[SOLVED]Most essential/quality of life binds
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Hey!
I was wondering, what would be the most essential or nice to have binds to have on a HOTAS. Since I’m on a 12 button system, including one 8 way hat, plus rocker switch and a head tracking setup, I’m a bit limited.
So far I was thinking of probably having trim and gun select on the hat, if or most likely probably the game allows key modifiers for expanded configuration. Landing gear and airbrake controls are probably nice to have. I don’t know, how important is to have manual control over flaps in Viper, as I never really flew it in any game before. Chaffs and flares would probably be essential, I assume. Other than that I can’t really think right now, what else would be useful. I couldn’t find a way to use the rocker as buttons, but if that’s possible, it could extend usable buttons quantity to 14.If you have any suggestions besides what I had mentioned, just let me know!
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Well, over the years I have found my most important buttons are the ones assigned to TMS, CMD, DMS, Chaff/Flares, Radar cursor and DED related buttons. All the other stuff I prefer to use the 3D buttons inside the cockpit.
For TMS, CMS, DMS and TGP/Radar Crs, TGP Zooming I like to use a combination of WASD + Ctrl/Alt/Shift. This way I have access to all systems on my left hand, and no need to even lift my hand to another keyboard sector. I have found, also, that using the 4 buttons around the china hat (Logitech 3D pro), bonded to the TMS is very comfortable and works great for the right hand, with my left hand I can move the Radar cursor and with the right one, I can immediately lock targets and such.
I do not use the rest of the buttons on my joystick, but just because they don’t work anymore. -
I’d say most essential would be something like
TMS up
TMS down
DMS down
NWS steering button
CMS up
Weapons release
second trigger detent
Zoom in (for TGP)
Zoom out (for TGP)
Pinky switch/button
Cage/uncage button
Perhaps also dogfight mode (if a toggle one exists)
TDC cursor up/down/left/right on the hatThis should cover most necessary things. Other buttons like gear and trim can be on the keyboard, as you will not use them too often.
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Thanks for the replies!
Due to the lack of buttons on my HOTAS for all of those functions, I’ll probably just switch them around and see what do I end up using the most.
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Thanks for the replies!
Due to the lack of buttons on my HOTAS for all of those functions, I’ll probably just switch them around and see what do I end up using the most.
with pinkyshift shift you can already extend your buttons to double with a shifted layer
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I usually use Ctrl or Alt for that, thought at certain point it becomes really overwhelming.
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I usually use Ctrl or Alt for that, thought at certain point it becomes really overwhelming.
I have 50 buttons on my HOTAS and use on most of them a second function on a the shifted layer
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Things of importance… Hmmm…?? 1. Get the Alternate Launcher. You’ll be able to quickly change binds and the ease of adding a shifted layer is second to none. 2. TMS: Really use Up, Down, and Right quite a bit. 2. Second Tigger for “Guns, Guns, Guns” 3. Pickle. Probably should be #1 now that I think of it. 4. DMS: I use Down extensively to switch between active MFD’s (SOI). DMS Left/Right is pretty helpful, but we’re running out of buttons 5. CMDS UP to set off your primary countermeasure program. 6. You’ll need to bind something for pinky switch, as this is your MFD field of view function. 7. NWS button, as this does 40327 different things while in the pit, depending on the mode you are in. 8. If you don’t have a true mini-stick for slewing cursors/TGP on your current stick, I’d look to picking up a cheap Analog game pad and using one of the sticks on that (I did for years). It also opens up some more buttons to bind. Most other things can be had by clicking the appropriate pit button/switch. Hope this helps. Clear skies. Q
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BMS doesn’t support using ctrl/alt/shift modifiers for joystick buttons. Although it’s not impossible to achieve, using a tool like Joy2Key… then just map everything to keybd bindings instead of joystick buttons (and map the joystick buttons to SimDoNothing within BMS).
Recently someone posted about that. If all you have is a 8-way hat and a couple of buttons, it might be the way to go!
My advice: don’t prioritize things that you only use once or twice in a flight (like landing gear or speed brakes). And don’t prioritize things that aren’t on the hotas in RL … again, like landing gear or flaps settings. In RL you have to take your hand off the throttle or stick to touch these switches and knobs.
I currently fly with a T.16000M which is only trigger, 3 buttons, and 8-way hat.
My top priorities for the hat:
- FCR/TGP cursor slew
- TMS
If I had more than 2 shift-layers…
3) DMS
4) CMS
5) Comms switchMy top priorities for on-stick buttons:
0) SimHotasPinkyShift or SimHotasShift – just to double the number of available button/hat functions- Pickle (can be keybd but you have to press-and-hold this while flying, for dropping bombs)
- Uncage (very important for deploying sidewinders, in the heat of a dogfight)
- Slap-switch (countermeasure program #5 … esp. important if you don’t have CMS bound to stick)
- MSL Step (can be keybd but it’s used for so many things… NWS, AAR etc)
- Cursor-enable – this one is often overlooked, and it takes a lot of practice, but super useful with HMCS and sidewinders, in a dogfight
What else? I like to have a few other things handy that don’t have RL switches…
FOVToggle (look-closer)
FOVDefault, or look-forward (or recenter-TrackIR)