HELP!!!!! Certain controls grayed out!

[marvinknine]

Hi guys. I am in desperate need of help. Here's the story. I played yesterday morning without incident. During the afternoon I used the Sailek recalibration reg to fix the mini stick on my x56 stick. Last night I sat down to play and I now see things like this:

 

PLEASE NOTE: I AM USING AN IMAGE I FOUND ONLINE. THIS IS NOT MY PICTURE. HOWEVER, IT SHOWS WHAT I AM DEALING WITH!

 

 

 

 

 

Things I have tried to do to fix:

 

Run "Repair DCS"

Reset each column to default setting

Uninstall/Reinstall DCS

 

 

After reinstalling I checked the controls on the stock plane. Still, there is an issue with certain controls. For example, I saw an issue with "end mission" and "restart mission." I have seen issues with several other ones as well, like "throttle."

 

When I am in the controls menu and physically push the stick or throttle or random switch, they all respond.

 

I use a Tartarus Pro with several key bindings. They also showed up grayed out.

 

Not every control is gray. Seems random.

 

Any help is so appreciated!!

 

Jason

 

Edit: Using 2.5.6.xxx - NOT BETA

Edited July 12, 2020 by marvinknine

[Flappie]

Hi, please try to run DCS as administrator and see if you can redo those red bindings.

[marvinknine]

Thank you for your reply.

 

Can you please explain what you mean and exactly how I do that? I have been an apple person my entire adult life. Only moved to PC a couple months ago. Still figuring out my way around things.

[Flappie]

Of course. :)

 

1. Press the Windows key.

2. Type "DCS": you should now see the DCS icon appear on screen.

3. On the right side menu, click on "Run as administrator".

 

[Tippis]

You have managed to accumulate duplicate definitions of inputs. Ever since the binding revamp that happened a year and a half ago, it happens with some frequency even in — hell, especially in — default module binds.

 

The steps you've attempted haven't work (nor running DCS as administrator) because they don't affect the root cause of the issue: your local settings. There is a nuclear option and a more precise option that usually takes care of this.

 

The nuclear option is to just remove the appropriate Config\Input directory and start over. Each aircraft will store your specific binds in their respective %userprofile%\DCS\Config\Input directories. Kill those directories, and DCS will read the base files from the module's internal files.

 

The more precise (but slightly more fragile) option is to just clear out the red row, rather than reset the full columns. Don't reset to default — clear the bind. You can then try to put back specific inputs manually and see which one, if any, causes the conflict.

 

The common reason why you see this and also see greyed-out slots is that over different versions of the module, you've accumulated different definitions for a given input. These definitions are then referenced by the bind file you've created. When DCS then notices that, hey, this old JOY_BTN1 bind you have is referencing some kind of “fire gun” function, and this new SPACE key bind is referencing a different “fire gun” function, it gets all upset. Similarly, some old definition of the “fire gun” function might be set up to allow you to bind keyboard, mouse, and joysticks; a new parallel definition might instead be set up to allow you to bind keyboard, joysticks, and throttles. This discrepancy will show up as greyed-out spaces (where one definition will allow some input devices but not others) and as red rows (one definition conflicts with another). The reason resetting to default doesn't work is that all that does is stick specific inputs into the different bind slots, but the slots themselves are broken — they still reference overlapping, competing, or even outright missing definitions.

 

Therefore, the way to fix this is to clear out the binds or just clear out the input setup completely. Either way, you get rid of that duplicate/overlapping association, and DCS is happy(ish) again.

Edited July 12, 2020 by Tippis

[marvinknine]

You have managed to accumulate duplicate definitions of inputs. Ever since the binding revamp that happened a year and a half ago, it happens with some frequency even in — hell, especially in — default module binds.

 

The steps you've attempted haven't work (nor running DCS as administrator) because they don't affect the root cause of the issue: your local settings. There is a nuclear option and a more precise option that usually takes care of this.

