No Auto-focusing on the Command Line in OPTIONS/CONTROLS Page

[Devrim]

Sorry, I couldn't summarize the problem in the title due to lack of my English.

While flying with Mustang > Hit ESC and go to CONTROLS PAGE to edit some inputs.

For example, once I press a HOTAS key or keyboard key, at that moment you expect that DCS brings the line for the input and focus the line with blue color, right? But sometimes that doesn't happen. That's likely random happening. I can't determine when or in what circumstances it happens or not.

Anybody see this problem?

[Flappie]

Hi @Devrim. Can you give us an example of command that is not highlighted by your keybind/joystick button? or is that random?

Edited February 28, 2023 by Flappie

[Devrim]

Hi. I'm sorry for late response.

It's random I guess. Still I try to catch it via recording video.

Thx.

[NightMan]

I noticed it too today, and it happens in all models.

I will try to explain.

With the previous behaviour, when in the Control Options screen, if we pressed a sequence of keys mapped to some control, the focus/cursor would automaticaly position itself at that control. Not it does nothing.

Imagine you pressed G. It would automaticaly position itself at "Landing Gear Up/Down". Now it does nothing.

And it is not random; it is sistematic. It happens with ALL the controls.

Now it respects only the up and down keys as well as the PgUp and PgDown keys, scrolling just like a normal list.

It's not something we could record in a track, but it is EXTREMELY easy to reproduce.

Just go to the Control Options screen and press G, or F1, or F3, or any other control you know you have mapped.

This was an extremely useful feature. Please fix it.

Edited March 25, 2023 by NightMan

[Flappie]

8 hours ago, NightMan said:

It's not something we could record in a track, but it is EXTREMELY easy to reproduce.

Just go to the Control Options screen and press G, or F1, or F3, or any other control you know you have mapped.

This was an extremely useful feature. Please fix it.

No, it's not that easy to reproduce, so please refrain from using CAPS. It still works in current OB (2.8.3.38090) on my end.

 

I suggest you get rid of any funny mod or external software of yours, then try again.

[NightMan]

I don't have any mod installed.

Just plain Open Beta.

It's really annoying when you assume the problem is on our side.

 

It's not the first time someone reports something which you cannot reproduce, so I ask you; please try again.

Edited March 25, 2023 by NightMan

[AdrianL]

3 minutes ago, NightMan said:

so I ask you; please try again

I just tested and it is working fine for me. Tried when starting DCS as well as in mission. 

I asked 4 people I was flying with to test, and it is working fine for all of them.

 

7 minutes ago, NightMan said:

first time someone reports something which you cannot reproduce

He is trying to help you and you give him attitude. It is something related to your setup and not a wide spread problem.

[NightMan]

Nothing, absolutley nothing changed in my setup.

I've even been away from home.

I returned, accepted the update and resumed work on a mission I'm working on.

I don't know if the problem is new or if it has some time, because I don't change controls every day.

And is it me who has an attitude?!

I'm just trying to help improving a product and you guys always take it as an attack.

You know what; I have more important things to do.

[Devrim]

If only one person encounters with this issue, it's OK but if, at least two people are having the same issue, then it must be investigated.

Now, OK, relax. I'll try to catch the problem with a video.

[Flappie]

Please ensure one of your modifiers is not active when you're accessing the Controls panel.

Edited March 26, 2023 by Flappie

[NightMan]

Please forgive me if I don't understand.

What you mean is that one key like Control, or Shift or Alt is pressed when I open the Controls panel?

That would mean a stuck key? But if that was the case, very weird things would happen while flying, and I am flying just fine.

I will try to sort it out.

Edited March 26, 2023 by NightMan

[Flappie]

Yes, that was what I had in mind. Not necessarily a stuck key, but rather a 2-position switch added as a modifier, for instance. I have no better idea at the moment.

[NightMan]

Hi!

I am really pissed because today the problem is not occurring and I am not being able to reproduce it.

Please, don’t take me wrong, and I don’t want to pull ranks or offend you, but I have a degree in Computer Engineering and I’m used to debugging problems, both in software and hardware, and I’ve been doing it for a little over 30 years.

