Missing X52 Pro & Keyboard functions

[Toastie]

Hi all, first post so please be gentle.

 

I've been playing Blackshark for a few months now without any dramas. I got an X52 Pro back in April and have had no problems with it.

 

Yesterday, I sparked up BS for a bit of practice and as I was playing (the game seems to be working just fine) I noticed that the following keyboard presses (and their associated X52 Pro mappings) did not work.

 

# (which for my keyboard layout is the comms menu)

] (TV target box increase)

- Shkval x7 zoom

= Shkval x23 zoom

 

I didn't notice any other commands that didn't work.

 

Here's what I did to test the functionality:

 

1) Test keyboard in Windows notepad - no problems

2) Test keymappings in Saitek profiler test page - no problems (all mappings 'missing' in the game worked ok)

3) Changed the joystick profile for BS so that other commands were used instead of those missing - the other commands worked fine on the assigned buttons/switches.

 

Here are the steps I have taken thus far to remedy the situation:

 

1) Changed the keyboard.

2) Reinstalled DCS: Blackshark

3) Reinstalled Saitek Profiler software

4) Reinstalled X52 Pro drivers (including Direct Output)

 

I've had a good dig around on the forum, but can't quite find anything this weird.

 

I'd appreciate any help or guidance you guys might be able to provide. I want this working properly for when my TrackIR5 arrives next week! :)

 

Thanks!

[Sarge55]

It sounds like the profile (.pr0) itself has been corrupted somehow. Try creating a new one just for those buttons to see if they work in game. If they do then you know it's the profile. Something like that happened to me a while ago and I just redid it (did some tweaks while I was at it) and it worked fine.

 

My $0.02

[Toastie]

Thanks

 

Thanks for the reply, Sarge.

 

I created a new profile, as you suggested, mapping only those keys which I knew to be non-functional.

 

I then activated the profile and loaded the game. I loaded a mission and tested the keys and their mapped equivalents (the toggle switches and button C).

 

I'm afraid to say it did not work. One strange thing that was apparent was that the ] on the keyboard functioned as 'TV target box -' and the # key, below it increased the size of the TV target box, even though neither the game nor the test profile is mapped that way.

 

A bit of a head-scratcher.

[Sarge55]

That is a puzzler.

 

To be honest, I gave up on the SST software when FC2 came out and just programmed in game. Set my pinky switch as a modifier and took it from there. Bit of a pain to program each aircraft but since then I've had no problems. You lose the "Modes" although there is a workaround (a search should turn it up) and also lose a few buttons, the mouse scroll wheel doesn't seem to be recognized and the left click button only works with the mouse. I guess it depends on how many functions you want mapped to the HOTAS.

 

If you do try programming in game do not use "save as" and try to create a .LUA file. I learned the hard way that it bork's the programming. The programing will be saved automaticaly in your Aircraft folder in game when you exit options no need to create a special file.

 

Post the solution if you do figure out what the problem was.

[Toastie]

meh

 

I did a further test on my issue this evening. The previous two keyboards I'd tried were PS/2, so I thought I'd try a USB keyboard to see if there was any difference.

 

When I loaded the mission that i've been testing this on (Clear Tkvarcheli), I found that the comms worked and so did the Shkval zoom x7/23. On this occasion, however, neither of the TV tgt sizers worked (previously only the TV tgt - had worked)!

 

Just for giggles, I went back to the SST profiler to switch the TV tgt +/- around to see if there were any improvements - neither worked on either keyboard or joystick.

 

Again, all assigned keys appeared normal in the SST profile test page and appeared correctly in the MFD when I attempted to use them.

 

Perhaps a corruption in DirectInput? (bear in mind I reinstalled DirectX with the game's reinstall).

 

I'm getting a bald patch with all this head scratching.

 

@Sarge55 Your idea about ditching SST is sounding better all the time.

