Help with assigning controls in X-Plane 11

[Jimm 437]

I'm a hardware junkie. (I have a problem, and I can admit it...) :smile:

 

I have a PFC Cirrus II yoke console, retrofitted with a pair of Leo Bodnar usb boards, that has enough switches to run all major functions on a twin. Add to that a Saitek trim wheel (which has found new life with X-Plane, works really well), a Saitek TPM for aircraft with vernier controls, an few extra Saitek TQ's to place for various oddball throttle configs, a Saitek switch panel to use when I pull the console out to fly with a stick, a X-55 TQ (the stick died awhile back) to use for left hand throttles, some homemade panels with dual concentric rotary switches, and lets see... I've likely forgotten a bit.

 

Depending on the aircraft I'm flying, I can use my controls (and a wood framework of 2X4's and 1x4's) to emulate near accurate control placement of many different cockpit styles. I still use some buttons and knobs in the cockpit, but I absolutely love being able to reach for hardware switches and buttons.

I was wondering when we'd get a response from the home cockpit builders.

 

Jokes aside, yes I do get the need for button and switch assignments for panels and that is legit in it's own right.  I should have clarified my remarks, by stating that for those who use all-in-one controllers (no panels), there has to be some compromise on what is important to assign.  We only have so many buttons so the reliance on assigning everything to everything is not ideal.  My argument of sorts is about flying in the 3D cockpit and getting familiar with where everything is, just like you would in a real cockpit or flightdeck.  Sure, it's convenient to have those buttons ready to press when needed, but maybe it's just me and the old school attitude that you know where all your controls are and use them in place.

[N1125Y 22]

No offense to those who are asking about button assignments but isn't the whole point of flying a simulator to learn where all of the controls are and making the adjustments with the knobs and switches?  Assigning buttons to do all of the work, kinda takes the fun (and learning) out of the sim and turning it into a game, rather than a great learning tool as it is.  Changing your view to flip switches or turn knobs teaches the pilot how to multitask, while controlling the plane.  The most I have configured are the quick camera views and a couple of button assignments, such as toe brakes and an autopilot toggle.

..no offense at al,l but keyboard and mouse clicking, well for this I have an Excel spreadsheet or my Word Processors, I think Keyboard and mouse clicking belong to the past , this is not a game but a simulator mean it need to mimic the RW. I'm a RW Student Pilot, did not see any Keyboard or Mouse in my Cockpit (other than my Tablet) immersive experience can be achieved only when the desire level of realize has been achieved, that is the reason why we are investing so much $$$ in Hardware that will interface with the Sim 

 

Cheers  

 

Yair

Nope. It is important for me to have key commands on my stick. I.e trim and autopilot just like IRL.

++++1

[Jimm 437]

..no offense at al,l but keyboard and mouse clicking, well for this I have an Excel spreadsheet or my Word Processors, I think Keyboard and mouse clicking belong to the past , this is not a game but a simulator mean it need to mimic the RW. I'm a RW Student Pilot, did not see any Keyboard or Mouse in my Cockpit (other than my Tablet) immersive experience can be achieved only when the desire level of realize has been achieved, that is the reason why we are investing so much $$$ in Hardware that will interface with the Sim 

 

Cheers  

 

Yair

Well if we are to progress, by the way you are talking, then VR should be the main staple of home flight simulation, correct?

[Paraffin 2,197]

..no offense at al,l but keyboard and mouse clicking, well for this I have an Excel spreadsheet or my Word Processors, I think Keyboard and mouse clicking belong to the past , this is not a game but a simulator mean it need to mimic the RW. I'm a RW Student Pilot, did not see any Keyboard or Mouse in my Cockpit (other than my Tablet) immersive experience can be achieved only when the desire level of realize has been achieved, that is the reason why we are investing so much $$$ in Hardware that will interface with the Sim 

 

The problem here is that a general purpose civilian flight sim can't cater to just a small set of aircraft, like typical student pilot trainers. It has to be able to handle everything from complex airliners to combat jets, helicopters, and vintage aircraft like DC-3's and DC-6's. The advantage of mouse clicking your way around a 3D cockpit is that it can handle all those different types of aircraft in the most realistic way possible, by modeling individual switches that can be very different from one aircraft to another.

