And All I want to do now is fly ..
But tonight , I will park my Black "4" ass down , take a sip of that beer ... Ah , This one
And tell you the story of the Saitek Pz55 Switch Panel ... me .. CloD and the greatest fighter aircraft in the world (bf 109) .
So , Yes , it is going to be a long post , and yes , I would probably wonder off topic here and there , but to those of you who will endure , I promise a practical guide of the above for the above ( Ha , the poetry of Pilots ) .
About a month ago , I have come to a shocking discovery .
As many discoveries go , this was a last minute discovery .
My Staffelkapitän couldn't make a campaign , and I was more or less abducted to the Stab's tent to finds out on a moment's notice that I will be leading the entire Staffle ! .
But that was not the earry discovery .
The discovery was that me and my X55 Rhino have run out of switches .
It was 2 minutes to takeoff , and Operations Offizier Boyezee , that was the designated Ground Controller for this mission asked me to dedicate another button on my whisper list for the Stab ... a minute and a half before takeoff I was stairing at my x55 which was in turn , stairing at me as I have realized , I have no key , switch , button or nob to spair .
A minute before takeoff , we were already called in , I looked at my keyboard and decided to use "G" for "Ground Control" ...
I guess most of you know the rest ( those who don't - should look up what is the default CloD action for the "G" key ) .
After this horrific mission - I have tried to reset several switches on my Rhino , just to find out - that during each flight , something in my key combination closes both Rads in an engagement .
It was obvious to me that something needs to be done ...
I was scanning the web for solution one night , when I saw this :
Its beauty was its simplicity - No elaborate buttons or slide bars , just some switches a nob and a lever .
I fell in love instantly .
Price tag was as expected painful , and the chances that Galy would ever authorize this looked as slim as me shooting down Robo ( One day man , One glorious day ) .
I decided to apply some pressure , and after the not surprising first "No" brought the mater up in any conversation ....
Then a miracle happened , and my youngest (Lucas ) broke my oldest daughter's iPhone ...
The dudes in the Apple Store pulled a quick one and managed to get Galy to by our pressure daughter a brand new iPhone 6 ..
It cost - 4K ( Shekels gentleman ) .
It was the best news ever , In a short rant I managed to secure both the Saitek Pz55 Switch Panel and the DCS: M-2000C by RAZBAM .
After 3 failed attempts , I finally found someone in ebay that ships to my country and it arrived 2 days ago ...
I couldn't wait , and on the same night , I asked Noga to help me and we installed in just under my screen as seen above .
The plan was simple - move Magneto switch , Landing Gear switch , Propeller Pitch automation button and master arms to the panel and free more switches on the x55 for my duties for the Rich .
I installed the drivers from the CDROM that arrived with the panel , connected the USB cable and fired up CloD , stupidly expecting in my thick skull that everything would work together ...
and - Nothing , CloD did not register ANT switch movement , lever position or nob switch .
Dismayed I scanned the Internet fearing the worst ( confronting Galy ) when I saw This:
I was shocked , despaired I opened up XFS just to see if as promised , it would work there .. It didn'tThis thing works only with FSX, and is NOT programmable.
http://www.saitek.com/UK/prod/pfpanel.htm
Don't get it thinking it is a keyboard emulator, like I did. It is certainly not, and will not work with ANYTHING other than FSX. There are, I think, some work around patches for FS9 and maybe X-plane, but won't work with IL-2, or anything else out there.
Considering selling it, really really disappointed in Saitek and the buyer beware - you should have known better - response. And right they are, so don't be like me.
Now trying to decide if I even want to keep the damn thing and fly with FSX.
Ripcord
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But I am Blue , that means I am methodical , and as stubborn as a mule .
It was late at night , but at that point , I thought that with my background in technology and sheer will , I will find something ...
Well I did .
It turns out that the guys in DCS , specifically in ED forums are more stubborn and thickheaded then me .
There is a whole thread dedicated to this issue :
http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p ... ost2293326
It appears as if someone from DCS couldn't let thing lye and wrote a programmable software specifically for this hardware .
The software is free and open - source :
http://sourceforge.net/projects/flightpanels/
Thing is , that software is old , it was written when DCS was just beginning its current reincarnation , and it supports only a handful of aircrafts , non of which are of ANY use for me ( A-10 ; Huey ; TF51D ; Mig 21 ) .
Since it was my only lead , and targets a Sim I am flying - I decided to go for it .
The software requires (other then the Flightpanels software itself ) a component called DCS Bios .
I got busy downloading , reading the entire user manual , and installing the thing .