 

Oh, since I should have done this in my OP, here are my system specs:

 

Windows7 (64)

Intel Q9300, 8GB DDR2 RAM, 8800GTS 512, 24"+19" monitors, X52 Pro, MS Wireless USB Mouse, USB Kbrd (now).

[Deigs]

I too lost all my functions with the X52 Pro, The Pro. file worked in JOystick Editior, but I couldn't get the game to translate my button allocations? This happened out of the blue.

 

I then went into the Options / Controls And had a look at the aircraft drop down field. There is 3 options, something like KA50 Game, KA50 Real, ect. Make sure you have Ka50 Real selected. And then it worked for me.

 

That was my issue. I hope you find a solution soon.

[Toastie]

@Deigs I always have the game in simulation mode and the controls on ka-50 real... is there another way? ;)

 

Well, it must be something kooky going on with the SST software because I recreated an in-game profile which works (particularly those bits that weren't - TV TGT +/-).

 

Just to see if it made any difference, I set the toggle switches in the SST profile to 'fallback' mode and ensured the in-game assignments were the same and then tested this configuration. It didn't work.

 

I've gone with Sarge55's solution then... ditch SST. One slight problem with that is that TrackIR5 arrived today and I wanted to be able to assign the throttle mouse button as the mouse click to flick switches etc in the cockpit. Maybe I missed it, but it doesn't appear to be mappable as such in the game's controls. Anyone got any ideas?

[Sarge55]

Razvedchik, I use TIR 4 (TIR 5 software) and it works no problem.

 

The mini stick will move the yellow cross over a button and the mouse fire will flick the cover or switch. Or, you can leave the yellow cross in a lower central location of your screen (or were ever you find works best with your cockpit view) and just adjust your head movement so the switch you want to activate is under the yellow cross then hit mouse fire.

 

Both methods work, a bit awkward at first but with practice it's pretty quick. Better than taking your hand off the HOTAS to use the mouse.

 

Although when I'm going through the startup or fool with the abris I use the mouse.

 

BTW - In case i missed your point completely, you have to scroll the controls screen to the right to see the Track IR column and the settings.

Edited June 16, 2010 by Sarge55
additional info

[Toastie]

@Sarge

 

It was just that I couldn't find the 'mouse fire' in the mappable controls. Is there a setting in the game which enables/disables the use of the mouse on the joystick?

[Slayer]

You'll have to set that in a Saitek profile. The game can't do all the stuff like bands or mouseclick or any of that . It must be done in the profiler.

 

Just start with a blank new profile and load that into your stick. That button defaults to mouseclick.

[Sarge55]

As far as I know there is no ability to do that. I beleive the mini stick emulates the mouse and the mouse fire button emulates the left click function of the mouse, no seperation in game.

 

The only way I can see to disable that is to clear the settings in your axis controls which would also disable the mouse, not desirable.

 

If you want to use the mini stick and mouse fire for something else such as a TDC slew and lock you have to go with what Slayer suggested and just create a simple profile in SST for that function.

[Toastie]

FIXED

 

***FIXED***

 

I just created a completely new SST profile from scratch.

I mapped the mouse-click for flicking switches to the clutch button for convenience. The mouse button is now my Flare release.

 

I'm pleased to say that the creation of a completely new profile also appeared to resolve the original issue with some keys/buttons losing their function!

 

Thanks to all that chipped in with advice. These forums have provided me with lots of passive information in recent months, but it's even better to get active help. :thumbup:

[Sarge55]

Glad to hear you got it working. Which version of SST are you using? Perhaps I missed an update.

[Toastie]

64-bit 6.6.6.9

[Frederf]

I absolutely despise the practice of setting up a keyboard control and then a joystick profile to press that keyboard button... it's all so unnecessary and problematic.

 

My X-45 SST profile is nearly all standard DirectX buttons. The bare minimum of specialized controls that absolutely require the button-keyboard-control daisy chain are programmed and always to very simple keys, none of this Shift-Ctrl-Alt-LWin-B nonsense. Pressing two of these at the same times always gives problems.

[Sarge55]

Thanks Razvedchik.