Input Profiles and Updating Il-2 to a 128 Button limit

[JG4_Deciman]

Hi

 

I ran into a similar problem (having too much controllers)

 

What you can try to resolve the limitation of controllers is:

 

Make a copy of your input folder (located in data)

There you'll find a file named devices.txt

Will be needed later to rearrange the devices...

 

This file contains all 'known' devices

 

First I unplugged every not needed controller.

Then I simply checked, if all 'needed' controlers were present in that file,

removed the lines containing unused controllers

renumbered the lines inside the file

 

0,%22a2b52d20-7b30-11e9-0000545345440a80%22,Logitech%20G940%20Joystick|
1,%22a2b52d20-7b30-11e9-0000545345440980%22,Logitech%20G940%20Throttle|
2,%22a2b52d20-7b30-11e9-0000545345440880%22,Logitech%20G940%20Pedals|
3,%2251be7900-fd49-11ec-0000545345440180%22,Flight%20Yoke%20System|

...

 

saved the file and restarted the game.

 

Missing controllers were added to the file...

When every controller is present check the key mappings

 

Everything should be working now.

Plug in the (unused) rest of your controllers and restart the game

They will be added until the game limitation of controllers is reached

but the 'needed' controllers will stay present.

 

And in case you get another 'needed' controller simply do the same again.

Unplug unused, remove the lines with unused controllers, rename, ...

 

Deci

[JG4_Deciman]

And for the keymappings...

 

In case its only some axis you'ld better asset them ingame once more.

In case it's more...

 

In the 'devices.txt' the devices are numbered (starting with 0)

In the 'global.actions' (and in all created variations located in data/input/custom folder)

the assignents are made like this

 

autolevelflight,                                  key_a,                                            0| // KI-Autopilot für Horizontalflug: ein/aus
autolevelflight,                                  joy4_b38,                                         0|

 

There can be even 3 lines for each function...

First line -> left assingment ingame menu

Second Line -> center assignment

Third line -> right assignment

 

You are only interested in every line containing a 'joy#_button'

where you only have to take care of the '#'

The number means the number assigned in the 'devices.txt'

And in case the number in both files (copied one and new one) is different that is what you'ld have to change

 

Deci

[Lemmi]

Now i have the VKB STECS Max, and i'm sorry - we need the 128 button support MORE than every other content.

[SBGGDoggyC]

On 11/9/2023 at 11:48 AM, Lemmi said:

Now i have the VKB STECS Max, and i'm sorry - we need the 128 button support MORE than every other content.

128 buttons support would be nice (For shifted/modified funtions mostly) BUT if you have VKB gear...in DevCfg you can create a new profile for your device and set it to 64 buttons in global settings.  Then take some time and make sure no logical buttons go above button 64.  I spent an hour or so assigning each physical button to logical 1-64 while disabling (no function) every other button and i was able to cover every single button on my STECS Standard...and that's with adding 2 4-way hats in place of buttons on the right throttle.  I even had 8 buttons to spare which I used on my dual THQs...leaving 8 buttons unusable but that's fine.  Those 8 buttons could be used for your ATEM...minus the 4-way encoder.  Note that i DID disable physical and logical button assignments from the 5-way rotary on the STEM which freed up 5 buttons, and I disabled my minstick button too as not necessary in IL2.  Basically you could have every other physical button covered including additional hats by doing this.  I didn't mess with virtual controllers for the other buttons...no real need in IL2.  Did the same for my MCG-Ultimate too...so now I just load those profiles when I play IL2 and load my normal (128 button) profiles for everything else.  Hope this helps you or anyone else with VKB gear dealing with the 64-button limit.

[Lemmi]

Well explained. But you limit your rig very much without shifting, esp. when EVERY other sim i play (IL-2 1946, IL-2 Cliffs Of Dover, DCS World) is able to deal with 128 buttons.

It's "sad but true" to say it in Metallicas words. ?

[SBGGDoggyC]

44 minutes ago, Lemmi said:

Well explained. But you limit your rig very much without shifting, esp. when EVERY other sim i play (IL-2 1946, IL-2 Cliffs Of Dover, DCS World) is able to deal with 128 buttons.

It's "sad but true" to say it in Metallicas words. ?

Maybe so...

