Setting Up a Blip Switch in OFF

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

With the recent discussion concerning the DH2, and with Olham and RamblingSid both asking about setting up a blip switch in OFF, I took another look at the matter. After getting my new JS a while back I had not re-explored this issue myself, and after a bit of experimentation I discovered I can get quite satisfactory results by blipping the mags on and off rather than blipping between 20% and 100% throttle as I had done in the past. Here is a quick vid I shot this AM to show how it works in the sim:

 

OFF Blip Switch Demo Video

 

I simply mapped a toggle to one of my JS buttons that allows me to flip between 'SHIFT+M' (mag off) and 'CTRL+M' (mag on). The only thing you need remember is that to initiate the procedure you will have to hit the 'mag off' twice the first time as OFF simulates dual mags on every aeroplane. After that you simply 'blip' back and forth between 'mag off' and 'mag on'. And an added immersion bonus: just like our RL flyers had to deal with, if you keep the engine blipped off for more that a couple of seconds, you may have a devil of a time restarting it.

 

Now then, if one of our OFF sound gurus could tell us how to disable the rotary engine 'idle down' sound it would be the cat's pajamas.

 

Enjoy!

 

Lou

 

 

 

.

Edited May 1, 2012 by RAF_Louvert

[Olham 164]

Hey, that video even shows what happens with the overdose of petrol and castor oil,

that keep flowing into the non-igniting cylinders - that white smoke looks quite realistic to me.

 

Great stuff, Lou - will set it up like that!

[RamblingSid 3]

Thanks, Lou,

 

I'll check it out in the morning - abt midnight here.

 

Wonder if a blip switch will feature in OFF2 ?

 

Cheers

[Burning Beard 14]

Brilliant Lou, it works perfectly, and adds just another little touch that was missing.

 

Beard

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

BB, very glad to learn it worked for you as well Sir, in particular after you steered me towards the proper way to set up the mixture control lever on my flying kit.

 

.

[RamblingSid 3]

Lou,

 

that works really well, thanks so much.

 

The vapour is a great effect and the

little spurt of flame just after is the cherry

on the icing .

 

I had one slight problem: I couldn't get

my js (saitek cyborg evo force) to toggle

between mags off and mags on and had

to assign two buttons.

(Sorry for the noob q, but how do you

set up the toggle function for a single

button?)

 

I found that if you wait until the backfire

(in the crankcase? lack of fuel?), abt

the count of five, the engine fires up ok.

Wouldn't want to push any further than that.

Above for DH2 only.

Cheers

[Burning Beard 14]

I don't think you can toggle a switch unless it says toggle in the controls menu..... This is just a guess.

 

Beard

[OlPaint01 0]

@RamblingSid

 

You need to download the saitek cyborg evo force ProfileEditor that is bundled with the Joystick Software Package on Saitek's Website

http://www.saitekusa.com/uk/down/drivers.php

Choose the 'Download Software' button. The ProfileEditor has a Macro writing capability to program separate 'press and release' actions on a single JS button.

 

OlPaint

[RamblingSid 3]

I don't think you can toggle a switch unless it says toggle in the controls menu..... This is just a guess.

 

Beard

 

Thanks BB,

 

I'll check it out.

[RamblingSid 3]

@RamblingSid

 

You need to download the saitek cyborg evo force ProfileEditor that is bundled with the Joystick Software Package on Saitek's Website

http://www.saitekusa...own/drivers.php

Choose the 'Download Software' button. The ProfileEditor has a Macro writing capability to program separate 'press and release' actions on a single JS button.

 

OlPaint

 

Thanks, OlPaint,

 

going there now.

 

Cheers

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Sid, the way I have my blip switch set up on my Saitek AV8R-01 stick works very well, and this is how it was done:

 

