Control Settings in Multiplayer?

[Charly_Owl]

Does anybody know if ED is planning on implementing the ADJUST CONTROLS menu to change our control inputs during a multiplayer session? I know we can do it in single player even if that's not always been the case.

 

When I learn a new aircraft, it is usually with another person on multiplayer who teaches me. More often than not, I need to remap some controls as the default ones are not always to my liking. It is really annoying when I need to switch back and forth between the single player main menu and multiplayer game just to get access to the control menu.

 

Am I the only one who wishes that this feature was implemented in MP as well?

[Mohamengina]

Agreed and bumping for support.

[Raistlen007]

Since the capability is already in the game, it should be relatively trivial to add it to the multiplayer menus.

 

This function should be a high priority.

[cichlidfan]

For this to work in MP, would it not require pausing the sim? How would that work in MP?

[SchniX]

Agree, i guess it's doesn't require much effort to do and it's very important for the consumers

 

Thx

[karambiatos]

Since the capability is already in the game, it should be relatively trivial to add it to the multiplayer menus.

 

This function should be a high priority.

-trivial

-DCS

 

pick one.

 

For this to work in MP, would it not require pausing the sim? How would that work in MP?

you make the menu, not pause?

[blackbelter]

For this to work in MP, would it not require pausing the sim? How would that work in MP?

 

That is also the first question that came to my mind...

[cichlidfan]

you make the menu, not pause?

 

If it doesn't pause, what happens to your aircraft while you are fixing your controls?

[FraserNZL]

If it doesn't pause, what happens to your aircraft while you are fixing your controls?

 

Auto pilot and you'll be sweet just get altitude first lol :)

[cichlidfan]

Auto pilot and you'll be sweet just get altitude first lol :)

 

That might be difficult since, apparently, your controls are not set up correctly. ;)

[T_A]

Its really annoying you cant access it , not even in read only mode

i sometimes go from A-10C , which doesn't really need any settings ( i`m using Warthug so its plug and play) to other planes and i dont remember what i set on my HOTAS

Edited June 23, 2014 by T_A

[karambiatos]

If it doesn't pause, what happens to your aircraft while you are fixing your controls?

same thing when you play are reading the brief, or you disable input momentarily, like other games do it.

 

anyway, this isnt a problem, a problem is that MP and SP are different exes, and who knows what else is different.

[Raistlen007]

same thing when you play are reading the brief, or you disable input momentarily, like other games do it.

 

anyway, this isnt a problem, a problem is that MP and SP are different exes, and who knows what else is different.

 

 

They actually aren't seperate EXEs. The single player UI is a separate exe called Launcher.EXE but if you go into a single player mission it closes Launcher.exe and opens DCS.exe.

 

Single Player game engine and multiplayer game engine are both DCS.exe.

[cichlidfan]

anyway, this isnt a problem, a problem is that MP and SP are different exes, and who knows what else is different.

 

Isn't the actual problem that people don't want to set up their controls before getting on an MP server?

[Raistlen007]

Isn't the actual problem that people don't want to set up their controls before getting on an MP server?

 

Its not that they don't want to, it's that its goshdarn inconvenient.

 

I very often forget controls in airplanes I haven't flown in a long time and I'd like to take a look at the controls.

 

I often realize there's something that could be changed to work better, and quitting and rejoining is a PITA.

 

I teach courses in DCS. It very often happens that my trainees aren't sure what their keybinds are (simply because there's so many and they don't remember!) and I often want to help them set it up, and having them quit then come back in is also a PITA.

 

And what's maddening is that the feature is already in the game, just has to be activated!

Edited June 22, 2014 by Raistlen007
accidentaly a word

[Magician]

 

And what's maddening is that the feature is already in the game, just has to be activated!

 

And how much of a PITA would it be for non-training MP missions if the simulation paused for everyone every time someone pressed "ESC" to access that feature?

 

How much of a PITA would it be for single player missions if the simulation didn't pause when you pressed ESC to access that feature?

 

Because that is the feature as it actually exists, you have to pause the simulation first, THEN access the controls. It's not clear that it's even possible to do it without pausing the simulation, I dunno enough about the architecture to know one way or the other though.

 

Maybe what would be useful is a way to view the control settings without being able to change them.

 

Or

 

A special "Training" MP mode that allowed for a universal pause, if that's even possible.

[Raistlen007]

And how much of a PITA would it be for non-training MP missions if the simulation paused for everyone every time someone pressed "ESC" to access that feature?

 

How much of a PITA would it be for single player missions if the simulation didn't pause when you pressed ESC to access that feature?

 

Because that is the feature as it actually exists, you have to pause the simulation first, THEN access the controls. It's not clear that it's even possible to do it without pausing the simulation, I dunno enough about the architecture to know one way or the other though.

