Introducing Pilot's Deck, a StreamDeck Plugin

[Fragtality]

What about the Profile Switching Feature? 😉

[ark1320]

  On 6/21/2023 at 5:57 PM, Fragtality said:

What about the Profile Switching Feature? 😉

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Yep, that 's what I mean above by setting up Switch Profile buttons. Turns out you can use that to switch to a profile on another Stream Deck or the same one deck you are on.

Any thoughts on why I have to restart FSUIPC7 sometimes after the sim loads?

Al

[Fragtality]

  On 6/21/2023 at 6:28 PM, ark1320 said:

Yep, that 's what I mean above by setting up Switch Profile buttons. Turns out you can use that to switch to a profile on another Stream Deck or the same one deck you are on.

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Ehm, nope^^ That Feature switches Profiles automatically (after configured),  so there is no Need for Elegato's Switch Profile Buttons 😉

 

  On 6/21/2023 at 6:28 PM, ark1320 said:

Any thoughts on why I have to restart FSUIPC7 sometimes after the sim loads?

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No, it just works for me 99% of the Time.

[ark1320]

  On 6/21/2023 at 7:32 PM, Fragtality said:

Ehm, nope^^ That Feature switches Profiles automatically (after configured),  so there is no Need for Elegato's Switch Profile Buttons 😉

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Great feature, but I am having trouble setting it up. I ran ImportProfiles.exe and entered the numbers for my two decks (Steam Deck+ and the 15 Key deck). But it is not clear to me what to do next.

-    Do I need to drag and set up a profile switcher key for each profile (I have 4 total profiles,  two on the + deck, and two on the 15 key deck. I have two planes and have a profile on each deck for each plane.

    Your instructions refer to opening the Property Inspector – not sure what that is or how to open it.

-          I do not see the imported profiles in the normal drop down profile list for either deck.

-          My 4 profiles are named  C414+, HJET+ (for the + deck), and C414 CTL and HJET CTL for the 15 key deck.

-          What goes in the boxes shown in the screenshots?

    I also do not understand the use of "default" below. It seems every box I've pointed to is associated with "default".

   Thanks,

  Al

 

 

 

[Fragtality]

Make sure you follow the Instruction from Top to Bottom!

 

  On 6/22/2023 at 1:33 AM, ark1320 said:

Do I need to drag and set up a profile switcher key for each profile (I have 4 total profiles,  two on the + deck, and two on the 15 key deck. I have two planes and have a profile on each deck for each plane.

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No, it is global/unique. You can have as many of these Buttons as you want, but they all configure the same Thing / have the same Settings.

 

  On 6/22/2023 at 1:33 AM, ark1320 said:

Your instructions refer to opening the Property Inspector – not sure what that is or how to open it.

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The Area in the StreamDeck Software where you configure the Properties (Settings) of a Button. The Area you have in the Screenshots 😉

 

  On 6/22/2023 at 1:33 AM, ark1320 said:

I do not see the imported profiles in the normal drop down profile list for either deck.

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Then you missed a Step or have done it out of order, check the Instructions.

 

  On 6/22/2023 at 1:33 AM, ark1320 said:

       What goes in the boxes shown in the screenshots?

       I also do not understand the use of "default" below. It seems every box I've pointed to is associated with "default".

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Well, the Preparation/Import failed somewhere, so your Profiles are not listed there. When done correctly, your Profiles should appear there as additional Input-Fields (for the respective Deck-Type). In these you enter the FSUIPC Profile's Name it should be mapped to. When that FSUIPC Profile is active, that StreamDeck Profile will be loaded on that Device.

The "Default" Profiles allow you to map any unmatched FSUIPC Profile to a Default StreamDeck Profile (when Use Default is enabled). This Default-Profile is already provided and included, but that can be changed also if needed. When Use Default is not enabled, the Plugin will not switch Profiles when no match is found.
 

[ark1320]

  On 6/22/2023 at 9:56 AM, Fragtality said:

Well, the Preparation/Import failed somewhere, so your Profiles are not listed there

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Tried it again and made some progress but it is still not working. Here is what I have in com.extension.pilotsdeck.sdPlugin\Profiles

The first 4 files are the ones I want to use to switch between the C414 and HJET planes using the SD+ and SD15key decks.

BTW should I see my other Pilot's Deck profiles listed here as well?

Here is what I got when I used the Profile Switcher control:

And I did get the popups asking if I wanted to load the profiles.

 

 

But here is what I see in my overall Profiles list -- note none of the switching profiles show up.

Thanks for all the help!

Al

[Fragtality]

  On 6/22/2023 at 3:51 PM, ark1320 said:

BTW should I see my other Pilot's Deck profiles listed here as well?

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No, only the ones configured/imported for Profile-Switching since these are the only one which the Plugin can switch to 😉

 

  On 6/22/2023 at 3:51 PM, ark1320 said:

But here is what I see in my overall Profiles list -- note none of the switching profiles show up.

