Touch Portal App

[PHMAC]

After a long time of use without any issues I have suddenly ran into a strange problem. I seem to have lost (partial) connection between TP and DCS.

Only direct keyboard actions set in TP work normally, the aircraft specific actions introduced by DCS-Coins don't seem to work anymore.

So far I have checked the following:

- I was running an older version of TP (3.1 I believe) because it was compatible with my older Ipad. I initially thought this was the cause of my problem so I took a new Ipad and updated everything to the latest versions; Touch Portal and DCS-Coins. Unfortunately the problem still persists.

- DCS Bios updated to latest version provided in the DCS-Coins pack.

- Connection between the TP on pc and TP on Ipad works fine (green light)

- DCS Actions listed per aircraft type are loaded in the Touch Portal app and I can select them to create commands.

- Tested every old profile I created in the older version of Touch Portal, same problem; Keyboard actions work, DCS-Coins Actions don't.

- Tested a new profile for the UH-1H (created by Virgo47 earlier this month), same problem, none of the DCS-Coins actions work, the Icon in the top-left-corner shows that there is no connection.

 

I have no idea how to continue troubleshooting this issue, can somebody help me on my way?

Maybe it's related to DCS-Bios although other software that rely on DCS-Bios (like DCSFP and Helios) work fine.

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Edited December 30, 2024 by PHMAC

[xoomigo]

Hi @PHMAC

Is your TP on Windows on version 4.0 or later?

Secondly, if you have other mods running, disable them temporarily for the troubleshooting to ensure that's there's no conflict. Previously, I had encountered conflict with Helios. You can do this by editing your Export.lua file in your C:\users\<username>\Saved Games\DCS\Scripts folder by remarking the command lines without the preceding '--'  by adding the preceding '--' to the start of the line concerned. But before doing this, make a backup of your Export.lua file first - just in case things unexpectedly go south.

If you can do the "dcs-coins -v" command line and share the generated log entries (when you trigger a handful of non-keyboard actions) here, that may provide a direction on where to focus the troubleshooting effort.

Cheers!

[PHMAC]

Hi @xoomigo, Best wishes to you for 2025....thanks for your reply!

I took your suggestions and tried the following:

- I am running the latest version of Touch Portal v4.3 build 5 and I have downloaded your latest DCS-COINS pack with the included DCS-BIOS release.

- Disabled all mods/add-ons in Export.lua (Helios, Simshaker and Vaicom Pro). I only left the DCS-BIOS entry enabled:

dofile(lfs.writedir()..[[Scripts\DCS-BIOS\BIOS.lua]])

- Disabled all mods via OVGME

Then I only launched DCS without any other apps. except Touch Portal. TP shows 1 connected device but there doesn't seem to be communication between DCS and TP. I tried two different TP pages for the UH-1H and both didn't work.

The I launched the CMD prompt and tried the verbose command line but I can't get it to work (see attached screenshot)....So unfortunately I can't provide you a log...maybe I'm doing something wrong or could this be related to the problem?

Thanks again for your help!

null

[virgo47]

8 minutes ago, PHMAC said:

The I launched the CMD prompt and tried the verbose command line but I can't get it to work (see attached screenshot)....So unfortunately I can't provide you a log...maybe I'm doing something wrong or could this be related to the problem?

What is the content of that dir where you run the command? (Use DIR command to see it.) If there is Munt.G_DCS-COINS sub-folder, go there (cd Munt.G_DCS-COINS) and try there again. That DCS-COINS.exe is there.

[PHMAC]

Okay!..Thank you @virgo47...That did the trick..now I managed to run in verbose mode;

- mods are disabled in the Export.lua

- Other mods disabled in OVGME

- no periferals activated.

- I loaded the UH-1H cold and dark in DCS with DCS-Coins running in verbose mode in the background and Virgo47's UH-1H profile in Touch Portal.

The Huey-icon in Virgo47's profile was showing that there was connection but the buttons didn't work. I have attached the log-file

- I loaded the UH-1H again in cold and dark but now with MuntG's UH-1H profile in Touch Portal.

Again the profile indicates that it is online but the buttons don't work. I have attached this log-file as well.

 

Both log files are quite long as they kept running and collecting data from DCS.

Between the lines you can see that I have tested some Commands but they didn't do anything in the sim.

 

I'm happy to provide you any additional information if you need it.

Thanks!

DCS-COINS_UH-1H_MuntG profile.txt DCS-COINS_UH-1H_Virgo47 profile.txt

[virgo47]

21 minutes ago, PHMAC said:

The Huey-icon in Virgo47's profile was showing that there was connection but the buttons didn't work. I have attached the log-file

- I loaded the UH-1H again in cold and dark but now with MuntG's UH-1H profile in Touch Portal.

