Making Elevator Trim work in FS9

[Bill Clark]

Bill,

I'm having a heck of a time making elevator trim work in FS9. For example, elevator trim up is shift, numpad 7, and trim down is shift, numpad1.

In wbk's FS9 profile, he has the following command sequence, which does not work with my FS9 system:

macro = rawkey:NUMPAD7, EXTENDEDKEY
macro = rawkey:NUMPAD7, EXTENDEDKEY | KEYEVENTF_KEYUP

I'm running TouchBuddy via a network configuration using WinXP for both systems. Any suggestions?

Bill

[Wild.Bill.Kelso]

Hey Bill,

I haven't flown FS9 for a long time and don't remember if I tested the elevator trim. But all that macro is doing IIRC is pressing the Numpad 7 key, and not the shift at all.

Try this for Elevator Trim Up:

macro = predef:SHIFT, KEYDOWN
macro = predef:NUMPAD7
macro = predef:SHIFT, KEYUP

and for Trim Down:

macro = predef:SHIFT, KEYDOWN
macro = predef:NUMPAD1
macro = predef:SHIFT, KEYUP

Those should hold the shift key down, then press the numpad key, then release the shift key. Which should be like pressing Shift+Numpad7 or Shift+Numpad1.

WBK

[Bill Clark]

Wild Bill,

I tried your suggestion but it didn't work. What happened is that the FS9 window the flight sim was running in just blinked quickly to what appears to be an outside view and back to the 3D cockpit, but nothing happened. However, the same manual "actual" key press combination caused the elevator trim wheel to move, which proves the key press combination of Shift-Numpad 7 is correct. When I run FSX, the 3D image just shifts to the left. It appears that the command string is getting scrambled or changed

So I think my issue resides somewhere else, possibly the touchbuddy.cfg file. I am running under the following environment:

1) Client/Server setup
2) I'm running both the client and server PC's under Win XP
3) I'm running FS9 in a "windowed" mode
4) No other applications are running on the Server PC except touchbuddy and FS9.
5) All my other commands are working, it is just the ones involving the NUMPAD numbers and the shift key.

Some of the settings in both of the Touchbuddy config files:

Client PC (55) Server PC (56)

enables_sendto = 0 0
key press_delay = 50 50
listen_port = 12000 12000

server_password = **XYZ** **XYZ**
allowed_ip = match 192.168.1.55 match 192.168.1.55
connect_ip = 192.168.1.56 192.168.1.56

connect_port = 12000 12000
client_password = **XYX** **XYZ**
run_on_CPU = comment out # comment out #

CPU_Priority = Normal Normal

Note: Sorry, the spaces I put into the above appear to get deleted when I post.

The rest of the parameters, I believe are at default settings. BTW, I have tried other parameter combinations to no avail.

So my question is, are these set correctly, is there anywhere else I should look?

What I'm trying to do is set up a demo in a few weeks to show some members of a flight sim club I belong to the power of the Touchbuddy software. The link to our club website if you are interested. Most of the members fly either FS9 or FSX. A few of us are also into combat sims.

SimFlite Home Page

BTW - All my combat profiles appear to work beautifully, it is just the issues with FS9 and FSX.

Bill

[Wild.Bill.Kelso]

I don't use Client-Server so I can't help with that. But it works with any game 'at all', then TB must be setup correctly. The issue must be with a specific profile....

Do you have to press and 'hold' the Shift+Numpad7 key to move the trim in the game? I'm guessing yes. If that is the case, then just using a normal button won't work. You should use a 'Touch' type button probably. Read in the Toolkit Help file about the button types.

A normal 'button' type button, only sends the keystroke once. If you need to hold a button down for a period of time, you have several options. For this Trim stuff I would look at using the 'Touch' type buttons first. Also maybe a 'Hold' type button.

Also, you could code a 'Hold' type button's macro like this:

macro_select = predef:SHIFT, KEYDOWN
macro_select = predef:NUMPAD7, KEYDOWN
macro_deselect = predef:NUMPAD7, KEYUP
macro_deselect = predef:SHIFT, KEYUP

With this Hold Button, the first time you touch the button, the Shift+Numpad7 keys will be press down (KEYDOWN) and held in the downstate.... until... You touch the button again, which sends the Shift+Numpad7 'KEYUP' command, thus releasing the keys. Probably not what you want for Trim, but a good trick to know. I use this to hold my 'B' key down in IL2 for my Wheel Brakes. But read up on this KEYDOWN/KEYUP in the help file. If you exit TouchBuddy, or your game while any key is left in the down state, Windows will think you are holding those keys down on your keyboard and it will go bonkers....

WBK

[Bill Clark]

Wild Bill,

Thanks much for your help!

I studied the help file as to the types of buttons, and then tried out your suggestion you gave me. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

However, I discovered that I don't need to use the shift key as long as NUMLOCk is on (default for my setup). So just manually pressing numpad keys 1 or 7 on the keyboard work fine.

For some reason, NUMPAD7 and NUMPAD1 via touchbuddy SW will attempt to change the view rather than the trim wheel. In fact, if I try different NUMPADx number combinations, it always attempts to change the view.

BTW - I have also tried other key combinations to find something that will work.

It seems as though the client/server combo just doesn't like NUMPAD. Any idea what may be causing this?

Thanks,
Bill

[Wild.Bill.Kelso]

The FS9 Documentation has this:


And the documentation I have does say that the Numpad1 and Numpad7 are the Elevator Trim. So, that's what I coded in my profile.

Have you tested this in Local Mode? If it works in Local Mode, but not in C/S mode, then it must be a bug. There is a bug in the Hold buttons for C/S mode that I found when it was tested in C/S mode by a users. And a fix for that too.

You could also post your profile and I can take a look at it. I don't have FS installed, but I would be happy to take a look at it for you.

WBK


EDIT:
You and/or I could also test those Numpad keys using the Calculator as the game app.

[Bill Clark]

WBK,

Yes the commands are correct for the trim function.

I will take a look at trying it in local mode, but I really don't want to change, but I may have to. I'm using neworked PC's a lot with FS9 as I have touch buddy on one PC and ActiveSky and Radar Contact on another communicating via FSUIPC. This frees up my sim PC from having to provide resources for these other apps.

What is interesting, is that my Falcon 4.0 profile uses the NUMPAD keys without any issues, which I find strange. I'm using a slightly modified version of SytRep's profile.

I would be happy to send you my profile....I'm just not sure how to post on your site. Also, do you want both the folders as well as the .TBC file?

I really appreciate your help....I love this app you guys have developed....I put it on the same level as the introduction of the Joystick and TrackIR to make flight simming what it is today.

As I have said before, the market for TouchBuddy would be very useful to FS9 and FSX users, especially those flying the more complex add on planes, especially when flying in the "virtual cockpit."

Bill

[Wild.Bill.Kelso]

No problem helping you out at all.

For local mode, all you would need is a second monitor on your local pc. If you have that, you should not need to do anything except copy the .tbc file and folders to your local pc and open it in local mode in TB.

Zip up the .tbc file and folders. Then post a message here again. In the posting form, near the bottom is a button called 'Manage Attachments'. You should be able to attach the .zip file there if it's not to big. The limit was 47meg when I just looked.

wbK

[Bill Clark]

WBK,

Attached is my profile and TBC file (zipped). I appreciate your taking a look at this.

I may not be able to try the local mode for a few days, so I will just move my touch screen monitor over to my other PC.

I should point out that I was playing around a little so my Trim commands are not correct as I was checking the responses of other NUMPAD number combinations.

Thanks again,
Bill

[Wild.Bill.Kelso]

Is this for FS9 or FSX?