Keyboard/Saitek layout Parser

[facetious1]

This may seem dumb to some of you; however, I feel like I am getting old.

 

I ran the Parser Utility, which generated a ton of text files for my control config...

 

Now... how does one print out a nice.. easy to read keyboard/stick layout...

 

Am I suppossed to go in the text file.. and go down manually to all 300'ish lines it output and delete the " or ' and properly space it out? someone please save me an hour of work?

 

BTW.. sim is great.. took off... did some basic stuff.. got shot down because I ddint know my flare key...

 

Still trying to figure out how to zoom into the map or gauges in the cockpit view... any help there would be awesome!

 

Great sim though overall!

 

Thanks again for any help.

[nomdeplume]

Don't know what the Parser Utility is so I can't help you with that.

 

Under controls there are keybindings for Zoom in and friends. Default seems to be Numpad * ("Zoom in slow"), Numpad / ("Zoom out slow"), and Numpad Enter (zoom normal, which I presume resets your zoom level). If you hold RShift when you use the zoom keys it'll go faster, I think.

 

The optimal way is to use a headtracking system like TrackIR. Then you can zoom in just by moving your head closer to the screen. If you really want to immerse yourself in flight sims, I strongly recommend it.

 

Flares are controlled using the UV-26 countermeasures dispenser system mounted at the top right of your cockpit. Default keys are Insert to start dispensing and Delete to stop. You'll want to read what the manual has to say about it in order to understand how to use it properly. Mind you, that goes for pretty much everything. ;)

[facetious1]

Thanks for the reply, I am a big advocate of the manual also :) (I was being facetious with the flare key as I couldnt read the keyboard layout that was printed out from the parser program)---

 

You can read about the Parser program in the quick start Guide/PDF on the bottom of page 39.

:)

 

But if anyone knows how to easily edit what the parser outputs, I would be very greatful..

 

THanks again,

Facetious

[facetious1]

OK guys.. I want to preface this as I am not as sharp as most avid sim gamers out there...

 

And I really get a gut wrenching feeling when someone asks a legitimate question... and they receive "look at the manual" as a reply.

 

I have went over much of the 500 some odd page manual and still, I do not find a good keyboard map....

 

So I used the parser utility, which, I continue to laugh at the previous poster who told me to look at the manual... yet admited to not knowing the Parser Utility.... WTF? :cry:

 

ANYWAYS... I used the parser utility as the manual stated...

 

And I have wasted about 3 hours of my time attempting to adjust the parser utility output... (since no one could guide me to a better, more obvious, solution)

 

 

NOW: when you run the Parser utility as detailed in the quick start guide:

 

I recommend opening that text file in Microsoft excel.

 

*** These instructions are for Microsoft 2007 excel:

 

1) Open Excel.

 

2) in the menu, choose open file and point to where your Parser made the .txt files

 

3) Choose one of the files (I made 2 keyboard maps- 1 for my Saitek x52 pro... the other for my keyboard)

----so the 2 files I choose were : ka-50_wasy Keyboard_Keyboard & Ka-50_Joystick_saitek X52 Pro Flight Controller

 

4) "Text import wizard 1 of 3" comes up.

 

5) Choose "delimited" as the option and click "Next"

 

6) On the next screen... you will see a box "Treat consecutive delimiters as one"--- Put a check in that box.

 

7) In the space under that... for "Text Qualifier put the " (quote) sign there.

 

8) Click "next"

 

9) Adjust your columns by double clicking between the A and B column and double clicking between the B and C column...

 

10) Do a print preview

 

11) Do a Print

 

Well I hope I helped out some of you that are deemed by most the flight sim community as "idiots" like I am ... but... hey.. is my 2 cents :)-- and 4 hours wasted on a Sunday figuring this out :)

[facetious1]

But as many of you will see.. this really is a screwed up keyboard map.. I am all ears for other options?

[nemises]

Sorry, no experience with it :(

 

I believe I ended up hand drawing a representation of my hotas, and hand writing on the functions at first....

 

As for other functions...well...since everything is accessible in cockpit, I learned where the appropriate switches are and click them.

 

Someone did send me a full key mapping spreadsheet at some stage, but yeah, it's a bit too comprehensive to be much use beyond creating a hotas profile :/

[nomdeplume]

And I really get a gut wrenching feeling when someone asks a legitimate question... and they receive "look at the manual" as a reply.

 

I have went over much of the 500 some odd page manual and still, I do not find a good keyboard map....

 

So I used the parser utility, which, I continue to laugh at the previous poster who told me to look at the manual... yet admitted to not knowing the Parser Utility.... WTF? :cry:

 

You have an interesting way of making friends. Truth be told, I've only read the full pilots manual and the GUI manual, and even then there's likely some parts I haven't read yet. I hadn't even looked at the quick start manual. Having done so, I still have no idea what you're talking about. I also did a search for the string "parser" in the GUI manual, the pilots manual, and the quick-launch manual. It didn't find any matches. I guess we have different manuals. Or we're playing different games... you are talking about Black Shark, right?

