Programming the PTO2 light logic

Hayrake YE-ZB · March 16, 2024

Hi there,

Is there a guide or video that shows how to set up the light feedback on the PTO2 controller? It works beautifully out of the box with the F18, but I’m trying to get the master caution light, and the landing gear position lights, and the gear and hook transition lights to work with other aircraft.

I’ve read the SimappPro guide, and don’t quite see where to start.

Any help would be appreciated.

ANDR0ID · March 17, 2024

Is this a capability? I thought the only option was to sync with DCS, which really means the F-18.

MustangSally · March 17, 2024

Currently The F-18 is the only aircraft to have the capability

Hayrake YE-ZB · March 17, 2024

I see, well that would explain why I can’t find the information. For some reason, I thought that separate profiles could be built to hook into different aircraft.

Thanks.

Wostg · March 18, 2024

Suggest raising a ticket, they're usually very responsive and willing to take a feature request, at least

prestonflying · March 19, 2024

This is a current ability of SimApp Pro using the provided `C:\Program Files (x86)\SimAppPro\resources\app.asar.unpacked\dcs_event_bind_config.js` file, you can define your own aircraft profiles (In a json dictonary, but there is an example of the F18 and other planes that work), Attached are images of a JF-17 using custom lights and the F18 profile.

You can extend this to work with any plane and any light value

You will need to look in the game files of the module to determine the value for `dcs_id` as this is the argument number for the module. Example, dcs_id 376 controls the APU light in the hornet. You can find these values in "<DCS_INSTALL>/Mods/aircraft/FA-18C/Cockpit/Scripts/MainPanel/lamps.lua"

Other modules will have similar files to get the light values needed for the `dcs_event_bind_config.js`nullnull

Edited March 19, 2024 by prestonflying

ANDR0ID · March 19, 2024

@prestonflying does it again! An interesting project to tackle when I get time.

Hayrake YE-ZB · March 21, 2024

Thank you!

ANDR0ID · March 28, 2024

I had a chance to test this a bit... adding additional aircraft shouldn't be too difficult, but for those using the universal UFC mod the PTO, etc. functions will sadly be disabled (or not work correctly) as the universal UFC project currently mimics the F18, and thus all the PTO lights follow the F18 logic too.

I was really hoping we could have our cake and eat it too, but no so at the moment. Perhaps in the future with some more investigation.

Edited March 28, 2024 by ANDR0ID

pierre0000 · March 4

On 3/19/2024 at 4:43 PM, prestonflying said:

This is a current ability of SimApp Pro using the provided `C:\Program Files (x86)\SimAppPro\resources\app.asar.unpacked\dcs_event_bind_config.js` file, you can define your own aircraft profiles (In a json dictonary, but there is an example of the F18 and other planes that work), Attached are images of a JF-17 using custom lights and the F18 profile.

You can extend this to work with any plane and any light value

You will need to look in the game files of the module to determine the value for `dcs_id` as this is the argument number for the module. Example, dcs_id 376 controls the APU light in the hornet. You can find these values in "<DCS_INSTALL>/Mods/aircraft/FA-18C/Cockpit/Scripts/MainPanel/lamps.lua"

Other modules will have similar files to get the light values needed for the `dcs_event_bind_config.js`nullnull

Hey Preston, could you explain a bit how this works? I do not find the references for lights in the F4E folder... Thx in advance!

Edited March 4 by pierre0000

prestonflying · March 5

@pierre0000

The steps would look something like this

Open the file, use NotePad++, VSCode, or other code editor:
C:\Program Files (x86)\SimAppPro\resources\app.asar.unpacked\dcs_event_bind_config.js

Add this into the list of exported objects, you will need to look for the DCS Module argument to power the light, I put a random one of `120`, which will not work. I do not own F4E so I can not look at the list of arguments, but they will be in this folder in some lua files:
DCS_INSTALL_PATH/Mods/aircraft/F-4E-45MC

module.exports = [
  {*F18 Code block, etc},
  {*Other module code blocks, etc},
  {
      aircraft_name: ["F-4E-45MC"],
      isResetLight: true,
      recv: [
          {
              dcs_id: "0.120", // You must find the DCS argument for the given data you want to drive this light. Look inside DCS_INSTALL_PATH/Mods/aircraft/F-4E-45MC/ and look through the lua files for the arguments you wish. Others on the forms might be able to help if you post 
              device_name: ["F18_TAKEOFF_PANEL"],
              led: ["Landing_gear_lights"]
          }
      ]
  }
];

pierre0000 · March 5

I will try that thank you Preston!

