Not Another CDU Tutorial

Hi everyone.

Still don’t get the CDU?

I made a tutorial that’s hopefully a little easier to understand.

Give it a watch if you like.

Watched it through. That’s a nice clear refresher. Thanks for putting it together.

My pleasure. Thank you for watching.

... I've made toggle switch that switch my keyboard between aircraft shortcuts and cdu input.

Please, can you elaborate more on this? ... I do try to Map the aircraft's Keypad onto my keyboard numeric keypad, but it is hard sometimes to not conflict with DCS's default keybinds.

Still don’t get the CDU?

I made a tutorial that’s hopefully a little easier to understand.

Hey man, that's a great video, very cool explanation, and very hands on. Well done! :thumbup:

There's a few CDU pages that I think are actually super useful, but those weren't the focus of the video and I think it's okay to just shrug them off.

On the other hand, one thing is actually important: the MGRS grid zone; you said never ever to touch the 38T or the WGS84. The latter is right, I wouldn't even know if it's possible to switch the system to anything other than WGS84. But the grid zone... near Senaki, you're basically right over the border between 37T and 38T. If you take off from Senaki and get a set of MGRS coords in Batumi, good luck flying 300 miles in the wrong direction if you don't change the grid zone first. That part confused the hell out of A-10C pilots (myself included!) for ages; so if you say never to touch it, people will learn something actually wrong. Do you think you could amend or update that part?

That's especially important since the in-game JTAC never issues the grid zone. Pilots have to know (or guess) when the coords are in another grid and may have to change the grid on their own. And this is definitely not a peculiarity of the Caucasus terrain; it's equally important in all current DCS maps. I consider it a must-know feature when it comes to entering MGRS coordinates in the CDU.

Basically, what you need to do is go to dcs A-10C controls menu > press modifier button (down left), and then assign button you want to act as a toggle switch in right column (as a switch). Then go through CDU input controls and assign all letters and commands you want as switch button + key on keyboard.

Holy cow, that's a brilliant idea! Never thought of that. Thanks! :thumbup:

Basically, what you need to do is go to dcs A-10C controls menu > press modifier button (down left), and then assign button you want to act as a toggle switch in right column (as a switch). Then go through CDU input controls and assign all letters and commands you want as that switch button + key on keyboard.

Thank you for the tip .. will give it a try today :)

I will when I come home this evening.

 

Basically, what you need to do is go to dcs A-10C controls menu > press modifier button (down left), and then assign button you want to act as a toggle switch in right column (as a switch). Then go through CDU input controls and assign all letters and commands you want as that switch button + key on keyboard.

This.

Did a similar thing and assigned one of the "not important" toggles on the Warthog HOTAS as a modifier, then bound the numeric pad, along with the letters on the keyboard so I could literally just type in the information and press 'enter' to input the line. Time saver and stream liner for the Hog for sure.

Cheers,

Don

And this is definitely not a peculiarity of the Caucasus terrain; it's equally important in all current DCS maps. I consider it a must-know feature when it comes to entering MGRS coordinates in the CDU.

Agreed. On Persian Gulf, you have to change grid references at times between 40R and 39R.

I will when I come home this evening.

 

Basically, what you need to do is go to dcs A-10C controls menu > press modifier button (down left), and then assign button you want to act as a toggle switch in right column (as a switch). Then go through CDU input controls and assign all letters and commands you want as that switch button + key on keyboard.

I did what you said, chose "Capslock" as a switch, bound every letter key and numpad to CDU keys. It's working great, except for Numpad 5: is that key hardwired to some function?

Hey man, that's a great video, very cool explanation, and very hands on. Well done! :thumbup:

 

There's a few CDU pages that I think are actually super useful, but those weren't the focus of the video and I think it's okay to just shrug them off.

 

On the other hand, one thing is actually important: the MGRS grid zone; you said never ever to touch the 38T or the WGS84. The latter is right, I wouldn't even know if it's possible to switch the system to anything other than WGS84. But the grid zone... near Senaki, you're basically right over the border between 37T and 38T. If you take off from Senaki and get a set of MGRS coords in Batumi, good luck flying 300 miles in the wrong direction if you don't change the grid zone first. That part confused the hell out of A-10C pilots (myself included!) for ages; so if you say never to touch it, people will learn something actually wrong. Do you think you could amend or update that part?

 

That's especially important since the in-game JTAC never issues the grid zone. Pilots have to know (or guess) when the coords are in another grid and may have to change the grid on their own. And this is definitely not a peculiarity of the Caucasus terrain; it's equally important in all current DCS maps. I consider it a must-know feature when it comes to entering MGRS coordinates in the CDU.

Thanks for pointing out that oversight! I added an update in the description... since apparently you can't annotate youtube videos anymore...? super irritating. Anyway, thanks for the help!

Thanks for pointing out that oversight! I added an update in the description...

Excellent, thanks! :thumbup:

I did what you said, chose "Capslock" as a switch, bound every letter key and numpad to CDU keys. It's working great, except for Numpad 5: is that key hardwired to some function?

Check one of the "view" controls - if I recall correctly, one of the view options/controls was bound to that key. If not in the view section, might be in the UI layer. The controls that are not "aircraft specific" will take priority over any controls bound to a particular aircraft. I know it can be bound, as I have them bound to the A10C as well as the F/A-18C.

Cheers,

Don

Do people not like the default hotkeys? I always thought the current one's were very clever made and I manually set them up, in other aircrafts with number keypads (Tomcat, Hornet) etc. that don't have them by default.

Sometimes (not often) I use default ingame hotkeys for stuff, especially view keys.

Do people not like the default hotkeys? I always thought the current one's were very clever made and I manually set them up, in other aircrafts with number keypads (Tomcat, Hornet) etc. that don't have them by default.

 

 

Sometimes (not often) I use default ingame hotkeys for stuff, especially view keys.

Default shortcuts?

Cheers,

Don

Superb tutorial, made it come across a lot easier than other vids.... well done and thanks :)

Please, can you elaborate more on this? ... I do try to Map the aircraft's Keypad onto my keyboard numeric keypad, but it is hard sometimes to not conflict with DCS's default keybinds.

I use CAPS LOCK as an on/off modifier and assigned all needed cdu letters to their corresponding keys on the keyboard.

So to input something in the CDU I first hit CAPS LOCK, type away and then hit CAPS LOCK again. Works very well.

Mapping keyboard controls to the cdu is one of the best things you can do to make things easier overall.

Nikola, daarseth, thanks for your advices, the problem laid in having Numpad5 bound to recenter VR view in the UI layer, now it works like a charm!

And thanks to Shein for his tutorial, not only it helped me with the Hog, it also showed me a way of expedite data input in any jet I hadn't thought about!

:thumbup:

Superb tutorial, made it come across a lot easier than other vids.... well done and thanks :)

Thank you!

Just jumping on the bandwagon . . . best CDU tutorial yet!

Just jumping on the bandwagon . . . best CDU tutorial yet!

wow! thank you!

where were you all my life?? great work buddy!

where were you all my life?? great work buddy!

trying to figure out the CDU myself :smilewink:

Nikola, daarseth, thanks for your advices, the problem laid in having Numpad5 bound to recenter VR view in the UI layer, now it works like a charm!

 

And thanks to Shein for his tutorial, not only it helped me with the Hog, it also showed me a way of expedite data input in any jet I hadn't thought about!

 

:thumbup:

Happy to be of some assistance, little or big.

Cheers,

Don