Profile for Logitech G940 HOTAS?

[DikiDino]

Have anyone made any for BS yet?

 

Or anyone already bought this stick and is as lost as i am on how to set it up? LOL

[blaster454]

I also have the G940 (and am happy with it).

 

I have not yet set up a BS profile because I was waiting for Logitech Mark to post the profiles he said they had already made. Unfortunately, this might have been an empty marketing promise :(.

 

I guess I will get started keying in all the BS action sequences (keystrokes) to build a command table and then start assigning commands to controller buttons. It's a tedious process and it doesn't look like Logitech made it particularly easy to import commands into their profiles ... that is a real shame because many of these newer sims have many hundreds of keystroke sequences :book:.

[CyBerkut]

Has Wags made a profile for his? If so, and if he is willing to share it, it could save you a lot of command keystroke entry, even if you rearrange the mapping...

[sobek]

I'd already be pleased if a dealer in my town could actually deliver it. :cry:

[blaster454]

Has Wags made a profile for his? If so, and if he is willing to share it, it could save you a lot of command keystroke entry, even if you rearrange the mapping...

 

Wags?? Have you been able to make any progress with the G940 in DCS:BS? If you have a profile started where the commands are in place and wanted to share, it would be nice ;).

 

It doesn't look like we're getting anything from Logitech for a while :( and the "default" profiles they supplied don't appear to be very good. I can't even find one for FSX although there was a large profile for F4:AF (which I have not tested yet ... having enough problems trying to get the FFB to respond in BS and FSX).

[4c Hajduk Veljko]

Have anyone made any for BS yet?

 

Or anyone already bought this stick and is as lost as i am on how to set it up? LOL

How difficult it would be to create your own profile? In general, joysticks programing is not difficult. Somewhat time consuming, but that's it.

 

On a different note, I really am eager to hear people talking about G940 FF and trimming in BS.

[blaster454]

How difficult it would be to create your own profile? In general, joysticks programing is not difficult. Somewhat time consuming, but that's it...

 

I agree that controller programming is not necessarily difficult and that HOTAS programming in particular is very personal -- what works for one does not necessarily work for another.

 

But, the request here was more for a profile with the BS command set already loaded. The G940 profiling software actually is in several layers so that you can predefine sets of keystrokes (Commands in Logitech language or macros). This can be done without mapping anything to device controls. You can predefine other types of commands (and have to in some cases to map to some controls on the G940):

 

1. Cycle commands (where each controller button press steps through a series of Commands and finally loops around to the beginning to start over--presumably this could be a series of macros as well as a single command),
   
2. Zone commands (where you can establish zones or bands within a control's range that initiate one or more Commands when the control is within that range),
   
3. POV commands (which really apply to all hats whether used for POV or not and where you predefine the commands to be executed for each position of a hat switch -- I may be mistaken here but I believe this is the only way to get commands mapped to a hat switch)
   
4. Axis commands (which assign game functions to an axis although I haven't quite figured out why yet :huh:)
   
5. and finally Keystrokes (which are just that and I believe simply a subset of a Command)
   

Given the complexity of the Black Shark's command set (and not even considering other games and sims with large numbers of available keystrokes), it is beneficial to have a "starting point" to begin the actual mapping of the various commands to device buttons and axes. Since the Logitech marketing fellow had mentioned having profiles available, it's only logical to ask for them ... with everyone keying in hundreds of commands there are bound to be simple mistakes. And with people deciding that this function or that function doesn't need to be programmed to the HOTAS based on personal preference the potential is to wind up with a large number of very different command sets in profiles. When people start sharing profiles, this just makes it harder for everyone involved. Standard sets of commands for popular sims would be a definite plus for many of us ... and you could still exercise your individuality through your mapping.

 

Also, with the addition of cycling, zone, and POV commands (and maybe axis commands, too), there are possibilities for some creative (and potentially very useful) programming. I for one enjoy seeing how other people go about solving problems since it's one way to learn and I think it's good to share ideas ... that's one of the principles behind this forum (and it works especially well here :thumbup:).

