problem firing weapons

[markturner]

Another newby question, I am having trouble firing the cannon and also other weapons. Just flying practice missions, I have master arm on, can select the different weapon stations ok, can track and lock up targets (TA indicated in shkval) even got the first vikhr missile off, but when i switch to cannon, I get the target box, but nothing happens when I press the trigger. Switch back to the Vikhr and now I can lock the target again, but I cant get C to come up when I slew the reticule over the shkval circle. now none of my weapons seem to want to fire.

 

Any ideas what simple and obvious thing I am missing here?

 

Cheers, Mark

[Frederf]

Ka-50 has two triggers. There's the weapon release trigger which does anything on a hardpoint and the cannon trigger.

 

In auto weapons control mode the FCC must be supplied with enough data to assure that the selected weapon is within release parameters. Usually the critical piece of data is range, supplied by lasing the target in the Shkval.

[Stretch]

If your weapons mode is set to AUTO then it won't fire the gun unless the reticle is inside the box and within 4 km of your helicopter. Switch the weapon mode to MAN to see if that's the problem.

 

And as the previous poster said, make sure you are pressing the button bound to the cannon trigger.

[topdog]

And if all else fails, save the track file after a flight where you can demo the problem and post it. If there's anything missed or special going on we'll see it.

[DTWD]

As most have covered:

 

Check laser is on

 

With cannon make sure that big box on the hud is over the target

 

Make sure your in range with all weapons

 

Make sure your weapon station is not empty (ie you haven't jettisonned anything/used it up)

 

If your using programming software is the software allowing the trigger to remain pressed or is it releasing it almost imediatly? Just because it's physically down doesn't mean the software hasn't released it. You can test this out by using notepad and see if the trigger continuely adds spaces or just one (or none).

 

Make sure you don't have any conflicts on your hardware, I went through a phase where something (I can't remember what now) in the cockpit stopped responding to my input, it worked fine for a bit and then stopped. I eventually figured it out, my track IR reset key combo (which wasn't default) was mapped to my Saitek throttle and when activated didn't release (Saitek profile programming fault on my part). This basically left the keys pressed down which stopped the Track IR function working properly and the sim without several keys on the keyboard working (the Track IR software captured the inputs and didn't pass them onto the sim). Some of those keys were also bound to joystick functions which obviosly no longer worked.

 

So in short for the last two, test it out by only using the joystick axis and the keyboard keys and see if things improve.

[markturner]

Thank you guys, I have it working properly now, combination of range and settings I think.

 

Cheers, mark

[dsobbe]

Help!

I am running Black Shark with patch 1.0.1, a Saitek ST290 pro joystick and VAC. All had been working perfectly when suddenly I can no longer fire weapons with the keyboard, joystick buttons or VAC. The joystick buttons work on the Options menu but not in the sim. I've cleared and reassigned the joystick trigger and weapons release keys on the Options menu, but nothing has changed. Anyone know what's wrong.

[Frederf]

Patch resets options like woah. Make sure you aren't in game mode.

[dsobbe]

Patch resets options like woah. Make sure you aren't in game mode.

 

Frederf to the rescue, again. Thanks. I appreciate it.

 

Sorry, I don't understand your response. I have had patch 1.0.1 installed for many months now and had not made any changes prior to loosing the functions of the two triggers. The triggers do work when checked with the joystick software.

I'm running in simulation mode.

I tried disabling VAC, but that had no effect on the problem.

Edited November 17, 2010 by dsobbe
typo

[Frederf]

OK, wrong diagnosis. Hmm. When you go into the cyclic category of the control options and double click on the control entry for either trigger under your joystick controller column and press the trigger, does the button-bind take?

 

There's also a LUA setting that makes one trigger (I forget which) operate other in-game triggers. By default it's true for game mode and false for sim mode.

[dsobbe]

Frederf,

 

Yes. The triggers bind in the controller column.

 

Can you be more specific? The name of the LUA file and its location?

 

Thanks

[Frederf]

\Ka-50\Scripts\Aircrafts\Ka-50\Cockpit\Devices_specs\WeaponSystem.lua

 

The upper portion of the file deals with the sim/normal mode and the lower half deals with game mode.

 

Are you running DCS as admin during both your changes and your play? Virtualization can do really weird things to what and where the critical files are referenced for controller setup.

[dsobbe]

Frederf,

 

Here is the text of WeaponSystem.lua

 

 

use_single_trigger = false --true

allow_cycle_loadout = false

select_empty_stations = true

if LockOn_Options.flight.easy_radar then

use_single_trigger = true

allow_cycle_loadout = true

select_empty_stations = false

end

need_to_be_closed = true

 

 

I am running DCS as admin during play and changes.

[Frederf]

That's normal/default. With that setup you should be able to press the weapons release trigger for Vikhr, rocket, etc. and the cannon trigger (after flipping up the weapons trigger to put it in cannon mode) for cannon.

 

All weapon fire events require fire control computer permission (the "C" indication on the HUD/TV).

 

If you set user_single-trigger=true then one of the triggers (I forget which) will control both weapon types.

[dsobbe]

Yes. That's how the triggers did work.

I can get the "C" indication on the HUD/TV and virtually everything else in the program functions correctly. However, neither of the joystick trigger buttons, the keyboard [spaceBar] or [spaceBar]+[RAlt] keys or my VAC voice commands will "fire" any of the weapons.

[Frederf]

Hmmm. Trying to break this down into the smallest components.

 

So not only is there game and sim modes the entire controls scheme has two (well three if you count 'free camera') independent control listings. Try setting four different keyboard keys to both triggers in both modes. Then try flying in sim mode and try all four keyboard keys directly, not through a joystick profile or anything else.

 

That's all I can think of.

[dsobbe]

I've never used the Game mode. So when you mentioned it, I ran BS in Game mode and the triggers worked. But, they still didn't work in Simulation mode.

I then tried setting the keyboard keys as you suggested, but nothing changed. The triggers work in Game mode, but not in Simulation mode.

 

PROBLEM SOLVED:

 

This is a little embarrassing. At the time I encountered the trigger problem I was troubleshooting an unrelated sound problem and wasn't using my cockpit checklists or procedures. As a result I failed to turn on the master arm switch [Alt]+[W]. An error of omission. That kind of distraction is exactly why using checklists is so important.

I appologise for taking up your time. But, at least we know the problem was a loose screw in the pilot seat and not in BS. Thank you again for your help.

Edited November 20, 2010 by dsobbe
addendum