 

BUT...there's an easy workaround to this if you really want to use shift/modify to double your buttons.  In VKBCFG profile you can enable keyboard in global settings and then assign your "shift" button (I use the pinky button on stick) to send a LCTRL, LALT, LSHFT, or LWIN keypress...which does in fact allow IL2 to shift using the same 64 button per controller limit.  This requires a couple extra steps but it's a one and done.  In order to send an ALT/CTRL/SHFT/WIN key in VKB software it has to be paired with another key, they don't just let you send these modifiers as standalone unfortunately.  You want to select key ********" at the bottom of the list which is scancode 124.  Problem is that this scan code actually sends a "power key" function along with the modifier you check off...so IL2 catches it as a power key and not the LALT modifier.  BUT WAIT...with Windows PowerToys you can use the Keyboard Manager to reassign (disable) this "power key" by pressing the button you assigned...which will be detected in PowerToys as "undefined" and then you change it to "disabled" which strips off the power key output and just sends the LALT (in my example).  Problem solved and now you can double your button assignments in IL2 - effectively eliminating the 64 button limit.   When you assign your shift button in VKBCFG to key ***** and whatever modifier you want...don't forget to press the SET button to activate the change before you go into PowerToys.  Hope this helps!

 

Install PowerToys | Microsoft Learn

 

 

[Barn-Owl]

I got all Virpil gear (stick, throttle, control panel and rudders) and this buttons limit crap needs to be addressed.  The hardware is fast surpassing the software and if this IL-2 developer does not update their software, well, then, I am happy to move onto other sims.

[Roover]

The title says it all.

 

I really appreciate the last update. This is an incredible game but joystick wise it's limited in 2024.

 

How hard is it to do so ?

 

And I am not the first one to talk about it.

 

Thank you.

 

 

[Raptorattacker]

It's a fairly simple equation really.

 

When the game was first implemented people rarely had the peripherals that most do today. This situation above isn't something that has happened overnight.
Even I have 4 peripheral input devices and I'm very much old shool (less is more and I'm just plain and simple old as well!!).

 

The game as an appeal to new users IS going to become less and less attractive if they are presented with a limit on the amount of inputs they can use to implement their (often very expensive) peripherals which, lest anyone forget, are bought to enhance their experience.

 

Now, this is ultimately a problem for the developers and not for the users and so why on earth don't they at least give a definitive answer on this rather basic integral barrier and so put the whole thing to bed for people who have a problem with it. "May look into it if we have time", is not definitive and people don't find it hard to see this as a rather throwaway take on a somewhat integral topic in a flight-sim.

People (ie US, the users) can then make up their own minds about  their options and the developers can deal with the outcome, be it good or bad (hopefully good for both).

I don't mean this as a criticism of either parties and so please don't take it as such.

It is simply a factual and straiightforward take on a problem that has been called out for quite some time without any from of definitive satifactory conclusion apart from the (often complicated and confusing) third-party solutions that are left down to the user to implement.

 

Peace and (hopefully) prosperity

 

Rap 

Edited February 21, 2024 by Raptorattacker

[Aapje]

DirectInput supports up to 8 axis and 128 buttons. Microsoft is phasing it out in favor of GameInput, which has such high limits that it shouldn't ever be a problem anymore. It's also written from the ground up to use low resources and have the best possible latency. 

 

So perhaps the team can consider switching to GameInput for the new game engine?

 

See: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/gaming/gdk/_content/gc/input/overviews/input-overview

Edited February 21, 2024 by Aapje

[Haaank]

In our squadron of about 15 people, we already have 6 who won’t touch il2 anymore solely because of this issue. Which basically means we really only play dcs. I’m curious how many people feel the same way. It’s just too much hassle of getting bindings right to make it worth playing over other sims it seems.

Il2 only supporting 8 usb devices makes it a real hassle to play with modern hardware. You have no other choice but to use something like vjoy as setting devices to a 32 button mode will have you exceed 8 usb devices with just hotas and rudder pedals. And even if you’re using vjoy it is a hassle. When disconnecting/reconnecting or simply rebooting windows, vjoy will often be pushed further down the list of usb devices, making it unrecognisable by il2. Forcing you to go into windows settings or the il2 devices text file again and to change back the order. IMO this feature should be prio number 1 above all else.

 

Edit:

So apparently 128 button was added this week. Great news, going to test it asap. >:)

Edited June 23, 2024 by Hank42

[Lemmi]

It works. As awaited for a long time 😀