Profiles

[Kougar]

I was just wondering why ED does not come out with profiles for each Hotas for example X52, X52 Pro, Winwing, Thrustmaster warthog just for examples? That would mean a profile for each plane.

Edited July 13, 2021 by Kougar

[Tippis]

Because they'd invariably be wrong, or not work in combination with each other, and would still necessitate full rebinds outside of the stuff that's defaulted anyway. They'll do it with some frequency for the Warthog, and while it may serve as a starting point for your very first flight, you will invariably want to remap most of it because it doesn't really fit — hell, not even the A-10 defaults its button properly to the Warthog.  

 

In addition, as is shown with some more specific peripherals (MFDs in particular), device-specific presets have a nasty tendency to reduce the binding capability and lock devices into only allowing specific binds, and vice versa. This could (and arguably should) be fixed with an updated bind system, but that's a whole other and much larger problem set.

 

There's also the issue that, while it may work for the really old stuff (the X series, anything from Thrustmaster), modern devices don't have a single, consistent button layout and numbering, so a default profile would not be able to predict what output button represents what hardware button — it's all scrambled and obfuscated by the reprogrammable firmware on the device. Hell, for some modern devices, it would be next to impossible to reliably identify what they were because they're mix-and-match component builds where you can swap out grips and bases and addons almost on the fly. So even if the button assignments were consistent, you'd be hard-pressed to identify which layout they're consistent with.

 

 

That is not to say that your idea doesn't have some merit — it's just that it will be a lot of faff on the developer end for what ultimately can't be anything but a disappointing outcome. The same kind of thing could probably be done with better results by improving on the user file side of things; having a semi-official, curated list of user binds in a category that could be quick-accessed through a button in the client or pretty much on the front page of the website. Just given the sheer combination of devices and modules and levels of what-I-feel-is-necessary-to-have-at-my-fingertips and styles of “as close to the real stick setup as possible” vs. “as consistent as possible”, this sounds far more like something the community would be better equipped to deliver, if the platform for it was sorted out and improved.

[randomTOTEN]

Every joystick (and every device identified as a game controller) in DCS already has a default profile. For every module. You might not like it, but that doesn't mean it's not there.

[Tippis]

Weeeell… kind of.

 

Very few joysticks have a default profile attached to them. Rather, there is a single default profile that is attached to anything the game doesn't recognise, no matter how nonsensical that application is (like always assigning weapons to buttons 1 and 2 on a set of rudder pedals… ). A select few devices have a default profile for a select few modules — everything else gets very silly defaults, to the point where it would usually be better if the default was to leave them completely unbound. At least then, there would be no chance of having random ghost input sneak in from nowhere when you change devices around.

[cfrag]

4 hours ago, randomTOTEN said:

Every joystick (and every device identified as a game controller) in DCS already has a default profile. For every module. You might not like it, but that doesn't mean it's not there.

 

I'm not sure that is entirely true, or these profiles are made by someone really silly people - my Virpil Pedals mapped the left brake pedal to Thrust. I believe that upon discovery DCS simply looks at the vendor/device ID, makes a quick lookup, and if it finds nothing, maps the named axes and low-digit buttons to some generic standard. So, in a sense, yes, there is a 'default profile for every device' in a way that an "unknown device" is recognized as unknown, and gets that profile.

 

Also, there's a problem that ED can't really solve with many higher-end devices: they can be user-programmed to different number of axes and buttons, and their vendor/device IDs can also be changed so they appear as different devices and can be told apart. Since many DCS players are also nutjobs like me who love complex controller setups, providing profiles for all possible controller combinations is a hopeless proposition, as we'd ignore them any way - if they worked in the first place.

 

That being said, it would be great if - supposing you had a vanilla set up - you'd be able to just jump into a module and fly.  

 

Finally, there are some very good tools available that can manage your various configuration for modules: here's a very interesting one

 

 

[upyr1]

On 7/13/2021 at 3:18 AM, cfrag said:

That being said, it would be great if - supposing you had a vanilla set up - you'd be able to just jump into a module and fly.  

 

In the past I have sugested that we should have a "generic airplane" and a "generic helicopter" profile where we can set up the most common controls for each. Then have mods populate from those settings when they are first installed. However people shoot the idea down as they can't grasp the idea that you would still have individual profiles, and the only thing that would change is that you would skip the assignment step and get to fine tuning your axis 

[Tippis]

9 minutes ago, upyr1 said:

In the past I have sugested that we should have a "generic airplane" and a "generic helicopter" profile where we can set up the most common controls for each. Then have mods populate from those settings when they are first installed. However people shoot the idea down as they can't grasp the idea that you would still have individual profiles, and the only thing that would change is that you would skip the assignment step and get to fine tuning your axis 

Oh yes please! Especially if that meant that you could once and for all set curves and/or sliders once and for all, and have that apply to everything ever. Doubly so if it stopped applying non-existing nonsense inputs to devices that don't have those inputs and where they would never make sense (again, having to unassign button 1 as weapon release on my rudders for every module gets… tiring).

[SharpeXB]

Well there’s only throttle, pitch, roll and yaw which could be assigned with certainty in a preset. Maybe the gun trigger and after that it’s anyone’s choice. So having just four pre-assigned isn’t much help and not a big deal to map. 
 

I think the TM Warthog is all preset since it’s an exact HOTAS replica. 

Edited July 15, 2021 by SharpeXB

[upyr1]

2 hours ago, Tippis said:

Oh yes please! Especially if that meant that you could once and for all set curves and/or sliders once and for all, and have that apply to everything ever. Doubly so if it stopped applying non-existing nonsense inputs to devices that don't have those inputs and where they would never make sense (again, having to unassign button 1 as weapon release on my rudders for every module gets… tiring).

I've been sick of that. I see the point to fine tunning controls but not having to reassign them every single freaking time. I brought this up abd you can see the complaints I get about the idea.