Solved When does BMS read inputs from controllers?
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Sorry, not exactly sure if I can explain the situation properly here. I’m starting to go down the rabbit hole of having real life switches for the in-game cockpit switches. If I leave a real switch on, say the refuelling door switch open, and I start an in-air mission, the refuelling door on the jet is open.
At what point does BMS check for the position of physical switches and sets the in-game cockpit switches to match? And is it possible to disable this altogether for some or all switches? For example, if I left the refuelling door switch open when the sim starts, it won’t recognise this and will only respond once I put the switch to close, then to open again. Basically not respond to the initial switch states at start up but will respond if any of them gets changed after.
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AFAIK, and I may be wrong here but, BMS never checks the position of physical switches and sets in game to match.
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@Badger Just tested by loading the landing TE but kept my TM WH EAC switch on the UP position which is AAR door open and it was open and the switch was up in-cockpit when the TE starts.
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At what point does BMS check for the position of
At a simplistic level, BMS continuously checks the status of bound devices (at a rate fast enough to consider it continuous). Its interested only in checking devices which have been mapped in the keyboard file .This checking starts once you enter 3d and ends when you leave. So if your switch is set, and mapped, once you get in the pit, it will be ‘set’ in the pit.
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@Fish44 Thanks for that! So it’s not a one-time thing but continuous. I’m guessing that there is no way to disable this?
I just thought that the switch sends a signal to the sim but it looks like, per your explanation, that the sim checks the switch every so often so maybe my idea isn’t going to work.
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@Atlas - I’m pretty sure that BMS checks switch positions at at least the scan rate of a keyboard…since Callbacks can be set as keystrokes.
For my own cockpit setup, I’ve been trying to noodle a way to send all switch states to BMS on command - which can be done, but how you do it depends on just what sort of controller/interface you are using to connect your switches to BMS - Arduino, Pokeys, Pegasus PoE boards, etc.
I want to do this in order to set the baseline switch positions as I enter my cockpit - in RL the Maintainers would “daily” the cockpit and set the switches before the crew walks…so this is to implement my own version of the “daily” for BMS and synch my physical switches to the sim - on command, probably using a shift key or some such.
Still noodling on this, as I’ve changed my mind several times on what interface I want to use…
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@Stevie Yes, I want it so that even if I set a switch to one state by mistake, that I am not penalised for it but it seems like this is impossible. I’ll have to do things… properly. * shudder *
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@Atlas my stick has a 4-way mode selector knob, which is really just 4 dx-button codes – one of which is always in ‘pressed’ state.
I use it for selecting countermeasure program… I notice that the selector-knob in cockpit always matches that of my physical stick, when I enter 3d.
I don’t know if BMS makes a special, initial check of all button states, when entering 3d … or if it checks state of every button on every frame. but the end result is the same
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@airtex2019 @Atlas @Stevie
well wait maybe it’s complicated … having read Stevie and Badger’s reply …it occurs to me that I have no hardware deadzone on my stick pitch/roll axes, so, when it’s plugged in it’s always spamming Windows input stack with HID reports.
Maybe that’s why BMS is always picking up my countermeasure-knob state, immediately.
A separate HID device that features buttons only, or has firmware deadzones for its analog axes, might well behave differently.
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@Atlas said in When does BMS read inputs from controllers?:
If I leave a real switch on, say the refuelling door switch open
Admit it, what we’re really talking about here is your speedbrake switch – you ran out of fuel early and spoiled a MP flight. Am i right? <just kidding>
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@Atlas - yes…pretty sure you are correct on that score!
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@airtex2019 said in When does BMS read inputs from controllers?:
Admit it, what we’re really talking about here is your speedbrake switch – you ran out of fuel early and spoiled a MP flight. Am i right? <just kidding>
No, no, no!! You’ll never prove it!!!
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I recently got a Winwing throttle and it is teaching me to be mindful of what positions I leave its switches in, when I finish a mission.
There are a lot of buttons, toggle switches, and sliders on the throttle base. Although there’s a Landing Gear toggle switch, I find it more convenient to bind one of the big slider thingies to the landing gear. It’s more like a big gear handle than a toggle switch is. (I use the Alternative Launcher to do the binding.)
Let’s say I do a mission that ends with a landing… pretty normal. I lower the gear with my “gear handle slider” on the throttle base, and land.
Then I forget to reset the position of that slider. (This is typical for my brain.)
Then I do something else that starts in mid-air, like having fun in the Dogfight Module, or a training mission that starts in mid-air.
If the “air start” happens to occur above 300 kts, I immediately hear a noticeable, low-frequency roaring of air… which I realize is air going past my deployed landing gear… … and I have to quit out of the mission, reset the slider, and start again.
Slowly, I am learning to check how my switches are set on the throttle base, before I start a mission. If I only had a brain…
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@Mylonite470 - Heh! This happens in RL Trainers (with far more switches) too…and I’ve been bitten by it MANY times…last guy out doesn’t daily the cockpit, next guy jumps in (me) and starts engines with gear up or Fire Buttons depressed…
…has taught me to ALWAYS check/set switches first thing once in the seat…still miss the occasional one, though.
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@Atlas said in When does BMS read inputs from controllers?:
…I’m starting to go down the rabbit hole of having real life switches for the in-game cockpit switches. …
Then I suggest get an understanding of
- momentary switches/buttons
- 2 and 3 position switches.
- latched switches
- difference between keyboard and DX inputs,
- callback types, fixed and toggle.
- analog dials,
- digital dials (encoder based)
Lots of stuff out there on button boxes including this one…
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@Mylonite470 said in When does BMS read inputs from controllers?:
Let’s say I do a mission that ends with a landing… pretty normal. I lower the gear with my “gear handle slider” on the throttle base, and land.
Then I forget to reset the position of that slider. (This is typical for my brain.)
Then I do something else that starts in mid-air, like having fun in the Dogfight Module, or a training mission that starts in mid-air.
This! I’ve been flying with Helios and a couple of touchscreens so I think Helios checks what the in-game switches are and puts the Helios switches to that state. Obviously, this cannot be done for physical switches. I do not have a physical landing gear switch yet so I do not have this issue but I do like to practice AARs so sometimes I’ll start a dogfight or landing TE and my refuelling door is open
@Stevie said in When does BMS read inputs from controllers?:
last guy out doesn’t daily the cockpit, next guy jumps in (me) and starts engines with gear up or Fire Buttons depressed…
…has taught me to ALWAYS check/set switches first thing once in the seat…still miss the occasional one, though.
Might be a good habit to learn, seeing as I want to pretend I’m a fighter pilot. I’m drawing the line at being able to pause the sim to go to the toilet though!
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@Fish44 said in When does BMS read inputs from controllers?:
Then I suggest get an understanding of
- momentary switches/buttons
- 2 and 3 position switches.
- latched switches
- difference between keyboard and DX inputs,
- callback types, fixed and toggle.
- analog dials,
- digital dials (encoder based)
I do have a little idea of what they are. The WH throttle has these varied switches and I’ve purchased a button box from someone on Facebook that has dials and rotaries. Was there anything in particular you wanted to point out? I’m just starting out on these so I really don’t know what I don’t know yet so any direct advice is greatly appreciated.
I have most callbacks mapped to keyboard because of Helios. I have also mapped a lot of stuff via DX input in the .key file, like my EAC switch (on-off) being mapped to the AAR open/close switch thanks to the press/release feature (technical manual 10.8.2). The button box is mapped via DX input in the .key file too.