Binding Comms F keys to MFD buttons plus modifier?

[imacken]

It occurred to me that it would be great to be able to bind the ATC F1..F12 keys to my TM MFD buttons using a modifier.  Saves a lot of faffing around with mouse/keyboard in VR.

 

Is this possible?

[MAXsenna]

You've probably heard this before, (even from me?), but have you considered testing Voice Attack/VAICOM? They both have free test modes.
Cheers!

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[Supmua]

For comms it has to be keyboard inputs rather than DX inputs. It is possible via 3rd party apps such as joystick gremlin, RS_mapper, Target, and possibly VPC and VKB apps.  I personally use Realsim sticks with excess amount of buttons and I setup comms binding directly from their app. 
 

This is faster than voice attack especially when you have to chain 3-4 inputs at a time. 

Edited April 22, 2021 by Supmua

[imacken]

28 minutes ago, MAXsenna said:

You've probably heard this before, (even from me?), but have you considered testing Voice Attack/VAICOM? They both have free test modes.
Cheers!

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk
 

Thanks but VA/VAICOM is just not for me. I have licences and tried them out 2 or 3 years ago, but just don't get on with that system.

 

6 minutes ago, Supmua said:

For comms it has to be keyboard inputs rather than DX inputs. It is possible via 3rd party apps such as joystick gremlin, RS_mapper, Target, and possibly VPC and VKB apps.  I personally use Realsim sticks with excess amount of buttons and I setup comms binding directly from their app. 
 

This is faster than voice attack especially when you have to chain 3-4 inputs at a time. 

 

VPC software? Interesting, I wonder how to do that there. Any ideas?

 

I mean, why can't there be a simple up/down/enter command for HOTAS in comms menus?

[Supmua]

I haven’t played around with VPC app because it doesn’t look very intuitive to average users and there are already plenty of apps that I use, but there should be a way to bind a modifier switch as well as direct keyboard inputs.  Maybe someone in their forum can help. 
 

The problem with some of these external apps is that DCS might still execute non-modified commands from the same button input, unless you also bind regular MFD functions from within that app rather than within DCS. 

[imacken]

Thanks again. I'm pretty familiar with the VPC software and it is very comprehensive, but it doesn't really do binding buttons, just configuring the hardware on your VPC devices.

Anyway, what I can't see is what to bind the buttons/switches to. I mean I can't see what DCS sees as the F keys in the comms menu.  It's not F1..F12 etc. as they are bound to views.  

[MAXsenna]

Snip...
 
This is faster than voice attack especially when you have to chain 3-4 inputs at a time. 

That's where VAICOM comes in handy. It's just a plugin. Doesn't use VA's keypress method at all. Talks with DCS over the network. Only uses VA to pass the speech to Microsoft Speech Recognition and have the translated text back.
Cheers!

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[RogueSqdn]

I’m not at home right now so can’t direct you to this, but there IS a mod out there that adds the radio command keys as joystick bindable commands. That would let you do what you want with modifiers. 

Edited April 22, 2021 by RogueSqdn

[MAXsenna]

I’m not at home right now so can’t direct you to this, but there IS a mod out there that adds the radio command keys as joystick bindable commands. That would let you do what you want with modifiers. 

Do this go into Saved Games or core?

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[Supmua]

1 hour ago, RogueSqdn said:

I’m not at home right now so can’t direct you to this, but there IS a mod out there that adds the radio command keys as joystick bindable commands. That would let you do what you want with modifiers. 

 

This sounds like a good option for most people. 
 

I have Vaicom but stopped using it because I can do everything faster with button press; for example, 4 consecutive inputs via quick button presses on my stick within 1 second (without macro). It would take more than 1 second to issue a voice command (even if you set it up as macro).

Edited April 22, 2021 by Supmua

[RogueSqdn]

It’s a core mod but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t trip IC.


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[imacken]

Sorry guys, what is this mod?

[RogueSqdn]

Found it in my bookmarks.

https://forums.eagle.ru/topic/129046-map-radio-buttons/?tab=comments#comment-2656975

I know I had to do some more modding to get it to work with the P-51 and A-10C... I can give you those details this afternoon.