First, go into your CFS3 control panel, (launch OFF, pick Quick Combat, get onto the field, hit ESC to drop down the menu, then go to Controls). Once there assign a single key command to the 'Magneto Increase' and Magneto Decrease' functions. I used the comma ',' key and the period '.' key respectively, and I deleted the old 'CTRL+M' and 'SHIFT+M' commands for these functions. Once this is done save the changes and exit OFF. Now launch your Saitek Profile Editor and go into your OFF profile, (or create an OFF profile if you don't already have one made). Once there choose the button you wish to have as your blip switch and right-click in the block to get the drop down menu and pick 'New Advanced Command'. Now then, click in the 'Press' box and then hit your period '.' key and you should see it show up twice with a split-second difference between the two, (probably .06 sec). Now go down and left-click in the 'Release' box, then right-click and in the drop down menu hit 'Clear All', and now quickly hit your comma ',' key, again you should see two buttons with a split-second difference between them, (and again likely .06 sec). Save the profile and you are good to go. Your blip switch will now work just like they did in the real WWI kites, which is to say as long as you hold the button down the mag will be off, and when you release the button the mag comes back on, with one caveat. If you start your aeroplane using the complex method, (and one would assume you are if you've gone to the trouble of creating a blip switch), you'll want to only turn on 'one' magneto, which means you only hit the 'Magneto Increase' button once, (remember that OFF has two mags modelled for every kite whether they actually had two in RL or not). If you use the 'E' key to start your plane, (wimp), you will need to hit the "Magneto Decrease' key, (likely twice), before your blip switch will function as it should. This is because your blip switch is only deactivating one mag so it follows that you can only have one turned on in order for everything to work as it should. Oh, and be sure to activate your OFF profile in the Saitek controls elsewise none of the special functions you've set up will work.

 

Easy Peasy! But honestly, if you set it up like this it really does work outstandingly well.

 

 

BTW, here is the current layout of my flying controls, for those who might be interested.

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited May 2, 2012 by RAF_Louvert

[RamblingSid 3]

Thanks very much, Lou,

 

for the blow by blow, most helpful

for an old buffer like me.

 

I downloaded the profile editor per

OLPaint's post (cheers m8) so now

I just have to grasp the nettle.

 

Nice set-up .

 

(PS actually, the 2 button set up works

well, in that it doesn't - if you see what

I mean. Because I have had to use

buttons on the Lhand side of the js,

I have to reach across and under -

very tricky in any kind of "situation",

and another layer of complexity to

deal with .)

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

You are more than welcome RS. And I'm not exactly a spring chicken myself, (turning 58 this year), so I'm also a fan of having unfamiliar things spelled out with a certain amount of detail in order that the ol' grey matter can take hold of it. Here's hoping you get your OFF controls sorted out and tweaked just the way you like.

 

 

.

[OlPaint01 0]

@Rambling

 

I just had a thought...the Saitek ProfileEditor can make any number of profiles to choose from at the launch of the Joystick Driver. I personally have one for OFF, another for ROF, and a third for FE2 in my kit.

 

We could easily set up one profile for OFF rotary engine kites and have separate one for OFF inline engines. The rotary engine profile would have the blip switch programmed on a macro-driven joystick button while the inline profile would not. Very Neat! I will give that some serious thought.

 

OlPaint01

Edited May 13, 2012 by OlPaint01

[HumanDrone 4]

You know, with an X52 I have more than enough buttons, etc, to do this. Now that I have my mixture on a slider on the throttle (thanks, Lou!), this seems eminently do-able.

 

Q1: If I use the Saitek Profile editor, do I just program this and let the others "fall through" to what's already in my Saitek_CFS3_OFF.xca file? I hadn't been using the Saitek software up to this point, & don't want to take the time to "reprogram" everything...

 

Q2: Why do we blip the magnetos again? Just to slow down, mostly for landing, or do you actually blip during a dogfight?

 

Q3: Ranging OFF-topic, I noticed Lou has the TrackIR Recenter button (F12, keyboard default) on his joystick. Is that doen with the Saitek software as well? I don't see how one could do it in the CFS3.xca file, and it'd sure be nice to have.

 

Thanks all!

 

Tom

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Tom, you can thank Burning Beard for the "how to" on setting up a slider control for mixture, (He 'da Man!).

 

To your questions:

 

Q1. I have certain functions set up via the CFS3 controls in OFF, the above mentioned mixture control being one of those. The others, such as the blip switch, work via the OFF profile I have set up in the Saitek Profiler. So I'd say "Yes", you should be able to leave the items you have set up in your CFS3 controls profile and simply add the others you want via an OFF profile in your Saitek software. Works perfectly with my rig.

 

Q2. The blip switch, (and to a much lesser extent the mixture control), were the only ways to control the engine speed in the early rotaries, so "Yes" you would use the blip switch not only to land but in a dogfight as well, which is why it was mounted on the control column in the DH2 and other kites as it needed to be VERY handy for the pilot.

