VAICOM 2.0 for VoiceAttack

[das Rindvieh]

I've been trying to get this working in 1.5.5 and think I've succeeded. If you want to try it out for yourself, download the attached file, and use it to replace the file of the same name in the original Static ATC mod.

 

I created this by comparing the file line by line to the one installed with 1.5.5. Most of the differences appeared to be due to the "under the hood" changes in comms that ED has been working on, but it seemed fairly easy to identify the static ATC mods and copy them into the 1.5.5 version of the file. The other files in the mod do not appear to have been updated by ED recently, and so I left them alone.

 

For me this allows the ATC static menus to appear, and they appear to work as expected.

 

Now if I can just get VAICOM 2.0 working. Or more precisely, get Windows to not mangle everything I say before passing it to VoiceAttack.

 

Great, thx!! :thumbup:

[bouncerj21]

Brilliant thank you

[Greyman]

That's awesome

 

Thanks

[dadunn1700]

Glad you guys are on top of the JSGME VIACOM Menu Mod issue. Came back to DCS after playing BMS for awhile and my beloved VIACOM voice attack wasn't working. Even the comm menu in DCS wouldn't appear. Freaked out at first until i saw it was a known issue. Love yalls work!!! I can't imagine going back to playing DCS using the default keyboard comms after using VAICOM and voice attack for so long.

[Hollywood_315]

@sthompson Thanks, great job!

[Greyman]

Might this work on Version 2 as well?

[The LT]

Does anyone have the mod fix for the latest DCS 2.0 alpha version?

[DigitalEngine]

VAC Static ATC Menu Mod

 

I've been trying to get this working in 1.5.5 and think I've succeeded. If you want to try it out for yourself, download the attached file, and use it to replace the file of the same name in the original Static ATC mod.

 

I created this by comparing the file line by line to the one installed with 1.5.5. Most of the differences appeared to be due to the "under the hood" changes in comms that ED has been working on, but it seemed fairly easy to identify the static ATC mods and copy them into the 1.5.5 version of the file. The other files in the mod do not appear to have been updated by ED recently, and so I left them alone.

 

For me this allows the ATC static menus to appear, and they appear to work as expected.

 

Now if I can just get VAICOM 2.0 working. Or more precisely, get Windows to not mangle everything I say before passing it to VoiceAttack.

 

This seems to work,

I couldn't get the comms menu to come up at all with the VAC Static ATC Menu Mod activated, using VA/Viacom or even using the \ key.

After replacing the above file, the comm menu comes up, and seems to work at this point.

Need to do additional testing to verify selecting a specific airfield still functions though.

Thanks "sthompson"!!

 

(post here) https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2986946&postcount=499

[DigitalEngine]

Profile Reset

 

Hey guys thanks for your inputs. I understand there may be an issue with VA update to 1.6 regarding the Start Mission function.

I haven't done testing yet myself but will investigate and see if I can reproduce.

Please share any additional findings you may have here.

 

As a general note the Start Mission uses a double pause/break command send.

During testing this has proven to give the most reliable results. Most missions automatically unpause on start.

Some missions need manual unpause, though I haven't traced the root cause of this yet.

The *.miz mission/setting data loads normally at Start Mission, but I will check if the changes in VA1.6 perhaps have had an influence there.

Any other stuff you may have encountered regarding latest VA update let me know.

 

Thanks

 

UPDATE: Issue confirmed. In VA 1.6 the Pause keysend functions seems to be broken so that there is no automatic unpause on Start Mission.

I will report the bug to VA and update when there's a fix. In the meantime as workaround you can use manual unpause with the mouse.

Still use the Start Mission voice command to load mission data and settings.

In previous VA version things worked correctly, if you want to revert to VA 1.5.8.12 look here http://voiceattack.com/smf/index.php?topic=293.0.

 

Hollywood, I believe this same fault is keeping the "Profile Reset" function from working.

Once I use the Profile Reset after the mission is started, Voice Attack pauses and will not un-pause.

 

Noticed Voice attack has a beta 1.6.1.8 out, I'll see if it corrects issues.

Update: Voice Attack 1.6.1.8 is no help...

 

Have you received any response from the creators of Voice Attack on this issue yet?

Edited December 27, 2016 by DigitalEngine

[Hollywood_315]

Hey Engine

 

I had some exchange with Gary on their support forums and he was going to look into it. No followups so far. It seems that this may be somehow specific to DCS as I haven't seen similar complaints for other games. In VA there was a change made in the way DirectX keys are sent (you can no longer select DX vs. normal keysend mode) and it seems that the virtual Pause key now no longer gets properly recognized by DCS. But it could perhaps be some other glitch also.

