DCSFlightpanels (DCSFP) thread. Saitek Pro Flight Panels & DCS

@JABog32 its works good. i mapped the HDG NAV IAS etc buttons to the NMSP so when i press the button it stays lit as does the EGI switch in the sim. Just to to update you Darkwolf.....i did get my radio panel working. i copied the line for dcs bios to the export.lua file and it started working.

Just curious if anyone in here know of a fix....im using the multi panel and assinging the encoder to adjust my course know on the HSI......i assigned - and = in dcs and noticed that the value and the needle on the gauge in the sim jumps 4 to 6 degrees when i turn the knob one click. i checked this against the keystroke on the keybaord and get the same reslut so its an issue with dcs......does anyone know how to fix it so when i press the - or = or turn the knob i get one degree of change?

I don't use key-mapping at all for the rotaries. It does work with DCS-BIOS natively:

For left turn on a hardware Dial assign i.e. "HSI Course Select Knob" with the value "-1500" and for right turn on your hardware Dial assign increase by "1500".

Adjusting that values let's you control the sensitivity mapping.

Yeah that great (except the bug). 1073 bug is related to DCS-BIOS. It can't find the DCS-BIOS installation.

 

It can be either from a bad installation of DCS-BIOS, or the configuration not pointing toward the correct save folder.

 

First thing to check is FlightPanels configuration.

If you are running DCS Open Beta, it needs a little modification.

Start a fresh A10 or Huey profile. If any error message, just don't pay attention. you should get a "DCS BIOS Setting" menu. there, they should be an entry for DCS-BIOS JSON folder.

If you DCS is an OPEN BETA, you need to correct that.

Add ".openbeta" right after "DCS"

 

Should be something like : "C:\Users\yourname\Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\Scripts\DCS-BIOS\doc\json"

 

The second issue is DCS-BIOS installation. Check in the manual that you have installed it correctly. It is described in the installation chapter. Look at the screen below, your DCS savegame folder should look like this.

 

Let me know if this solve the problem.

thanks man. got every thing sorted out. All keys are mapped. now how do i go about programming the led for the Landing gear. i could not find the Led config page. where is it located?

how do i go about programming the led for the Landing gear.

Hi boo_saa,

Click on the "i" within Flightpanels. There are some programming notes behind that which detail how to configure the landing gear LEDs.

Hope this helps.

Paul

Actually, here are the notes on LED configuration:

Configuring the Switch Panel LEDs for gear up and gear down indication might not be intuitive to some users. For example, the nose gear parameter used for both cases is: "GEAR_N_SAFE." What matters after this is the "trigger state" of that parameter. "GEAR_N_SAFE" with the trigger value set to "0" is equivalent to gear up and locked. "GEAR_N_SAFE" with a trigger value of "1" is equivalent to gear down and locked. The following are the steps taken to program the nose gear (N) LED:

1. Right click over the N LED and then left click on "Configure."

2. Click on "New Dark" button (dark in this case is gear up and locked).

3. Type "gear" in the "search word" box.

4. Within the drop down list that appears, double-click on "GEAR_N_SAFE."

5. Observe that values have populated all fields.

6. Leave the trigger value set to "0" and click "OK."

7. Click on "New Green" button (green will indicate gear down and locked in this example).

8. Repeat steps 3-5 above.

9. Change the trigger value to "1" and click "OK."

10. Click on "New Red" button (red will indicate gear in transition)

11. Search on "gear" again.

12. Double-click on "HANDLE_GEAR_WARNING."

13. Change the trigger value to "1" and click "OK."

14. Click on "OK" again in the "LED Configuraton" window. You have now completed configuration of this LED. Repeat this process for the left and right main gear LEDs, but select the appropriate paramenter, e.g. "GEAR_L_SAFE."