 

Maybe what would be useful is a way to view the control settings without being able to change them.

 

Or

 

A special "Training" MP mode that allowed for a universal pause, if that's even possible.

 

It is already possible to pause servers and 'active pause' servers by the server host.

 

But if its possible to update controls without pausing (which I believe should be possible) even if it freezes the controls during the update, let that be the pilot's responsibility. A trimmed aircraft can fly for quite a bit, and if someone crashes while adjusting the controls, as unfortunate as that may be, I feel that the greater benefit for the greater number of people is to allow this feature.

[Dudester22]

Does anybody know if ED is planning on implementing the ADJUST CONTROLS menu to change our control inputs during a multiplayer session? I know we can do it in single player even if that's not always been the case.

 

When I learn a new aircraft, it is usually with another person on multiplayer who teaches me. More often than not, I need to remap some controls as the default ones are not always to my liking. It is really annoying when I need to switch back and forth between the single player main menu and multiplayer game just to get access to the control menu.

 

Am I the only one who wishes that this feature was implemented in MP as well?

 

I see no sense in the implementation of this. You are not in the game when you are setting up your controls. What's the difference between disconnecting for a few seconds to set up your controls and disconnecting to a controller setup screen in game? You should take more time to setup the controls before you play. I know it took me ages to do my controls, but it saved me having to disconnect like you are doing.

Edited June 22, 2014 by Dudester22

[Raistlen007]

I see no sense in the implementation of this. You are not in the game when you are setting up your controls. What's the difference between disconnecting for a few seconds to set up your controls and disconnecting to a controller setup screen in game? You should take more time to setup the controls before you play. I know it took me ages to do my controls, but it saved me having to disconnect like you are doing.

 

As I wrote above:

 

1. It's easier to set things up when you can see where the switches are and you can make sure that the functions you set do what you think they're gonna do.

 

2. Connecting to servers can take several minutes if the mission being hosted is big enough in file size.

 

3. Sometimes you realize mistakes you made in the configuration that you want to fix, and if you're flying with other people means the rest of them have to wait for you.

 

4. As I wrote above, I teach online courses in DCS, and its easier to teach when everyone is in the server with me, and sometimes they aren't sure or don't remember what they assigned their controls, and leaving to check and coming back to start the airplane up again makes absolutely zero sense, and slows everything down for themselves and others.

 

5. You can take all the time in the world to set up your controls and still want to improve them on the fly, or at least check what you set your controls at if you've been changing them a lot recently and not sure where you put a function.

 

6. Even if all the above examples don't apply to you, there are others who I know for a fact would absolutely benefit from the feature, including myself, and those I teach.

 

Keep in mind that every single other modern flight simulator supports in-game rebinding while in multiplayer, and the feature already exists in DCS single player which is the same EXE as the multiplayer.

[Alterscape]

I'm going to "me too" Raistlen's points. I fly DCS with some of the same people, and I agree that it would be useful to be able to check controls (and ideally rebind) while in the 'pit in MP. If nothing else, it would help with the "oh my, haven't flown this in weeks, now where did I put my key for <whatever>?"

[funkyb]

I'm going to "me too" Raistlen's points. I fly DCS with some of the same people, and I agree that it would be useful to be able to check controls (and ideally rebind) while in the 'pit in MP. If nothing else, it would help with the "oh my, haven't flown this in weeks, now where did I put my key for <whatever>?"

 

Agreed.

[Magician]

It is already possible to pause servers and 'active pause' servers by the server host.

In that case, maybe they should make it possible to edit controls while the server is paused.

 

But if its possible to update controls without pausing (which I believe should be possible)

On what basis do you have such a belief? The evidence is that you have to pause the simulation before choosing to edit the controls as it stands, there is no evidence that suggests it could be otherwise for DCS as it stands. The control edit function resides in the UI program, which is separate from the simulation program, and has to change some pretty basic parameters in the Simulation, I would think that may not be such an easy task within the existing simulation code base. Not to mention you are adding one more process every x number of cycles to at least check a flag for changes in the controls.

 

Furthermore, I have only ever seen one flight simulation game where it is possible to edit the controls without at least pausing the simulation, ROF, (and for those planes, it is excessively suicidal without pausing or engaging the unrealistic autopilot), For the most part, they all at least pause; MSFS, X-Plane, IL-2 (1946); or not allow it from within the sim at all (Strike Fighters, Falcon, pre 1.2.8 DCS).

 

So the evidence doesn't really suggests that it should be possible or easy for DCS. Maybe after the EDGE update, if such a capability is even on their list.