 

X-Plane does include a long list of generic commands that can apply to different aircraft, but when it comes to the small details like cabin lights (especially ones on dimmers that would use up a controller axis), mouse clicks handle that situation well enough.

[N1125Y 22]

Trim and autopilot, I can understand and you are correct in assigning commands to buttons and switches on a yoke to mimic real life, but when it comes to non-essential commands, it's not really necessary.

..not sure what is essential or what is, LR think that flying Space Shuttle and assigning buttons  to fly Blip is more essential than to assign some straight forward buttons for an alternator, they got tons of weird buttons that I'm sure only few simmers even understand what they are for, but not being able to set up Fuel Selector to a Twin Engine AC , or juts turning the Cabin lights when you get to your AC at night which is what you do in RW ..sorry, I'm not sure I understand the concept, IMHO this is ridiculous ...

 

Yair

[Paraffin 2,197]

Well if we are to progress, by the way you are talking, then VR should be the main staple of home flight simulation, correct?

 

Only after we get good haptic controllers for our hands, so we can reach out and feel a panel switch or knob with our fingers, and then twist it in the VR environment. We're getting there, but I think that's a few years away still.

 

Meanwhile HOTAS and home cockpit panels where you can touch enough switches with a brick on your face, and use the mouse when you run out of physical switches, will have to be the bridge to that world.  :smile:

[Jimm 437]

 

 

where you can touch enough switches with a brick on your face

Oh, classic! 

[N1125Y 22]

If you mean the interior lighting, that's for two reasons. First, because every aircraft has a different interior lighting setup. Where there is more than one light, it allows separate lights to be controlled individually with the 3D switches in the cabin like the 3 dome lights in the default C172. The second reason is that many of these cabin lights are on dimmer switches (also like the C172), which requires turning a knob with the mouse and can't be assigned to an individual on/off switch. 

 

I know it's a little annoying sometimes. As with instrument lighting (which is also usually variable), it takes me some extra time to set up the cockpit the way I want it. But otherwise it would take up too many analog axis assignments if every individual light was assigned to a controller axis.

 

I've been able to assign every essential flight command to my HOTAS rig, and the rest are switches I don't need to touch with the mouse until I'm in stable flight and can spare the time for mousing. 

 

The only complaint I have about X-Plane's controller assignments is that, ideally, I should be able to assign the same controller switch to different functions for different aircraft models (i.e. joystick prefs stored in each plane folder). There are some commands like helicopter force trim release or autopilot assignments that are handled differently by different aircraft plugins, and that requires assigning too many extra switches that do the same thing. I know there is a plugin somewhere that can do this, and I can also do it with different configurations in the TARGET software I use for my HOTAS rig. But it should be a feature in the basic sim. 

..again, LR assigned and enable so many option ,so it is only a matter of setting the priorities ..... Alternators Cabin Lights Control over your Fuel Tank, & Cowl Flaps are very elementary and basic no need a rocket science to understand this, this suppose to be State of The Art (of the shelve) Simulator ...Cabin/ Dome Lights well, I got them in FSX, you assing to a button on your Saitek TQ and they are working in 99.9% of the A/C ... that is not so hard ..... I have night vision button ...but not a Dome light ...ha...ha...ha ,come on ,,,give me a break, sorry, this is a jock .... 

 

Cheers

 

Yair        

What if, in theory, you make a copy of your config file and then modify the new one to accept new assignments based off of what aircraft you are flying?  Sounds absurd, but seems legit.