 

So I guess I'm saying that I hope people will share their profiles here. Not (necessarily) because it's tedious or simple to do but because it can be helpful to fellow simmers who for whatever reason cannot do there own.

 

Sorry for the long response. I'm currently working on a BS command set (as well as FSX and eventually Lomac:FC) and will make them available when I am finished. And hopefully, Wags will decide to share his profile with us ... although I can understand that he might not want to get into a position where he endorses a product publicly (or maybe "un-endorses" as the case may be :lol:)

[kaiserb_uk]

What format are the profiles in? Would it be possible to copy and paste the key assignments from say, a Cougar profile? In which case search for Viper's Cougar profile and open the .tmm file with something like Notepad++ and extract what you need.

 

Obviously the format of keys might be different, there will be a certain amount of editing required, but I used this method to make a (Cougar) macro file for Rise Of Flight from the raw .ini files.

[blaster454]

What format are the profiles in? Would it be possible to copy and paste the key assignments from say, a Cougar profile? In which case search for Viper's Cougar profile and open the .tmm file with something like Notepad++ and extract what you need.

 

Obviously the format of keys might be different, there will be a certain amount of editing required, but I used this method to make a (Cougar) macro file for Rise Of Flight from the raw .ini files.

 

The G940 profiles are in XML format. It would certainly be possible to build up a converter from one format (say text or Excel columns) to the required XML format ... I just have not had the time to do so yet. Rather than type in all 400+ BS commands, I would probably look at some kind of converter first, Here is a sample section from an F4:AF profile that was provided (pretty complete command set I think).

 

Command Definition Structure Snippet:

 

<Command Id="4" Name="External Anti Collision Lights">
     <Event Type="Key"  Keyname="RCTRL" Up="false" /> 
     <Event Type="Key"  Keyname="RALT" Up="false" /> 
     <Event Type="Key"  Keyname="F10" Up="false" /> 
     <Event Type="Key"  Keyname="F10" Up="true" /> 
     <Event Type="Key"  Keyname="RALT" Up="true" />
     <Event Type="Key"  Keyname="RCTRL" Up="true" /> 
</Command>

Device Mapping Structure Snippet:

 

<Assignments DeviceModel="60">
     <ShiftButton Type="Button" ID="6" /> 
      <Band RefId="396">
         <Control Type="Axis" ID="4" />  
     </Band>
      <Band RefId="397">
         <Control Type="Axis" ID="5" />  
     </Band>
...
    <Mapping>
        <Source Type="Axis" ID="1" />  
         <Destination Type="Axis" ID="2" /> 
    </Mapping>
    <Mapping>
        <Source Type="Axis" ID="2" />  
         <Destination Type="Axis" ID="4" /> 
     </Mapping>
</Assignments>

As you can probably see, the syntax is unique and they use device and Command ID's. So there would need to be some mapping functions within the conversion SW once the Logitech conventions were understood. I would not want to manually edit a file with several hundred commands plus assignments as the risk of error is too great and debugging can be painful without tools.

 

It would have been nice (and customer friendly) had Logitech provided some documentation on their profiling scheme. One example of unfirendliness is that they use GUID's as the file name for their profiles. So, if you have several dozen different profiles it's no trivial task to decide which one you are looking at without opening them and finding the profile name...maybe easier from a developer's viewpoint but not from a user's viewpoint. :smilewink:

 

Cheers!

Blaster (aka Larry)

[kaiserb_uk]

So pressing a key is "Up=False"? That's nice and logical then :D

 

Good luck!

[blaster454]

So pressing a key is "Up=False"? That's nice and logical then :D

 

Good luck!

 

Yes, that jumped out at me immediately :smilewink:. I guess they save on the use of a logical variable. Instead on having Down = True they use Up = False. Not the way I would have done it, I guess.

