More options for control bindings

[frostycab]

As usual, apologies if this has been asked for and answered before, but its a big forum and I couldn't find this specifically.

 

I would love to see more special and abstract binding options for all aircraft, in particular more "If...Else" type bindings. The current bindings seem to work very nicely with controllers that have momentary throw switches, but controllers like my TM Warthog have a bit of a disadvantage.

 

Some examples in different aircraft:

 

Mi-24P: Let's say I want ot use my throttle's EAC switch to toggle the B2 Observe switch in the operator's seat. I can bind it ok, and flipping the switch up will toggle the cockpit switch. In order to turn it off again, I need to move my switch down and then up again to trigger the event, whereas it would be much better to simply move it down and have the cockpit switch reflect this.

 

KA-50: Same thing applies to switches like the Master Arm and gear lever. Also, having 3-position options would be great for things like the cannon rate of fire switch

 

The Harrier got the 3-position switches just right. I use my flap switch for the flaps (duh!) and the LASTE switch for the H2O, and it works beautifully with the cockpit switches matching my controller at all times. 

 

If all aircraft could be set up this way it would really help with the immersion. I hope its not something that would be difficult to implement.

[Tippis]

What you're asking for effectively already exists. It's just not exposed to the user in the UI and instead you have to create custom bind Lua files to make it happen.

 

What you're asking for is really just the simple functionality of being able to bind both button presses and button releases. That's how switch abstractions for all kinds of two- and three-way switches work in all modules (where supported). For instance, the TM WH flaps lever is just two buttons: button 22 in the up position; button 23 in the down position. The A-10 module translates this into three bound positions by activating one function when button 22 is pressed, a second function when button 23 is pressed, and a third function when either button 22 or 23 is released. Same goes for most of the on/off switches in the TM WH and their respective switches in the A-10 — only one button is ever pressed, but by binding to the button release, the module can treat it as two distinct positions.

 

This is a feature that, as mentioned, has been around since forever. It not something that is difficult to implement, because it's already in. The only difficulty is to create a good UI for it and to then convince everyone (module makers and owners) to nuke all the binds they have ever created to instead support this new scheme. Everyone has to redefine and rebind everything. The blood-curdling cries of frustration and despair will be heard on Neptune.

 

But it would solve roughly 4 grillion problems that occur every time new hardware and new modules come out, and the developers (and users) have to figure out exactly how to support all of the former in all of the latter. As it is, they have to make assumptions about what is being used and how it should be used, as well as on the players' preferences for button and switch placement. None of it ever works out right because it's all preference. This kind of solution would get rid of all the need to come up with and support all kinds of abstractions for all kinds of hardware — that work would be transferred to the user (and wouldn't be particularly hard on them since it's utterly trivial to create and share bind profiles).