DCS-BIOS Discussion Thread

[Simpit]

Hi community,

strange bug: After landing on an airbase DCS-Bios is inactive - no function on the runway and while rearming and refueling. First a few seconds after take off from the runway DCS-BIOS will work again properly.

And now the most funny fact: After landing again in the same mission DCS-BIOS continues working well with no problems on the runway and while rearming and refueling. No more malfunction.

Anyone who has the same experiences??

Edited March 22, 2023 by Simpit

[Kenpilot]

All of a sudden, DCS BIOS isn't working for me. I'm using 3 arduinos, on COM 4, 5 and 7. The sketches are fine and compiled and uploaded without a problem. I went in to the multiple-com-ports.cmd and edited it with Notepad++ and put 4 5 7 next to COMPORTS=. I select the .cmd from within the Scripts-Programs folder before starting DCS, and none of the arduinos are doing anything inside the game. Everything was working perfectly fine a few weeks ago. When I'm running DCS and go back and look at the .cmd screen, nothing is happening. Before, the code would continuously run while the game was running, now nothing. Any ideas? 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Kenpilot

[No1sonuk]

A lot of people are flagging a problem with the multi-com port program.  I don't think there's a fix yet.

[lesthegrngo]

I had a sort of similar issue quite a while back that almost made me give up on RS485, where one day it all worked, next day totally non functional. In that case updating the Arduino IDE fixed the issue, I wonder if a recent IDE update has messed with it again?

Les

[Kenpilot]

For some miraculous reason, everything is working fine today. I did go in and use the single com .cmd for each COM port to see if it worked, and it did. Then I tried the multiple.cmd with all of them and its working. Who knows. Just glad its working again! 

[Simpit]

Am 22.3.2023 um 23:28 schrieb Simpit:

Hi community,

strange bug: After landing on an airbase DCS-Bios is inactive - no function on the runway and while rearming and refueling. First a few seconds after take off from the runway DCS-BIOS will work again properly.

And now the most funny fact: After landing again in the same mission DCS-BIOS continues working well with no problems on the runway and while rearming and refueling. No more malfunction.

Anyone who has the same experiences??

 

Don´t know wether someone is interested - but this is the solution:

Everytime ILS-configuration in DED is open, after landing no DCS-HUB communication is possible. Therefore before landing swichting back DED to default is needed!

[romeokilo]

Anyone working on how to get the A-10's new ARC-210 display running in DCS-BIOS? 

Im trying to pull the frequency display from the HUD with no joy so far. But I have no idea what im doing lol.

[No1sonuk]

3 hours ago, romeokilo said:

Anyone working on how to get the A-10's new ARC-210 display running in DCS-BIOS? 

Im trying to pull the frequency display from the HUD with no joy so far. But I have no idea what im doing lol.

I think the Flightpanels fork guys have at least some of it working, but I've not updated my DCS-BIOS since the ARC-210 was included in DCS.

[romeokilo]

The flight panels fork has all the buttons and rotaries already done, but no displays working just yet. I'm hoping someone with more coding knowledge than me is working on it. 

[No1sonuk]

Considering we know what they are, is there a way to find the mfcd viewport names in the code?

If so, maybe search for a similar format for the ARC-210. 

Edited March 28, 2023 by No1sonuk

[No1sonuk]

9 hours ago, romeokilo said:

The flight panels fork has all the buttons and rotaries already done, but no displays working just yet. I'm hoping someone with more coding knowledge than me is working on it. 

Looks like Helios has been updated:
https://github.com/HeliosVirtualCockpit/Helios/releases

[Vinc_Vega]

Yes, here is a link to the demo clip.

Regards, Vinc

https://youtu.be/OWH_POw2a64

[byteman59]

What is Helios and when is it used in a SimPit?

 

thank you!

[No1sonuk]

1 hour ago, byteman59 said:

What is Helios and when is it used in a SimPit?

Helios Virtual Cockpit:
https://github.com/HeliosVirtualCockpit

It's a cockpit simulator that can be used to export gauges and display ports from DCS.
One example of its use is The Warthog Project, where he uses Helios to export all the gauges, ADI, HSI, etc. from the A-10C to a single monitor he uses as the instrument panel.
There's a comment about it here: https://thewarthogproject.com/software-1

The notes for the latest Helios release show the ARC-210 has been added:
https://github.com/HeliosVirtualCockpit/Helios/releases/tag/1.6.6000.0

[byteman59]

20 hours ago, No1sonuk said:

Helios Virtual Cockpit:
https://github.com/HeliosVirtualCockpit

It's a cockpit simulator that can be used to export gauges and display ports from DCS.
One example of its use is The Warthog Project, where he uses Helios to export all the gauges, ADI, HSI, etc. from the A-10C to a single monitor he uses as the instrument panel.
There's a comment about it here: https://thewarthogproject.com/software-1

The notes for the latest Helios release show the ARC-210 has been added:
https://github.com/HeliosVirtualCockpit/Helios/releases/tag/1.6.6000.0

Ah, thank you. Will definately need to check it out.

