DCS Universal Controls?

[Stormy801]

Does anyone know if there is a way to program controls/axis/buttons ONCE and have it apply to all airframes? Drives me bonkers.

[Freak]

I remember reading about a tool that does this but I can’t find it now

[chipwich]

JoystickProfiler allows you to do this, although it can become a rabbit hole itself. It would be easy if all modules adhered to the same input naming and assignment convention, allowing for specific functions to be the exception. But the plethora of aircraft types created by multiple developers over decades dictates that we have anything but a standard.

JoystickProfiler attempts to mitigate this, but as I said, keeping it and your profiles up to date is a chore in itself. At worst, it allows you to backup your profiles. Best use their Discord for support. I’ve recently updated mine but not up to speed with all of the changes since March ‘21.

JoystickProfiler (JoyPro) for DCS

What this is: a community developed free utility that allows a DCS user to create a single controller profile and push it to all modules, greatly simplifying the process of either setting up as a new user or adding/replacing hardware flight controls. The base control profile can be as simple or detailed as desired. This utility is under development, so use at your own risk. Please read the associated documentation, watch the videos, and backup your <Windows Profile>\Saved Games<DCS>\Config\I…

[JediMaster]

The fact that so many planes do things differently hurts that.
MiG-21 (and maybe older MiGs?) has the gear up/down/middle thing while others have just up/down.
Some have only 2 flap positions, others have 3 or more.

Of course helos throw it all out the door! Then there’s the WWII birds…

I wish it was practical beyond the FC3 planes, but instead it seems like it’s more about users mapping their controls to the plane the way they fly.

[PaulRix]

At the very least, pitch, roll, yaw and throttle should be standard.

[komemiute]

Except for the collective of helicopters…

[Stormy801]

@JediMaster

The fact that so many planes do things differently hurts that.
MiG-21 (and maybe older MiGs?) has the gear up/down/middle thing while others have just up/down.
Some have only 2 flap positions, others have 3 or more.

This is what drives me absolutely bonkers. Every other sim has dedicated assignments for commonly used features like flight controls and certain systems. I can understand needing some customization for systems, but FFS, flight controls and throttle? How about generic radar and weapon assignments? give me a break.

@chipwich

JoystickProfiler allows you to do this

I’ll give it a try. thanks

[Torc]

I always thought the way they should have done it is copied from the old “General” control profile… so you can still customize it per module but you can get your basic control set up without having to unbind rudder from the joystick, the trigger being button 6 rather than button 1 etc.

[Stormy801]

Exactly!

[UncleZam]

This is interesting topic, because last year I tried to create a configuration utility with collaborative filtering features.

I studied how the DCS configuration works and wrote a parser for the .diff files. There is an issue though with trying to find the bindable actions because the configuration files are, as the extension suggests diff to default configuration, and empty to start with. The default configs are created with HW vendor specific .lua code during execution.

This would also lead to complex user experience of the utility, where the user would have to submit ‘all cleared’ config in addition to the active config to reveal the configurable devices and their actions.

Because implied complexity the project started running out of steam and I postponed it indefinitely.

The original idea was tempting, the utility would be able to statistically propose best bindings for each device and action while honoring the users personal wishes. Maybe someday with unlimited free time the project will continue .