Nightdare · March 5

18 hours ago, prestonflying said:

you will need to look for the DCS Module argument to power the light

Very noob question:

How do I 'recognize' these arguments?

I've been diving in my F-14 directory, since there is no "MainPanel" folder, looking around in various .Lua's, looking for something simple like the 'Jett' light and in draw_args.lua, I found numbers like:

WARN_EmergJett = 15031

PILOT_JETT_Light = 701

WEAP_Emer_Jettison = 239

prestonflying · March 5

@Nightdare Do you have a light or switch in mind to activate the Winwing Panel Light? I can take a look in the F14 dir and explain how I got there

Nightdare · March 5

@prestonflying

I was on recon in the files

Trying to find things like jettison, landing gear, hook, flaps and master caution as these are buttons/lights represented in the F-14 as well as on the PTO2

(Too many hardpoints on the F-14 to represent on the station select buttons, nor do I use them for any weapon management)

prestonflying · March 5

Cockpit/draw_args.lua looks to be the right spot. I see `Landing_Gear_Light=15001`, `WEAP_Master_Caution=9200`, etc.

You would input this into the the winwing js file as

dcs_id: "0.9200"

Invictus84 · March 6

Interesting discussion - need to try this myself.

On a side note - you all might want to consider looking at the aircraft module files for DCS ExportScript and/or DCS-BIOS. They have the most of the DCS ID numbers you need to do this stuff.

https://github.com/asherao/DCS-ExportScripts

https://github.com/DCS-Skunkworks/dcs-bios

I've attached the DCS-ExportScript and DCS-BIOS JF-17 scripts as examples of the data you can pull from their scripts.

There are also several tools you can use to pull this data from DCS aircraft modules:

https://github.com/asherao/dcs-unclickabledata-extract

https://github.com/charlestytler/dcs-clickabledata-extract

JF-17.lua JF-17.lua

Edited March 6 by Invictus84
Added link to Skunkworks DCS-BIOS GitHub site.

pierre0000 · March 7

If someone could help with the F4E I would appreciate it ! I digged into the lua files but it's huge and I don't find it

It's a bit disappointing that winwing doesn't do it for us , for trained programmers I guess it super easy ...

Edited March 7 by pierre0000

Nightdare · March 8

On 3/5/2025 at 10:54 PM, prestonflying said:
Cockpit/draw_args.lua looks to be the right spot. I see `Landing_Gear_Light=15001`, `WEAP_Master_Caution=9200`, etc.

You would input this into the the winwing js file as
dcs_id: "0.9200"

Seems I have the initial trouble of module ID

I tried "F-14A-135-GR" / "F-14" / "F14" / "F-14B" / "F14" / "HEATBLUR_F-14"

Same

Could be I removed some [] or {}

This is what I tried out

module.exports = [{
  // Receive signals from multiple aircraft
  aircraft_name: ['F-14B', 'F-14A-135-GR'],
  isResetLight: true,
  recv: [
    // Bind the device id of the DCS to the lighting of the physical device
    {
      // Landing gear lights
      dcs_id: '0.15001',
      device_name: ['F18_TAKEOFF_PANEL', 'TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['Landing_gear_lights']
    },
    {
      // FLAPS
      dcs_id: '0.15046',
      device_name: ['TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['FLAPS']
    },
    {
      // HALF
      dcs_id: '0.9205',
      device_name: ['TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['HALF']
    },
    {
      // FULL
      dcs_id: '0.9204',
      device_name: ['TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['FULL']
    },
    {
      // LEFT
      dcs_id: '0.8302',
      device_name: ['TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['LEFT']
    },
    {
      // NOSE
      dcs_id: '0.8301',
      device_name: ['TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['NOSE']
    },
    {
      // RIGHT
      dcs_id: '0.8305',
      device_name: ['TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['RIGHT']
    },
    {
      // JETT
      dcs_id: '0.15031',
      device_name: ['TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['JETT']
    },
    {
      // Master_Caution
      dcs_id: '0.9200',
      device_name: ['TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['Master_Caution']
    },
    {
      // HOOK
      dcs_id: '0.15090',
      device_name: ['TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['HOOK']
    }
  ]
},
];

prestonflying · March 8

@Nightdare Looking at the default dcs_event_bind_config.js, there appears to be an entry for the F-14B, does the default profile landing gear light work? If so, I would use the existing one and tweak/add to it. Otherwise there might an issue within SimApp Pro

