Button Mapping and Spotting (DCS Convert)

[KrazySkooze]

Sorry to be posting more newb questions, I promise I will give back when I finally get the hang of things.

I have played DCS exclusively for 3 years and have decided for a change of pace after my computer crashed and I lost all 8000 bindings.

 

I am currently running a WinWing F16 EX Orion Throttle, and a WW F16EX stick, 2 Thurstmaster Cougars, and can run more, just don't really see the point (BTW- Amazon has Logitech Throttle Panels on sale for $30 today, makes for GREAT axis control)...  I have noticed that virtually none of my switches on my throttle are recognized by IL-2....  Is that normal?  I tried to run in 4x32 mode, but then IL-2 didn't recognize the inputs....  Kinda sucks to have literally 100's of switches that don't work...

 

Question 2-  I am running Track IR with a Samsung 49" monitor, 64 gb ram, Ryzen 3800X, and an RTX 3080.  While it is a hefty computer, DCS suffers SEVERELY from spotting at resolutions above 1080p (like 25-40% at 2k and 4k respectively)  Is that an issue with IL-2?  Is there something like ReShader that you guys use?

 

 

Thanks for all your time.

 

[86Cheese]

Il-2 has an "Improved Spotting" setting in the difficulty options before you start a mission.

[zan64]

firstly, welcome to STALINGRAAAD comrade.

 

cant help but just want to say jealous of your set up! weird that it doesnt recognize , i even use a game controller via reWASD and even that is recognized no problem - i suppose worse case ridiculous scenario is try that

[KrazySkooze]

2 hours ago, zan64 said:

firstly, welcome to STALINGRAAAD comrade.

 

cant help but just want to say jealous of your set up! weird that it doesn't recognize , i even use a game controller via reWASD and even that is recognized no problem - i suppose worse case ridiculous scenario is try that

 

Yeah....I am thinking of ditching all my MonsterTech Mounts and WinWing Stuff/ICP's, and going the Virpil Route.  But I haven't been able to get to the bottom of it....

 

I am really hoping that IL2 is a bit more optimized than DCS.... For the $3000+ I have paid, it was a kick in the teeth to learn if you want to play competively, you have to go to 1080p....  I could max out my settings and the sim looked amazing, but you would be blind as a bat.  Forget VR....  Don't get me wrong, DCS is an amazing game, and the graphics are only getting better with every update.... It holds a special place in my heart... Hell, I even paid someone to make a 4k skin of my father's F16....  But after my computer crash, I just want to get back to flying...

 

Does IL2 have SRS or something like it?  Thanks for your time man.

[Art-J]

Topic of spotting has been a can of worms in this sim as well, complained about an nauseam, and with opinions on it varying from "better than in DCS" to "worse than in DCS". A "brief" sample to browse through :

 

 

Yes, reducing resolution and detail level helps here as well and the question of how competitive you want to be vs how much eyecandy you want to maintain is highly subjective one. You'll just have to try and see.

 

Two things work in your favour, though:

a) Il-2 generally runs better than DCS, especially after the performance hit in the latter caused by 2.8 update;

b) the aforementioned "improved spotting" option is always there to aid.

 

[amadeusdemarzi]

IL2 I think is limited to 64 buttons per controller, so yeah, depending on the button number, things may not work as expected if you have controllers with lots of buttons

[Dragon1-1]

4x32 buttons work for me, but Il-2 uses an antiquated binding system that doesn't properly account for switches (only a few things have a separate on and off bindings), and it does not see any button with a number higher than 32 (at least for me) in single device mode. IIRC, it doesn't like too many devices, either. This is one area in which IL2 cleanly loses to DCS.

 

We badly need an input overhaul, not just per-aircraft profiles, but a total rework. Sim controller tech is moving forward at a rapid rate and while DCS modules come out with dedicated 3-pos switch bindings, Il-2 still needs to use workarounds to even get more advanced gear to work with it.

[453=Whittle]

On 11/17/2022 at 7:07 AM, KrazySkooze said:

Sorry to be posting more newb questions, I promise I will give back when I finally get the hang of things.

I have played DCS exclusively for 3 years and have decided for a change of pace after my computer crashed and I lost all 8000 bindings.

 

I am currently running a WinWing F16 EX Orion Throttle, and a WW F16EX stick, 2 Thurstmaster Cougars, and can run more, just don't really see the point (BTW- Amazon has Logitech Throttle Panels on sale for $30 today, makes for GREAT axis control)...  I have noticed that virtually none of my switches on my throttle are recognized by IL-2....  Is that normal?  I tried to run in 4x32 mode, but then IL-2 didn't recognize the inputs....  Kinda sucks to have literally 100's of switches that don't work...

 

Question 2-  I am running Track IR with a Samsung 49" monitor, 64 gb ram, Ryzen 3800X, and an RTX 3080.  While it is a hefty computer, DCS suffers SEVERELY from spotting at resolutions above 1080p (like 25-40% at 2k and 4k respectively)  Is that an issue with IL-2?  Is there something like ReShader that you guys use?

 

Definitely back up your game profiles in future! Stuff that takes up so much time needs to be backed up.

 

IL2's input detection is problematic. It doesn't handle encoders, and more importantly to use any device with heaps of buttons you need to use third party software to map the later 32 (IIRC) buttons to a virtual input device (vjoy). I started out by using UCR ( https://github.com/Snoothy/UCR ) for this task.

 

Regarding spotting, only after buying a decent VA monitor and spending a ton of time in the game was I able to be mostly happy with what I can spot. Make sure your monitor's contrast setting is maxed out unless things look weird. I also needed to use the monitor's default factory brightness setting for IL2, which is quite bright, whereas it's set to minimum for any non-gaming task. On maps with very bright clouds I need to drop contrast to prevent them from being washed-out. I never tried reshader, some servers don't allow it anyway. I fiddled with gamma but now leave it at 1 - if you help dark area contrast, you harm bright area contrast and vice-versa.

 

Flying at treetop height is a useful tactic in MP servers (where the fighting is mostly low-level) due to the spotting advantage obtained from silhouetting other contacts.

[Luftschiff]

Yeah, IL-2 has a very old input system. I recently got Winwing equipment and it's a problem. It works alright (mostly) with the 32x4 setup but it own't properly recognize some axis and switching back and forth tends to mix inputs up so It's not too fun if you switch a lot between the games. It's really due an update.

[nachinus]

Regarding spotting, if you are a single player like me consider using reshade. It made a big difference for me both for aircraft AND ground units. I wrote this some time ago in a thread in the Guides & Help subforum:

 

"I never considered using reshade in any game because I didn't think that it was a good idea to add an external plug-in over a demanding and complex piece of software, specially flight sims, but man was I wrong. I followed the suggestions here and the game looks AMAZING with no noticeable performance hit, much more real and clear, so I can see aircraft and specially ground units much better and more detailed than before, so it didn't just improved how the game looks, but how I play it.

 

I'm really thankful for this thread and the OP!!!

 

After a little bit testing, these are the reshade filters I'm using:

 

Adaptive sharpen

Colourful

Vibrance

 

Ingame HDR and Sharpen OFF."