Operating the Warthog LEDs throught the DCS Export lua Script

Hi all,

I've been wanting to make use of the LED lights on my warthog for a while. I finally got some time to do so. The idea is to have the lights react to in-game events via the Export.lua file.

Here is the relevant part of my Export.lua

local aircraft  = LoGetObjectById(LoGetPlayerPlaneId())
local aircraft_id ="0"
local MainPanel = GetDevice(0)
local LED0, LED1, LED2, LED3, LED4, LED5 = 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0

function LuaExportActivityNextEvent(t)

 if (aircraft.Name == "A-10C") then
   aircraft_id ="W"
   --Console backlight
   LED0 = math.ceil(MainPanel:get_argument_value(297))

   --Master Caution Light
   LED1 = MainPanel:get_argument_value(404)

   --Launch Warning Light
   LED2 = MainPanel:get_argument_value(372)

   --(HOTAS Pinkie Switch)
   LED3 = 0

   --Flaps
   LED4 = math.ceil(MainPanel:get_argument_value(653))

   --Gear Lock Lights
   LED5 = (MainPanel:get_argument_value(659) and MainPanel:get_argument_value(660) and MainPanel:get_argument_value(661))

 elseif (aircraft.Name == "M-2000C") then
   aircraft_id ="M"
   --Console backlight
   LED0 = math.abs(math.ceil(MainPanel:get_argument_value(642)))

   --Master Caution Light
   LED1 = (MainPanel:get_argument_value(199) or MainPanel:get_argument_value(200))

   --(Not Used)
   LED2 = 0

   --Police light Switch
   LED3 = MainPanel:get_argument_value(449)

   --Conf Warning
   LED4 = MainPanel:get_argument_value(553)

   --Gear Lock Lights
   LED5 = (MainPanel:get_argument_value(417) and MainPanel:get_argument_value(418) and MainPanel:get_argument_value(419))

 end

 default_output_file = io.open(lfs.writedir().."/Logs/TargetScript.log", "w")
 default_output_file:write(string.format("%s", aircraft_id))
 default_output_file:write(string.format("%d%d%d%d%d%d", LED0, LED1, LED2, LED3, LED4, LED5))
 default_output_file:close()

return t + 0.1
end
--------------------------------------------------------------
function LuaExportStop()
 default_output_file = io.open(lfs.writedir().."/Logs/TargetScript.log", "w")
 default_output_file:write("U000000")
default_output_file:close()
end

What it does is create a file "../Logs/TargetScript.log" and write some info to it. I chose to write the plane type aswell as the status of some systems like the launch warning indicator, gear lock lights, flaps status, etc. This can be customized to whichever systems you want your LEDs to interract with.

Now here is the function I use in my TARGET Script to identify the plane and light the LEDs

int led_update()
{
int file;
char L0, L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, aircraft_id;

   file = fopen("...//Saved Games//DCS.openbeta//Logs//TargetScript.log", "r");
   
aircraft_id =fgetc(file);  
   L0 =fgetc(file);
   L1 =fgetc(file);
   L2 =fgetc(file);
   L3 =fgetc(file);
   L4=fgetc(file);
   L5=fgetc(file);
   
   fclose(file);
   
   if ((aircraft_id =='W') & (Throttle[PSF] | Throttle[PSB]))
   L3 ='1';
   //else if ((aircraft_id =='M') & (Throttle[PSF] | Throttle[PSB]))
   //L3 ='1';
   
   if (L0 =='1')
   ActKey(PULSE+KEYON+LED(&Throttle, LED_ONOFF, LED_CURRENT+LED0));
   else
   ActKey(PULSE+KEYON+LED(&Throttle, LED_ONOFF, LED_CURRENT-LED0));
   
   if (L1 =='1')
   ActKey(PULSE+KEYON+LED(&Throttle, LED_ONOFF, LED_CURRENT+LED1));
   else
   ActKey(PULSE+KEYON+LED(&Throttle, LED_ONOFF, LED_CURRENT-LED1));
   
   if (L2 =='1')
   ActKey(PULSE+KEYON+LED(&Throttle, LED_ONOFF, LED_CURRENT+LED2));
   else
   ActKey(PULSE+KEYON+LED(&Throttle, LED_ONOFF, LED_CURRENT-LED2));
   
   if (L3 =='1')
   ActKey(PULSE+KEYON+LED(&Throttle, LED_ONOFF, LED_CURRENT+LED3));
   else
   ActKey(PULSE+KEYON+LED(&Throttle, LED_ONOFF, LED_CURRENT-LED3));
   
   if (L4 =='1')
   ActKey(PULSE+KEYON+LED(&Throttle, LED_ONOFF, LED_CURRENT+LED4));
   else
   ActKey(PULSE+KEYON+LED(&Throttle, LED_ONOFF, LED_CURRENT-LED4));
   
   if (L5 =='1')
   ActKey(PULSE+KEYON+LED(&Throttle, LED_ONOFF, LED_CURRENT+LED5));
   else
   ActKey(PULSE+KEYON+LED(&Throttle, LED_ONOFF, LED_CURRENT-LED5));

}

What it does is read the info in "../Logs/TargetScript.log", identify which plane I'm flying and turn some LEDs On/Off. Only downside is it doesn't work in multiplayer. I believe this is because exports are disabled on most servers (any workarounds to this ?).

Any comments welcome !

Video of it in action?

Operating the Warthog LEDs throught the DCS Export lua Script

Video of it in action?

Good idea, I was feeling lazy :music_whistling:

Here is a video demonstrating it with the Mirage : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32783018/Warthog%20LED%20DCS%20Interraction%20Demo.mov (85MB)

Pardon my narrative skills and turn that volume up !

Note that the placement of the LEDs makes it a little hard to see them while playing.

Does anyone know if we could implement a tcp or udp connection from within the TARGET script ? That could be useful to have more versatility !

it is possible, it's been years i didn't play with it.

example using some exported data form dcs.

Hmm.. I've been tinkering with these TCP connections and I can't seem to get it to work. I found an example here where someone managed to create a tcp socket and send data from a target script. This is useful since I'd like to eventually do that to interface my script with dcsexportcore.

I'm trying to connect my target script with dcexportcore through tcp localhost:12800: https://github.com/jboecker/dcs-export-core

When I type localhost:12800 in my address bar on chrome I can see data coming in periodically that looks like this:

{"data":{"_UNITTYPE":"M-2000C"},"msg_type":"newdata"}
{"data":{"_UNITTYPE":"M-2000C"},"msg_type":"newdata"}
{"data":{"_UNITTYPE":"M-2000C"},"msg_type":"newdata"}

But when I try to hook up my target script to localhost:12800 I don't get anything.

I simply use:

RegisterGameCallback(12800, &TCPCallback);

int TCPCallback(int data, int size)
{
printf("TCPCallback, ");
Map(&data, data);
printf("data: %d\xa", data);
}

Any clue about what's going wrong ?

you should ask to "Nicu" on the simHQ forums. He perfectly knows that aspect of T.A.RG.E.T.

This is so cool, I'd really love to implement something like this on my next throttle. I'd love to have some gear lights near my gear switch.