Wish List - Ability to set key binds in the Controls Options for Pilot to direct WSO to change Radar Aspect

[450Devil]

It appears that the only way for someone flying in the pilot position to change the radar aspect is for that person to change to the WSO seat, change the radar aspect and then move back to the pilot seat. This is a bit clunky and diminishes player immersion. Would be really helpful if the capacity to allocate key binds for changing the radar aspect was added to the Jester Commands both in the Controls Options and the Jester Wheel.

[Mr_sukebe]

By radar aspect, do you mean the range and azimuth?

If you do, then that’s already possible.

 

[ricktoberfest]

3 hours ago, 450Devil said:

It appears that the only way for someone flying in the pilot position to change the radar aspect is for that person to change to the WSO seat, change the radar aspect and then move back to the pilot seat. This is a bit clunky and diminishes player immersion. Would be really helpful if the capacity to allocate key binds for changing the radar aspect was added to the Jester Commands both in the Controls Options and the Jester Wheel.

I just set up a voice attack macro that does it in under a second

Edited May 28, 2024 by ricktoberfest

[Zabuzard]

It appears that the only way for someone flying in the pilot position to change the radar aspect is for that person to change to the WSO seat, change the radar aspect and then move back to the pilot seat. This is a bit clunky and diminishes player immersion. Would be really helpful if the capacity to allocate key binds for changing the radar aspect was added to the Jester Commands both in the Controls Options and the Jester Wheel.

You are not supposed to "play WSO" from the Pilot seat.
Instead of exposing direct binds and then trying to teach Jester to not fight it and reset it back, we want to identify the use cases and then offer smoother gameplay for these specific use cases.

The aspect knob is used for two things:
* WSO trying to identify bad locks - Jester will do this soon and also use the knob while doing that
* No-lock Sparrow shots (something that has rarely been done bc the chances of hitting something are fairly low) - we will teach Jester soon to understand that you want to do such a shot and let him put the knob in the right position himself

Hope that makes sense, cheers :)

[Bingo911]

6 hours ago, Zabuzard said:

You are not supposed to "play WSO" from the Pilot seat.
 

Well said. I'm glad that is the case.

[Darkrookie]

I'm all for not being able to play WSO from the Pilot seat, but a few things would seem reasonable for a Pilot to ASK of the WSO in certain situations instead of staying silent and hoping he can read your mind. The main one I'd like to see is being able to ask Jester to go Boresight mode from his end. Yes, you can do this with the cage switch, but then it limits the scan window to 5 miles. In situations where you can SEE the enemy above you but he's outside of 5 miles (and Jester just hasn't been able to lock him yet), you can't get a Boresight lock in time to take the Sparrow shot.

 

Second thing I'd like to be able to ASK Jester to do is switch the Aspect switch as mention above. This is for 2 reasons and I'm sure a Pilot would ask this of the WSO in certain circumstances.

1st. You have a lock and want to know what the target's heading or aspect are for a baseline intercept. Knowing the targets aspect to you is critical for a good intercept. See 

 

2nd. Being able to ask Jester to change the Aspect switch to Nose/Front would set up for an unlocked Boresight launch of a Sparrow, as shown here:

 

and here:

 

The third thing I'd like to be able to ASK Jester to do is switch to VI mode. This again is to help with baseline intercepts, as it would direct the pilot into pure pursuit of a locked target that you haven't got Tally on yet by giving you a pseudo "C-scope" view (think F-5 after you've locked a target).

 

 

Credit goes to the makers of these videos respectively for helping me (start to) understand these things.

Edited May 29, 2024 by Darkrookie

[Zabuzard]

Correct. All these things are planned to be added to Jester. None of this is "intentionally missing"

Regarding the Aspect Knob for Target Heading, they actually didnt use it the way you describe IRL. Target heading can be seen easily via the Steering Dot and how the return moves on the scope. Range is clear from the return distance on the scope. Hot/Cold can be determined from the Vc. In fact, Vc was the single most useful metric and if you ask a SME they will tell you that the knob must always be kept in Vc no matter what.

They would flip the knob through the settings quickly after lock to determine if the lock is valid or bad sidelobe/clutter-lock. And ofc for no-lock Sparrow shots.

But again, it will be added to Jester

Edited May 29, 2024 by Zabuzard

[Darkrookie]

Thanks Zabuzard!

Interesting that they didn't use the other Aspect modes much if at all. That must be info we found useful later on (with greater effective radar ranges) since the modern NATO fighters show aspect angle, target heading, and have a C-scope view within easy reach. Glad to hear that Jester functionality will be added and I look forward to it.

Great work on the Phantom and Jester so far!

[USA_Recon]

On 5/29/2024 at 2:40 AM, Zabuzard said:

Correct. All these things are planned to be added to Jester. None of this is "intentionally missing"

Regarding the Aspect Knob for Target Heading, they actually didnt use it the way you describe IRL. Target heading can be seen easily via the Steering Dot and how the return moves on the scope. Range is clear from the return distance on the scope. Hot/Cold can be determined from the Vc. In fact, Vc was the single most useful metric and if you ask a SME they will tell you that the knob must always be kept in Vc no matter what.

