Engine Start w/o using hotkeys

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

Good evening gents,

 

Wanted to start off my first post by congratulating DCS on their incredible sim and also I wanted to thank all of the forum users for their helpful advice.

 

I've searched the forum and been through hundreds of posts and I just can't get an answer locked down with starting the engines.

 

I've been playing A-10C for awhile now and like to think I'm getting pretty good at it. One thing that's always annoyed me on startup however, is that I can't use the "auto start" feature of the A-10 by just moving my thrust lever from cutoff to idle.

 

I'm using a Saitek X-65F which works great once I have the engines started using the RightAlt + Home & RightCtl + Home Keys. From what I understand after reading forum posts, the manual, and sitting through the aircraft start tutorial, I should be able to move the left thrust lever from cut off to idle and have the left engine spool up. I can move my saitek thrust levers all I want from 0% to 100% and back and I get no in game reaction until I've started the engines using the above specified keys.

 

I've tried adjusting deadzones a bit but to no avail. Any suggestions?

[EtherealN]

For any sticks except the replica HOTAS, that's what you have to do. This is because the replica actually replicates the OFF-to-idle function, other sticks only have the axis.

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

I was afraid that'd be the answer but I really appreciate the quick response. Thanks!

[EtherealN]

Well, you can always map those keyboard commands to something on your stick. Unfortunately it's a physical motion that the other HOTAS products simply does not support.

 

(Essentially, think of it like this - it was mapped to the axis, how happy would you be if your engines performed a full shut-down every time you tried to go to idle... >.< )

[EtherealN]

And, I'm remiss:

 

thanks for your praise, de devs really love their work and it's always nice for them to hear that it shows (even if they don't always have the time to browse), and welcome to the forum. I wish I had a more positive answer for you, but such are unfortunately the technical aspect in this case. Don't hesitate to post or PM if you need help with something else. :)

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

...(Essentially, think of it like this - it was mapped to the axis, how happy would you be if your engines performed a full shut-down every time you tried to go to idle... >.< )

 

It sure would add one more level of difficulty to my 30 mike mike and bombing runs!

 

thanks for your praise, de devs really love their work and it's always nice for them to hear that it shows (even if they don't always have the time to browse), and welcome to the forum.

 

Whoever the ed devs are, they should be beaming with pride about now. This sim never ceases to amaze me and it just keeps getting better and better! I'm a die hard F4AF convert and I'm just so stoked there's a team like ED that can so passionately and competently breathe life into new aviation sims while raising the bar as the technology develops. Good on you guys!

 

Thanks for the welcome!

[EtherealN]

There's even better things to come: http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1276096&postcount=19

 

:)

 

As an F4 convert, I suspect you might at some point run into the "Dynamic Campaign" wall. If so, please have patiance. Eagle Dynamics has set a certain quality requirement for a DCS product, so it'll take a lot of work before the DC technology is "good enough". In the mean time I think it's more than enough to just revel in the most realistic combat aircraft simulation you can get outside of an air force. (And of course, this isn't strange since DCS:A-10C was born from a military product made on contract to the USAF/ANG. :) )

[EbonySeraphim]

As an owner of a TM Warthog, I can tell you that moving the throttle to the cut-off position is actually considered a button being pressed/held down in the Windows game controller configuration. So moving it from the cut-off to idle position is like releasing that button. There are actually two buttons "cut-off" buttons; one for each engine. Moving the throttle up from idle to 100% is simply an axis.

 

I hope that was clear.

[Evil.Bonsai]

There's even better things to come: http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1276096&postcount=19

 

:)

 

As an F4 convert, I suspect you might at some point run into the "Dynamic Campaign" wall. If so, please have patiance. Eagle Dynamics has set a certain quality requirement for a DCS product, so it'll take a lot of work before the DC technology is "good enough". In the mean time I think it's more than enough to just revel in the most realistic combat aircraft simulation you can get outside of an air force. (And of course, this isn't strange since DCS:A-10C was born from a military product made on contract to the USAF/ANG. :) )

 

So long as they don't include a 'bubble slider', I'm good.

[711Hancer]

I just want to ask something about the engine.

