Help with Phidgets64 Board, Helios and TrackIR

[Warhog]

As per the title I am running a Phidgets 64 board to control my LED's. It seams that the Phidgets software needs to be started before anything else, then Helios and then TrackIR. After that I can start DCS and run my A-10 and all my panels.

 

Problem is, if I do not use that sequence in starting the Phidgets board, it won't work. It gets very frustrating as sometimes I miss starting trackIR first because its almost always running in the background. And then once I have my plane loaded up and on the screen I find that the LED's don't light up on my panels because the Phidgets board didn't initialize...because it didn't get started first.:mad:

 

Does anyone have a solution to this problem. There has to be a way that I get the Phidgets board working every time without having to do all this extra bullshit in a specific order. :(

[Hansolo]

Hi John,

 

I don't start phidgets software at all when gaming. I have however noticed that if you have Helios Profile Editor running while starting the game, then Helios Profile Editor will have the control of the Phidget LED board.

 

You may already know this but you can test the Phidgets LED board via Helios Profile Editor. If you mark one of the functions mapped to the game, e.g. LEFT ENGINE GENERATOR then this output on the PHIDGET should light up. It is probably this function which prevents Phidgets from lighting up the LED as described above.

 

If Helios Profile Editor is not running in the back ground then let me know. Then I will try my best to assist some more.

 

 

Cheers

Hans

[JG14_Smil]

Leave Phidgets running.

 

Start Helios.

 

Start TIR.

 

Start DCS.

 

No so hard...

 

You don't need Phidgets running for it to work with Helios, but I leave it on as I still have testing to do.

Edited July 13, 2013 by JG14_Smil

[BigfootMSR]

Unfortunately, those items have to be run before DCS world can be started. There is no way around that yet. Just have phidgets start up with windows, its relatively small file and doesn't take too much time to start on start-up. Then you just have to start the other items.

 

You might consider creating a macro or or other other type of shortcut to run the specific programs before starting DCS world. Its what I did :) Now, I just push 5 buttons on my keyboard and everything is working (vent, vent server, trackir, helios, dcs world).

[Warhog]

If Helios Profile Editor is not running in the back ground then let me know. Then I will try my best to assist some more.

 

Yes I know that the profile editor can confirm what's mapped to what and it lights up that LED such as the AOA. I do not have it running in the background. Only the Helios control center is on.

 

Leave Phidgets running.

 

PH64 stays on all of the time from startup of the PC until... Actually I never turn it off nor my PC for that matter. Even TrackIR stays on all the time. But even with them running all the time PH64 won't work for the next new session of DCS. I start the Helios Control Centre and then DCS. Please note that PH64 has never been shut down, nor TrackIR. The new session starts up fine but the LED's won't work. At that point I shut down everything except PH64. Then I load Helios Control Centre, TrackIR and lastly DCS. Then the LED's work.

 

Big pain in the ***.:(

 

One other note... even though the LED's don't work, all my other Helios interfaces in my profile work fine. I have two U-HID boards with mapping in Helios to allow my POTS to work for things like volume control and dimmers for cockpit lighting.

[Hansolo]

Actually I never turn it off nor my PC for that matter.

 

Maybe a stupid question from my end. Has the PC been restarted after Phidgets installation? I do once in a while loose one of the controllers boards but after restarting the PC it comes back up again.

Having said so I have also removed all unused USB devices using the tool found by CubPilot on PeterP's thread "corrupt calibration? crazy joystick response? Use this tools to Fix it":

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1474117&postcount=11

 

You are running lastest Helios 1.3.190 correct?

 

Cheers

Hans

[Warhog]

Has the PC been restarted after Phidgets installation?

 

Yes. I do turn my PC off once in a while.:laugh:

 

You are running latest Helios 1.3.190 correct?

 

I haven't updated to the latest version yet. I know that there were updates made regarding the Phidgets board as it relates to servos but that was for a totally different board than the PH64 board so I wasn't to concerned that there was anything that would help my situation.

 

I'm also deathly afraid to uninstall Helios and reinstall a new version as I am sure it won't work once I start it up again. I've had a lot of grief getting it up and running in the first place. I don't want those problems again.:fear:

 

But if you are absolutely confident that it will resolve this problem, I am willing to try a new version.

[Hansolo]

But if you are absolutely confident that it will resolve this problem, I am willing to try a new version.

No I am not absolutely confindent it will solve your problem. However 1.3.190 was IMHO build specifically for DCS world 1.2.4.

 

This is my setup in which I have not seen the problem you are describing:

 

DCS World: 1.2.4.12913

Helios: 1.3.190

Phidget21: 2.1.8 Build June 6 2012

 

Sorry for the trouble. Have a nice day.

 

Cheers

Hans