Need some HELP from the PROs

rairic · October 25, 2020 at 12:41 PM

Hey there, I desperately need help for a home cockpit I'm building.

I'm trying to map custom advanced controls to keyboard/ Joystick buttons instead of the mouse/ vr hands: stuff that's not in the basic gc-map.mcf config file, like the NAV display functions on the a320.

I found a controls.tmd config file in the a320 folder (Aerofly FS 2 Flight Simulator\aircraft\a320) and it has the fuction I'm looking for:

<[control_cylinder][NavigationDisplayPilotRange][43]

<[string8][Type][knob]>

<[vector3_float64][R0][12.643865507 0.148 -0.1026279485]>

<[matrix3_float64][B0][0.965926 0 -0.258819 0 1 0 0.258819 0 0.965926]>

<[vector3_float64][Direction][ 0.965926 0.0 -0.258819 ]>

<[float64][StepAngle][0.45]>

<[control_message][OnRotate][]

<[string8][Message][NavigationDisplayPilot.Range]>

<[string8][Qualifiers][step]>

<[float64][Value][1.0]>

>

<[float64][Radius][0.01]>

<[float64][Length][0.015]>

>

I need to assign this function to a key press on my Hotas or keyboard insted of the mouse hover and wheel roll.

I tried to make a custom assignment in the gc-map.mcf config file (Documents\Aerofly FS 2):

<[tmchannelmap][element][77]

<[string8][FunctionID][NavigationDisplayPilotRange]>

<[string8][InputID][Button 28]>

<[uint64][DeviceUniqueID][1468347801101187030]>

<[string8][DeviceIDString][HOTAS Cougar Joystick]>

<[bool][IsDigital][true]>

<[bool][IsValue][false]>

<[float64][Sign][1]>

<[float64][Direction][1]>

>

But when I load into the sim and I press the button nothing happens . There has to be a way for sure, I just need someone smarter than me to figure it out. It would be a game-changer for home cockpit and VR enthusiasts.

Thank you for your time

larrylynx · October 25, 2020 at 1:10 PM

Hi

Short answer is no you can't do what you want to. I have been asking for user defined buttons etc for some time but no luck yet. As a cockpit builder myself I would like to see Airmanager support and access to all the buttons, switches etc, similar to DCS. Can't be too hard he said knowing zero about how it would be done

The controls entry identifies a point in 3d space where a certain action/command is activated when you roll the mouse wheel or click a mouse button. In this case is sends an instruction to the NavigationDisplayPilot to change the Range. There is a identical instruction in the aircraft TMD and this is where all the magic happens, and normally it's quite a lot of stuff, most of it beyond the grasp of us mere mortals . Though with determination and stubbornness it does become quite a bit easier.

There are ways to make some commands for a joystick but they can only be what IPACS has already supplied in the settings menu. In the case of my Lynx and Apache, I 'borrow' the landing light, beacon light and taxi light commands to operate some of my custom stuff but the choice is very limited

Steve

rairic · October 25, 2020 at 1:43 PM

Hey Steve, thanks for the detailed answer. Could you explain to me how to "borrow" the LDG light commands etc?

larrylynx · October 25, 2020 at 6:23 PM

Code

Controls.tmd entry

          <[control_cylinder][AFCSButtonBarAlt][112]
                <[string8][Type][button]>
                <[vector3_float64][R0][ 2.0564 0.0176 0.3711]>
                <[matrix3_float64][B0][ 0.0000 -1.0000 -0.0000 0.9951 0.0000 0.0984 -0.0984 -0.0000 0.9951 ]>
                <[vector3_float64][Direction][ -0.0984 -0.0000 0.9951 ]>
                <[float64][StepDistance][0.01]>
                <[control_message][OnPush][]
                    <[string8][Message][Controls.Lighting.Taxi]>
                    <[string8][Qualifiers][toggle event]>
                    <[float64][Value][1.0]>
                >
                <[float64][Radius][0.004]>
                <[float64][Length][0.013]>
            >

Aircraft.tmd entry            
            
            <[input_binary][AFCSBarAltButton][]
                <[string8][Input][Controls.Lighting.Taxi]>
                <[float64][InputEnable][AFCSASEEngage.Output]>
                <[float64][Value][0.0]>
            >
            <[output_free][AFCSBarAltButtonOutput][]
                <[string8][Input][AFCSBarAltButton.Output]>
            >

Display More

In the code above I used the taxi light button assignment to operate the BarAlt function on the Lynx. The taxi light joystick assignment in the FS2 controls setup page will use the message Controls.Lighting.Taxi ( I believe this is hard coded into the sim). As the Lynx doesn't have a taxi light I used this hard coded message to drive my BarAlt function so users wouldn't have to look inside the cockpit to operate the button. Helis have a habit of going off on their own when your looking inside all the time.

The InputEnable line reads the output from the AFCSASEEngage ( which has a lot of interlinks) , if its 1 then the BarAlt output get passed on else it returns a zero. Of course the BarAlt output also triggers much more coding further down the pipeline.

Controls.Lighting.Beacon was used in a similar fashion for the heading hold

Steve

Jet-Pack (IPACS) · October 25, 2020 at 8:59 PM Official Post

Quote from rairic

<[string8][Message][NavigationDisplayPilot.Range]>
<[string8][FunctionID][NavigationDisplayPilotRange]>

If you spell it correctly, including the dot before the Range, maybe does it work then?

rairic · October 27, 2020 at 7:47 PM

All done!!!

Thanks a lot Steve, you're a LEGEND! Having the ND range switches at my fingertips is a dream, no more immersion breaking mouse pointer and wheel BS.

Let me join you in asking for the devs to make the process a bit easier for the user, there is no excuse for something like this in a Simulator that heavily relies on VR.

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