DCSFlightpanels (DCSFP) thread. Saitek Pro Flight Panels & DCS

I fumbling through the install and finally at the point to update driver and am getting an error stating "The third-party INF does not contain digital signature information." Do you have any direction on this paticular problem?

@Baldawg--Are you referring to Saitek Panel drivers? I don't believe either Fightpanels or DCS-BIOS should lead to a driver error message.

Thanks,

Paul

I fumbling through the install and finally at the point to update driver and am getting an error stating "The third-party INF does not contain digital signature information." Do you have any direction on this paticular problem?

Flightpanels uses the standard Windows drivers, no need to install additional drivers. Did you install Saitek's software? No need for that.

drivers

i deleted the origianl saitek drivers

Im following the directions per the origianl post by artur (page 2 quote 15) When i open flight panels gui the multi panel shows activity when i press the buttons or turn the tuning knob but the radio panel doesnt. Am i missing a step for the radio panel? I tried to follow your directions to the note but ran into road blocks. The "libusbdotnet" folder was not part of your zip file and had to search and download it ( not sure if it was suppose to be) After alot of frustration i finally figured out the where and what on the ".inf" file that is needed to be installed per your directions. All in alll im stuck and a)cannot get the radio panel to respond in the gui and b)not sure what to do with dcs bios and how to integrate it with your program. Not trying to sound like an idiot just looking for a little guidance. im willing to start from scratch if necessary. and i failed to mention that i was only able to get the .inf file by creating it with what i downloaded from from Raf's original creation.

Hi Baldawg,

We got a document in preparation, should be done somewhere tonight or tommorow morning.

For your problem, i would sugest to check if the same drivers are installed for the two panels. I don't have the exact english name in mind (french computer) but it's something like standard HID drivers. Maybe Pdmarsh or Artur can follow up with the exact generic driver name.

update

i did figure out DCS BIos and got it to see the GUI. I all honesty im not a programmer and try to run a way and hide when i see code or intergers. Im way behind the learning curve in that respect. As far as the Multi Panel, im getting "No action taken, virtual key press disabled." even if i have a key assigned to the toggle or button. shouldnt i be seeing the key press. here is my log file from the GUI Flightpanels_error_log.txt

Based on your error message it looks like you have not installed DCS-BIOS.

Please see Installing DCS-BIOS is described in "Step 1: Setting up DCS-BIOS" in the "Connecting your first Panel" section of the User Guide.

(http://dcs-bios.a10c.de/docs/v0.2.5/developerguide.html)

i did figure out DCS BIos and got it to see the GUI. I all honesty im not a programmer and try to run a way and hide when i see code or intergers. Im way behind the learning curve in that respect. As far as the Multi Panel, im getting "No action taken, virtual key press disabled." even if i have a key assigned to the toggle or button. shouldnt i be seeing the key press. here is my log file from the GUI [ATTACH]114203[/ATTACH]

"No action taken, virtual key press disabled."

Check under main menu "Options", is "Check for Digital Combat Simulator" checked? If so no actions will be taken unless Flightpanels detects DCS running. This is a safe guard for the key presses so they are not sent to the wrong application causing problems.

Which panels do you have?

udate

i made some progress and got the leds to indicate frequencies on the radio panel. still not sure how to get teh sim to react or recognize the frequency changes in the sim. the Multi panel is now recognizing the switches and toggles as a keyboard press but not getting a reaction in the sim as with the radio panel. any thoughts?

not getting a reaction in the sim as with the radio panel. any thoughts?

@Baldawg -- After entering the frequency you want in the STBY window on the radio panel, press the AVT/STBY button to the right. This will send the frequency to the virtual radio in the cockpit. Once the change is made there, it will be fed back to the ACTIVE window on the Saitek panel.

Thanks,

Skeeter

Panels

Artur thanks for your patience and time......i have the Radio and Multi panel. I did get DCS Bios figured out( i didnt have it in my saved games file and only figured this out after getting the error and seeing the file path msg in the error followed by moving dcs bios to the saved game/dcs directory etc etc etc). im currectly reading the dcs bios link you gave me about udp's and trying to muster up some courage to attempt getting that to work.

