Viggen and CombatFlite - need help with data cartridge and kneeboard

[Hoggorm]

Hi,

 

For a long time, I've been looking for a software like CombatFlite:

 

https://www.combatflite.com/

 

I've been trying it today and it looks very nice except for these two issues that I can't figure out how to fix:

 

1 - I can't seem to load the correct data cartridge

2 - The custom-made kneeboard does not show up when pressing Right Shift - K in missions

 

Have you been able to do this?

 

My steps regarding data cartridge:

 

I've placed the CustomCartridge.ini file created by CombatFlite in the following folder:

 

C:\Users\xxxxx\Saved Games\DCS_AJS37

 

In the sim I've started the cold start mission of the Viggen, opened the kneeboard (that it still not changed to my custom kneeboard created for the mission) and changed until the loaded cartridge say "From the Saved Games Folder" (or something similar).

 

I insert the cartridge and select REF/LOLA IN 9099.

 

My flight plan created in CombatFlite do not load...

 

My steps regarding the kneeboard:

 

I've placed the files created by CombatFlite in the following folder:

 

C:\ProgramFiles\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\Mods\aircraft\AJS37\Cockpit\scripts\KNEEBOARD\indicator\CONTENT

 

Opening any mission and pressing Right Shift - K do only open the regular kneeboard. Not my custom made one...

 

I'm sure I must be doing something wrong... Any help would be appreciated!

 

Thank you.

[LazyBoot]

 

My steps regarding the kneeboard:

 

I've placed the files created by CombatFlite in the following folder:

 

C:\ProgramFiles\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\Mods\aircraft\AJS37\Cockpit\scripts\KNEEBOARD\indicator\CONTENT

 

Opening any mission and pressing Right Shift - K do only open the regular kneeboard. Not my custom made one...

 

I'm sure I must be doing something wrong... Any help would be appreciated!

 

Thank you.

 

Try putting them in C:\Users\[name]\Saved Games\DCS\Kneeboard\AJS37

[Viper39]

Hi,

 

For a long time, I've been looking for a software like CombatFlite:

 

https://www.combatflite.com/

 

I've been trying it today and it looks very nice except for these two issues that I can't figure out how to fix:

 

1 - I can't seem to load the correct data cartridge

2 - The custom-made kneeboard does not show up when pressing Right Shift - K in missions

 

Have you been able to do this?

 

My steps regarding data cartridge:

 

I've placed the CustomCartridge.ini file created by CombatFlite in the following folder:

 

C:\Users\xxxxx\Saved Games\DCS_AJS37

 

In the sim I've started the cold start mission of the Viggen, opened the kneeboard (that it still not changed to my custom kneeboard created for the mission) and changed until the loaded cartridge say "From the Saved Games Folder" (or something similar).

 

I insert the cartridge and select REF/LOLA IN 9099.

 

My flight plan created in CombatFlite do not load...

 

My steps regarding the kneeboard:

 

I've placed the files created by CombatFlite in the following folder:

 

C:\ProgramFiles\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\Mods\aircraft\AJS37\Cockpit\scripts\KNEEBOARD\indicator\CONTENT

 

Opening any mission and pressing Right Shift - K do only open the regular kneeboard. Not my custom made one...

 

I'm sure I must be doing something wrong... Any help would be appreciated!

 

Thank you.

Place the CustomCartridge.ini in the Saved Games\DCS_AJS37. In game you must first select the Custom Cartridge (it's named "7 Saved games-folder"). You cycle between cartridges by Ctrl+Shift+C and Ctrl+Alt+C. Then REF/LOLA IN 9099, press LS/SKU. When loaded, switch to UT, AKT POS (or whatever navigation mode you want) and you're good to go.

 

For the kneeboard, you can either insert it directly into a .miz (using the appropriate button in the Kneeboard window of CF) or generate .png files. Those you can put either in your Saved Games\DCS\Kneeboard folder or to

'DCS World\Mods\aircraft\AJS37\Cockpit\scripts\KNEEBOARD\pages’. The .png's generated by CF can be found at 'Documents\CombatFlite\Kneeboard'.

 

Note: .lua files are not needed anymore (fixed in CF 1.0.1)

 

Just did a quick test:

 

Edited September 22, 2018 by Viper39
Fix in CombatFlite v1.0.1

[Hoggorm]

Place the CustomCartridge.ini in the Saved Games\DCS_AJS37. In game you must first select the Custom Cartridge (it's named "7 Saved games-folder"). You cycle between cartridges by Ctrl+Shift+C and Ctrl+Alt+C. Then REF/LOLA IN 9099, press LS/SKU. When loaded, switch to UT, AKT POS (or whatever navigation mode you want) and you're good to go.

 

 

For the kneeboard, with Viggen it's a bit special. It uses it's own format. Use the "Generate PNG files" option in the Kneeboard window of CF. Then copy the content (both the png and lua files) of the 'Documents\CombatFlite\Kneeboard' folder into the 'DCS World\Mods\aircraft\AJS37\Cockpit\scripts\KNEEBOARD\pages’ folder.

 

Thank you very much Viper. It worked indeed!

 

It is a truly amazing program that you've created! I've been waiting for this a long time :)

 

I see a few bugs in the few tests I made so far:

 

- All waypoints are shown as target waypoints (M1, M2, M3 etc.) even though they are not marked as so in the route planner or in the Viggen Data Cartridge exporter

- Departure and arrival airports do not seem to be real takeoff or landing sites. Selecting LS and BANA I should be able to see (and change) the runway for departure and landing, but on the loaded cartridge it only displays 00000. I can fix this by manually entering the 90xx code for the relevant aerodromes.

