Capture VRS switch settings

[texxasal]

Sir,

Please excuse my total lack of experience with this program but I'm an airplane guy and not terribly literate when it comes to software internals. I'll try to outline what the objective is.

The VRS Superbug performs some functions via switches thrown in the VC that I would like to program into my Thrustmaster Warthog controller. I believe it is possible to capture what is being sent when the switch is thrown and turn that into a "keyboard command" that I can then program into the Warthog controller.

My questions are thus:

1. Can FSUIPC capture and log the "output" of switches being operated in the airplane? And if so, how do I go about getting the information captured?

2. Can I then set up an "aircraft specific" profile withing FSUIPC that will translate those switches into keyboard command presses so I can use them in the Warthog controller?

I am told the superbug uses LVAR's for the functions I am trying to convert to keyboard commands, but I am totally ignorant about how to work with LVAR's.

Thanks very much for your wonderful product. I hate to think of what Flight Sim would be without it.

Al Rosenberg

San Antonio, Tx

[Pete Dowson]

Sir

I am not a "sir", just Pete will do.

Please excuse my total lack of experience with this program but I'm an airplane guy and not terribly literate when it comes to software internals.

I won't be telling you anything about software "internals". They are private. :-) You must mean "usage" or "externals", the stuff which is documented for you to use.

The VRS Superbug performs some functions via switches thrown in the VC that I would like to program into my Thrustmaster Warthog controller. I believe it is possible to capture what is being sent when the switch is thrown and turn that into a "keyboard command" that I can then program into the Warthog controller.

That reads as if you want an external controller to have its switch changed when you change the switch in the aircraft panel on screen. I assume you really mean not to "capture" the switch changing on screen, but to operate the screen switch from a real one, or at least do the same job as it does?

1. Can FSUIPC capture and log the "output" of switches being operated in the airplane? And if so, how do I go about getting the information captured?

If you mean can you program a switch on your hardware to operate the aircraft instead of using the switches on screen, then that depends on how the aircraft is coded and what provisions they have made. There are several distinct possibilities:

First, check if the switches just use normal FS controls. If there's no sufficient documentation with the aircraft, try using FSUIPC's logging -- enable Event logging, operate the switrch, and see if it has used an GS control. If so, assign your hardware switch to that control.

Second, check the aircraft documentation to see if they've provided a way of operating the switch without a mouse. Many aircraft allow you to assign key presses. If so, assign jkeypresses and program your hardware switches to send those.

Third, if the aircraft gauges you want to operate were written in C/C++ using the standard Microsoft FS panel SDK, there's a good chance FSUIPC's "mouse macro" facilities might work. Try those. They are documented in the FSUIPC User Guide.

Fourth, if the aircraft uses named local panel variables (L:Vars), and if the gauges are written in XML this is more likely, you might be able to program the switches using macros containing L:Var writes. To find out about a panels L:vars use the Lua plug-in for listing and monitoring L:Vars, provided as an example in the FSUIPC package.

Finally, if none of the above, you would probably have to resort to using something like Luciano Napolitano's "Key2Mouse" program to program a key press to move and press the mouse buttons for you, then program your switches in FSUIPC to send the keystrokes.

Examples of user's applying some of these things can be found in the User Contributions sub-forum.

2. Can I then set up an "aircraft specific" profile withing FSUIPC that will translate those switches into keyboard command presses so I can use them in the Warthog controller?

You can use aircraft specific no matter what else you do. Although better these days to set up Profiles instead.

I am told the superbug uses LVAR's for the functions I am trying to convert to keyboard commands, but I am totally ignorant about how to work with LVAR's.

Best to read up more about them, then, look at other folks' examples, and use the Lua plug-in to find the variables you need. I can answer specific questions but I cannot undertake a tutorial here -- that's what documentation is for, in the first instance.

I see no one, as yet, has entered a User Contribution for the VRS Superbug, so when you succeed it would be nice if you posted your solutions there.

Regards

Pete

[Fransky]

Actually, we were given the LVar names at the VRS forums. I don't know how to use them, or how to assign them to my controllers, but they are there.

[Pete Dowson]

Actually, we were given the LVar names at the VRS forums. I don't know how to use them, or how to assign them to my controllers, but they are there.

You'd need to construct macros for the assorted functions, and assign buttons or whatever to them. It is described in the Advanced User's guide fir FSUIPC, but perhaps more usefully there are several examples of L:Vars being used in this way in the User Contributions subforum.

Regards

Pete