 

What exactly are you looking to get? There is a command list PDF for both real and game modes which lists all the commands and their default keyboard shortcuts, but I suspect you've found that already and it didn't meet your needs.

[Distiler]

I first thought he was talking about some saitek pdf manual because it's neither in my DCS many pdfs, but finally I've found it's in the readme1.0.txt (english download version).

And I agree, the tone is not gonna help him get any help.

 

There is a keyboard map there (you need to register): http://www.escuadron69.net/v20/foro/index.php?autocom=downloads&showfile=375

Edited April 27, 2009 by Distiler

[EtherealN]

TBH, when you have some 500 commands mapped to various combinations of the keyboard, I strongly doubt any keyboard map is going to be helpful. It would just serve to add confusion and an even greater feeling of "oh my gods that's just too much", I suspect. :P

 

Way I did it was to just learn the chopper one system at a time, and if I decided I liked a specific thing (like the trimming) I mapped it to a button on my stick. Then I practiced that a bit and moved on to the next system.

 

Never even thought of a need for a keyboard map, but I don't have a HOTAS so I don't have all that much buttons to work with in planning a setup.

[nomdeplume]

I stumbled upon it while browsing through my Ka-50 directory. Until I know what the OP is after I'm not sure how to help. The main problem I see with the output files is it includes things with no bindings, which doesn't seem all that useful, but it should be pretty easy to just delete those lines. Alternatively, the parser is just a Lua script so it would be fairly easy to modify it to filter them out if that would be helpful.

 

I'm in agreeance with EtherealN - learn as you go, practising particular systems until the controls you've assigned them to become second nature. The only thing I'm wary of with this is approach is assigning too many controls, so it's worthwhile trying to pace yourself and get to know most of the systems before you really get stuck into setting up your control profile.

 

I found watching the training missions to be very helpful. I actually watched all of them (while eating dinner :D) before I even started trying to fly so I had some idea of the other systems I'd need to reserve controls for. A lot of the things you don't need immediate access to, so I just use the clickable cockpit. While you're learning I think it's a good idea to use the clickable cockpit for as much as you can. You'll soon find the things that are indispensible and come up with an intuitive mapping to your controllers.

[EtherealN]

Yeah, I use a Cyborg Evo so I don't have many buttons on the stick to play with, so my threshhold to take the step to put something there basically was when I realize that function X qualifies as something I will be using pretty much all the time. So what I have there is trimming, trigger, pickle, Skhval uncage, target locking and that's pretty much it. (On the hatswitch I have Skhval scanning.)

 

There's still a few things that hasn't qualified, like dispensing flares and so on, but that's basically because due to my having so few buttons, I always have the keyboard handy anyway, so my left hand can handle most things.

[facetious1]

WEll, upon your all advice to get the TrackIR, I did order the track IR4 and received it yesterday.... Only to get an email from NaturalPoint that the Track IR5 is now released... sigh LOL

 

I apoligize that "my tone" appeared hostile... I have played too many flight sims that some Pretentious jerk felt that saying "read the manual" was the ultimate answer... Coming new to these forums and observing that comment as an answer to my first post... you could imagine my first mental thought process.. And I may have had a few brewskies in me when I replied... so I am sorry if I offended you.

 

As you can see... from my extra time I took to lay out the steps to help others... I am here to help others over stupid crap that took me too long to figure out... (I work 12-13 hour days -- 5 days a week... Am I not suppossed to enjoy myself during the weekends?)

 

 

AS FOR THE "NO BINDINGS"

I found that if you open it in EXCEL.. I deleted all rows that didnt have a binding...

 

Then I printed the remaining keys...

 

As you can see it is still very difficult to scan through.

 

 

I have been continuing to watch all training videos (2-3 times on some of them)

 

--Maybe I need to lay off the beer :) But Falcon 4.0 was learnable... I am sure this will be also.

[facetious1]

BTW.. if anyone knows where to buy this glove:... Please let me know!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLkfx6QxLfg

[EtherealN]

I don't think that's something you buy. It's a homebrew kit made from a scavenged Wii controler and some custom software, link in the information field on the video.

 

Oh, and as another note, there are touchscreen overlays that you put onto your normal screen, that can then convert it to a touchscreen, making the glove unecessary. ;)

[CyBerkut]

BTW.. if anyone knows where to buy this glove:... Please let me know!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLkfx6QxLfg

 

Refer to this thread:

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=35202

 

The glove is indeed something that you build. Basically, a momentary pushbutton switch in the fingertip that activates a (ideally) 950nm wavelength IR LED that is battery powered. The Wiimote detects the lit IR LED's position and reports it to the whiteboard software (which also interprets a lit IR LED as a left mouse click). It's a pretty cool project if you have a display surface that you don't mind pushing against.