 

btw, is this book worth getting for reference?
 

Edited March 31, 2023 by byteman59

[Kenpilot]

I'm having this issue again. Is anyone else currently having this problem too? DCS BIOS is vary random for me as far as all my arduinos consistantly working when I start playing DCS. I have 5 arduinos connected and they're working fine on their own. I open the multi-com port.cmd before starting DCS as instructed by the new DCS BIOS. When I go in to DCS and start a mission or whatever, it is totally random which arduinos will work and which ones won't, sometimes they all do. Then I shut down my computer, turn it on later and go through the same thing. I'll try opening all the sketches and making sure the libraries are current, run the multi-com port .cdm  as administrator, all these random things to see if it'll help and sometimes it does, but there's no rhyme or reason as to what works and what doesn't. I just try a bunch of random opening and closing of associated programs and it sometimes gets the Arduinos working in DCS and sometimes it doesn't. I always check the Device Manager once I start up the PC and all of the comm-ports that the aruinos are using are recognized and working. Am I the only one having this issue? Anyone have any ideas or fixes for this? It would be nice to be able to just fire up the PC, start Helios, open the multi-com port.cmd, and start up DCS and start playing consistantly. Thank you!!

[Vinc_Vega]

I have another issue to tell.

Using the "old" version of DcsBios (not that one from Flightpanel) and it is since the last update of DCS only working good with the Bf-109 module. Starting a flight in the A-10C II gives neither response to the DcsBios control reference nor anything to the Arduinos. Strange behavior and until now I have no clue why it isn't so with the 109 module.

Same behavior is at my Flight rig and at the laptop.

So I'll probably have to wait for the next update and if that doesn't fix it do a complete reinstallation of DCS and Bios.

Regards, Vinc

 

@byteman59

That hardcopy is an excellent image source.

Edited April 5, 2023 by Vinc_Vega

[Xupicor]

Is anyone here fluent in 'Lua Console' / 'Hub Scripts'? I wanted to write a proof of concept "coordinates to cockpit inputs" where I would read in coordinates and translate them to button inputs needed to automatically punch them in, something "DCS: The Way" is doing already. However, the code - as unoptimized and primitive as it is - seems to work fine in all respects but the crucial one. Only the first and last input seems to get sent and actually recognized by DCS.

Is there a caveat to using `hub.sendSimCommand()`? I'm sending the button names taken from the docs (Control Reference), yet only the AMPCD ones get acted upon properly. UFC_OC1 doesn't get activated for some reason - but if I play with the delay and punch the button in-cockpit myself, the numbers show up in the end (so UFC_0 through UFC_9 work? Kinda?), though, not the last one, for some reason, and UFC_ENT doesn't seem to do anything either. 

if not hub then -- for testing in cli
	hub = {
		sendSimCommand = function(c, v) end
	}
end

function sleep(n)  -- seconds
	local t0 = os.clock()
	while os.clock() - t0 <= n do -- just a busy loop - I couldn't find a way to do it smarter in hub environment
	end
end

function press(command)
	hub.sendSimCommand(command, "1")
	sleep(1) -- I want to see it done slowly
	hub.sendSimCommand(command, "0") 
	sleep(1) -- I want to see it done slowly
end

local command_to_buttons = {
	["N"] = "UFC_2",
	["S"] = "UFC_8",
	["E"] = "UFC_6",
	["W"] = "UFC_4",
	["0"] = "UFC_0",
	["1"] = "UFC_1",
	["2"] = "UFC_2",
	["3"] = "UFC_3",
	["4"] = "UFC_4",
	["5"] = "UFC_5",
	["6"] = "UFC_6",
	["7"] = "UFC_7",
	["8"] = "UFC_8",
	["9"] = "UFC_9",
	[","] = "UFC_ENT",
	["'"] = "UFC_ENT",
	["."] = "UFC_ENT",
	["U"] = "AMPCD_PB_05",
	[">"] = "AMPCD_PB_12",
	[":"] = "UFC_OS1",
	["f"] = "UFC_OS3",
	["t"] = "UFC_OS1",
}