 

As it stands, it should be relatively easy to implement a "view control settings" without pausing, but you can do that as it stands with a little forethought... just print them out or download them to a tablet or some such device.

Edited June 23, 2014 by Magician

[Raistlen007]

On what basis do you have such a belief? The evidence is that you have to pause the simulation before choosing to edit the controls as it stands, there is no evidence that suggests it could be otherwise for DCS as it stands. The control edit function resides in the UI program, which is separate from the simulation program, and has to change some pretty basic parameters in the Simulation, I would think that may not be such an easy task within the existing simulation code base. Not to mention you are adding one more process every x number of cycles to at least check a flag for changes in the controls.

 

My evidence is that this function exists and is fully functional inside the simulation program. It was recently added to the single player pause menu.

 

You can go into single player, and while inside the simulation program which is the same program as the multiplayer (DCS.EXE), and change your input controls.

 

And you're definitely not checking every X number of cycles. when you're done editing your controls, you hit save, and it updates. That's it.

 

 

So the evidence doesn't really suggests that it should be possible or easy for DCS. Maybe after the EDGE update, if such a capability is even on their list.

 

The evidence is that it's already in DCS. There is no evidence that pausing plays any factor in this. The controls are in a .lua file, and if the .lua can be updated and reloaded while the game is paused I can think of no practical reason why the simulation being unpaused plays any factor. If the controls have to be disabled for the plane while the controls are being changed, so be it. It's still worth it.

 

If they include this feature in EDGE, I'm happy to wait for the 1.3.0 update. But the silence on the topic worries me because this feature is something I know that people really need to help with the learning curve of this highly complex piece of simulation.

 

As it stands, it should be relatively easy to implement a "view control settings" without pausing, but you can do that as it stands with a little forethought... just print them out or download them to a tablet or some such device.

 

You know how many key bindings DCS-A10-C has. dozens and dozens of them. What makes more sense, to have the information be displayed on a screen in a way the engine already supports, or to waste many pages of paper which are not cheap, and harder to browse?

 

Also, you usually realize you don't remember a keybind you changed when you least expect it. Printing out lots and lots of papers every time you make the smallest change is impractical, illogical, and indefensible as a solution.

[Zakatak]

The graphical user interface for multiplayer in general looks like it really needs a big update, it looks like something you'd see from 20th century game. No ability to sort or filter the servers, no graphics/controls options, stuff almost all MP games have by now.

[Magician]

My evidence is that this function exists and is fully functional inside the simulation program. It was recently added to the single player pause menu.

 

You can go into single player, and while inside the simulation program which is the same program as the multiplayer (DCS.EXE), and change your input controls.

 

And you're definitely not checking every X number of cycles. when you're done editing your controls, you hit save, and it updates. That's it.

That is not the function you want, you want to be able to do it without pausing, that function does NOT exist in DCS.

 

And yes, if it is done without pausing, it has to check all the time it is running for changes.

 

The evidence is that it's already in DCS. There is no evidence that pausing plays any factor in this.

wtf? The evidence is that you have to pause to do it, Just like every other mid 2000's pedigree flight simulation that even allows you to do it from "in sim".

 

And the reason is so it does not have to add a process every few cycles to check if anything got changed, as you pointed out above, it does it once, while paused..

 

 

The controls are in a .lua file, and if the .lua can be updated and reloaded while the game is paused I can think of no practical reason why the simulation being unpaused plays any factor.

 

Seriously? It makes the difference between adding the process every few cycles, or only when paused

 

If the controls have to be disabled for the plane while the controls are being changed, so be it. It's still worth it.

Bear in mind my main issue is the fact that you claimed the function already existed, it does not. It only exists while paused, I can't help it if you can't differentiate that from while it is running a real time simulation. And keeping in sync with several other computers.

 

I have no issue with them adding it, if it is possible, just pointing out why it is a lot more involved than you seem to believe.

 

If they include this feature in EDGE, I'm happy to wait for the 1.3.0 update. But the silence on the topic worries me because this feature is something I know that people really need to help with the learning curve of this highly complex piece of simulation.

I agree.

 

 

You know how many key bindings DCS-A10-C has. dozens and dozens of them. What makes more sense, to have the information be displayed on a screen in a way the engine already supports, or to waste many pages of paper which are not cheap, and harder to browse?

 

Also, you usually realize you don't remember a keybind you changed when you least expect it. Printing out lots and lots of papers every time you make the smallest change is impractical, illogical, and indefensible as a solution.

That's why I would combine the html files Excel, compress and sort them, and use my tablet LOL

 

Yeah it would be nice if you could at least displayed it while running, as I said, that should be a relatively easy feature for them to add.

 

 

I have no issue with what you want, just pointing out that it ain't a feature that already exists.