@pdmarsh -- Will try that but i think im not getting a reaction because artur pointed me to the fact that i dont have dcs bios setup properly. i will bring up though as far as the panel buttons being pressed.....if presses are in rapid succession it lags behind a while and wont accept any inputs until it catches up.......any thoughts on this matter??

Are you running DCS normal, steam, or openbeta ?

If the latter, you may need to change DCS-BIOS folder setting in Flightpanels program.

running normal dcs

Regarding lag, a certain level of this is normal. However, after you get things working and if you still see significant lag, i.e. seconds, between a panel action and cockpit reaction, there might be something there Artur will want to look at.

I have one switch set up with a sequence to activate all four SAS switches. I put in a 0.5 second delay just to give each one time to react. Best practice would be to wait for all four cockpit switches to change before doing another input from a panel.

Skeeter

Panel Operation

@pdmarsh -- I wont be using any complex sequences as of now just wanting the radio stack to perform a normal function of changing freqs etc. as far as the multi panel i may use it for the NMSP panel in the sim not sure yet of the final usage. i think my hiccup dcs isnt seeing my inputs from either panel. i went back in sim to try again and my radio freq leds arent showing anything now as before i was getting telemetry and was able to change the freq with the knob and so on. I have flight panels open and it is seeing the panels and registering button presses. Not sure again exactly where im sitting with dcs bios. Should it be in C:|users\Name\savedgames\dcs\scripts....?????

@Baldawg -- After entering the frequency you want in the STBY window on the radio panel, press the AVT/STBY button to the right. This will send the frequency to the virtual radio in the cockpit. Once the change is made there, it will be fed back to the ACTIVE window on the Saitek panel.

 

Thanks,

Skeeter

Pressing thes AVT/STB Button should not only send

STBY -> ACTIVE

but also vice versa. Hence it should switch those two like

STBY <-> Active

I beleive that is how it is meant to be. And although it might sound picky but:

(1) It allows you always to easily switch back to the previous freqency, in case something went wrong with formation radio checks.

and

(2) If you only use two channels for your sortie on that specific radio, you only need to tune them in once.

However:

My first test was almost orga*mic ! A very valuable tool that you have forged here !!

As promised by ArturDCS, I have attached to this post an example of an A-10C profile that makes use of all supported panels; Switch, Multi, Radio and B.I.P. This is mainly to allow you to see various key bindings, sequences and DCS-BIOS uses within the profile. It hasn't been refined and is really my own test profile. I'll try to follow-up this post in a day or so with a bit more detail on what the bindings mean, or what functions they control, but I did want to get this posted ASAP. Of course, you can sit in the cockpit, throw a few switches, and see what happens!

 

Thanks,

Skeeter (pdmarsh/Paul)

 

P.S. -- I was going to post this photo later when I show a few ways to create custom tiles for the B.I.P, but I'll put it here so you can see what the B.I.P. bindings in the attached profile relate to. The custom tiles will probably be obvious. The photo makes them look worse than they really do in practice.

 

Loading your Profile does no seem to work. I don't get the "makros" loaded into the GUI. Is that profle bound to some hardware or Device Ids? However, creating a new profile worked. Nevertheless, I'd love to try your profile.

Is that profle bound to some hardware or Device Ids?

You know, you're right. I forgot about that. If you want to give it a try, you should be able to modify the profile in a text editor. Pressing the ID button in Flightpanels will put that device's ID number in the clipboard. You can then do a search & replace in the text editor for each panel. A pain, I know, but yes, the profile is tied to a panel ID. This allows for multiple panels of the same type to be used.

Skeeter

Create a profile, do one light, save. open it in text editor. get the panel ID. Open PdMarsh's profile with a text editor, replace his panel ID by your panel ID (ctrl-H for automated replacement).

It should get the job done :)

@Jabo - I'm reporting your idea about frequency swap to our super-expert-coder :P That should be not hard to implement.

I'll pitch in some technical info regarding the profile and the (Instance ID) ID button found for each panel.

Flightpanels identify Saitek Panels by Vendor ID and Product ID which is industry/USB standard stuff. There is also a Serial Number attribute but Saitek does not use this.

If you are using multiple Saitek Panel of the same type that kind of identification is not enough to know which panel sent a "button switched" command.

