Flap lever does not register quick sequential inputs

[Kreutzberg]

I'm running a VKB STECS Max and using the three position lever for flaps. I have it set up for instantaneous pulses at all three positions. However, if I move the lever quickly, the F-4E only registers the center position. Therefore, if I quickly move from full flaps to no flaps (or in reverse), the module is leaving flaps centered.

The only other module I have with three position flaps is the F/A-18C, and it does not have this problem. I suspect it's something with the way the flap lever is coded to prevent inadvertent movement, but it seems to be blocking intentional settings.

Thanks!

[Zabuzard]

Can you share a screenshot of which binds exactly you are using and to what you have mapped it?

[Kreutzberg]

Here's a screenshot of what I'm using. I should have said originally as well that it works completely as expected if I move between the positions a little slower. It's only when rapidly moving from Norm to Out&Down or from Out&Down to Norm quickly that seems to confuse it. But perhaps there is a better way to bind it.

Thanks!

[Zabuzard]

Perhaps it works better if you bind it as 3pos switch instead?
Like, assign one to the 3way up and the other to 3way down.

[Dragon1-1]

Same thing happens. I've got it bound like you say and have the same problem. Something's up with that particular switch, because 3-position binds in other modules don't have this problem, either.

[Zabuzard]

Could be the animation speed. DCS rejects inputs while the animation still plays.

Can you try with another 3pos switch in the aircraft, perhaps the generator switches? something that animates fast.

[virgo47]

Also reported for the gear - but the input is the same - STECS 3-way flip lever:

It's very annoying - and actually NOT specific to STECS. Also, it can happen with a lot of modules with 3-way levers/switches. You can simulate this on keyboard as well. It's clearly DCS input processing related, not input device related. And no, it is not affected by the "generator" on or off - as proven by the keyboard reproduction.

Edited June 24, 2024 by virgo47

[Zabuzard]

Yeah then its most likely the animation time. While a switch is still moving, DCS rejects inputs to that switch.

Tricky topic, as the only way to get rid of it is to increase the animation time of the switch, which might look silly. Imagine your landing gear handle to move as fast as one of the normal mini switches...

[virgo47]

In ideal world there would be some queueing for events on the same device (flaps here), but as we reopened the topic in the other linked discussion, I came up with some neat solution. Instead of just one pulse, I send two with some not so long space between:

Set Generator Type to GTR2, 60 is for 600ms which should cover most animations.

The only downside is, if the switch acts as a toggle (e.g. toggling between UP/NEUTRAL or DOWN/NEUTRAL), which I hope guys made right for F-4E - or offered all alternatives. I was so happy with this solution only to find, that in MiG-15bis someone was too clever and made the actions toggle, without proper naming. Luckily I could fix it with Quaggle's command injector and some Lua.

So now I'm instructing the plane to lower (or retract) the gear twice. And it listens. Not tested on F-4E, but I hope it's applicable.

Technically, this is still just a workaround for a general DCS issue affecting only us - poor flip switchers.

[Zabuzard]

(btw, you can locally edit the animation speed by locating the clickabledata.lua file in your f4 install directory and searching for "animation")

[Kreutzberg]

On 6/24/2024 at 1:34 PM, Zabuzard said:

Could be the animation speed. DCS rejects inputs while the animation still plays.

Can you try with another 3pos switch in the aircraft, perhaps the generator switches? something that animates fast.

I did try with the generator switches and still outpaced them moving the switch quickly. That being said, I do think it's the animation speed, as I used Virgo47's solution, above, and it works (for what it's worth, I got it all the way down to 60 ms, so I don't think you need 600 ms). Thanks for that idea!

I also took a look at the clickabledata.lua file. I'm not seeing a flaps setting, though it might be included in something more global. If that does work, though, I would be concerned about it resetting every patch. Perhaps this could be something included in a module setting? For hand-thrown switches, instantaneous animations might be a preferred option for a lot of us.

Thanks, both!

[Raisuli]

I've run into this a few times, and not just with the F4.  Flipping a 3 way ON-ON-ON too fast can sometimes result in an input being ignored; has to do with polling frequency on the USB among other things.  I know on my controls it loops ~125 times a second because I wrote the code to poll at that rate and it shows up on diagnostics, but I can still flip a switch too fast if I'm in a hurry.  That typically doesn't show up on rotaries because, I suspect, they're mechanically slower.  Toggles are all linear motion.

Being able to tweak your outputs in driver software?  Priceless.  Might need to set something like that up next time I have my panels in the shop.