Again the profile indicates that it is online but the buttons don't work. I have attached this log-file as well.

Both log files are quite long as they kept running and collecting data from DCS.

Between the lines you can see that I have tested some Commands but they didn't do anything in the sim...

This is strange, I've tried my setup now and when "Command Sent" is in the log (that means I did something on the tablet), I can clearly see the effect in the DCS. I've checked your log and I don't see anything suspicious there.

EDIT: Mostly, when I had problems like this, it was a DCS-BIOS stuff, but I'm not sure here, as you report the events work just fine as well (e.g. the icon reacts to the state of the game). Does the TP page update when you click in the cockpit?

Edited January 4 by virgo47

[xoomigo]

Hi @PHMAC.

My reaction is similar to that of virgo47's. This is indeed baffling as the logs showed that DCS-BIOS and DCS-COINS are communicating - or at least the latter is able to get data from the former.

Can you please try temporarily disabling your Windows firewall or whatever anti-virus/security software that you are using? And then try issuing the TP commands concerned?

Cheers.

[PHMAC]

Thanks guys for your suggestions. I will try disabling the firewall to see if that is the culprit...Eventually I might need to reach out to the DCS-BIOS developers to see if they can help.

[Kyle_Katarn]

Update released for TP in windows and mobile app.

Look like everything will be compatible with the current DCS-COINS version, that's right?

[virgo47]

3 hours ago, Kyle_Katarn said:

Update released for TP in windows and mobile app.

Look like everything will be compatible with the current DCS-COINS version, that's right?

Works fine on my end. I've just upgraded to 4.4.0 (Build 1) on the desktop and updated the Android app as well. No problems. I haven't done anything special with DCS-COINS.

Edited March 4 by virgo47

[Kyle_Katarn]

In othe hand, in some of the latest updates, I have lost the able to modify the status of the F18 Flir and ECM knob via DCS-COINS.

I have checked that I cant manipulate the control with DCS-BIOS via bort. Have someone noticed this or it's only me?

[KleineWimpie]

Hi guys,

I could use some help... I'm busy making a p-51D Mustang dashboard but I can't get the flaps value right. When I use the plug-in state P-51D Flaps control handle it's in steps of 20%. I already reversed the percentage in the .pp file, so flaps up is 0 and flaps all the way down is 100, but the aircraft uses 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 degrees. I tried using @virgo47's solution of october 14th, as shown in the screenshots, but it won't work. Am I doing something wrong? And is it possible to change the unit from % to °?

Thanks in advance!

[KleineWimpie]

By the way this is what I got at the moment:

Not in game:

In game after engine start (tablet screenshot):

Edited March 26 by KleineWimpie

[xoomigo]

On 3/26/2025 at 11:18 PM, KleineWimpie said:

Hi guys,

I could use some help... I'm busy making a p-51D Mustang dashboard but I can't get the flaps value right. When I use the plug-in state P-51D Flaps control handle it's in steps of 20%. I already reversed the percentage in the .pp file, so flaps up is 0 and flaps all the way down is 100, but the aircraft uses 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 degrees. I tried using @virgo47's solution of october 14th, as shown in the screenshots, but it won't work. Am I doing something wrong? And is it possible to change the unit from % to °?

Thanks in advance!

@KleineWimpie, I don't get what you are trying to do and what the problem is. Are you trying to get the flap value on display? Or control the flap by value?

[KleineWimpie]

On 4/2/2025 at 9:51 AM, xoomigo said:

@KleineWimpie, I don't get what you are trying to do and what the problem is. Are you trying to get the flap value on display? Or control the flap by value?

Hi @xoomigo, thank you for your reaction!

In the P-51D the flaps go down in 5 steps of 10 degrees, from 0 (up) to 50 degrees (all the way down), but the value displayed on Touch Portal is in steps of 20. So 10 degrees flaps in the airplane is 20 on TP, 20 degrees flaps is 40 on TP and so on. My first question is if there's a way to show steps of 10 on the Touch Portal dashboard instead of 20? And my second question (less important) is if there's a way to change the unit shown on the dashboard to degrees (°) instead of percentage (%) as it is now?

