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Announcing the Warthog Pit - A DCS Panel Building Wiki


TigersharkBAS

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Dear fellow flyers and cockpit/panel building enthusiasts,

 

TigersharkBAS here. You might remember me from such educational videos as "How to make a Control Panel" and "Why won't my rash go away?"

 

I'm here to talk to about a disease that effects 1 in 3 people who spend too much time on forums. It's called forum-itis. It's symptoms are:

  • Extremely useful information dispersed over multiple pages in a single thread.
  • Threads that were popular being pushed down the stack until the crucial knowledge they contain dissapears on page 243.
  • Forum threads that start with a introductory text explaining a solution only to have said solution improved and/or abandoned for another one 20 pages later.

 

Basically what I'm getting at is, forums are great for discussion and the exchange of ideas. Super crappy for actually retaining the knowledge gleaned from the fine minds here.

 

So Devon Custard (who you may know from his excellent Arduino tutorials) and I (TigersharkBAS) have taken the initiative to start a Wiki dedicated to cockpit making. You can find the URL here:

 

http://www.deadfrogstudios.com/warthogpit

 

BUT I NEED YOUR HELP!!!



 

A wiki lives and dies on the strength of its contributors. I have gotten the ball rolling by already adding some articles and transferring my tutorial over to the wiki. But it needs you guys to contribute to:

a) Correct any mistakes you see

b) Enrich any of the articles you see

c) Add new content!!! <---- very important

 

It is a completely open Wiki. Anyone can create, edit text and modify without having to sign up or go through any complicated login process. It really couldn't be easier.

 

It would be great if when people want to share how to do something, they do it in the Wiki and then link to the wiki in a forum thread. That way people can still use the forums for discussion but keep the knowledge in a well organised wiki.

 

I will be asking the admin to make this thread a sticky.

 

Please feel free to discuss the wiki, ideas and ask for help in this thread. I really hope we can pick this up as a community and run with it.

 

In particular it would be great of someone could expand on this topic for me:

http://deadfrogstudios.com/warthogpit/index.php?title=Exporting_DCS_Data

 

It needs some input from someone experienced in Lua and DCS.

 

Tiger out. *salutes*


Edited by TigersharkBAS

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

 

Creator of:

 

F-18C VFA-195 "Dambusters" 1998 CAG Livery

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=213788

 

F-18C VFA-195 "Dambusters" July 2001 CAG Livery

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=215950

 

Pilot avatars for DCS Logbook

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=221160

 

How to make a DCS A-10C Panel

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=65998

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Maybe add a github for teensy and arduino type boards and there respective firmware.

 

Let the community help out with those as well!

 

Stevos...you mean for hosting code like Sketches for Arduino, Python for Raspberry Pi and C# and the like.

 

It's a great idea but rather than create a single one that I would have to maintain it would be better if we just issued a general guideline for folks to post a link to the Github they create for the code.

 

Although I appreciate perhaps not everyone is comfortable with Git so maybe I would have to create these for people. Hmmmm.....it's a sterling idea though.

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

 

Creator of:

 

F-18C VFA-195 "Dambusters" 1998 CAG Livery

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=213788

 

F-18C VFA-195 "Dambusters" July 2001 CAG Livery

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=215950

 

Pilot avatars for DCS Logbook

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=221160

 

How to make a DCS A-10C Panel

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=65998

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Your wish is my command Burnsy.

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

 

Creator of:

 

F-18C VFA-195 "Dambusters" 1998 CAG Livery

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=213788

 

F-18C VFA-195 "Dambusters" July 2001 CAG Livery

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=215950

 

Pilot avatars for DCS Logbook

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=221160

 

How to make a DCS A-10C Panel

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=65998

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You know it bro. Now get cracking. That was one line of code time you wasted! :-)

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

 

Creator of:

 

F-18C VFA-195 "Dambusters" 1998 CAG Livery

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=213788

 

F-18C VFA-195 "Dambusters" July 2001 CAG Livery

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=215950

 

Pilot avatars for DCS Logbook

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=221160

 

How to make a DCS A-10C Panel

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=65998

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I think one thing we need to be really upfront about. We are relying on the intellectual property of the COMMUNITY as a whole to make this work. Theres no way myself and Tiger can do this by ourselves.

