, and to communicate between the players and their game-server , primarily to port 10308, though I seem to see some packets going to 10307, 10309, 10310 and even 10312 occasionally. Hope this is of assistance!

So long as it is working, that's the main thing!

This problem still persists in version 1.2.5.16508. I have logged it as a bug with support, for what good that will do. My tests of 1.2.5.16508 confirm that it will save the custom snap view for the duration of the current mission, but if you exit and start a new mission, the snap views are reset to the defaults. - This is with UseDefaultSnapViews=false in View.lua - This is with DisableSnapViewsSaving=false in View.lua - Above changes are made both in DCS World\Config\View and in user\Saved Games\DCS\Config\View - Test-mission does not contain a Config\View\View.lua (confirmed by WinZip). There is a work-around: Overwrite the SnapViewsDefault.lua in DCS World\Config\View with the SnapViews.lua file saved into user\Saved Games\DCS World\Config\View Hopefully they will fix this in a new update; the default snap views don't suit my triplehead setup, so I always need to customise them!

lnr212, These days the Export.lua file needs to go into your C:/Users/(your user name here)/Saved Games/DCS/Scripts folder. The C:/Users/(your user name here)/Saved Games/DCS folder is is where DCS stores all your personal configuration information, so that it does not get overwritten whenever an update is installed. The DCS path you specify to Helios in the Profile Editor is actually irrelevant if you manually install the Export.lua file. Helios only uses that path to write it's version of Export.lua (which is not my modified version, and these days should reside in your user/Saved Games/DCS folder anyway). Bottom line is just put the file in the path as described above, and don't tell Helios to configure anything to do with the Export.Lua for you!

When you say "C:/User/Saved Games/DCS/Scripts", do you really mean "C:/Users/(your user name here)/Saved Games/DCS/Scripts" ? And is the path to DCS World correct? You have installed it to a non-default location? My path to DCS in the Helios FC2 interface is "C:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World", which is the default location it installs to. My testing and verification for the script has only been to run up an F-15 mission and an Su-25 mission, while running an adjusted version of the "Eagle pit v2.2" in Helios, and verifying that the gauges respond.

The Next Aircraft for DCS World! Please, please - as a fully-clickable cockpit!! < http://www.nmusafvirtualtour.com/media/062/B-36J%20Engineer.html > :) :) :)

You should find the download link in the first post of this thread - I updated that post.

Note - it now works with FC3! yay!

Updated the Export.lua file to include FC3 support- finally figured out where it was broken and managed to fix it! Use the Flaming Cliffs 2 "interface" in Helios in your profile.

Some improvements As of update 1.2.4.12913 the situation seems to have been rectified - the crosshairs are now rendered correctly, in the centre of the main view. You can still edit the Melios.tga if you want a wider field of view. :thumbup:

This thread might be of some help: Helios for A-10 Warthog and Ka-50 Black Shark at same time

Results of my experimentation: a dodgy but usable Binocular view. By simply editing the MELIOS.tga to be an entirely transparent TGA image, the binocular view is at least usable. You have to use the normal gun view Optics (O) mode to position your crosshairs, then flick to binocular view (B) to mark smoke or laser-designate without moving the view. It does not seem to be possible to move the information text - it looks like their XY positions from MELIOS.res are being overwritten by whatever code updates the data values (except for the Laser Code text, which was added later, and whoever did that did not alter the other code). You can also move the 'options' menu text if it is not visible by default - mine is readable.

OK, I may be on to a partial workaround. I've found two files: DCS World\FUI\Common\MELIOS.tga is the mask/crosshair image for the binocular view. editing that can remove the black border on the view. I'm trying to tweak it now to get the crosshair lined up with the middle of my view. DCS World\FUI\Resources\MELIOS.res defines the rendering of the info text and (maybe) the viewport coordinates. By editing that, it should be possible to reposition the info text. So far, though, I have only been able to move the laser-code text; for some reason the other text is not responding to altering the coordinates!

The binocular view in CA 1.2.4 is unusable if your multi-monitor setup is something other than a simple configuration of 2 or 3 identical monitors. The problem is that the binocular view (and the F10 map) render across the entire desktop surface, rather than in the primary viewport. Thus if you have additional monitors for the display of exported MFDs, or touchscreen instruments, the binocular view (and F10 map) end up spread across the whole lot, often partially rendered outside of the area visible on the monitors. Those two views should be either given dedicated viewports, or only rendered within the main viewport.

This problem still occurs with DCS World 1.2.4. The Binocular view (and the F10 map) are both rendered across the entire desktop surface, rather than in the primary viewport. Thus it does not render is a usable manner on multi-monitor configurations that are not just a simple 2 or 3 identical monitor setup. I may have a partial solution - see this thread: < http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=1749945#post1749945 >

A related suggestion... In case people haven't seen it, I should also mention this post: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=1430336#post1430336 It's a simplified standard for the Lua changes needed to export an instrument display on to another monitor.

It does not work properly with FC3 at the moment. You can use FC3, but you won't get any exports. It ought to work, but so far I have been unsuccessful, and I don't know what the problem is - either Helios doesn't like the FC-style exports, or FC3 works differently to FC and they haven't documented the API changes. I have a profile that works with FC3 as far as sending keystroke macros, but no live instruments or switches that mimic the 3D cockpit controls.