19 minutes ago, dobee51 said:

Any advice for gaming laptop users?

I tried doing this, thought it would be nice to only need one keypress to change views, but sadly if you have a laptop you first have to check the state of the NUM-LOCK key. On my laptop there's no indicator light for that, so you have to cycle the key, which takes several keypresses to activate the NUMBER keys. Instead of one keypress, it ends up costing you three or four.

The keypad also has the Insert key on NUM-0 key, and End key on NUM-1, which are the ones you need to change from the External view to the Drone view. 

I think you need to have num lock off, and then the 0 key will work for drone. Num lock on, then the 0 key will work the view you are trying to set. 

I have been creating icons and layouts for use with a Stream Deck XL. Trying to avoid having to manipulate the mouse over very sensitive controls while in-flight - like the knobs which have inner and outer rings - in my book the worst aspect of a complicated modern sim. Essentially, I am creating my own control panel which has a button for every possible cockpit control that would otherwise require using the mouse. Major segments like engine, radios, and glass panels  will all have their own page (akin to what would be a dedicated area on an AC's panel or area in the cockpit).  This may sound complicated, but all I have to do is press one button on the deck and it is essentially like taking my view to a particular area on the AC panel, or elsewhere in the cockpit. I will still be reading instruments directly from the cockpit, but manipulation of those instruments and functions will now be done physically through real panel buttons which have color codes, icons, or actual photos on them. This is much more natural to me than having to pinpoint and manipulate ridiculously small areas on my monitor with a mouse.

I have been delving into the keyboard commands, using the default keyboard layout. I put myself in a cockpit in the sim, with a view of the panel, and then test the keyboard shortcuts to see how (or IF) the aircraft panel reacts when I activate them . Most seem to respond. Some don't (and I can't figure out why). It has been a challenge to find out which assignments will manipulate specific panel controls that I want to use in my Stream Deck. Much of the time it is due to the fact that the control descriptions, seen in the right column in Options, are not always clear to me in terms of what the function is tied to, or is supposed to do. There are tons of functions that are not assigned at all in the default keyboard. I would like to understand what many of them do, or find an unused function that specifically applies to a function I want to activate, but many of the supplied definitions make no sense at all to me. I have experimented with assigning keys to some of these functions, and then activating them while in the cockpit, to see if I can determine what they do. Usually, nothing seems to happen. But this could also be because the particular aircraft panel I am testing in doesn't have that function.

There are many people offering files showing the default assigned keyboard functions. What is needed is a chart that clearly describes ALL the keyboard functions provided in 2020's Options, whether they come activated on the default keyboard layout, or whether they are simply unassigned controls accompanied by an obtuse description, but available for use for those who want to use them and understand what they do.