 

So, I have been thinking about what happened in the other day and there are 2 (two) possibilities I would like to propose:

First:

I use VirtualBox to conduct all sorts of experiments in a contained environment, and that day I had been using 2 (two) different VMs. VirtualBox might have left something stuck and the Right Control key is my first guess, because, as you might know, the Right Control key is the default host key in VirtualBox;

Second:

The second possibility involves a documented problem in Windows. There is — or was — a problem in the HID system that caused some USB controllers to prevent the OS from putting the machine into Energy Saving mode. In my case, with the stick connected, the OS wouldn’t even start the screen saver. If I disconnected it everything would work properly. Recently, one of the updates passed by Microsoft — can’t say which one — solved this problem, and now my machine enters energy saving mode and resumes without a problem with the stick connected.

 

I’m not saying any one of these is connected with the problem we are trying to debug, but, for now, these are my best guesses.

Talk to ED and see what they have to say.

Thank you.

Edited March 26, 2023 by NightMan

[Flappie]

These theories are good ones, indeed.

I'm familiar with VirtualBox and the RCtrl key for I've been using it at my workplace for quite some time.

Just so you know: I can't just "talk" to devs, because they are all very busy. They need a way to reproduce issues in order to work on bugs. That's where testers such as myself are here for. I tried to reproduce your issue but so far I'm unable to do so. I understand that it can be annoying to read, but that's how it works.

Maybe you can try a tool such as Keystroke Visualizer the next time it happens to you.

[NightMan]

I will. Thanks.

Edited March 27, 2023 by NightMan

[Flappie]

I'm able to reproduce the issue when using Shift+R in order to restart a mission, as explained here:

 

@NightMan @Devrim Do you use the Shift+R bind? I never do, which might explain I would never have encountered this bug.

[Vakari]

I've only started flying DCS recently (just before the MT testing released) and I have this problem fairly regularly. It comes and goes. I'm setting up my binds slowly in the A-10C/II and F/A-18C as I learn to use them. I don't use Shift+R for anything at the moment, I hadn't learned about that yet. I've used the MT version since its release. I've spent almost no time at all in the ST version.

When I go into the controls menu and push a HOTAS button that I know is bound to an action, I might not be automatically taken to that bind, so I'll think it's broken somehow. I'll search for the bind and scroll over to the column for my stick and I see there are JOY_BTNXX assigned to that control, but pressing the button still doesn't cause it to be selected. This makes me think my joystick buttons have changed, or I was an idiot and bound it to the wrong button. Now I double-click it to give it a new assignment and I push the same button I thought I had bound. As it turns out, it's the same button, and the assignment panel warns me that I'm binding a key to HOTAS TMS Aft that was previously bound to HOTAS TMS Aft (which is, of course, no problem.) So I click OK and from this point on the controls page will start working and taking me to specific binds as I press the keys automatically. This is the only way I know of to get it to start working again: Bind a key to something it was already bound to.

Edited March 27, 2023 by Vakari

[Flappie]

Thanks for your thorough description. I edited my report.

I'm pretty sure that once we get a fix for this annoying bug, it will be fixed for everyone, not only those who use the LShift+R combo. Let's wait and see.

Edited March 28, 2023 by Flappie

[Vakari]

It popped up again and I managed to record a ~20 second video that yielded slightly different results from what I'm used to. I made sure the DCS window was active before pressing the buttons. This was the same for all of my controllers, including the keyboard.

This time it would eventually work, but sometime would take 30 presses of the button to get it to activate.

In the Virpil window, my buttons are   7: Trim Down   8: Trim Left,   9: Trim Up,   10: Trim Right.

 

[Flappie]

Thanks, I added your video to the report.

[NightMan]

Impressive investigative work.

But I suspect there may exist another control causing the same issue because I'm not used to use Shift+R.

In fact, I only recall using it 10 years ago when I started with DCS.

In fact (again) I don't even have it mapped; I removed it 10 years ago.

[Flappie]

FYI, the LShift+R bug was fixed in today's OB. If you keep seeing the issue described in OP, please give your feedback here.