 

I'm looking at the way the profile maps into Excel 2007 now. There might be a way to import keystroke commands into the Logitech profile schema.

 

The G940 device ID's seem to be in order 60, 61, and 62 relating to the stick, throttle, and pedals respectively. They assign an ID number to each macro command and then map to the device controls using the command ID reference and the button reference (and some other stuff :)). It seems a bit loose as to what defines and axis versus a band and they are remapping their axis ID's to Window's ID's (I think...I am not a Windows guru) -- Axis ID 0 maps to 1, 1 maps to 2, 2 maps to 4, 3 maps to 16, etc. Seven axes on the stick (X, Y, microX, microY, and 3 trimmers), four axes on the throttle (T1, T2, R1, R2), 3 axes on the pedals (Rudder, LBrake, RBrake). Their button ID labels might be different than what is marked on the stick and throttle...needs investigation.

 

I'm not that familiar with using Excel to map into xml schema so this might be a more complex task than I thought. But maybe better than trying to do it all manually ... ugh! I gotta do a lot of :book:

[531-Ghost]

Well, if you can map keys / macros to button pushes on the 940, could this help?

Black_Shark.txt

Edited September 18, 2009 by 531-Ghost

[blaster454]

Well, if you can map keys / macros to button pushes on the 940, could this help?

 

Thanks, Ghost. I appreciate the offer. Yes, it can help but I already have all the BS commands in text format (and several others ;)). What I'm trying to work out is how to convert one of those formats to the XML needed by the G940 profiler without having to do major editing.

 

I wish Logitech Mark would come back and give us a status on the profiles they were supposed to be making...could save a fair amount of work.

 

Actually, if I dawdle enough I'll have entered most of the BS commands into the profiler (a few at a time) :megalol:.

[Lava]

I too would like this profile that Logitech Mark has. However, I was enthusiastically entering commands when I ran into a fairly large flaw with the software: shift buttons. Right now a shift button is only recognised on the device the button is physically on. So, if I have S5 as a shift on the joystick, it only affects the buttons on the joystick, not the throttle or pedals. This means I'd need a button on the throttle for shifting all the throttle buttons as well, which is a waste of a perfectly good button. At least in-game configuration lets you set universal shifts.

 

I'd love to use the modes etc but I can't see the point in entering all those commands if the shift feature isn't configured differently. Also, BS doesn't see the mode button in game. Funny how such a small thing like shift buttons can derail plans to use the software! Hopefully this will be fixable and Logitech can get on it. Also, if they'd make it clear where to download the most recent software, that'd be nice. I'm a bit worried about upgrading after reading the horror stories on the forums.

[blaster454]

I agree about the shift buttons. Another issue I see is that the shift button is only active while held down (that is, it's not a sticky button). Normally not an issue but if I select a shift button on the throttle, it has to be held down to access shifted functions ... there isn't any throttle button that can be held down while allowing to reach all other buttons with the left hand. That effectively means that the 8 programmable buttons can't be shifted (unless you want to take your hand off the stick to reach across -- I don't). And if you use a thumb-accessed button to shift then you lose all the other thumb-accessed controls because I can't seem to make my thumb be in 2 places at once. It would have been much better to make the shift button apply across stich and throttle or maybe make the shift button latched so you can shift and release to use shifted commands. And you can't necessarily use the mode switch because it does affect both stick and throttle.

 

And another issue (I think since I haven't completed investigation) is that you can't directly assign individual commands to the various hat positions. You instead have to make up a POV type command that has all hat positions defined at once then map that POV command to the hat you want. That's more complicated than it needs to be and makes programming much more difficult.

 

As much as I like the G940 so far, I think the profiling software has a long way to go ... and I'm not sure Logitech is prepared to do anything major to that profiler because it's used across many of their controllers. When I tried printing a game layout I found that it wasn't done too neatly ... long commands don't print and the shifted/unshifted commands are bunched together making it hard to read. C'mon, Logitech, that's not hard to fix ... it just takes some patience to lay out a printed page.