I hope it's clear this way; English is not my native language

[virgo47]

On 4/3/2025 at 3:14 PM, KleineWimpie said:

In the P-51D the flaps go down in 5 steps of 10 degrees, from 0 (up) to 50 degrees (all the way down), but the value displayed on Touch Portal is in steps of 20. So 10 degrees flaps in the airplane is 20 on TP, 20 degrees flaps is 40 on TP and so on. My first question is if there's a way to show steps of 10 on the Touch Portal dashboard instead of 20? And my second question (less important) is if there's a way to change the unit shown on the dashboard to degrees (°) instead of percentage (%) as it is now?

The problem is in the representation of the flaps lever position - it goes from "0%" to "100%" - yes, with the % character - with 100% meaning UP (0°) and 0% meaning down (50°).

I made two experimental TP pages, they are in the attachment if you are interested. One works with % only. It requires one backing value (numeric 0-100 range, but without %). The other page works with degrees range (0-50) internally, but requires another value for intermediate calculation in both ways - when the value comes from DCS, and when I need to construct the value 0-100 with %.

The degrees version requires two values - one for the original range and one for degrees. This is the implementation of the button displaying the value - this also updates the internal value from the DCS BIOS/COINS value:

Here is an example of FLAPS UP button:

Flaps DOWN is the same, just increments by 10 and checks greater than 50, set to 50, the lower two blocks are the same.

PageExport_2025_04_04_17_23_38.tpz2

Edited April 5 by virgo47

[xoomigo]

On 4/3/2025 at 9:14 PM, KleineWimpie said:

In the P-51D the flaps go down in 5 steps of 10 degrees, from 0 (up) to 50 degrees (all the way down), but the value displayed on Touch Portal is in steps of 20. So 10 degrees flaps in the airplane is 20 on TP, 20 degrees flaps is 40 on TP and so on. My first question is if there's a way to show steps of 10 on the Touch Portal dashboard instead of 20? And my second question (less important) is if there's a way to change the unit shown on the dashboard to degrees (°) instead of percentage (%) as it is now?

I hope it's clear this way; English is not my native language

Thanks, @KleineWimpie - great, this is crystal clear!

What function are you using in place of "ctr(65535)" for FLAPS_CONTROL_HANDLE?

virgo47's options should work for you. But I am considering a new function to improve the flexibility of handling this type of use.

Edited April 5 by xoomigo

[KleineWimpie]

On 4/4/2025 at 5:31 PM, virgo47 said:

The problem is in the representation of the flaps lever position - it goes from "0%" to "100%" - yes, with the % character - with 100% meaning UP (0°) and 0% meaning down (50°).

I made two experimental TP pages, they are in the attachment if you are interested. One works with % only. It requires one backing value (numeric 0-100 range, but without %). The other page works with degrees range (0-50) internally, but requires another value for intermediate calculation in both ways - when the value comes from DCS, and when I need to construct the value 0-100 with %.

The degrees version requires two values - one for the original range and one for degrees. This is the implementation of the button displaying the value - this also updates the internal value from the DCS BIOS/COINS value:

Here is an example of FLAPS UP button:

Flaps DOWN is the same, just increments by 10 and checks greater than 50, set to 50, the lower two blocks are the same.

PageExport_2025_04_04_17_23_38.tpz2 2.08 kB · 1 download

Wow, this is amazing, I would have never figured this out. Thank you very, very much! The 'FLAPS info' in the first screenshot is exactly what I needed.

Quote

it goes from "0%" to "100%" - yes, with the % character - with 100% meaning UP (0°) and 0% meaning down (50°).

I changed the FLAPS_CONTROL_HANDLE ctr(65535) to ... ictr(65535) in the .pp file, so that's why my values were different for me. Changed it back now, and it works perfectly

Thank you again for this amazing work! 

[KleineWimpie]

On 4/5/2025 at 5:22 AM, xoomigo said:

Thanks, @KleineWimpie - great, this is crystal clear!

What function are you using in place of "ctr(65535)" for FLAPS_CONTROL_HANDLE?

virgo47's options should work for you. But I am considering a new function to improve the flexibility of handling this type of use.

First thing I did was changing the ''ctr(65535)'' to ''ictr(65535)'', because it was inverted (100 means flaps up, and 0 flaps all the way down). Then i tried to add a custom made value in Touch Portal and use the calculation option, to divide the value by 2. But what I tried was way to simple compared to @virgo47's solution, which is perfect and exactly what I was looking for!

 

[virgo47]

2 hours ago, KleineWimpie said:

Thank you again for this amazing work! 

You're welcome. Check tip #1 from https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3319022/ - it helps with debugging these things although the output may be overwhelming.

Alternatively, try a button like this:

This will tell you what is happening as you change the stuff in the cockpit for that control.