Experimental DCS Plugin ready for testing

why in hooks? my Export.lua is in DCSopenbeta/Scripts/ but nothing xsim related in hooks

OH,....

that's definitely worth investigating! I will have to install the openbeta to reproduce the bug.

There are two plugins for DCS:

There's the original plugin by @value1 . And there's my plugin.

I called my plugin "experimental", because I wanted to try out a few things and wanted to clearly distiguish it from the original plugin. "Alternative plugin" would probably have been the better name

The original plugin (not mine!) uses Export.lua in the scripts folder. That's a simple and OK method if you are using only a single DCS add-on, but since many DCS users have multiple add-ons running, that file might already be in use by another add-on. It is possible to use that one file for multiple add-ons, but integrating two scripts into one is very prone to error unless you know at least a little Lua programming.

My plugin uses its own independent script which no longer interferes with any other add-ons. This script resides in...

• Stable branch: ".../SavedGames/DCS/Scripts/Hooks"

• Open beta branch: ".../SavedGames/DCS.openbeta/Scripts/Hooks"

...and if you patched DCS via the plugin manager, it should have created those folders for you.


Here's where things sometimes go wrong:

• If you had the original plugin installed, unpatch DCS before you re-patch it using the experimental plugin. You can keep both plugins installed in SimTools, but you should only ever have one of them patch DCS.
• During plugin installation you are asked to specify a DCS folder. This must be "[username]/SavedGames/DCS...." (where you have all your user data), NOT the DCS game folder(where you installed the game).

I will install the openbeta branch trying to reproduce the bug, but you please check that you have the plugin installed properly and that DCS is patched.

Cheers,....

Drity :-D

So, I have installed the open beta branch (btw, nice new clouds!!) and it seems to work just fine. I would've been very surprised if that update had broken the export script.



But no worries, if you are willing to check a few points for me, we will 100% get this working. I promise.

1st point:
Can you please do the patching process again and then check if there is an export script in "...[username]\Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\Scripts\Hooks". Even better if you could post a screenshot of that folder.

Has anyone managed to get the Spitfire working? I can get the IAS figures in GameDash but nothing for the axes?

Just noticed that the default P51 gives the same thing, so nothing in the Output Testing Virtual Axis. I also have scripts for DCS-BIOS and SimShaker installed, so thought that may be part of the problem. I removed them from the Scripts directory and stopped DCSBios but no change...

The more I look at it (and I have been working on this all day ) the more I can see the plugin installation is not working properly. This in spite of the patch saying it has done so successfully. I cannot see the DCSx graphic (I can see the other patches like MSFS and X-Plane) and I cannot see the IAS, AOA etc in the Tunung Centre.
The SimTools Hook lua is in scripts/hooks folder but the Export.lua in Scripts contains no reference to it at all, only to Simshaker and DCSBios.
Any ideas at this stage will be gratefully accepted!

The Export.lua is not relevant for this plugin anymore. Only the file in the Hooks folder.

But no worries, if you are willing to check a few points for me, we will 100% get this working. I promise.

1st point:
Can you please do the patching process again and then check if there is an export script in "...[username]\Saved Games\DCS(.openbeta)\Scripts\Hooks". Even better if you could post a screenshot of that folder.

Do you have DCS or DCS.openbeta installed? Or both?

Also, can you check in "...[username]\Saved Games\DCS(.openbeta)\Logs\DCS.log" if you find the following entry:
"INFO Starting motion data export. Export script v0.10"

If that log file is already full to the extent that you can barely find anything, then just delete the content and next time youstart DCS it will re-populate the log file.

Many thanks Dirty!
This is what the Game Manager looks like after I have patched the game (plugin zip file dropped into Plugin Updater, then game patched using Game Manager.
I only have one version of DCSWorld being the beta.
These are the files in the Hooks folder:


This is the successfully patched game screenshot:


Now, the dcs.log file did NOT have "INFO Starting motion data export. Export script v0.10" in it.

Much appreciate your having a look!

@Dirty just cleared the log file and ran DCS again. Lo and behold, something happening now..!


I then also rechecked the log file and found this line:
"2021-12-30 20:22:01.041 INFO SimTools: Starting motion data export. Export script v0.10"
I still cannot see the proper descriptions or data for Extra 1,2,and 3 and the logo still does not appear, so there may yet be something amiss. Progress however!

Also very happy to report that the basic data seems to be coming through for the Spitfire too!

Here's another interesting one I thought I could share; here we have SimTools, the DCS Spitfire, DCS Bios and Simshaker all running with data still coming through to the Simtools tuning center.
But not for the extras...?
( I am particularly interested in IAS and RPM on the Spitfire, if I can get them running I can get rid of DCS Bios as I only use it for speed force feedback on the stick and rudders now and would like to run wind on a combination of IAS and RPM or just RPM.)

Ahhhh,... we're making progress

Deleting the log file should not have made a difference, but I mentioned it in case you had trouble finding the line. If that INFO message shows in DSC.log, then at least the export script is running

IIRC, having no data in the Extra 1-3 slots (slot_GE_07 ...08 ...09) is normal. By default, only the six "main" slots are filled. Check the export script to see details here:


You can fill the other slots with any data you like. If you like IAS, you can see that the variable "IAS" is assigned a value in this section of the export script:

All you have to do is put that variable in one of the slots like so:


RPM is available for export somewhere as well,... I think it is aircraft specific data, so you will have to know the argument number to ask for if you want RPM returned.

I think it was @MarkusB or @Zed who wrote a function for "Windiness" and I think it contained the aircraft RPM. Maybe one of them can post here how to get RPM.

I think I remember that this "Windiness()" function even included the canopy-value so that it closely represented how much wind is present in the cockpit.... very nice to play around with back then!

Many thanks @Dirty ! Also thank you for the great work and support on this plugin!
I will try that and report back here on how that goes.
I am doing a pneumatic GForce seat, so I suspect I only need the accelerations for that, not roll, pitch or yaw?
Am I correct in assuming that the accelerations translate as follows:
Longitudinal to surge,
Vertical to heave and
Lateral to sway?
So that if for example the aircraft pitches forward (bunts) and you experience negative g it equates to negative vertical acceleration? Does one then still need the Pitch data when using your plugin?

If you have a pitch channel, then it "should" display pitch rate (after a highpass filter and two lowpass filters) as well as longitudinal acceleration (after 3rd order LP filter). These two signals are in superposition. Both are displayed. That's the theory at least....

In the end, play around and try stuff out!

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are two functions I found that may give you RPM:

• local RPM = LoGetAircraftDrawArgumentValue(x)

...or...

• MainPanel = GetDevice(0)
  local RPM = MainPanel:get_argument_value(x)

You will have to know the value of x, but there are only ~100 values,.... you may give this a try. See if you can find it.

Thanks again @Dirty!
Will do and will report back here on findings.

Hi @Dirty, another day trying various options but not getting the RPM.
The value for the Spitfire RPM is 37 from other posts by @Zed
As soon as there is an error in the LUA code it does not provide any feedback. Thus I could see that
"local RPM = LoGetAircraftDrawArgumentValue(37)" does not work, neither does
"MainPanel = GetDevice(0)
local RPM = MainPanel:get_argument_value(37)"





This is the code currently. I just dont know how it should be inserted or whether the number is correct.
@Zed would appreciate some input if you can?

Sorry, my mistake

Try "local RPM = Export.LoGetAircraftDrawArgumentValue(37)". You need this "Export" prefix, because the script calls that function from outside the Export.lua.

That should do it. I can't try it out myself, I'm drunk on a new years party

Happy new year!!!!