 

I'm a bit disappointed about the profile software ... but maybe I haven't dug in enough yet :book: (of course, there's not much documentation to read so it has to be trial and error :()

[Lava]

I'm curious how other people are setting up the G940 for BS. Anyone else mapped the cyclic and collective controls pretty much as they are in reality? The physical layout is a little different but almost every function is bound to the appropriate controller for me. Searchlight control will probably end up on the cyclic though.

 

Like I mentioned in my little review, I set the 8 throttle base buttons to reflect two cockpit panels, the left targeting panel and the autopilot panel (with in game shift). I still need a use for all the rotaries - one controls zooming, because Track IR doesn't let me use the full zoom range easily.

 

Still scratching my head about the second throttle. Might it be possible to set them to each engine, when mode 2 or 3 is active, instead of collective? Although, the heli is meant to be flown on auto-throttle, I think, even when you've taken damage. So that's probably pointless.

 

Mostly I'm just planning, because I don't think there's much point in doing anything when the software's not quite usable for us. Sticking with in-game configuration for now.

[GERY]

I don't understand. Or maybe i do. All i want is a something that does the job. £150+ is a lot to pay for a plastic stick, which it seems is all that's for sale. No Profiles it's a joke. Members of this forum are so helpfull in doing the job of you manufacturers. It's not fair. Logitech. Get your shit together, i myself want to buy your products, but c'mon, how's about some customer service. Always hopefull, Gery.

[Flyingaustrich]

Anothe question....

 

I found the first dealer in germany who delivers the G940. Nice so far. But Logitech describes in the specs that an internetconnection is needed to install the software ?!

 

My flight PC is far away from inet, because for security reasons. Is it possible to get it run without this ..JOKE.. ( I hope it is one..)?? :helpsmilie:

 

Greetings

Edited September 21, 2009 by Flyingaustrich

[Lava]

Flyingaustrich - I do remember a step in installation which checked the internet, but I didn't pay too much attention beyond a sigh at the necessity. It might just be checking for updates, or it might be doing some unseen registering.

 

I understand that the most secure PC is one that has no external connections, but how do you get patches or OS upgrades onto it? Do you burn them to CD/DVD?

[Flyingaustrich]

You're right. An USB stick is doing well. :smilewink:

 

I see the problems I've had on my InetPC. Even recovering the OS, because the antivirus companys can't follow that fast. Sometimes in the past i lost some hardware, so i decide to save my very expensive notebook in this way. May be that i'll break my rule just in this case. :joystick:

How ever, would be fine to know if the software works without inet connection.

 

Greetings

[Logitech_Mark]

The next release of LGS software - 5.08, includes a profile for Black Shark with all the commands included. It will probably be available Wednesday. It also includes improved shift functionality and mini-stick calibration.

[DikiDino]

Thanks Mark. Can't wait for it. :)

 

BTW, with to feedback is that if possible it will be really cool to be able to add rotaries to the axis instead of issuing key commands.

[hreich]

Where I can find the DCS profile?

I have two profiles in profiler software, DCS and DCS Blackshark, but there is no list of all commands...

[FrancoisZA]

Hi.

 

Recently received my G940, and so far very happy with it.

 

I just have one question. How do I actually get the profile set on the profiler activated and working in Black shark?

 

In the profiler, it shows all the right assignments for the keys, regarding the preset configuration for BS, but it doesn't actually take effect.

 

Help anyone?

[Gadroc]

Hi.

 

Recently received my G940, and so far very happy with it.

 

I just have one question. How do I actually get the profile set on the profiler activated and working in Black shark?

 

In the profiler, it shows all the right assignments for the keys, regarding the preset configuration for BS, but it doesn't actually take effect.

 

Help anyone?

 

Unfortunately the auto profile switching does not work with Black Shark. You have to go into the properties in the profiler and set a static profile to your Black Shark profile.