Problem mixing Ch Products HOTAS & MFp with Thrustmaster's Cougar MFDs
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This is a copy of a message I sent and the answer that I received from Frederf with regard to a problem that I am having.
Hello,
I’m new to Falcon BMS and am having a few issues and I really hope that you won’t mind me bothering you with a couple of questions. If for any reason you do not wish to help, please accept my thanks for taking the time to read this message.
I am using a CH Products HOTAS setup with a keyfile and map set-up that it appears you had a hand in the creation of. I found it in a search that brought up another member’s issue around editing and using what he called the “Brennus Profile”. I downloaded the end result of the discussion on the thread and got the “Fubar.map”, etc., which worked great. I just added my CH MFP to create an ICP Panel and mapped controls through a mixture of the CH control manager and dx in game for things that I could do directly. This is when I got stupid and ordered a set of the Thrustmaster Cougar MFDs and added them to the mix, and now everything is messed-up. I know that the reason for my problem is that the Cougars have changed the DX assignments of all the CH controllers (pushing button 1 on the cougar now fires guns -interesting but not optimal), the button on my joystick that was SimPickle is now 67, and the buttons on the throttle are now starting around 97. I tried moving the controllers to different USB ports in the hope that the computer would see the joystick first, but that made no difference; the Cougars are always first.
My questions are:
- How do I determine what the device assignments and button numbers are now for each device in order to reconfigure the CH map and the falcon keyfile?
- Where do I find information on how to understand, create, and edit the falcon keyfile? I did several searches and all that I came up with were a couple of editors that I tried. They made things worse and even added odd numbers to lines that I didn’t make changes to in the keyfile.
Thank you for your time.
I remember helping Fubar129 with that. I learned a lot about how the CH software worked including the scripting.
Falcon supports multiple controllers by assigning the 32 buttons into blocks, 0-31 for ID1, 32-63 for ID2, 64-95 for ID3, etc. You could change all the DX numbers in the key file to reflect the change but in this case it’s probably better to edit the ID assignments for the controllers. Try the software linked here: http://airgroup51.net/forum/index.php?topic=2435.0 (1)
This from Mr. Blu’s library should answer most questions about the .key file format. http://www.blu3wolf.com/falconbms/Ko…e%20Manual.pdf I use Notepad2 or the in-game interface to edit the .key file. I haven’t had much success with the excel-based editors either.
Feel free to post to this to the public area of the forum as it might help others with similar issues.
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Just to update the situation, I tried the suggested software. It tells me that the throttle is ID#1, the Flightstick is ID#2, the rudder pedals are #3, and the Cougar MFDs are #4 and #5. However in the game button 1 on the first MFD is listed as #1 and the MFDs show up second and third on the list of controllers. Does anyone know if there is a way to get the game to recognize the controllers in a different order?
Thanks
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Well I tried and failed to figure this out. I guess I’ll just load up DCS and see if it all works with that sim. Out.
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Just to update the situation, I tried the suggested software. It tells me that the throttle is ID#1, the Flightstick is ID#2, the rudder pedals are #3, and the Cougar MFDs are #4 and #5. However in the game button 1 on the first MFD is listed as #1 and the MFDs show up second and third on the list of controllers. Does anyone know if there is a way to get the game to recognize the controllers in a different order?
Thanks
Did you program the MFD’s? What I mean by that, did you highlight the MFD function in game and press the button on your MFD? I had zero issues setting up my MFD along with my CH stuff.
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Well, the link should point to http://blu3wolf.com/falconbms/Kolbe/Falcon%20BMS%20Keyfile%20Manual.pdf
Seems like the copy paste of the pm screwed that up I guess.
No, I have heard a few people say that they got BMS to recognise the controllers in a different order using a few different pieces of software. None of them worked for me, so I cant really recommend them.
Most reliable method to solve this is to edit your key file with a text editor, and changing the ID numbers to match the order of the joysticks.
This comes undone whenever you change the hardware config - not a surprising thing, but part and parcel of messing with your setup.
DCS while we are on the topic, does have exactly the same interface within the sim for editing your setup - mouse click a function (same as in BMS), then press what you want to handle that function (same as in BMS).
As a regular player of KSP…. its not rocket science XD
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Hi Samsmee,
I use the setup you are talking about, so
if you still need help pm me. -
Hey everyone,
Thanks for all of the offers to help me with my issue.
I think that I have it figured out. All that it took was getting frustrated enough that I spent that last couple of days reading every doc that I could find with reference to how the game and the controllers work together. What had messed me up in the beginning was that since the game appeared to automatically assign all of the joystick controls to the #1 mfd I thought that I had to find a way to stop that from happening either by changing the order that windows saw the devices or by finding where in the key file this came from and changing that somehow. I think that if I had known that all I had to do was ignore what was happening and figure out the dx numbers for the buttons each device, offset them by one, and then reprogram the key file I would have had less difficulty.
Blu3wolf, you are completely right in saying that this isn’t rocket science. However, if you look at the amount of information that there is, and how disorganized it seems at first, then add to that trying to read the manuals and learn the game at the same time it does appear a bit overwhelming to a person who is new. Also there were links in some of the documents I read that were to articles that don’t appear to exist any longer.As I said, it all appears to be working now, so I’m back off to read the F4AF game manual next.
Thank you all again.
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Blu3wolf, you are completely right in saying that this isn’t rocket science. However, if you look at the amount of information that there is, and how disorganized it seems at first, then add to that trying to read the manuals and learn the game at the same time it does appear a bit overwhelming to a person who is new. Also there were links in some of the documents I read that were to articles that don’t appear to exist any longer.
My apologies for the quip Samsmee, the thing about rocket science is that the first year or so of it is actually really easy. The worthwhile stuff, not so much.
Thing about the amount of information, its level of organisation, and the amount of concurrent learning that a new player is signing themselves up for, is that its kinda a given. About the only thing that could be done to improve it is to organise it better.
Problem with that is that people do precisely that, often by creating their own single source document to cover a wide range of information. Then, it gets a little older and is not correct - or had errors making it incorrect from the start.
Unless you have someone to mentor you in your learning of BMS, learning from widespread and disorganised information is going to be a skill you will get better at of necessity.
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No Problem. I wasn’t really offended or anything. My thoughts about your comment were pretty much what you said. It all seems difficult at first, but for someone who has actually been through it, it must seem quite simple and therefore not be rocket science.
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No Problem. I wasn’t really offended or anything. My thoughts about your comment were pretty much what you said. It all seems difficult at first, but for someone who has actually been through it, it must seem quite simple and therefore not be rocket science.
Benefit of hindsight, 20/20 vision and all that