Pinky Switch shift and without
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Hi there!
First of all: I skiped 4.36 after playing 4.32-4.35 and now started with VR, which brings it to a total new level! Thx very much to the developers!
My problem: I use the “Pinky Switch Shift” on the Pinky Switch on the cougar, but instead of working as the “normal” Pinky Switch within the 0.2 sec it gets recognized always only as a shift. Therefore I cannot keymap it to its normal use anymore.
In the config file I added this (it should have already been there, but wasnt, at least in older releases):
set g_nHotasShiftQuickPressTimeLimit 200
but that didnt changed anything.
Does someone has advice?
Thx!
Zwingli
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@Zwingli If you have it configured correctly, you should have normal pinky switch operations when you tap and release it. Hold it in when you want to use it as a SHIFT control.
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@Zwingli there are 4 callbacks … check your key file to verify which you have mapped?
- just mfd-zoom toggle/cycle, no dx-shift
- short press: mfd-zoom, long press/hold: dx-shift
- just dx-shift, no mfd-zoom
- dx-shift, but sticky
SimPinkySwitch -1 0 0x2F 0 0 0 1 "STICK: PINKY SWITCH" SimHotasPinkyShift -1 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 0 0 1 "STICK: PINKY SWITCH (DX SHIFT)" SimHotasShift -1 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 0 0 1 "SIM: DX Shift" SimHotasShiftLock -1 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 0 0 1 "SIM: DX Shift Lock"
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actually I can find all of them:
I use the “BMS - Auto.key” file and all the lines are in there:
SimPinkySwitch -1 0 0X2F 0 0 0 1 “STICK: PINKY SWITCH”
SimHotasPinkyShift -1 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 0 0 1 “STICK: PINKY SWITCH (DX SHIFT)”
SimHotasShift -1 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 0 0 1 “SIM: DX Shift”
SimHotasShiftLock -1 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 0 0 1 “SIM: DX Shift Lock”So how do I have to change, that the option 2 of your list is really active?
Thx!
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This is a reason I prefer the Warthog stick (one of many…). It has an unused button for the Viper - CMS->dwn - which makes a really great shift button because it’s not used for anything in the Viper.
I use a RealSim TUSBA to use my Cougar TQS as a stand alone USB throttle.
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@Stevie in 4.37 now CMS-down is suddenly very critical!
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@Zwingli said in Pinky Switch shift and without:
I use the “BMS - Auto.key” file and all the lines are in there:
You are using Alt Launcher? Does map the callback like you would any other button or key.
Is that not working?
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@airtex2019 - Actually, I think there is some confusion in this regard.
In a lot (most?) of cases, when the BMS folk/manual say “CMS-dwn” what they really mean is “CMS-aft”.
The WH stick actually has a five position CMS switch whereas the Cougar only has four, and in regard to the WH, “dwn” actually means “dwn”.
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@Stevie ah ok … I’d call that “CMS-press/hold” or something.
since the actual key-file callback name/desc is
SimCMSDown -1 0 0xCF 4 0 0 1 "STICK: CMS Down"
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@airtex2019 - yeah…that’s just the sort of ambiguity I find all over the place regarding “aft” vs “down”…you just have to try each and see what gets you the desired effect! “fwd/aft/dwn” is how I would talk to a RL pilot re: a selector switch - “press” in general refers to a button…I still hear some confusion about what to use for a touch screen!
I really wish they’d clean this language/reference up throughout…my first thought in another thread was that I was actually going to have something to have to use CMS-dwn for now…then I got checked-up! This will become a real issue if the devs ever get to seriously developing other cockpits - there are quite a few that have 5 way HOTAS switches where the Viper only has four way - the Harrier and Hornet being two that I do know of in particular.
On my Mac desktop setup with FAF I used to use a utility to make the combination of pinky+CMS->dwn to command Eject, and I’d have to hold that one. I also had a setup that if I double tapped the NWS/Station Select button I could cycle my Trim switch between Trim and POV. But I can’t think of any I had to hold, other than the Eject combo.
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@Zwingli said in Pinky Switch shift and without:
Hi there!
First of all: I skiped 4.36 after playing 4.32-4.35 and now started with VR, which brings it to a total new level! Thx very much to the developers!
My problem: I use the “Pinky Switch Shift” on the Pinky Switch on the cougar, but instead of working as the “normal” Pinky Switch within the 0.2 sec it gets recognized always only as a shift. Therefore I cannot keymap it to its normal use anymore.