.that is LR job and responsibilities not mine, when was the last time you took your new Toyota ECM Board and configured it so you can turn your Flood Lights, lol 

I'm here to fly not exercise my tech skills ..lol

 

Yair    

Well if we are to progress, by the way you are talking, then VR should be the main staple of home flight simulation, correct?

..well, you are probably right, but this is the future and I'm trying to take off with a Twin Engine puppy in the present, and the only way I can can accomplish the check list is by using Mouse and Keyboard to (get my Alternator and Fuel Selector setup ) technology that is from the PAST .. it is more than annoying it is pathetic   ...

 

Yair

[trevg 21]

Twin Engine puppy in the present, and the only way I can can accomplish the check list is by using Mouse and Keyboard to (get my Alternator and Fuel Selector setup ) technology that is from the PAST .. it is more than annoying it is pathetic   ...

 

i use my buttons for my alternators on my GoFlight equipment, Fuel selectors to buttons on my CH throttle and light switches etc on my GoFlight switch panels. Pitch on my Ch Yoke buttons.

Not annoying at all. 

[Longranger 148]

 in FSX, you assing to a button on your Saitek TQ and they are working in 99.9% of the A/C ... that is not so hard ..... I have night vision button ...but not a Dome light ...ha...ha...ha ,come on ,,,give me a break, sorry, this is a jock ....

Well, the difference is: IIn many cases the dome lights can be dimmed, as well as many other lights.  So if the plane expects a dimmable light it would mean that it needs its own axis. So it gets very difficult to offer default controls for every such situation. It can still be done.It might take a few lines of LUA code.

An aircraft designer can change the type of control, that he wants and can even offer its own custom controls. In such cases you recognize why plug-ins like X-assign were developped. But you first have to configure your controller for a new plane.

 

But try to dim a light in the FSX. It doesn´t rerally simulate these lights, instead it can only switch through an array of light textures. X-Plane on the other hand can even direct some map lights to the position that you want.

 

It is a well known problem: If you come to X-Plane and expect a super FSX: It doesn´t work this way! In a lot of cases the controls and options have a totally different history and background. You can try to work around some of these differences for a small period of time. But in the long run you will simply have to learn the real X-Plane controls, and which setup you really want to use. They simpy have a different background.

[WR269 367]

 

 

I still think it would be ideal if X-Plane saved controller prefs separately for each aircraft model instead of a single fixed pref file. Or maybe a basic main pref file (so as not to confuse newbies) and then a set of custom commands for individual a/c models.

 

I use X-Assign for exactly that. It works really well, and you can save up to 3 profiles per single aircraft model.

[Paraffin 2,197]

Thanks Will, that was the name of the plugin I knew was out there, but couldn't remember the name! 

 

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/12551-x-assign-linmacwin3264/

 

It looks like there might be some problems assigning commands that are added by plugins, which is where my main gripes originate. For example, two different helicopters having separate assignments for force trim release, controlled by their respective plugins. But there's a workaround mentioned on that page, so I'll give it a shot.

[Jimmy RFR 406]

I don't think I'd of survived crossing over to X-Plane while being a hardware junkie if it weren't for X-Assign. But I still think it would be wonderful for XP11 to this by default. Potentially easy too, since the sim is already writing all the button assignments to a pref file. If you set it in the main screen before you load a flight, the commands could be general, but if you open up the assignment page while an aircraft is loaded, you could choose to overwrite the general assignments, or save the current assignments to the aircraft folder.

 

Seriously, it makes so much sense that it's almost surprising that they haven't implemented this.

[N1125Y 22]

..does anyone can tell me where to find the "Alternator" command to assign the Alternators , does XP11 use different name to the Alternator ?  

Tnx

[Slayer 190]

In XP 11 there is a search box at the top so you don't have to scroll through lists and lists of controls.

 

I also saw in some of the files an FSX crossover profile to give you the same shortcuts as FSX used. Haven't tinkered with it yet