 

It's interesting that Profile Reset is affected, I hadn't noticed that yet myself. As far as I remember that should not invoke any Pause keysends so it may hold a clue to what's going on. Thanks for the heads up, I'll look into it when I'm back in range of my PC.

 

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-G935F met Tapatalk

[rickberry49]

MacroBuilder directory??

 

What are we supposed to do with the other zip file "vacATCMacroBuilder.zip" contained in the "VAC_ATC_Menu_Mod_and_MacroBuilder-v1.1.zip"? The macrobuilder contains a double nessted directory of the same name???

 

About the only thing I can get to work well is "Profile Reset", with some work I can get ATC at Mosdok, they reply with different call sign "ENFIELD 11" and their name "Honda"??? First time I call the tell me to TAXI, 2nd try it works and I get clearance response.

 

Auto ATC for radio freq does not appear to work the radio freq is not shown on panel.

 

For now, this is a fantastic bit of work, but unless I can get the bugs out and questions answered it is more trouble than help. Really hope to get it working.

Edited December 28, 2016 by rickberry49

[Hollywood_315]

Hey Rick the macro builder zip is not needed, you can just ignore it. I'll be sending a PM later with some advice around the other stuff. Grtz

 

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-G935F met Tapatalk

[Hollywood_315]

I did some additional tests. There are currently two pending issues with VA, both reported

 

1) Start Mission / unpause.

The Pause virtual key sent by VA is not recognized by DCS.

Mission will therefore not automatically unpause on Start Mission voice command.

 

Easiest workaround is this: in DCS config add another keyboard key to the pause function (I use `~ since that doesn't seem to be used anywhere).

In the VAICOM profile edit the Start Mission command (special functions category) to send this key instead of Pause (twice).

 

----

UPDATE: I found that DCS interprets the Pause key sent by VA1.6 as Numlock (at least on my rig this is the case).

So if you simply add Numlock key to the pause function in DCS config you don't need to change anything in VA, even easier.

 

In DCS 1.5 things will then work as normal again.

In DCS 2.0 I found that funnily enough the DCS window does not have focus once a new mission is loaded.

So before you say Start Mission you need to activate the DCS window first by clicking the mouse somewhere.

----

 

2) mission.lua readout

VA currently chokes on reading out the mission.lua file as part of profile initialization if a keyboard key is used for PTT.

The PTT function then hangs after Start Mission or Profile reset so VA needs to be restarted.

It seems to be specific to DCS i.e. to the mission.lua file (it can contain Russian characters which could be causing the issue, but it may also be something else altogether).

 

Recommended workaround is to use HOTAS buttons for PTT using the direct setup (see note attached to first post), this avoids the problem.

 

In other news:

 

3) Static ATC mod

This mod doesn't work for 2.0 atm but can be fixed for 1.5 by using sthompson's (thanks!!) tweak here:

https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2986946&postcount=499

 

:joystick:

Edited December 29, 2016 by Hollywood_315

[DigitalEngine]

Thanks Hollywood,

I think the simplest thing for me to do is keep with version 1.5.12 for now.

 

BTW, if you want to revert back, when you do the uninstall of version 1.6 you'll have to manually remove the voiceattack.exe file, as it was not done by un-install, at lest for me. If not you'll still have version 1.6 when you try to revert back.

[Smash-Time]

I did some additional tests. There are currently two pending issues with VA, both reported

 

1) Start Mission / unpause.

The Pause virtual key sent by VA is not recognized by DCS.

Mission will therefore not automatically unpause on Start Mission voice command.

 

Easiest workaround is this: in DCS config add another keyboard key to the pause function (I use `~ since that doesn't seem to be used anywhere).

In the VAICOM profile edit the Start Mission command (special functions category) to send this key instead of Pause (twice).

 

2) mission.lua readout

VA currently chokes on reading out the mission.lua file as part of profile initialization if a keyboard key is used for PTT.

The PTT function then hangs after Start Mission or Profile reset so VA needs to be restarted.

It seems to be specific to DCS i.e. to the mission.lua file (it can contain Russian characters which could be causing the issue, but it may also be something else altogether).

 

Recommended workaround is to use HOTAS buttons for PTT using the direct setup (see note attached to first post), this avoids the problem.

 

In other news:

 

3) Static ATC mod

This mod doesn't work for 2.0 atm but can be fixed for 1.5 by using sthompson's (thanks!!) tweak here:

https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2986946&postcount=499

 

:joystick:

Hollywood, I'm having the same issues with VA not starting DCS BS2 missions using "Mission Start" voice command. I did as you suggested in your message: Changed all ptt buttons via direct setup and changed the "pause" key to the "`~" key in both DCS Options->Controls as well as edited the profile "Mission Start" command to use that key as well.

