requested General Kneeboards for maps

[Sheepy]

I am trying to figure out if there is a way to save custom kneeboards for maps inside of the saved games folder instead of the main folder. I usually try and keep my main folder clean of any mods/skins etc. 

I know this already works for Aircraft but I want to try and keep charts and map data in the maps kneeboard folder.

Thanks

[speed-of-heat]

you couid save them to the main kneeboard folder, you could try just making a folder with the terrain name (as per the main folder) and see if that works ?

[Sheepy]

32 minutes ago, speed-of-heat said:

you couid save them to the main kneeboard folder, you could try just making a folder with the terrain name (as per the main folder) and see if that works ?

I have tried this and tried to follow the same folder structure as in the main folder

[silverdevil]

5 hours ago, Sheepy said:

I am trying to figure out if there is a way to save custom kneeboards for maps inside of the saved games folder instead of the main folder. I usually try and keep my main folder clean of any mods/skins etc. 

I know this already works for Aircraft but I want to try and keep charts and map data in the maps kneeboard folder.

Thanks

another way to try this. what i do is i create the kneeboards and put them in the individual aircraft kneeboards folder. even you have many aircraft like i do, it takes literally less than a minute to put the terrain kneeboards in their places.

[speed-of-heat]

35 minutes ago, silverdevil said:

another way to try this. what i do is i create the kneeboards and put them in the individual aircraft kneeboards folder. even you have many aircraft like i do, it takes literally less than a minute to put the terrain kneeboards in their places.

that might work , but then i end up with maps i don't need in the kneeboard which makes cycling through pages a pain, but i agree it would work.. actually you can just drop them in kneeboards directly, if you want them everywhere 

[Sheepy]

Yea, for now I guess I'll just use the way I know works. Hopefully someone knows something we don't :).

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[MAXsenna]

that might work , but then i end up with maps i don't need in the kneeboard which makes cycling through pages a pain, but i agree it would work.. actually you can just drop them in kneeboards directly, if you want them everywhere 

This is why the kneeboard folder for Syria has been requested for a long time, isn't it?
Anyway, I did use the Kneeboard Builder app to remove all default kneeboards, and then made packages relevant to maps/missions etc. And only kept the relevant/required ones in the respective modules like SilverDevil mentions.
Haven't messed with for some time though, as I screwed up the settings, so I'm not sure that path still works.
This can all be handled through mod managers, but it was so handy and logical through the Kneeboard Builder.

Cheers!

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[silverdevil]

1 hour ago, speed-of-heat said:

that might work , but then i end up with maps i don't need in the kneeboard which makes cycling through pages a pain, but i agree it would work.. actually you can just drop them in kneeboards directly, if you want them everywhere 

i get pretty versed in the normal operations that kneeboards for weapons and sensors do not matter. i remove those and put a particual terrain kneeboad in the AC folder and then only have a couple to scroll through.

[AlaskanGrizzly]

On 7/3/2023 at 12:00 AM, Sheepy said:

I am trying to figure out if there is a way to save custom kneeboards for maps inside of the saved games folder instead of the main folder. I usually try and keep my main folder clean of any mods/skins etc. 

I know this already works for Aircraft but I want to try and keep charts and map data in the maps kneeboard folder.

Thanks

You will need to modify the 'init.lua' file located at: ...\Program Files\DCS World (or DCS World OpenBeta\Scripts\Aircrafts\_Common\Cockpit\KNEEBOARD\indicator

Add the following code after scan_path(user_path) around line #92.

--Adds an additional kneeboard location for 'Maps' at the directory:  ...Saved Games\DCS(or DCS.openbeta)\Maps

local maps_path    = lfs.writedir().."Maps"

--Scans our custom made maps directory path and adds its images to the in-game kneeboard

scan_path(maps_path)

I've attached an init file with the above lines already added; just replace your original with this one.  Be aware that any update or repair of DCS will reset the init file, so keep a copy of your modified file for quick replacement.