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Sure they do - all with "Copy" appended. You missed the Step to remove them. So the Name and GUID are both wrong.

[ark1320]

  On 6/22/2023 at 4:35 PM, Fragtality said:

Sure they do - all with "Copy" appended. You missed the Step to remove them. So the Name and GUID are both wrong.

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Just to clarify, the profiles in the lists above with copy in the name are "duplicates" I had made just to have a backup. The 4 switching profiles have slightly different names then what you set in the list. The SD Plus switching profiles have a + at the end of the name (C414+ and HJET+) to distinguish them from the other similar SD Plus profiles , and the 15Key switching profiles are C414 CTL and HJET CTL with no "S" on the end of the names to distinguish them from the other profiles.

Or have I missed the point again?

I did try loading the C414 but the profiles did not switch.

thanks,

Al

[Fragtality]

Hmm, maybe you done some extra Steps or still missed some Steps?
Judging by the Screenshot the Names known/imported to PilotsDeck do not match the Profiles in the StreamDeck UI.

Please follow the Procedure:
- Disable Profile Switching (via the Button)
- Export your Profiles (for which Switching should be enabled) and Copy them to the mentioned Folder. If you want to Rename them, do so before the Export.
- Delete these exported Profiles (and to be sure their Clones) from the UI. The exported File saves the exact State of the Profile, so nothing is lost.
- Stop the StreamDeck Software
- Run the Importer
- Start the StreamDeck Software
- Enable Profile Switching and allow the Installation of the Profiles
- In the End there should be exactly one Instance of each Profile (with matching Names StreamDeck UI == Profile Switcher)

Also make sure you use the exact FSUIPC Profile Name in the Input Field. Even when the Profile Switching could work, it still won't do anything when the Name you entered can not be not matched to the current FSUIPC Profile. That the Plane/Livery is correctly associated with that FSUIPC Profile is assumed - the Plugin does not switch anything when FSUIPC is not switching anything 😉 

[ark1320]

  On 6/22/2023 at 6:41 PM, Fragtality said:

Enable Profile Switching and allow the Installation of the Profiles

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Followed your instructions but this time I did no get the popup asking to install the profiles. I think I need to delete everything associated with profile switching and then start over. Can you tell me the locations where there is profile switching entries I can delete?

Thanks,

Al

[Fragtality]

Sorry, forgot to add: 
- Untick the "Profiles Installed" Checkbox (after starting the StreamDeck SW again)

[ark1320]

  On 6/23/2023 at 12:07 AM, Fragtality said:

Sorry, forgot to add: 
- Untick the "Profiles Installed" Checkbox (after starting the StreamDeck SW again)

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No problem.

Well, the good news is the switching profiles now show up in the profile drop down lists for the two decks and switching happens.  🙂

Thanks for all the help!!

Al

 

[ark1320]

  On 4/24/2023 at 5:23 PM, Fragtality said:

*Version Bump*

Version 0.7.10

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I'd like to increase the button  "long press" time from 600ms to about 900ms to increase the difference between a normal (short) press and the long press. Is that something I could do?

For example, would changing one or both of these values in the PilotsDeck.dll.config file do that without introducing other problems?

    <add key="waitTicks" value="150" />
    <add key="longPressTicks" value="3" />

Thanks,

Al

[Fragtality]

Theoretically you can change both, but I only recommend changing "longPressTicks". That is the exactly the amount of waitTicks used for the long press and is not used somewhere else. The waitTicks are also used at other locations (not related to Button Handling) and could change the Plugin Behavior in unknown Ways ^^

[ark1320]

  On 6/29/2023 at 9:28 AM, Fragtality said:

I only recommend changing "longPressTicks". That is the exactly the amount of waitTicks used for the long press and is not used somewhere else.

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That's what I was thinking but the Property Inspector shows a long press starts at 600ms and 3 x 150 waitTicks = 450 so I was not sure.   I assume the 150 waitTicks is milliseconds.

I did try setting the longPressTicks to a high value of 10 just as a test to see what would happen, but did not notice an difference in the long press. I restarted the SteamDeck app after making the change, maybe I need to reload the sim or restart the computer. When is the PilotsDeck.dll.config file read?

UPDATE:  I restarted the computer and then did notice the change in the longpress.  If the StreamDeck sw starts when the computer is loaded, then maybe that was the issue.

Thanks,

Al

 

[ark1320]

  On 6/29/2023 at 1:44 PM, ark1320 said:

That's what I was thinking but the Property Inspector shows a long press starts at 600ms and 3 x 150 waitTicks = 450 so I was not sure.  Maybe the "missing" 150ms is to allow for some execution latency.  I assume the 150 waitTicks is milliseconds.

I did try setting the longPressTicks to a high value of 10 just as a test to see what would happen, but did not notice an difference in the long press. I restarted the SteamDeck app after making the change, maybe I need to reload the sim or restart the computer. When is the PilotsDeck.dll.config file read?