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[MAXsenna]

This sounds like a good option for most people. 
 
I have Vaicom but stopped using it because I can do everything faster with button press; for example, 4 consecutive inputs via quick button presses on my stick within 1 second (without macro). It would take more than 1 second to issue a voice command (even if you set it up as macro).

That's true. I use it for somewhat "better realism".

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[imacken]

Thanks for that.

In the 3rd last post there with the lines to add, is he talking about the default.lua file in - as an example - E:\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\Mods\aircraft\FA-18C\Input\FA-18C\joystick?  His path is different.

[RogueSqdn]

Yes. That should work for most modules.

When I get home I’ll post my OvGME folder.


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[imacken]

OK, I appreciate that, thanks.

[Supmua]

1 hour ago, RogueSqdn said:

Found it in my bookmarks.

https://forums.eagle.ru/topic/129046-map-radio-buttons/?tab=comments#comment-2656975

I know I had to do some more modding to get it to work with the P-51 and A-10C... I can give you those details this afternoon.


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It is great that there are specific iCommands for these.  Now I’m gonna put them in all my joystick lua files.

Edited April 22, 2021 by Supmua

[imacken]

This is great! Works a treat. I now have the Radio Comms bound to my MFDs with a modifier.

 

Looks like the A-10C and A-10C II are locking my MFD luas.  All other modules OK.

Edited April 22, 2021 by imacken

[imacken]

15 hours ago, RogueSqdn said:

Yes. That should work for most modules.

When I get home I’ll post my OvGME folder.


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@RogueSqdnany chance of posting that OvGME folder? Thanks.

[RogueSqdn]

Didn’t get the chance yesterday, sorry. I’ll get it this morning (not working today).


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[RogueSqdn]

Ok, here's the folder.  This includes other joystick default.lua edits I've made to add switch positions to aircraft.  This also only includes aircraft I actually fly (though I do own every module).

 

A-10A, A-10C, A-10C II, AV-8B, F-5E, F-14, F-15C, F-16C, F-86, F/A-18C, P-47D, P-51D, TF-51D

 

Adding additional aircraft will require editing their default.lua files to add the radio commands.

Joystick Inputs.zip

[imacken]

Right, thanks for that.

Can you explain a couple of things?

Before I saw your file, I tried to put the whole thing together myself, i.e. added the 12 radio command lines into all my modules default.lua files and bound them in DCS.

Now, that all worked very nicely EXCEPT that the A-10C and A-10C II wouldn't allow me to bind anything to the MFDs, they are both locked out.

So, my questions are

1) why are there MFD lua files in some of your modules? I didn't alter any of those and it all works OK except for the above issue.

2) what are all the files in the Config folder for in your zip? Again, I didn't touch any of these.

3) how can I unlock the A-10 C I and II?

Any further help appreciated.

[RogueSqdn]

It's been a long time since I organized it, so I'll have to do my best from memory.

 

1)  MFD luas are there to add the radio commands as a possibility so you don't have MFDs locked out.

2) Files in the config folder were put there to make the radio commands show up in a few modules I had trouble getting to show for some reason.  I'm not sure on this one, my memory of it is a little vague.

3)  Use the MFD lua files I included, if you're wanting to put radio commands there.  To me it makes more sense to use the push function of your comm switch as a modifier and use hat switches on your stick to activate the commands.

 

One other option here is to set up a simple Voiceattack profile with just the F1-F12 commands in it.  It might be easier than remembering which switch position executes which radio command.

[imacken]

Thanks for that.

In the end, I didn't use any of the stuff in 'config' as everything works perfectly OK in all modules without them.  I was a little scared of all the extra stuff in your MFD luas, so I cut them down by removing all unnecessary lines, yet still maintaining the radio commands.

I use a modifier + MFD buttons for all the radio commands and it works really nicely.  However, your suggestion about using the PTT button as the modifier sounded like an even neater idea, but I couldn't get it to work.  If I bind the PTT button as a modifier, I lose the functionality of it as a button.  Pity as that was a good idea, PTT to bring up menu and while holding it use one of the radio commands.  How did you get it to work?