HOLD ON - Do NOT Do what I did - Don't go downloading the software and the DCS Bios quite yet , Read through , I promise you It's worth it .
Reading through the manual , I found out that other then already mentioned above DCS modules the software also supports a "non" configuration .
The non configuration is a key board emulater that does NOT use DCS-BIOS or the Strike driver and software but rather the Human Interface Windows driver .
Granted - it was not designed originally for Windows 10 , but it looked generic as it can be - with a clear path for CloD .
I decided to install the software (which essentially means unzipping an archive and lining one executable ) and running it .
I figured that if it would run on a Windows Notepad - it would run on anything .
So , I entered the software and dedicated Gear Down to "D" and Gear Up to "U" , I dedicated the nob "0" to "off "A" for R (Right Magneto - AKA M1) "B" for L (Left Magneto - AKA M2) and "C" for Both/All (AKA M1+2) and "I" for "Start" .. and a couple of other switches ...
I then opened a Notepad and began turning the nob .
Success .
With a Joy in my heart , I opened CloD and assigned the relevant keys .... It took me a second or two to remember how crappy CloD controls are and much much longer to find out that "Engine Start" or "Ignition" or "Starup" are called "Toggle Selected Engine(s)" in CloD .
The horrific truth is that the controls in CloD are Crappy that Magnetos cannot be set that way .
For Tommies , it is much easier as there are settings for "Magneto 1 on" and "Magneto 1 Off" but for us Huns , we only have the "Magneto Next position" and "Magneto Previous Position" , which is totally incompatible with the realistic design of the switch panel .
Well I have set "0" for "Toggle Magneto previouse Position" and "C" for "Toggle Magneto Next position" , I figured I would fiddle around with this a little , all this time blind to the one true thing that would really bite me in the ass ...
When I was done I entered CloD , Too afraid to open TS , and entered a bf-109 in DangerDogs .
I had to fiddle around with the magneto switch some , but it seem to work .
I slowly taxied to the Runway in Coquelles and started my takeoff run , thinking that the bulk of it all is behind me ... How wrong was I ...
As I rotated my heart filled with joy , and then , I did what any pilot would do , in the cockpit or next to his PC , I held my hand out and lifted the liver handle for the Landing gear ... The blue text in the upper corner of my screen said "Landing gear - " , My hear sunk .. There is no middle position for the landing gear lever and the Crappy CloD control setting that provided a successful early warning system for many things I encountered did nothing to prepare me for that .
I decided to pull the lever down and up again ... No Joy - The blue text informed me "Landing Gear Down" .
I discussed the matter with Adjutant Falcon and Geschwaderkommodore Pitti hoping for a solution - but was only suggested to use the same methodology as I have used In the Magneto settings - "Toggle next Landing Gear Position" .
I don't know about you , but even tough it worked (Up for Toggle ) It was NOT good enough for me ...
I really wanted the entire use of my landing gear lever .
As they were leaving Falcon said - "Set the software for a sequence , so if "U" is for up , program the software to put "U" ... and then another "U" .
I began reading the manual that suggested to manually edit the settings file to send a combination ...
No Joy - Sending U + U did nothing ... What I needed is a sequence ....
Well in the above mentioned ED forum thread - there was announcement that the software now supports timed sequence - Instead of clicking a position for assignment - Right click the setting and select "Sequence" , Then provide the sequence and the time spacing - and save .
I have set Both Magnetos position to the sequence of (A .. half a second .. B .. half a second .. C ) and the Gear up position to ( U .. One Second U ) Gear Down to (D .. One Second .. D ) , and finally magnetos off to B.. half a second ..A.. half a second ..0) ....
It was quarter past one in the morning and I was extremely tiered , but could not wait to sit in my bird ...
Turned the nob to Magnetos both position and watched them go from off to M1 .. M2 .. M1+2 .
With my heart pounding I taxied to the runway ... lined up and pushed full throttle ..
As I have rotated - I pulled the gear lever to the "up" position ..
I cannot explain the joy I felt as gear went from down , to neutral to up ...
It works ... and it works well and it works well in CloD , and it works well in CloD with the bf-109 .
Is it perfect ? - No , there are concessions you will have to do , but they are minor ... and nothing is perfect ( except that feeling at quarter past one in the morning ) .
Is it over - Hell no , I still want to configure the LED indicators on the panel ( yes , there is a way ) , and I haven't even tried DCS yet ...
So much to do ... yet .
Shortcomings :
One more software that needs to be open before I fire up CloD .
In DCS , it requires different profile per each module you fly .
And there is no way around it - you have to configure things .
Is it worth it ? the money , the effort ,arguing with Galy ....
Hell Yeah !!!!