 

Im quite capable of putting some guidelines together and where people have offered general advice im happy to put that in as well. What i wont do is rip large chunks of people posts or scrape anyones websites unless i have explicit permission to do so. That said i really hope that others will want to contribute to this totally FREE and unbiased wiki.

 

I know this may conflict with other peoples efforts to sell their IP and pit building efforts which i fully understand and applaud so we have to be sensitive towards those individuals.

 

 

Tiger and myself will be contacting people for permission to use their ideas and or link to assets on their websites etc.

 

 

Omg im starting to sound like Mr Wales..... :(


Edited by Devon Custard
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So if i understand you correctly you two are basically doing the same thing SWATY has done at http://hogpits.net/

It will be interesting to see what you can do

https://www.shapeways.com/shops/a-10c-warthog-supplies

https://forum.dcs.world/topic/133818-deadmans-cockpit-base-plans/#comment-133824

CNCs and Laser engravers are great but they can't do squat with out a precise set of plans.

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The emphasis is on EVERYONE being able to collaborate, we're just getting it started. Its up to the community to donate their knowledge. The more everyone puts in the more everyone benefits.

 

Ive been trying to get people to share knowledge since i started and on the whole its been a positive response. Tigers comments on knowledge getting lost on the forum is spot on. Posts disappear and/or are dispersed amongst numerous threads. Bringing it all together is an obvious move.

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Wow! Sensitive much?

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

 

Creator of:

 

F-18C VFA-195 "Dambusters" 1998 CAG Livery

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=213788

 

F-18C VFA-195 "Dambusters" July 2001 CAG Livery

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=215950

 

Pilot avatars for DCS Logbook

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=221160

 

How to make a DCS A-10C Panel

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=65998

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well, i see no harm in yet another repository. the fact it is editable by anyone makes it easy to correct stuff put in by others, unlike Swaty's or anyone elses private repositories where they are the gate keepers.

 

with that my concerns would be consistent organization which will be really not easy to upkeep with many contributors. and another one is longevity and resiliency of the resource. there was a very nice DCS wiki once, when the owner took it down it was a painful loss. I could contribute, but will it be there next year, or in two? what is in place for backup and disaster recovery , etc , etc, etc. many questions about organization

Anton.

 

My pit build thread .

Simple and cheap UFC project

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First questions i put to tigershark when we were looking at wiki platforms. This one will allow us to take backups regularly. Storing those backups in git makes the backup open to all

 

And of course theres always google net archives. Do you have the url for the first wiki? Maybe the net archive still has some pages stored. I was browsing Gus's site whilst it was offline using it.

 

Yes there are many questions about organisation. But we just want to get going for now and get this info stored. Have we thought everything thru? No definitely not. Will we? Yup

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I'm here to talk to about a disease that effects 1 in 3 people who spend too much time on forums. It's called forum-itis. It's symptoms are:

 


  • Extremely useful information dispersed over multiple pages in a single thread.
  • Threads that were popular being pushed down the stack until the crucial knowledge they contain dissapears on page 243.
  • Forum threads that start with a introductory text explaining a solution only to have said solution improved and/or abandoned for another one 20 pages later.

 

Basically what I'm getting at is, forums are great for discussion and the exchange of ideas. Super crappy for actually retaining the knowledge gleaned from the fine minds here.

You two have identified and summed up the problem I was trying to illustrate in my thread "An Open Invitation To the Cockpit Guru's". I applaud you both and thank you for your initiative in this regard.:thumbup: This will help SOooooooooooooo many pilots and will change the entire face of how we fly.

 

Most everything it takes to build cockpits, panels, displays, etc is not very hard if you can follow instructions, know basic soldering and have rudimentary computer skills. Its explaining "How to do it" in LAYMAN's terms that will be the real challenge. I know how hard it can be to describe how to build something to someone who's knowledge base is not the same as yours. You expect that they understand but in fact you are talking way over their head.