- The kneeboard displays first the usual few pages before displaying the mission relevant pages generated by CombatFlite. But before the mission pages an equal number of pages showing just MISSING TEXTURE appears. If the mission pages are 7 in total, 7 such MISSING TEXTURE pages appear before the real pages. If there are 11 mission pages, 11 MISSING TEXTURE pages has to be scrolled past before the real pages appear.

 

 

I also have a few suggestions and requests:

 

- It would be great if I could change coordinate format from Degrees.Decimal-minutes to other formats, especially Degrees.Minutes.Seconds.

- In the Viggen especially it is advised to pick waypoints that are well recognized from the air. It would therefore be highly useful to be able to zoom even further in. The Open Street map do not appear to be exactly correct in DCS Caucasus. Could it be possible to be able to use something like the F10 map so that one can easily put waypoints at bridges, intersections, rivers and so on?

- Can I default to the Caucasus map as I basically only fly there?

- I experience rather slow performance in general even though my computer is near high end. This is so even when I turn off the map.

 

Once again: Thanks for a highly awaited software!

[Caput_58]

I can confirm that all waypoints on showing up as targets, but it looks like this might be a Viggen bug, the cartridge ini file looks right. And I definitely agree with Hoggorm that higher zoom would be really nice, though failing that, I think I'll build a library of easily recognized nav points pulled from F10 map.

 

A few little things aside, I'm really loving CombatFlite.. it's brought me back to Viggen again.

[corvinus]

I can confirm that all waypoints on showing up as targets, but it looks like this might be a Viggen bug, the cartridge ini file looks right.

 

Maybe it is unrelated, but waypoints are marked as target points if a time-on-target is set. At least, that is how it works in the dcs mission editor. Does combatflite by any change set a TOT for the waypoint?

[Viper39]

Maybe it is unrelated, but waypoints are marked as target points if a time-on-target is set. At least, that is how it works in the dcs mission editor. Does combatflite by any change set a TOT for the waypoint?

You can choose whether you want to have the TOT locked for each of the waypoints when generating the cartridge.

 

I can also confirm that even though the waypoints are marked as B-points in the CustomCartridge.ini file, they appear as M-points in the cockpit -- probably a Viggen issue?

[Viper39]

I think I'll build a library of easily recognized nav points pulled from F10 map.

Great idea! Are the online tiles map options (aerial etc.) in CF of any help here?

[Caput_58]

Haven't messed with the online tiles option yet, mostly because I've been too busy planning and flying Viggen sorties. I can't say enough how game changing this tool is. Would it be possible to make the flight plans generated for a viggen default to having QFE in the notes, instead of TACAN? Also, would it be possible to make the default cartridge export directory stick to the appropriate one in Saved Games? If you save a .cf, it switches the directory back. I've put a windows shortcut to jump from the combat flite directory to the viggen one, but that's a bit of a crude work around. I guess the same request would probably apply to exporting png's, but I haven't played with those yet.

 

Thanks again!

[Pikey]

Process worked amazingly. All the other modules with INS need this in their lives, it's above awesome.

[metzgerov]

Do you need to reload DCS everytime to use and updated cartridge from Combat Flite.

 

 

I wish there were step by step instructions for using this in Multiplayer.

 

 

It's amazing but i'm spending time experimenting how it works instead of just using it.

[Viper39]

Do you need to reload DCS everytime to use and updated cartridge from Combat Flite.

 

 

I wish there were step by step instructions for using this in Multiplayer.

 

 

It's amazing but i'm spending time experimenting how it works instead of just using it.

No, you don't have to reload DCS. Just copy the new CustomCartridge.ini to Saved Games\DCS_AJS37 and load it via REF/LOLA, IN, 9099, LS... (You have to be on the ground though.)

 

You can do it while DCS is running and mission is up (at least in SP).

[metzgerov]

Ok wow this works amazing now that I figured it out.

 

Question: Do you need the ECM pods to export ELINT data?

 

Request: The map resolution isn't precise enough to target with precision (which the viggen requires). Is it difficult to incorporate higher res at higher zoom levels?

[corvinus]

Ok wow this works amazing now that I figured it out.

 

Question: Do you need the ECM pods to export ELINT data?

 

Yep, you need the u22/a version of the pod.

[Viper39]

Request: The map resolution isn't precise enough to target with precision (which the viggen requires). Is it difficult to incorporate higher res at higher zoom levels?

The best solution would be to access directly the maps in DCS with all the objects etc. Not sure it's possible at the moment.

 

The second best solution is to make very high res maps of the DCS theaters. Those would have to be loaded as tiles, since they'd be too big to load at once.

 

The third best solution (which is currently implemented) is to use the online tiles, which give you access to much higher zoom levels. On the other hand, they are RL not DCS (the terrain features should match very well though).

 

Long-term goal is to implement either solution 1 or 2 :)

[metzgerov]

Long-term goal is to implement either solution 1 or 2 :)

 

Ok great. Looking forward to upcoming updates

 

Like I said this (in its current state) has revitalized the Viggen and made flying in multiplayer so much more fun so thank you for this.

 

I will donate but you should have charged for this :) [Hopefully ED will hire or buy your product]

 

Thanks Viper39 for your responses and nicely designed and aesthetically pleasing program.

You deserve lots of praise!

[DarkStar79]

Hello! Is it possible to import the Autogenerated cartridges you get in game, to Combatfile and make changes to them somehow?

[Viper39]

Hello! Is it possible to import the Autogenerated cartridges you get in game, to Combatfile and make changes to them somehow?

Yes, you can now import auto-generated (and custom) cartridges to CF as well as export custom ones.

[DarkStar79]

Yes, you can now import auto-generated (and custom) cartridges to CF as well as export custom ones.

 

Where do I do that? I cant find it?

[DarkStar79]

Ah there was a newer version of combatflite! Awsome! See it now