Hi boo_saa,

 

Click on the "i" within Flightpanels. There are some programming notes behind that which detail how to configure the landing gear LEDs.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Paul

 

Actually, here are the notes on LED configuration:

 

Configuring the Switch Panel LEDs for gear up and gear down indication might not be intuitive to some users. For example, the nose gear parameter used for both cases is: "GEAR_N_SAFE." What matters after this is the "trigger state" of that parameter. "GEAR_N_SAFE" with the trigger value set to "0" is equivalent to gear up and locked. "GEAR_N_SAFE" with a trigger value of "1" is equivalent to gear down and locked. The following are the steps taken to program the nose gear (N) LED:

1. Right click over the N LED and then left click on "Configure."

2. Click on "New Dark" button (dark in this case is gear up and locked).

3. Type "gear" in the "search word" box.

4. Within the drop down list that appears, double-click on "GEAR_N_SAFE."

5. Observe that values have populated all fields.

6. Leave the trigger value set to "0" and click "OK."

7. Click on "New Green" button (green will indicate gear down and locked in this example).

8. Repeat steps 3-5 above.

9. Change the trigger value to "1" and click "OK."

10. Click on "New Red" button (red will indicate gear in transition)

11. Search on "gear" again.

12. Double-click on "HANDLE_GEAR_WARNING."

13. Change the trigger value to "1" and click "OK."

14. Click on "OK" again in the "LED Configuraton" window. You have now completed configuration of this LED. Repeat this process for the left and right main gear LEDs, but select the appropriate paramenter, e.g. "GEAR_L_SAFE."

Thanks for your reply Paul. where can i find the N LED? i dont find it in the flight panel config page,

I must also said that, i have join others forum regarding others hobbies that i once use to had, I must said that you guys are great. Thanks for all your patience and time. You guys rock.....

Thanks for your reply Paul. where can i find the N LED? i dont find it in the flight panel config page,

 

I must also said that, i have join others forum regarding others hobbies that i once use to had, I must said that you guys are great. Thanks for all your patience and time. You guys rock.....

Thanks for your comments, boo_saa. It's our pleasure.

On the Saitek Switch Panel there are three LEDs to the left of the landing gear handle. The upper LED is for the nose gear, or "N" gear. The lower LEDs are for left and right gear respectively. Right click over the LED itself on the panel image. You should then see an option to configure it.

Let us know if you have any other questions on this.

Thanks,

Paul

I don't use key-mapping at all for the rotaries. It does work with DCS-BIOS natively:

For left turn on a hardware Dial assign i.e. "HSI Course Select Knob" with the value "-1500" and for right turn on your hardware Dial assign increase by "1500".

 

Adjusting that values let's you control the sensitivity mapping.

@jabog I'll try that this evening when I get off of work this evening. thanks for the tip.

Thanks for your comments, boo_saa. It's our pleasure.

 

On the Saitek Switch Panel there are three LEDs to the left of the landing gear handle. The upper LED is for the nose gear, or "N" gear. The lower LEDs are for left and right gear respectively. Right click over the LED itself on the panel image. You should then see an option to configure it.

 

Let us know if you have any other questions on this.

 

Thanks,

Paul

Tks Paul. I was looking for text, instead of the picture. lol

Two quick question, where on the front page it now states UH1 fully supported, does that now mean the radio panels are working for the Huey, or is it still only the switch panel.

Also I'm assuming we have to choice what profile we want to use before flight, or does it recognise for example if I switch from a A10 to a Huey in the server.

I tend to fly several different aircraft during a flight session?

Cowboy10uk

does that now mean the radio panels are working for the Huey; does it recognise for example if I switch from a A10 to a Huey in the server.

Hi Cowboy10uk,

Yes, the Saitek Radio Panel is now supported in the Huey. A few things to note, though. An upcoming release of Flightpanels will rearrange the Huey radio to Saitek Radio Panel selector knob assignments. It will be a bit more intuitive in the next release. Also, we found a slight frequency shift in the ADF radio. For example, the NDB with a frequency of 312 shows up as 317 or thereabouts on the Radio Panel display in order to acquire the signal. We're working out the correction factor now.

Thanks,

Paul

That's absolute fantastic news pdMarsh, up in the loft and brought my Saitek pro flight setup back down, just installing them now and hopefully getting this to work. :)

Cowboy10uk

@Cowboy10uk -- I forgot to answer the second part of your question. Unfortunately, Flightpanels can only run one profile at a time, so when changing aircraft type you would have to change profiles.