 

TigersharkBAS's thread to explain adding switches to DCS and building panels was at a level that everyone could understand. Even defining the basic type and operation of switches help people decide what parts they need and why. But it didn't over complicate. If we can get the construction of all the cockpit components described like this it will allow any of our people to add a TACAN or an ILS, a CDU or a full cockpit if they like without the frustration of devoting countless hours reading 100's of pages of posts on this forum and then ultimately failing as they just don't understand.

 

Again thank you for your initiative. I personally will add whatever I can to it and I invite everyone else who have the knowledge to please contribute for the good of the entire community.:)

Regards

John W

aka WarHog.

 

My Cockpit Build Pictures...



John Wall

 

My Arduino Sketches ... https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-Dc0Wd9C5l3uY-cPj1iQD3iAEHY6EuHg?usp=sharing

 

 

WIN 10 Pro, i8-8700k @ 5.0ghz, ASUS Maximus x Code, 16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum Ram,



AIO Water Cooler, M.2 512GB NVMe,

500gb SSD, EVGA GTX 1080 ti (11gb), Sony 65” 4K Display

VPC MongoosT-50, TM Warthog Throttle, TRK IR 5.0, Slaw Viper Pedals

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well, i see no harm in yet another repository. the fact it is editable by anyone makes it easy to correct stuff put in by others, unlike Swaty's or anyone elses private repositories where they are the gate keepers.

 

with that my concerns would be consistent organization which will be really not easy to upkeep with many contributors. and another one is longevity and resiliency of the resource. there was a very nice DCS wiki once, when the owner took it down it was a painful loss. I could contribute, but will it be there next year, or in two? what is in place for backup and disaster recovery , etc , etc, etc. many questions about organization

 

I could have sworn that was an official ED forum. Sorry to see it go.

 

The engine is MediaWiki. All content can be exported as XML and reimported into another instance of MediaWiki if required.

 

I don't see hosting being an issue. It's on the server that hosts my app and company website so aint going anywhere soon. Although DC's idea of regular Github backups might work. We'll look into it.

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

 

Creator of:

 

F-18C VFA-195 "Dambusters" 1998 CAG Livery

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=213788

 

F-18C VFA-195 "Dambusters" July 2001 CAG Livery

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=215950

 

Pilot avatars for DCS Logbook

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=221160

 

How to make a DCS A-10C Panel

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=65998

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This week in Wiki

- Boltz and Overpro joined as official users. You can contribute anonymously but signing up a user makes sure your edits get noticed as your name is attributed to any posts or changes.

 

- Overpro began improving his excellent tute on making an Arduino into 2 USB joysticks

 

- DC began migrating his tutorial from the forums to the wiki. With improvements and better explanations where appropriate.

 

- I began migrating my panels tutorial with a TONNE of extra info and explanation to supplement the video.

 

- Created pages for the panels in game. Now just need you folks to help fill it out.

 

- Created pages dedicate to Arduino, Groovy Game Gear, Toggle Switches, Sockets

 

- Created Landing Pages for each sub section of the wiki.

 

- Site structure is looking good. Now all we need is content! Get cracking men!

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

 

Creator of:

 

F-18C VFA-195 "Dambusters" 1998 CAG Livery

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=213788

 

F-18C VFA-195 "Dambusters" July 2001 CAG Livery

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=215950

 

Pilot avatars for DCS Logbook

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=221160

 

How to make a DCS A-10C Panel

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=65998

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Im going to start pulling the various panel data into tables this week as well. By which i mean, the various identifiers you need to access the data in the export.lua.

 

e.g. 404 is the Master Caution Lamp Stub - that one i know from memory, but the other several hundred i dont so having one place to read it instead of scouring thru the lua files will be a good thing.

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Let's talk about how to structure that. I think it should be a separate page related somehow to Lua coding.

 

We have a whole page dedicated to exporting data from DCS that needs an experienced Lua coder to contribute towards.

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

 

Creator of:

 

F-18C VFA-195 "Dambusters" 1998 CAG Livery

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=213788

 

F-18C VFA-195 "Dambusters" July 2001 CAG Livery

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=215950

 

Pilot avatars for DCS Logbook

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=221160

 

How to make a DCS A-10C Panel

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=65998

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