function punch_in_single_coord(sanitized_coord)
	for c in string.gmatch(sanitized_coord, ".") do
		press(command_to_buttons[c]) 	
		--print(command_to_buttons[c])
	end
end


function punch_it_in()
	local matches = {
		"U:N4134.>",
		--"U:N4134.0411'E4136.9865'ft155.>",
		-- "U:N4134.0411'E4136.9865'ft155.>",
		-- "U:N4330.8198'E4338.3728'ft1411.>",
		-- "U:N4244.4262'E4404.3242'ft11001.>",
		-- "U:N4314.8299'E4426.1757'ft1370.>",
	}
	for _,m in pairs(matches) do
		punch_in_single_coord(m)
	end
end

punch_it_in() 

 

The docs don't even include any wait/sleep function between an example of those calls, so I'm unsure if I would need them in the end or not. I'd think so, since otherwise it would be a barrage of inputs... They also say: 

Quote

The channel for commands to DCS has a buffer size of 10, so you can send small sequences like pushing and releasing a button without worrying about blocking anything.

 But I have no idea what it's supposed to mean. Buffer size of 10... what? 10 commands? Or do they phrase a time delay between the calls as "buffer" and it's miliseconds or something? No clue. That's basically all there is about it in the docs -- that I found... I'd appreciate any input.

I'm new to Lua, so maybe there's something obvious in there. (Not as new to programming to see that there are probably faster ways to loop just using normal indexing, but that's not the showstopper here. I just wanted to use the fancy Lua stuff. )

 

The way you'd test this is just copy paste this to 'Lua Console' in DCS BIOS Dashboard and execute. This is for the Hornet and you have to be in HSI 'DATA' screen with PRECISE boxed in, that's on your AMPCD.

Edited April 9, 2023 by Xupicor

[No1sonuk]

On 4/5/2023 at 5:02 PM, Vinc_Vega said:

I have another issue to tell.

Using the "old" version of DcsBios (not that one from Flightpanel) and it is since the last update of DCS only working good with the Bf-109 module. Starting a flight in the A-10C II gives neither response to the DcsBios control reference nor anything to the Arduinos. Strange behavior and until now I have no clue why it isn't so with the 109 module.

Same behavior is at my Flight rig and at the laptop.

So I'll probably have to wait for the next update and if that doesn't fix it do a complete reinstallation of DCS and Bios.

Regards, Vinc

As more updates are done, less of the Hub version of DCS-BIOS will work because it's not being updated.

Switch to the Flightpanels fork.

Starting connections is "harder", but at least everything else works or gets fixed.

[Vinc_Vega]

Thanks!

I did a complete de-installation of DCS and DcsBios.

Re-installed the openBeta in a combination with minimal installation of the Flightpanel's Fork (only the dcs-bios-master folder) it is working again.

Works like a charme, including the live data in Chrome and the pointer calibration tool. Great work guys 

Now I have to see if something from the latest Arduino library broke my scripting.

 

Regards, Vinc

Edited April 10, 2023 by Vinc_Vega

[byteman59]

On 4/5/2023 at 12:02 PM, Vinc_Vega said:

I have another issue to tell.

Using the "old" version of DcsBios (not that one from Flightpanel) and it is since the last update of DCS only working good with the Bf-109 module. Starting a flight in the A-10C II gives neither response to the DcsBios control reference nor anything to the Arduinos. Strange behavior and until now I have no clue why it isn't so with the 109 module.

Same behavior is at my Flight rig and at the laptop.

So I'll probably have to wait for the next update and if that doesn't fix it do a complete reinstallation of DCS and Bios.

Regards, Vinc

 

@byteman59

That hardcopy is an excellent image source.

 

Thank you!! Much appreciated.

[Vinc_Vega]

@byteman59

and ofcourse that one

Edited April 10, 2023 by Vinc_Vega

[byteman59]

22 minutes ago, Vinc_Vega said:

@byteman59

and ofcourse that one

 

Excellent, thanks!

[MarkBLN]

Hey guys, quick question. Building my first panel at the moment and gonna use dcs bios. I'm using an Arduino mega and I'm a couple Digital pins short. So wanted to know can I use analog pins for some extra digital pins? If so can these also power some leds? So I can use them for leds on backlit switches? 

[Vinc_Vega]

Yes, you can use the analoge pins as digital outputs. You cannot use these pins with PWM signals to dim LEDs. As the outputs should have 5V, ensure to use proper resistors before powering LEDs.

Regards, Vinc

Edited April 14, 2023 by Vinc_Vega