New guy, maybe switching to fighter cockpits

[xplanematt]

Hi all,

 

Long-time sim geek here. I've been involved with civilian/general-aviation simulation for years. Lately I've had occasion to play with some military-type stuff, and I'm thinking my next build might be DCS-based. I'm a little spoiled with the API provided with X-Plane, not sure I can get access to everything I need in DCS, so I'm looking into that now.

 

It appears there is actually a way, via Helios, to set specific DCS internal data discretely, as opposed to just sending keystrokes (or commands that would otherwise be activated by keystrokes), correct? This is the approach I've taken in X-Plane...instead of sending "events" each time a switch or button is activated, my software constantly scans the state of every control in the cockpit and sets the corresponding data in X-Plane to the same value. This means it doesn't matter what state the cockpit is in when X-Plane boots up or resets, the simulated aircraft *always* matches the physical cockpit configuration.

 

I also do a lot with real aircraft instruments (as opposed to the LCD-behind-a-panel approach), so I need to extract a lot of raw data from DCS to run altimeters, ADIs, moving maps, etc. Although, for my next build, I am probably going to run a lot of the primary instruments on a monitor behind the instrument panel, for simplicity (running the real stuff takes a *ton* of work). It looks like Helios is really made for this. I'm also looking at DCS-BIOS, which looks very slick indeed!

 

Most of my interfaces use Arduinos that communicate with the host PCs via UDP over ethernet, so it's nice to see the DCS crowd is already running a lot of Arduino stuff.

 

Typically I run an X-Plane-specific plugin on the main host PC, that communicates via UDP with a standalone program (usually on the same PC). That standalone program is what actually deals with all the real hardware. This keeps X-Plane happy and fed with data even if the physical hardware has hiccups or delays (or completely goes down, for that matter). I'm guessing I could actually just write the DCS "plugin" (with LUA?) and keep my main standalone software more or less unchanged.

 

My most recent build was a "just for fun" sim for a museum, made from a T-28 fuselage. The cockpit is complete, but just the basic flight and engine controls work (along with landing gear, tail hook, flaps, and a few other little tricks). My ongoing/never-is-finished project is a Sabreliner 60, also made from a real aircraft. The Sabreliner is a cool cockpit to "fly", but its size and complexity makes it a bit unpractical for just zooming around and having fun.

 

I'm looking to pick up a single-seat fighter cockpit this year, probably something Cold War era. DCS would allow me to add combat to the fun.....I used to play combat sims on the PC years ago, and I kinda miss all that.

 

I see some folks on the boards here were able to set discrete radio frequencies with an Arduino, that's one of the things I need to do. I'm already reading the ARINC frequency codes for my X-Plane builds, so hopefully it will be simple to make the jump to DCS.

 

Anyways, I'm sure I'll have tech questions very soon. Probably gonna drag out a spare Arduino today and play with DCS-BIOS. :book:

 

Matt

[VirusAM]

New guy, maybe switching to fighter cockpits

 

I am not an expert...but if you don’t plan to use lcd screens for instruments, you could have a look at DCS-bios more then helios.

Ps your cockpits are cool, i would like to be able to do something like that.