UPDATE:  I restarted the computer and then did notice the change in the longpress.  If the StreamDeck sw starts when the computer starts, then maybe that was the issue.

Thanks,

Al

 

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[Fragtality]

  On 6/29/2023 at 1:44 PM, ark1320 said:

That's what I was thinking but the Property Inspector shows a long press starts at 600ms and 3 x 150 waitTicks = 450 so I was not sure.   I assume the 150 waitTicks is milliseconds.

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Oh yeah, sorry - got I myself wrong ^^
It is pollInterval x longPressTicks = Duration for Long (Default 200ms x 3 = 600ms)
 

 

  On 6/29/2023 at 1:44 PM, ark1320 said:

I did try setting the longPressTicks to a high value of 10 just as a test to see what would happen, but did not notice an difference in the long press. I restarted the SteamDeck app after making the change, maybe I need to reload the sim or restart the computer. When is the PilotsDeck.dll.config file read?

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Everytime the Plugin starts - so stopping the StreamDeck Software and starting it again should be enough

[ark1320]

Somehow one of my profiles has become associated with the MSFS program so as soon as the sim begins to load StreamDeck switches to that profile even though when I click on that profile in the StreamDeck user interface window which associates a profile with an application, the application field shows None.  Do you happen to know where that profile - application association is stored in the StreamDeck software or have an idea on how I can remove this association?

Thanks,

Al

[Fragtality]

Have you enabled Profile Switching?
Check the Profile Switcher Action ... is "Enabled" checked?
If so: is "Use Default" checked?
If so: Does that Profile happen to be one of the Default Profiles that came with the Plugin?

[ark1320]

Thank you for your reply.

I do use profile switching, but Use Default is not selected. In addition for testing I have disabled FSUIPC7.exe and FSUIPC7.ini by renaming these files, so I would think that would eliminate a profile switching problem.

I think in the past I did associate the problem profile with MSFS, a mistake, and then tried to undo that by assigning the profile to None, but apparently the MSFS association still exists somewhere.

Profile switching does work correctly in that if FSUIPC7 is enabled, eventually the correct profile is loaded. I'm just trying to determine why the unwanted profile loads at all  in place of my default profile.

Al

[ark1320]

  Maybe I need to completely undo the profile switching and then go through the complete process of setting that up again.

Al

[Fragtality]

  On 8/12/2023 at 9:22 PM, ark1320 said:

In addition for testing I have disabled FSUIPC7.exe and FSUIPC7.ini by renaming these files, so I would think that would eliminate a profile switching problem.

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What should that have helped? It effectively kills the whole Functionality of the Plugin.

 

  On 8/12/2023 at 9:22 PM, ark1320 said:

I think in the past I did associate the problem profile with MSFS, a mistake, and then tried to undo that by assigning the profile to None, but apparently the MSFS association still exists somewhere.

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Don't know ... never used that. Does not make Sense for me for a Flightsim (with different Planes and therefore Profiles) - the Reason I build in the Profile Switching Feature ^^

 

  On 8/12/2023 at 9:22 PM, ark1320 said:

Profile switching does work correctly in that if FSUIPC7 is enabled, eventually the correct profile is loaded. I'm just trying to determine why the unwanted profile loads at all  in place of my default profile.

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What does "eventually" mean? The Profile Switching should happen when the Session is ready and the current FSUIPC Profile matches an associated StreamDeck profile (in the Profile Switcher Action)

[Fragtality]

  On 8/12/2023 at 9:42 PM, ark1320 said:

  Maybe I need to completely undo the profile switching and then go through the complete process of setting that up again.

Al

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Don't forget to save the Profiles before that. The Profiles are just imported from the \Profiles Subfolder, but they are not updated if you change them afterwards in the StreamDeck Software.

[ark1320]

  On 8/12/2023 at 9:44 PM, Fragtality said:

What does "eventually" mean? The Profile Switching should happen when the Session is ready and the current FSUIPC Profile matches an associated StreamDeck profile (in the Profile Switcher Action)

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Yes, this seems to work. I load my flights directly onto the runway and that is when the correct profile loads.  But my default profile, which used to be loaded until that time, only loads for a short time before being replaced by the unwanted profile.

 

  On 8/12/2023 at 9:44 PM, Fragtality said:

What should that have helped? It effectively kills the whole Functionality of the Plugin.

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The point is I'm trying to isolate the problem to the plugin or to a StreamDeck bug of some kind.

Al

[ark1320]

 Figured it out -- silly mistake on my part. I misinterpreted the symbol StreamDeck uses to indicate a profile is assigned to MSFS. But strangely, when I clicked on that profile None was indicated as far as an assigned application is concerned. I wonder if there might be a conflict between a profile named C414+ (that was not assigned and was the one I wanted to use) and one named C414 Plus which somehow had been assigned to MSFS?

Al