Flightpanel therefore uses Windows Instance ID which is unique. Its a real eye sore but a necessity.

Just to get fast development I decided to incorporate it in each settings line in the profile.

If you want to use someone else's profile then copy your panel's Instance ID and then "Find & Replace" the Instance ID found in the profile. Do this for all panels and the profile will work with yours.

If you change your panel's USB port around Windows will most likely change the Instance ID and you will have to update your profile.

@Jabo - I'm reporting your idea about frequency swap to our very-mediocre-at-best-coder :P That should be not hard to implement.

Yes will do. :thumbup:

our very-mediocre-at-best-coder

:pirate: seems someone has pirated my statement :D :D :D

:pirate: seems someone has pirated my statement :D :D :D

HAHAHA

Custom B.I.P. Tiles

CUSTOM SAITEK B.I.P. TILES

There are probably any number of ways to make custom tiles for the Saitek Back-lit Information Panel (B.I.P.), but here are a few possibilities.

One approach is to make an overlay that covers the entire panel and doesn't use tiles at all, as seen here:

A utility was developed to help program the B.I.P. for use with X-Plane, but it also includes a tool to make these overlays. The one above was printed on regular paper and actually worked OK. The dark area is not opaque, but it's dark enough, and the light area is fine just as white paper. In fact, you might not want it to be clear. The Saitek tiles are a milky-white themselves, which diffuses the light. If you plan on using your B.I.P. for a number of different planes that require different tile sets, this might be a good way to go. You can download this program here:

D2B-Tool for Xsaitekpanels BIP 1.0.rc2

I took a slightly different approach, though. The hard part was getting past the fact that you need to break a few eggs to make the omelette. I picked out a number of preprinted tiles that I thought I would never use and sanded off the coating as seen below. Trust me, this gets easier with each tile you deface.

The next step is to print your custom tiles on clear mailing labels. I used Avery 15660 which are just about the perfect size.

I'm using an inkjet printer and, even when dry, the ink smears easily. To deal with this I only printed one tile per label as shown below:

Now you cut off the unprinted half and place it over the printed label.

Even though I used the color black, it's still not opaque like the original tiles. To help alleviate that somewhat I applied masking tape as close to the letters as possible.

And here is the end result. Due to the long exposure time, the photo makes it look worse than it really is. You don't see as much light bleed around the letters in practice.

I hope you will find this useful.

Thanks,

Skeeter

CUSTOM SAITEK B.I.P. TILES ...

Sweet, thanks for the tip. I have gone through my tiles for my 2 BIPs and the ENG 3 & 4 are going to be sanded.

Which tiles should 1 pcs be enough of for just about any aircraft/helo?

    
   ENG FIRE
   ADF
   AP MASTER
   AUTO PILOT
   BEACON LIGHT
   BOTH
   CENTRE FUEL LOW
   COM 1
   COM 2
   DME
   DOOR WARNING
   DOWN
   ENG 1 FIRE
   ENG 1 OIL PRESSURE
   ENG 1 OIL TEMP
   ENG 2 FIRE
   ENG 2 OIL PRESSURE
   ENG 2 OIL TEMP
   ENG 3 FIRE
   ENG 3 OIL PRESSURE
   ENG 3 OIL TEMP
   ENG 4 FIRE
   ENG 4 OIL PRESSURE
   ENG 4 OIL TEMP
   FUEL CROSS FEED
   FUEL LOW
   GEAR DOWN
   GEAR UNSAFE
   GEAR UP
   GPS
   LANDING LIGHTS
   LEFT ENG FIRE
   LEFT FUEL LOW
   LOW PRESSURE
   MASTER CAUTION
   MASTER WARNING
   MKR
   NAV 1
   NAV 2
   PARKING BRAKES
   PITOT HEAT
   RIGHT ENG FIRE
   RIGHT FUEL LOW
   ROTOR LOW RPM
   STALL WARNING
   STROBE LIGHT
   UP
   VAC LOW

I used some similar method in an another project, which required backlighting. To solve the problem of opacity, the simple method is to print twice the stickers, then apply one over each other. I used UPS labels (it's roughly the size of a photo). To perfectly align them, i had lines drawn along the stickers, where they where no labels to cut.