Voice Attack: Fixing Bugged Access to Comms Menu

Problem: Your Voice Attack Commands occasionally do not work either because you have to repeat your command or because your command does not open the main comms menu at first resulting in wrong commands.

Cause: These problems are actually bugs in DCS. The first bug is causing your button for the "communication menu" (which is \ by default) to not work after this button has not been used for a while. In this case it will only respond on a second key press, which is why you might sometimes have to repeat your commands in Voice Attack before it works.

The second bug in DCS causes your comms menu to sometimes start in a submenu, when you open up your comms menu for the first time in a mission.

Solution: Let's assume your key for the "communication menu" is \ and the other keys are F1-F12. Then all your commands that are using \ need some additional key commands for the workaround, i.e. instead of

press "\"
...

you need the following key press sequence:

press "\"
press "F12"
press "\"
press "F11"
...

And that is basically it. :)

The way this workaround works is that the first \ might or might not open your comms menu, but it assures that the second \ press will definitely be accepted by DCS. The F12 between both key presses makes sure the second \ press does not close the comms menu again in case the first \ has been already accepted by DCS. Last but not least F11 is going to make sure you go back to the main comms menu in case you start in a submenu.

This is a simple fix, but it took me a long time to find out why this was happening and how to fix it. So I hope this helps other people.

Btw.: In case you are not already using your numkeys for some important commands, I recommend using them for the comms menu options instead of the default F1-F12 keys, because they might interfere with your camera keys otherwise. You can read the guide here: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=66715

Hi,

Interesting but where is the "communication menu" ?

Oh, you can find it in the upper right of the screen, when it pops up. It is simply a white text telling you which communication options you have with the AI. E.g.

F1. Flight

F2. Wingman 2

and so on...

Just press the \ button or search for "communication menu" in the key bindings of your aircraft.

Isn't there a script to edit?

I am not sure which script you are referring to. I never had to use a script for this.

 

Solution: Let's assume your key for the "communication menu" is \ and the other keys are F1-F12. Then all your commands that are using \ need some additional key commands for the workaround, i.e. instead of

press "\"
...

you need the following key press sequence:

press "\"
press "F12"
press "\"
press "F11"
...

And that is basically it. :)

 

Hum,

I don't understand where you can actually edit this sequence...:unsure:

Oh, I see what you mean. I was referring to Voice Attack, which is a voice control software. It helps to send commands to the AI while you are using your microphone instead of using keys.

I am using voice attack with VAICOM PRO but the only thing that I had to do to make it working was to assign my WARTHOG PTT to COM1 and COM2 for the F18. :D

I don't know how to modify any corresponding command relating with DCS like " \ " or " F12" "F11"...:no_sad:

If you are having no problems with VAICOM PRO, then you do not have to do anything. This guide is just for people who want to create their own voice commands. There are several good tutorials that show how to use key presses in Voice Attack. It is very simple.

I'm late to the party, but thanks for the tip.  I was using voice attack to manage the CTLD menu for helo operations ex. spawn crate, load troops, drop and unpack crates, and this "/", "F12" workaround should resolve the bugs I was experiencing.

I personally do something like:

F11

F11

F12

/

F11

F11

F12

/

because there are menus that are double or triple deep. The above has never failed me. 

For any solution, you might want to unbind F11 and F12 in both dcs and steam, as applicable. They are default to view and screenshots, respectively. 

@Baileyis there a way to program voiceattack to get round the problem with ctld where it can appear at different positions in the comms menu? As such its breaking all my nice chained commands to drop smoke or pick up troops if i cannot guarantee the ctld submenu is not always at the F6 (for example) position of the comms / f10 options.

7 hours ago, Sprool said:

@Baileyis there a way to program voiceattack to get round the problem with ctld where it can appear at different positions in the comms menu? As such its breaking all my nice chained commands to drop smoke or pick up troops if i cannot guarantee the ctld submenu is not always at the F6 (for example) position of the comms / f10 options.

Other than coding each option by hand for each case, no, not that I know of. 

I found a workround from Pfeil on the VA forum. It just needs to be told where CTLD is in the menu at the start of the mission then that F-key is assigned as a variable txt and used whenever ctld is called. THe position of the CTLD options is the only bit that changes, the rest of the ctld structure remains fixed.

From Pfeil's post:
Set logistics F[1..12]

Set text [logisticsMenuSlot] to '[F{TXTNUM:"{CMD}"}]'

"when I say: Logistics menu"
Execute command - Open main menu
press F10
Press variable key(s) [logisticsMenuSlot] and hold for 0,06 seconds and release

20 minutes ago, Sprool said:

I found a workround from Pfeil on the VA forum. It just needs to be told where CTLD is in the menu at the start of the mission then that F-key is assigned as a variable txt and used whenever ctld is called. THe position of the CTLD options is the only bit that changes, the rest of the ctld structure remains fixed.

From Pfeil's post:
Set logistics F[1..12]

Code: [Select]

Set text [logisticsMenuSlot] to '[F{TXTNUM:"{CMD}"}]'

 

Code: [Select]

"when I say: Logistics menu"
Execute command - Open main menu
press F10
Press variable key(s) [logisticsMenuSlot] and hold for 0,06 seconds and release

Ah, ok! Thats a nice solution! I thought you were trying to use CTLD on different servers which may have required different menu stuff. My bad. I'm glad that Pfeil was able to help you out.