You can add additional 'scan_path' lines to have it scan subfolders within your Maps folder as well to make things a bit more organized:

scan_path(maps_path ..'/Syria')

scan_path(maps_path ..'/Persian Gulf')

scan_path(maps_path ..'/Sinai')

Make sure you create a folder named 'Maps' in your DCS saved games folder and create any subfolders to avoid any 'directory not found' errors that might make your in-game kneeboard stop working or load incorrectly.  

init.lua

[speed-of-heat]

3 hours ago, AlaskanGrizzly said:

You will need to modify the 'init.lua' file located at: ...\Program Files\DCS World (or DCS World OpenBeta\Scripts\Aircrafts\_Common\Cockpit\KNEEBOARD\indicator

Add the following code after scan_path(user_path) around line #92.

--Adds an additional kneeboard location for 'Maps' at the directory:  ...Saved Games\DCS(or DCS.openbeta)\Maps

local maps_path    = lfs.writedir().."Maps"

--Scans our custom made maps directory path and adds its images to the in-game kneeboard

scan_path(maps_path)

I've attached an init file with the above lines already added; just replace your original with this one.  Be aware that any update or repair of DCS will reset the init file, so keep a copy of your modified file for quick replacement.

You can add additional 'scan_path' lines to have it scan subfolders within your Maps folder as well to make things a bit more organized:

scan_path(maps_path ..'/Syria')

scan_path(maps_path ..'/Persian Gulf')

scan_path(maps_path ..'/Sinai')

Make sure you create a folder named 'Maps' in your DCS saved games folder and create any subfolders to avoid any 'directory not found' errors that might make your in-game kneeboard stop working or load incorrectly.  

init.lua 4.46 kB · 1 download

thats great, but now we are just robbing "peter to pay paul", we still have to update the DCS game directory, though it's neat it can be done that way.  @BIGNEWY can we add this as a feature request to have the maps path added as above so we dont keep loading things into the DCS games directory ?

[BIGNEWY]

Hi all, 

it has been requested some time ago, I have asked the team to consider it again, but can make no promises. 

I have moved this thread to wish list and linked it to the report.

thanks

[Sheepy]

On 7/6/2023 at 12:07 PM, BIGNEWY said:

Hi all, 

it has been requested some time ago, I have asked the team to consider it again, but can make no promises. 

I have moved this thread to wish list and linked it to the report.

thanks

Thank you

[S3ntry]

Hi, is there any update on this topic?

[Mr_sukebe]

I don’t see an issue with saving them into the DCS main installation.

I’ve had mine in there for a couple of years (at least) and they’ve never been deleted by an update or similar.

IIRC, the path is:

DCS World OpenBeta/Mods/Terrains/“map name” (eg Kola)

[MAXsenna]

I don’t see an issue with saving them into the DCS main installation.
I’ve had mine in there for a couple of years (at least) and they’ve never been deleted by an update or similar.
IIRC, the path is:
DCS World OpenBeta/Mods/Terrains/“map name” (eg Kola)

They will if you need to do a full slow repair. The best option is obviously to have them in Saved Games.

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[twistking]

I want to suggest to include a kneeboard manager with the in-development DTC mission planning tool.

Users could dumb all their kneeboard files in the user files and they would all show up in the kneeboard portion of the mission planner. Users could then decide which pages to include for the upcoming mission. This way you'd only have those pages that are needed for the current mission.

[MAXsenna]

I want to suggest to include a kneeboard manager with the in-development DTC mission planning tool.

Users could dumb all their kneeboard files in the user files and they would all show up in the kneeboard portion of the mission planner. Users could then decide which pages to include for the upcoming mission. This way you'd only have those pages that are needed for the current mission.

Great idea! Now, if it could have the option to remove stock unnecessary kneebords too!

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[twistking]

10 hours ago, MAXsenna said:

Great idea! Now, if it could have the option to remove stock unnecessary kneebords too!

Yes. Having tons of unwanted pages (every damn Caucasus aerodrome chart) is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. Would also be solved with a proposed kneeboard manager:
Browse through, sort and manage (favorites, simple search) custom AND stock pages. Also create new pages on the fly that get auto-populated with data from the mission (frequencies, coordinates, briefing info etc.)...