In the config file I added this (it should have already been there, but wasnt, at least in older releases):
set g_nHotasShiftQuickPressTimeLimit 200
but that didnt changed anything.
Does someone has advice?
Thx!
Zwingli
Hi, Zwingi. I agree with Kavelenko as I’ve never had, or heard of, problems with Dx Shift. Have you tried mapping Pinky/DxShift to some other button? I wonder if your Cougar’s button could be the issue.
One more thing. I’m not sure SimHotasShift -1 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 0 0 1 “SIM: DX Shift” is still an active callback. In 4.35
I tried to “separate” FOV and DX, and it didn’t work -
I helped two guys who were having pinky switch problems the other day who both owned Cougars.
Just make sure your call backs in the AL look like this.
You dont lose any functionality of the pinky switch’s normal operations once you set them like so provided you understand that it now takes a short press to operate the pinky switch as before and a HOLD to use it as a DX Shift modifier, I think I said this already.
This function was described as far back as 2010 on the old forum, not sure what version of BMS it was though.
https://www.benchmarksims.org/forum/content.php?153-DirectX-Shifting-Facility
Also refer to pp. 150-151 in the 4.37. BMS Technical Manual.
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When I try to do that, the “launcher” “thinks” it’s supposed to be a shifted key entry and not the Pinky Switch-Button it self. In the “Key Entry”-Window the “DX SHIFT” Button-ICON turns to white instead of accepting the “DX3”.
I just started to use the shift function, because I fly in VR now. Before I used the keybord for the functions I want to use now on HOTAS.
Thats what I was struggle all the time so far :). By the way it’s 4.37 what I am talking about…
Isn’t it possible to change something in a key-file or somewhere else to trick the hole thing?
Thx.
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@Stevie said…
…the Warthog …It has an unused button for the Viper - CMS->dwn - which makes a really great shift button…
But then u loose 3 shifted functions on your HOTAS.
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@Zwingli Try clearing all the DX key binds on the pinky in AL, set the pinky switch opposite the key board control “V” first, then set the DX Shift layer for the pinky switch next, you need both call backs in the same field e.g.
When it works it appears to delete or move the DX3 down into the DX Shift layer as depicted in the image above. I never look inside my keyfile, its all done via the AL for me these days.
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@Stevie @airtex2019 Can’t remember the details but I’ve always referred to it as “in” because in the WH, the comms hat (thumb) has up/down/left/right and then IN so the CMS just had the same functions up/down/left/right or fore/aft/left/right and pushing it down was called “in”
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I found out that I programmed the shift wrong:
SIM: DX Shift DX3; DX3 SHIFT
Now, I made it according to your advice and it works perfectly.
Thanks a lot!
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@Fish44 - Not really. Because CMS-dwn (press down) is not an implemented callback or used in the BMS Viper , using CMS-dwn as a shift key allows EVERY other switch on the stick to have a shift function that can be invoked by HOTAS…because it unused and as such does not interfere with any of the other switches.
Again - have to take care as to the distinction between “dwn” and “aft”…which is blurry in the manuals. And one of the many reason I don’t rely on them much/exclusively.
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@Atlas - yeah…and it gets even more confusing if you start talking across multiple Platforms…
From the pilot’s perspective, this 5-way switch moves fwd/aft/left/right/down - down because that is the direction from the pilot’s eye, and that makes the most sense from the pilot’s perspective. This holds true for both center and side sticks.
But I’ve also heard left/right referred to as inboard/outboard in the case of a center stick - but only for switches mounted on the side of the stick, like our CMS.
Or in the case of the TMS/DMS or Hornet Castle switch “into the display” that is under focus vise left/right - noting that Hornet and AV8 sticks don’t have DMS/TMS switches, and that the Castle is a 5-way with a down position! To add to the confusion, “in” is a problem because we do tell pilots to “castle in” (brevity for “into”), but this instruction requires specific context.
All interesting to me, because I JUST had a conversation with a RL Hornet driver that had been to USAF Test Pilot School and flown the F-16, and he got to talking about some of the HOTAS diffs re: the TMS/DMS implementation and a the Hornet’s Castle! Because of my BMS/FAF experience I was the only other guy in the room that even knew what he was talking about…
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@Stevie I guess it depends on how often you use inboard/outboard