Sliders / levers

[EAF19_Marsh]

Really enjoying BoS / BoM at the moment, but one small areas I am puzzled about is the apparently inability to use control leavers for stuff that works in RoF (mixture, cooling); is this in the long-term plan?

 

Adding flaps for this would also be great

[Finkeren]

Nevermind, I misread your post, sorry.

 

 

 

Ahemm

 

It's all there.

 

You have to make sure, that you're flying in 'Expert' mode and not 'Normal'. On normal difficulty the plane will have automatic controls for most of the engine management apart from throttle and forsazh (extra boost). You can always use flaps though.

 

All the controls that are in RoF exist in BoS as well (except for the blip-switch since we don't use rotary engines) and there are quite a few that aren't in RoF. Overall the controls are far more detailed and historically accurate, and thus the controls available as well as how to operate them vary from plane to plane.

 

Also keep in mind, that if you're flying one of the German fighters, a lot of the systems are automated (as they were historically) This goes for controls like mixture, supercharger, prop pitch (or rather rpm governor) and engine cooling. This is all historically correct. They do have an override mechanism that allows you to control prop pitch manually - and cooling as well in case of the Bf 109. Mixture and superchargers are always automatic on German fighters.

 

The controls you should familiarize yourself with to effectively fly most of the planes in BoS/BoM are:

 

Control surfaces (elevator, ailerons and rudder)

Flaps (There are four different types in use on the planes we currently have: Manual, electric, electric with preset positions and single position pneumatic)

Landing gear

Trim (most planes use trim tabs, German fighters use adjustible stabilizer instead. Not all planes have trim on all axis' and the I-16 has no trim at all)

Air brake (for dive bombers)

Wheel brakes (toe brakes on German planes and P-40, differential brakes on most Soviet planes)

Tailwheel lock (not all planes, contolled with joystick on Fw 190) 

Open/close cockpit (only open sliding canopies when in flight, else they'll be blown off)

Engine starter (the startup procedure is currently automatic, but most systems are modelled)

Throttle

Mixture (not on all planes, different system on the P-40, keep in mind most supercharged planes hardly need mixture control at all below 3500 - 4000m altitude)

Prop pitch/rpm governor (depending on type this may function as a constant speed propeller, variable pitch prop or both)

Supercharger gearing (most Soviet designs have single stage, 2 gear supercharger)

Oil cooler intake

Water cooler intake (for inline engines)

Air cooler intake/cowl flaps (for radial engines - La-5 has a double control system for this)

Forsazh (extra boost button for planes with Shvetzov engines)

Feather prop (only some twin-engined planes)

Bomb arming control

Bomb release control

Cockpit lighting

Radio compas

Recharging/reloading of guns (only relevant for defensive guns with magazines and posibly for the cannon on the upcoming Bf 110)

Weapon firing controls (machine guns, cannons, both, rockets, bombs)

Bomb sight controls (this is a whole chapter in itself, which I won't step into)

 

There are some controls that are currently automated. Some may become manual at some point and some might stay on automatic. They include:

 

Startup procedure

Radio communications

Most electrical systems (gunsight, magnetos etc.)

Fuel tank control (it's fully modelled, you can see the controls moving to switch between tanks, but is currently on automatic)

Oxygen supply (modelled and can be damaged, but no mask is visible on the pilot) 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2015 by Finkeren

[Finkeren]

Levers, wheels, sliders etc can be used for most gradual controls in BoS. I certainly have no problem setting either throttle, mixture, prop rpm or cooling intakes to an axis.

 

There are two principal controls, that can't be controled on an axis:

 

1. Trim. I think this has to do with a coding issue, but not sure.

 

2. Flaps. This is actually deliberate to keep flaps operation realistic. There are four different types of flaps in the sim: Manual (Both Bf 109s, I-16), electric (LaGG-3, La-5, He 111 (IIRC), Pe-2, MC. 202, P-40), electric with preset positions (Fw 190, Ju 87) and single-position pneumatic (Yak-1, IL-2) These flaps fuction very different from each other, from the very slow gradual deployment in manual over the much faster electrical to the simpler electric presets to a simple on/off toggle in case of the pneumatically operated flaps. If flaps could be set on a slider, a Bf 109 pilot could just flick the slider to the desired position in the blink of an eye and wait for them to deploy automatically (kind of like how the manual landing gear currently works on the I-16) instead of having to press and hold a button for a long time to operate the slow manual flaps. The current method is much closer to reality, and I hope we get a similar solution for the manual gear on the I-16 at some point.

[EAF19_Marsh]

Maybe I'm doing something  wrong, then - I cannot seem to get cooling and mixture to work on an axis.

 

Trim and flaps would be great; I appreciate the different flap systems button for CLoD (for instance) the 109 flaps work by selecting 'down' (ie lever after of half-way) and you leave it there until you achieved desired flap angle before returning ti neutral. You do not get any advantage in terms of speed of response, though it is true you do not have to keep pressing a button.

[Finkeren]

I personally prefer the flaps system as it is now. It's simple, straightforward and works as a realistic approximation of the actual controls.

 

Trim on a slider, I can understand if a lot of people would want, though.

[Sokol1]

Maybe I'm doing something  wrong, then - I cannot seem to get cooling and mixture to work on an axis.

 

In what plane? Maybe this is plane related, the one can use different control system...

 

 

 

Trim and flaps would be great; I appreciate the different flap systems button for CLoD (for instance) the 109 flaps work by selecting 'down' (ie lever after of half-way) and you leave it there until you achieved desired flap angle before returning ti neutral. You do not get any advantage in terms of speed of response, though it is true you do not have to keep pressing a button.

 

 

You can do the same thing using a keymaper (your joy' soft or Joy2key, Xpadder).

 

Set the axis 50%>0% to press V*, and axis 50%>100% to press F.

 

For example, using the Saitek Quadrant, if the lever are in 50% flaps dont move, if the lever are moved above 50% or Up flaps start move Up until you set the lever in middle again.

Same for down.

 

Tested here in Bf 109 G-2 with throttle wheel, work as expected.

 

See working in the attached track. BTW - No "cheater in this, the axis lever work just as "ON/OFF" switch.

 

* K.I.S.S. - In all primary controls I don't use modifier keys (Alt, Ctrl, Shift...)

Axis2flaps.zip

Edited October 5, 2015 by Sokol1

[Brano]

LaGG-3/La-5 = hydraulic operated flaps

[EAF19_Marsh]

Thanks, Sokol; will try it tonight

[KoN_]

You can assign to a joystick botton what stick do you have . ? .

Flaps and pitch  at the moment they  dont work on axis . Just yet . I am hoping it with change in the future .

[EAF19_Marsh]

Pitch / RPM works fine on my G940 second throttle axis; radiator I could not get to work on my Seitek throttle but I will try Sokol's suggestion.