Im using keyboard commands as well. So right ctrl+home makes the right throttle goes from OFF to IDLE whereas right ctrl+end makes the throttle OFF again. Is there a difference between IDLE and min throttle input?

 

I wanted to be sure because some engine emergencies or other cases, you might want to set throttle to IDLE. Is it same as pulling back HOTAS to min? or is there another trigger as IDLE? and if there is, whats the keyboard command for it?

[Rusty_M]

With the Saitek software you could probably make a tiny band at about 4-6% of throttle movement and map the keyboard command to that. It probably wouldn't work in reverse though, unless you maybe had 2-3% as shut down.

[nomdeplume]

I just want to ask something about the engine.

Im using keyboard commands as well. So right ctrl+home makes the right throttle goes from OFF to IDLE whereas right ctrl+end makes the throttle OFF again. Is there a difference between IDLE and min throttle input?

Nope, IDLE is simply the bottom/lowest/most back position of the throttle, i.e. the lowest it can go without lifting it over the hump to get to the OFF position.

[starscream16]

With the Saitek software you could probably make a tiny band at about 4-6% of throttle movement and map the keyboard command to that. It probably wouldn't work in reverse though, unless you maybe had 2-3% as shut down.

 

Thanks for the idea Rusty! I hadn't thought of that...but I gave it a shot and no dice. In theory it sounds like using the bands should work. Even with the band programmed with the Engine start hot key I get no response from the sim. Oh well. Life goes on.

 

Thanks again. Reppin' ya.

[Rusty_M]

Does the profiling software properly differentiate between left & right ctrl alt & shift keys?

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

Yea, it does. I have the engine start mapped to a different switch on the throttle. I just can't get it to activate when I move the thottle alone...

[BlackRazor]

The problem is that the keypresses used to start the engines are only accepted if the throttle is at 0; since you are moving the throttle to start the engines the keypress is ignored and the engine doesn't start.

 

With the Cougar I guess you could add a deadzone and solve the problem because digital axis statements ignore axis shaping but I don't know if the Saitek software allows the same.

[Rusty_M]

Does the game software allow a deadzone? I'm pretty sure the saitek software does. At least for the X52.

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

Breakthrough!

 

I had given up on this but you guys kept throwing ideas at it and that kept me toying with it. Thanks for the support.

 

Using the Saitek programing software, I had tried to assign a band between 2% and 5% throttle which would activate the keyboard hotkey for left engine start (RightAlt + Home). At first I tried to set a small deadzone for the thrust lever via the Saitek control panel in addition to the band I programmed. No response. I then set a deadzone via the in-game axis tune for the thrust lever. No response. I then reset the Saitek control panel deadzone back to default or no deadzone. Still no response.

 

Here's where I opened notepad on a whim to see if the "band" was actually activating. It did nothing when I moved the throttle to the 2-5% area so I was feeling another failure. For whatever reason I moved the throttle all the way up to max AND THERE IT WAS. The hotkeys (LeftAlt + Home) finally activated when I got to 95-98% throttle. Something got inverted somehow. To take advantage of this, I edited my band with the hotkey to the 90 to 95% range on the Saitek programming software. I went back to the in-game axis-tune deadzone and set it to default or no deadzone. Violla! I am able to start both engines just barely moving the thrust levers forward one at a time. (So much work just so I didn't have to hit 2 keystrokes lol) Thanks everyone for their help!

 

ENGINE START using Saitek X-65 Thrust Lever SOLUTION:

1) Open Saitek Programming software

2) Edit Throttle 1 and 2 to create "bands" and not fallback

3) Set a band at 90% to 95% on throttle 1 and 2.

4) Program hotkeys (LeftAlt + Home) for left engine and (LeftCtrl + Home) for right engine into both band ranges you just created.

5) Done!

[Stingray66]

Good so... :) just one thing: What if you hit that band accidently AFTER you have already started the engines...so "restart" ??? ?)

[battguano]

hmmm, an interesting thread - I'm wondering if the g940 would be able to use just such a workaround?

[Rusty_M]

Good so... :) just one thing: What if you hit that band accidently AFTER you have already started the engines...so "restart" ??? ?)

 

put "shutdown" in another band just below that one and I expect you'd be fine.

 

Also, I'm assuming the G940 has profiling software, so I see no reason for it not to work.