DCS Flight Panel

[Mrgone]

Hello all,

Mgone here.  As some of you know from previous posts, I love DCS, its international users.   I also have a lot of time on my hands . . .

I got tired of making configuration changes by having to Alt-Tab or endlessly opening desktop folders to find my applications icons etc.

I decided to create what I call "DCS Flight Panel.  I have been working on this for a while now and have had to wait until there was some commonality, amongst developers.  For instance, DCS adopting OpenXR.  Renaming dlls and the like got old.  I still change dxgi.dll to enable/disable reshade in the local file for I never got reshade-global to work in DCS.

Here I am completely self-contained.  I can open the Panel and never once go to the desktop to launch programs.  Here, I have access to all installed plugins, mods, configuration panels and basic system functions.

I very much enjoy the "DCS Update Utility" however, once you've become familiar with all the .lua configuration  files, I find it easier to just open the files and edit them manually rather than relying on the other utilities to make changes.  Often the changes have  give you unexpected results.

What I like most is this . . . I never have to Alt-Tab or close DCS to check something or make changes as long as they do not interfere with the current running DCS.  The panel right now reflects my installation and configuration only.   I would like to expand on this to cover other's hardware and applications so that I might offer it to other DCS users.

One issue that I am working on is a system-wide scan of installed programs to create the variables for pointing to individual user installation folders.   Once I figure this out, I will only have to pass the variable rather than hard-encode the program's installation folder.  You can get an idea of the types of items included . . .  I've even added the ability to use my screenshots.

 

I am looking for a little feedback . . .  What do you think?

 

[speed-of-heat]

DCS updater does some of this however… I think it’s a solid idea.

from a point of view of feedback, I would say for me the screens are a little too busy… I have dyslexia , and all those colours and boxes do not help me …

Edited April 11 by speed-of-heat

[Mrgone]

I agree about the business of the screen . . .

My original idea was to use more-or-less military colors.  I got bored with the plain image background and created the ability to use my screenshots, the buttons were however even harder to distinguish with the ever changing colors of the background.  Hence the colors.  They are changeable to suit the desire of the user and a plain interface with perhaps 7 theme options seemed rather dull.

The way I use this is to place it on a second monitor in full-screen mode.  The buttons all get pushed to the edge and are less intrusive visually.  I can freely move my mouse to the other desktop without closing DCS or changing its focus.  In many cases this allows me to note the current config while in DCS and make changes before restarting.  Otherwise I have to close DCS and note the changes before making them. 

The Udater Utility is more a novice oriented application however, if you know how to edit the configs, this is a lot easier.  I can't easily convey the functions that are in the menus.  I am focused OS configuration as well as DCS addons.   Not having to find apps and constantly close out and resart.  I've also noted others and my own confusion when it comes to the options.lua and which to use.

For me, the nice thing is not having to keep finding app folders and icons.  Once opened, I never have to close the app to make any changes.  This is priceless to me . . .

Thanks for the feedback!

[Montykoro]

I like the concept and the UI   now i need a second monitor!

[Mrgone]

Thank you for the feedback.

I will try to list all the options contained in subsequest posts . . .  It is in its way more robust than other utilities.

I do my monitor shopping on Monday nights . . . Dumpster Diving!