 

Q3. You can assign the F12 key function to whatever button you like when you set up your OFF profile in the Saitek software.

 

Enjoy, and good luck HD!

 

.

[HumanDrone 4]

Thank you, sir, and yes, you're right , it was Burning Beard (poor fellow, the visuals I get with that....).

 

Next time I get some stick time I'm going to set all this up. I was running a job for work last night, thought it would be done by the time I came in from the yard, and it ended up running all night. RAM usage was over 15 GB at one point! Durn thing still wasn't done this morning...

 

Best,

 

Tom

Edited May 4, 2012 by HumanDrone

[Burning Beard 14]

Didn't burn my face, just my beard, but that's another story

 

Beard

[OlPaint01 0]

RAF_Louvert said, "Now then, if one of our OFF sound gurus could tell us how to disable the rotary engine 'idle down' sound it would be the cat's pajamas."

 

@Andy73

 

Your 'Aircraft Sounds Mod' ReadMe.txt mentions that the DH-2 engine sounds are actually configured from the Nieuport 17_Sqd sounds files. My research shows that the 'idle down' sound that RAF_Louvert mentions is actually from "OFF_LeRhone_xshutdown.wav" file in the 'C:\OBDSoftware\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields\aircraft\Nieuport 17_Sqd\sound' folder.

 

With your knowledge and your expertise for producing marvelous modified sound files for OFF, might it be possible for you to create for us a "Blipped Engine - Idle Down" WAV file to replace the default "...xshutdown.wav". One that might include just the sound of a whirling rotary engine with no cylinders firing. The default "...xshutdown.wav" has the loud and overwelming mechanical sounds of a shut-off and spinning-down rotary engine that actually comes to a stop.

 

I found this video on YouTube by HAFUVideo of "Sopwith Camel Rotary Engine Rock 'n' Roll" that IMHO would be the appropriate alternate sound for a blipped idle down rotary engine:

 

I myself do not have the tools required to capture and edit a sound track into an appropriate WAV file. I thought you might consider building one for us. Maybe it would consist of several seconds of "Blipped Engine" sound (as described above) tacked onto the front end of the default '...xshutdown.wav' "Idle Down" sound with an appropriate volume adjustment. This sound file would simulate a pilot holding the Blip_Switch down for short bursts with the accompanying "Blipped Engine" sound. But if he holds down the Blip_Switch for too long, for more than several seconds, he will actually kill the engine with the accompanying "Idling Down" sound. Just a thought...

 

I have already put together the JS button 'Press/Release' macro that RAF_Louvert previously described using the Saitek ProfileEditor. All I need now is an appropriate WAV file to play in responce to the Blip_Switch button action.

 

 

OlPaint01

Edited May 14, 2012 by OlPaint01

[Creaghorn 10]

real blipping is something which is looked at in OFF2

 

 

cheers

creaghorn

[+elephant 36]

real blipping is something which is looked at in OFF2

 

 

cheers

creaghorn

 

Great!

I would like to be able to use my radiator too...

(any info on that, BTW?)

Why those handles were modelled on the Albatros radiator for, after all?

Edited May 14, 2012 by elephant

[Hasse Wind 46]

real blipping is something which is looked at in OFF2

 

 

cheers

creaghorn

 

That's great news! I hope it can be made to work. Having it included would be so much better than any trick to simulate the effect.

[Olham 164]

These must be the longest two weeks of my entire life!

(And they say time flies faster with age! ...)

[OlPaint01 0]

Hey everyone,

 

In the OP Lou asked, "Now then, if one of our OFF sound gurus could tell us how to disable the rotary engine 'idle down' sound it would be the cat's pajamas."

 

Well Andy73 has done just that!! I asked him, while CA was down for the count, if he could build a track to simulate the Blip Switch engine sounds with his editor tools. He took the low rpm tracks and the shutdown tracks and made new shutdown tracks for the LeRhone and the Gnome engines. I have tested them for several days and can report that they seem to be a pretty darn good representation of what I would expect the sounds should be.

 

Maybe we can persuade Andy73 to publish an update of his Aircraft Sounds Mod.

 

OlPaint01

Edited May 23, 2012 by OlPaint01

[+elephant 36]

That will be great!