 

It's still not working correctly. When I leave VA running after trying the Mission Start command, after about a minute the ptt keys start working again and, among other log entries, the log displays the following with a red radio button:

 

Command canceled: Another command is not allowing others to execute.

 

Also, the profile reset command seems hosed as well. Depending on where I am at when issuing a Profile Reset command, it will hang for about a minute then I've seen it display either the same error as Mission Start: (Command canceled: Another command is not allowing others to execute), or errors reading the temporary .lua files (mission.lua and I think options.lua)

 

I don't know if it makes a difference in my case but I do have DCS installed on my mechanical drive D: while Voice Attack/Vaicom is installed on my ssd drive C:

[Hollywood_315]

Hey Smash

 

Thanks. The install drives shouldn't make any difference.

Can you make sure that the Start Mission and related commands have this option enabled:

 

'allow other commands to be executed while this one is running'

 

I'm updating above post regarding unpause with some new finding.

Cheers

[Smash-Time]

Thanks Hollywood! Start Mission *did* have that setting unchecked. The other Menu commands in the line were checked properly. When I checked the Start Mission check box and tested it, it worked without errors. The only other thing I had to do was add a 3rd unpause command to get the mission to completely unpause. For some reason with just 2 unpause commands in Start Mission, the "Fly" button graphic clears off the screen but the mission is still in a paused state. When I manually hit the tilde key, it unpaused so I just added the 3rd unpause command.

 

Also a big Thank You for putting these VA profiles together for us to use. Now that I'm flying with the Oculus Rift, it's even more critical that I don't need to use the keyboard!

[Smash-Time]

Update: The Start Mission command doesn't seem to be working on Dragon's Hamburger Hill mission. So maybe there is something in the .lua's that is mucking it up???

[Hollywood_315]

No worries. Some missions -like this one apparently- seem designed to start in paused mode, you'll need to manually unpause those.

Most missions however will automatically unpause on start.

Edited December 30, 2016 by Hollywood_315

[reyco1987]

So I'm up to the point now where voice inputs are indeed going through VA into DCS, but DCS isn't responding to the commands at all.

 

For example, I'm on easy comms off, tune Batumi to VHF1 on 131.000. On the deck I call for a start up (using the VHF1 transmit in VA) but ATC won't respond.

Basically the same thing with UHF. The player character will tell 2 to engage ground tgts, but the AI will not respond at all...:joystick::cry::joystick:

[Greyman]

Have you checked the Non-international keyboards link in the OP?

[Hollywood_315]

Hey Reyco

 

You're hearing the player voice issuing the command which means VAICOM is working properly.

With Easy Comms set to OFF not hearing anything back can have multiple causes e.g.

 

*) recipient out of range,

*) radio not powered or properly set,

*) wrong radio/modulation used,

*) intercom panel not set properly (recipient is calling back but you don't hear),

*) etc.

 

Looks like you'll need to investigate, have fun :book:

[reyco1987]

Hey Reyco

 

You're hearing the player voice issuing the command which means VAICOM is working properly.

With Easy Comms set to OFF not hearing anything back can have multiple causes e.g.

 

*) recipient out of range,

*) radio not powered or properly set,

*) wrong radio/modulation used,

*) intercom panel not set properly (recipient is calling back but you don't hear),

*) etc.

 

Looks like you'll need to investigate, have fun :book:

 

 

Thanks for the reply, Hollywood!

 

Seeing your list, the only thing I can think that I didn't check was what the wafer switch on the ICS panel was doing while VA was working...I'll have to check that out.

 

Other than that everything else, on the DCS side, is set up correctly for me to hear answers.

 

 

*EDIT*

 

Ok, so it's definitely something I'm missing with the radio set up in DCS because everyone answers right back in easy communication mode...Not sure what I'm missing.

 

When trying to call ATC for start-up, I tune the correct frequency, MAN set, TR set. I turn the volume up all the way on the VHF1 panel, and the COMM panel.

 

Oh, and I know for sure that VA is using VHF1 when I transmit.

 

I've gone through the flight manual but I don't see anything else that is needed...

Edited January 4, 2017 by reyco1987
Did a little troubleshooting...

[Greyman]

Just out of interest and sorry if i'm suggesting something that you already know, but do your radios have power?

 

When i ask for startup, i have to wait until the generator has activated or i have to ask the ground crew to connect ground power, before being able to contact the tower.

 

I don't know for sure, but it may be that easy communications does not rely on the radios having power.

[reyco1987]

Yea, so I've tried calling on battery power, apu gen, then finally engine gens but still nothing.

 

I've yet to try just on external power, though. I'll try that out.