They would flip the knob through the settings quickly after lock to determine if the lock is valid or bad sidelobe/clutter-lock. And ofc for no-lock Sparrow shots.

But again, it will be added to Jester

 

Great news.  Jester needs ChatGPT level of ML , learn faster Jester!

all these are great recommendations 

I’m skeptical since for many years asked for ability to cycle TWS targets in F-14 and that request was ignored 

 

 

 

 

 

[MrExplosion]

Open: \Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\Mods\aircraft\F-4E\Input\F-4E-Pilot\keyboard\default.lua

Add the following lines below this comment at the top of the file and you can bind Aspect and Radar mode to your Hotas. Disable Jester via the normal menu and you are good to go.

(WSO binds until Jester is better)

knob('[WSO] Target Aspect', { 'Tail', 'Aft', 'Forward', 'Nose', 'Wide' }, nil, device_commands.RADAR_WSO_ASPECT_KNOB, device_commands.RADAR_WSO_ASPECT_KNOB_INC_DEC, device_commands.RADAR_WSO_ASPECT_KNOB_NEXT, device_commands.RADAR_WSO_ASPECT_KNOB_AXIS, bind_templates.radar_panel(), { category = categories.wso_temp }),

knob('[WSO] Radar Mode', { 'BST', 'Radar', 'Map', 'Air-Ground', 'Beacon', 'TV' }, nil, device_commands.RADAR_Mode_Knob_RIO, device_commands.RADAR_Mode_Knob_RIO_INC_DEC, device_commands.RADAR_Mode_Knob_RIO_NEXT, device_commands.RADAR_Mode_Knob_RIO_AXIS, bind_templates.radar_panel(), { category = categories.wso_temp }),

Edited June 1, 2024 by MrExplosion

[primus_TR]

On 6/1/2024 at 12:57 PM, MrExplosion said:

Open: \Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\Mods\aircraft\F-4E\Input\F-4E-Pilot\keyboard\default.lua

Add the following lines below this comment at the top of the file and you can bind Aspect and Radar mode to your Hotas. Disable Jester via the normal menu and you are good to go.

(WSO binds until Jester is better)

knob('[WSO] Target Aspect', { 'Tail', 'Aft', 'Forward', 'Nose', 'Wide' }, nil, device_commands.RADAR_WSO_ASPECT_KNOB, device_commands.RADAR_WSO_ASPECT_KNOB_INC_DEC, device_commands.RADAR_WSO_ASPECT_KNOB_NEXT, device_commands.RADAR_WSO_ASPECT_KNOB_AXIS, bind_templates.radar_panel(), { category = categories.wso_temp }),

knob('[WSO] Radar Mode', { 'BST', 'Radar', 'Map', 'Air-Ground', 'Beacon', 'TV' }, nil, device_commands.RADAR_Mode_Knob_RIO, device_commands.RADAR_Mode_Knob_RIO_INC_DEC, device_commands.RADAR_Mode_Knob_RIO_NEXT, device_commands.RADAR_Mode_Knob_RIO_AXIS, bind_templates.radar_panel(), { category = categories.wso_temp }),

 

Worked perfectly. Thank you

[r4y30n]

Thanks Zabuzard!
Interesting that they didn't use the other Aspect modes much if at all. That must be info we found useful later on (with greater effective radar ranges) since the modern NATO fighters show aspect angle, target heading, and have a C-scope view within easy reach. Glad to hear that Jester functionality will be added and I look forward to it.
Great work on the Phantom and Jester so far!

Modern fighters also have pulse Doppler and a ton more processing power.

[Rlaxoxo]

On 6/1/2024 at 11:57 AM, MrExplosion said:

Open: \Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\Mods\aircraft\F-4E\Input\F-4E-Pilot\keyboard\default.lua

Add the following lines below this comment at the top of the file and you can bind Aspect and Radar mode to your Hotas. Disable Jester via the normal menu and you are good to go.

(WSO binds until Jester is better)

knob('[WSO] Target Aspect', { 'Tail', 'Aft', 'Forward', 'Nose', 'Wide' }, nil, device_commands.RADAR_WSO_ASPECT_KNOB, device_commands.RADAR_WSO_ASPECT_KNOB_INC_DEC, device_commands.RADAR_WSO_ASPECT_KNOB_NEXT, device_commands.RADAR_WSO_ASPECT_KNOB_AXIS, bind_templates.radar_panel(), { category = categories.wso_temp }),

knob('[WSO] Radar Mode', { 'BST', 'Radar', 'Map', 'Air-Ground', 'Beacon', 'TV' }, nil, device_commands.RADAR_Mode_Knob_RIO, device_commands.RADAR_Mode_Knob_RIO_INC_DEC, device_commands.RADAR_Mode_Knob_RIO_NEXT, device_commands.RADAR_Mode_Knob_RIO_AXIS, bind_templates.radar_panel(), { category = categories.wso_temp }),

 

Do you know of a place where other people have made more of these WSO binds for the pilots?

[Zabuzard]

You can just open the default.lua from the WSO folder right next to it and in theory copy everything over that you want.

The same works by the way for any other aircraft in DCS.