	{
		// f-14b默认没有完全对应的灯，但是可以自己自定
		// f-14b does not have a completely corresponding light by default, but you can customize it yourself
		
		aircraft_name: ["F-14B","F-14A-135-GR"],
		isResetLight: true,
		recv: [
			//F-14B
			{
				// 控制台灯光亮度 dcs_id:1801//目前只能按键调节，9个档位
				// 另外还有仪表灯光亮度 dcs_id:1800
				// 副驾驶的仪表灯光亮度 dcs_id:1802
				// 副驾驶的控制台灯光亮度 dcs_id:1803
				dcs_id: "0.1801",
				process: (dcs_id, dcsmag) => {// 临时作为反向处理 // Temporary as reverse processing
					dcsmag = 1 - dcsmag;
					return dcsmag;
				},
				device_name: 0,
				led: ["Backlight","INST_PNL_Backlight"]
			},
			{
				// 起落架指示灯
				// Landing Gear Indicator
				// 目前暂时将起落架指示灯映射为起落架手柄灯
				// Currently, the landing gear indicator is temporarily mapped to the landing gear handle light
				dcs_id: "0.15001",
				device_name: ["F18_TAKEOFF_PANEL", "TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2"],
				led: ["Landing_gear_lights"]
			}
		]
	},

Nightdare · March 8

@prestonflying

Got that working

Though I think I did find the error in my code,... a comma missing after the "hook" section

The only thing now is that I have 2 error codes 0x0012, 0x0013 in environment, but that may be due to WWT, after resetting the Simapp data, since I can't see any data on my UFC anymore

Nightdare · March 9

Well, this is for the most standard F-14 indicators

Made "Center"-station the NWS Engage indicator, all 4 others are added to the backlighting

The only thing I'm wondering ATM is if adding Orion2 throttle was necessary, as my MFDs and UFC/HUD work with the console lights when SimApp sync option was selected as well

  aircraft_name: ['F-14B', 'F-14A-135-GR'],
  isResetLight: true,
  recv: [
    // F-14B
    {
      // PTO2 BACKLIGHTING
      dcs_id: '0.1801',
      process: (dcs_id, dcsmag) => { // 临时作为反向处理 // Temporary as reverse processing
        dcsmag = 1 - dcsmag;
        return dcsmag;
      },
      device_name: 0,
      led: ['Backlight', 'INST_PNL_Backlight', 'LI', 'RI', 'LO', 'RO', 'Orion_Throttle_Base_II']
    },
    {
      // 起落架指示灯
      // Landing Gear Indicator
      // 目前暂时将起落架指示灯映射为起落架手柄灯
      // Currently, the landing gear indicator is temporarily mapped to the landing gear handle light
      dcs_id: '0.15001',
      device_name: ['F18_TAKEOFF_PANEL', 'TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'],
      led: ['Landing_gear_lights']
    },
    {
      // JETT
      dcs_id: '0.15031',
      device_name: ['TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['JETT']
    },
    {
      // Master_Caution
      dcs_id: '0.9200',
      device_name: ['TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['Master_Caution']
    },
    {
      // HOOK
      dcs_id: '0.15090',
      device_name: ['TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['HOOK']
    },
    {
      // FLAPS
      dcs_id: '0.15046',
      device_name: ['TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['FLAPS']
    },
    {
      // LEFT GEAR
      dcs_id: '0.8302',
      device_name: ['TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['LEFT']
    },
    {
      // NOSE GEAR
      dcs_id: '0.8301',
      device_name: ['TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['NOSE']
    },
    {
      // RIGHT GEAR
      dcs_id: '0.8305',
      device_name: ['TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['RIGHT']
    },
    {
      // HALF SPEEDBRAKE
      dcs_id: '0.8307',
      device_name: ['TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['HALF']
    },
    {
      // FULL SPEEDBRAKE
      dcs_id: '0.8308',
      device_name: ['TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['FULL']
    },
    {
      // NWS ENGAGE
      dcs_id: '0.9353',
      device_name: ['F18_COMBAT_READY_PANEL', 'TAKEOFF_PLANEL_2'], // Multiple device names. 0: means all devices
      led: ['CTR']
    },
  ]
},

Nightdare · March 15

Found the RIO lights also translating when in the pilot seat

Set my TWS Auto/RWS to A/A, A/G on my Orion2 with that

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Programming the PTO2 light logic

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