Paul

no probs thanks Paul.

now its time for silly questions. :)

ive managed to get the switch panel and gear leds working great, no issues there whatsoever, but despite loading the A10 module at the start I cant get anything to display on either the radio panel or multi panel.

Any ideas?

ive tried setting up the mutlipanel the same way I did the switch one but with no joy, and to be honest I cant see anywhere to change settings for the radio one.

if anyone wouldn't mind giving me a hand here I would sure appreciate it.

Cowboy10uk

Twist one Dial on each panel once, directly before starting DCS World. That has helped in my case to "wake up" each panel.

sadly that didn't work JaBoG32, I can change settings using the dials no problem, the issue is I don't seem to be getting any info back for the panels to display.

so obviously I cant see what im changing which makes life rather awkward.

Cowboy10uk

Here are a few other things to check:

When you open Flightpanels, are you seeing tabs for three panels, PZ55, PZ70 & PZ69. If PZ69 is not showing, your profile was set up for keyboard emulation only and is not accessing DCS-BIOS, which is required for digital readouts on the Radio and Multi Panels. It doesn't sound like this is the problem, but if it is you'll need to start with a new profile and select A-10C from the drop-down list. That enables DCS-BIOS use.

Actually, I was about to write more, but your response came in as I was writing this. Let us know about the above first...

Thanks,

Paul

P.S. -- The radio panel is the only panel that does not have user-configurable settings other than knob sensitivity and, coming if not already in the released version, delay settings.

Paul

Hi guys, yes I can see all panels in the confit screen, and I can see the inputs being recognised when I use the buttons. I also had done a new profile and selected A10.

After messing around with the usb connections a few times, I have managed to get my radio panel working, the visuals are still dead on the multi panel though. Although to be honest, that one has been playing up on and off for years, so in pretty sure that's a panel failure rather than anything to do with the program.

Had a very quick flight and WOW what a difference have the switches and a working radio system adds.

Huge thank you for creating this guys.

Cowboy10uk

@Cowboy10uk -- Glad to hear things are working better. All thanks go to ArturDCS--he's done a great job with Flightpanels.

If you happen to have Saitek drivers installed, you should be able to use the Saitek utility to check panel functionality. As you probably know, this utility exercises all of the LEDs and responds to switch and/or dial inputs. That would at least let you know if the problem lies with the panel.

Paul

was working now not

I had the radio panels and multi panel working great.......now ive got no response in dcs at all. I m trying to use helios and made sure that the line for the export.lua for the flightpanel setup is in the scripting but still no action. in the flight panels gui the gear isnt turning. im a little stumped at this point.

...now ive got no response in dcs at all.

Sorry to hear you are having trouble. Just curious--it looks like there is an update out for DCS. Did you do the update and then lose panel function? If so, I wonder if the update affected DCS-BIOS. I'll be on DCS later this evening and will do the update (if it is indeed out) and see what happens on my end. In any case, I'll see what I can do to troubleshoot your situation.

Thanks,

Paul

I can confirm PD that the panels still work in 1.2.16, ive just spent a great few hrs playing with the A10 using them.

Cowboy10uk

i did take an update to windows 8 last night and may be the cause... i checked windows firewall and the udp ports are still open and allowed. the panles are showing frequencies but wont change in the sim when i press the stand by button. same with multi panel, the panel itself works and is recognized in FlightPanels but DCS does not see it.....

@Baldawg -- If you are still having problems, I'd like to suggest a small test to help isolate the issue. Start a new profile and select "None" for the type. This will put Flightpanels (FP) in keyboard emulation mode only. You should only see the Multi Panel in FP, and the Switch Panel if you have one and it is connected.

Now, configure a button or two on the Multi Panel, go into DCS and see if the panel is working. If it is, the problem most likely lies with DCS-BIOS, or how FP is interacting with it.

Also, if you have the Saitek drivers installed, use the Saitek Pro Flight Panels utility to make sure the panels are see by and working fully in Windows.

Thanks,

Paul

@Baldawg -- One other thing; Make sure you did not inadvertently click on the "Disable" button. It's the red circle with the exclamation point in the middle, and it is to the left of the gear symbol.

Also, under "Options/Open error log" in Flightpanels, have a look and see if anything is in the log. If so, please post the file.

Thanks,

Paul