 

The nuclear option is to just remove the appropriate Config\Input directory and start over. Each aircraft will store your specific binds in their respective %userprofile%\DCS\Config\Input directories. Kill those directories, and DCS will read the base files from the module's internal files.

 

The more precise (but slightly more fragile) option is to just clear out the red row, rather than reset the full columns. Don't reset to default — clear the bind. You can then try to put back specific inputs manually and see which one, if any, causes the conflict.

 

The common reason why you see this and also see greyed-out slots is that over different versions of the module, you've accumulated different definitions for a given input. These definitions are then referenced by the bind file you've created. When DCS then notices that, hey, this old JOY_BTN1 bind you have is referencing some kind of “fire gun” function, and this new SPACE key bind is referencing a different “fire gun” function, it gets all upset. Similarly, some old definition of the “fire gun” function might be set up to allow you to bind keyboard, mouse, and joysticks; a new parallel definition might instead be set up to allow you to bind keyboard, joysticks, and throttles. This discrepancy will show up as greyed-out spaces (where one definition will allow some input devices but not others) and as red rows (one definition conflicts with another). The reason resetting to default doesn't work is that all that does is stick specific inputs into the different bind slots, but the slots themselves are broken — they still reference overlapping, competing, or even outright missing definitions.

 

Therefore, the way to fix this is to clear out the binds or just clear out the input setup completely. Either way, you get rid of that duplicate/overlapping association, and DCS is happy(ish) again.

 

 

 

 

So if I go where you stated in the \savedgames\dcs folder...Am I to delete EVERYTHING that is in there? I know I have my custom bindings and there is something else too (Not at home to look at it at the moment.) If I delete ALL contents of that folder, it should be good? Do I delete the folder itself?

[silverdevil]

rename the current folder to 'DCS. old' or whatever. then when you start DCS it will be recreated.

[Tippis]

^^ Renaming the directory is a good first step, just to see how much is resolved by that and how much needs further fixing. Doing so also lets you start very small — perhaps just rename the Joystick directory for the aircraft you're having problems with, hoping that the default keyboard binds work properly. If that's not enough, go up one step and just rename the aircraft-specific directory. If that's not enough, rename the Input directory (and so on). Killing off every last local setting is a bit over the top as a first move. :D

[silverdevil]

@tippis - agreed. never wholesale delete anything.

[-Relax-]

For me i cant bind the "Toggle Mirror" in the Mig21 anymore. (greyed out)

What i tried:
-DCS Repair
-clear all category
-delete compete dcs.open beta in saved games
-run as admin

_edit_
Also tried delete this folder
C:\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\Mods\aircraft\MIG-21bis\Input\MiG-21
after that repair and it created it again.

Still greyed.

Any can help?

Edited May 10, 2023 by -Relax-

[-Relax-]

Nobody can help?
I cant fix it.

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by -Relax-

[Sundiver]

Any luck?  Tried all this and still stumped. Cant fly because i cant even get off the runway.  Rt and lf brakes cant be assigned even to the keyboard.  Wiped the whole game , reinstalled, repaired , verified , renamed , evrything.  Bout to give up, def not buying anymore modules.

[virgo47]

8 minutes ago, Sundiver said:

Any luck?  Tried all this and still stumped. Cant fly because i cant even get off the runway.  Rt and lf brakes cant be assigned even to the keyboard.  Wiped the whole game , reinstalled, repaired , verified , renamed , evrything.  Bout to give up, def not buying anymore modules.

Welcome to the forums. Please, provide at least a screenshot, what module we're talking about and any other possibly useful info. When the question is very general, nobody can help. (For screenshot, pressing Print Screen should be enough, the file then should appear in your Saved Games/<dcs-directory>/ScreenShots.)

Some modules have some binding options missing for some devices - this is super annoying, but fixable - although I totally agree that a new user encountering this is not the best scenario ("look at this mod" or "check this Lua file" should not be the first advice any new user should hear).

Edited May 7, 2024 by virgo47