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20. Motion Driver for DCS

A new version is available for Digital Flight Simulator - DCS. The download is on the Introduction page.

IMPORTANT: this is new software and may contain bugs - please use with care!

Installation:

Installation of the motion driver is mainly the same as the other versions - see section 2.

The motion software provides a TCP server to which DCS connects to export its telemetry data. DCS makes the connection via its Export.lua script.

The default Export.lua script provided by DCS must be therefore be modified to enable TCP comms with the BFF Motion software. There are two options for doing this:

1. If you DO NOT already have an active Export.lua script then copy the version provided in the motion software LUA folder to your Saved Games folder - typically this will be to:
   
   UserName/Saved Games/DCS/Scripts/Export.lua
    

2. If you DO already have an active Export.lua file (for other 3rd party apps you are using) then you will need to incorporate additional code snippets into it to enable comms with the motion software.
   
   The required code snippets are provided in the Export_lua BFF Code Snippets.lua file in the motion software LUA folder. Please read the instructions in the file.

The IP address and port number for the TCP server must be set in both the motion software .bff config file and in the Export.lua file.

The defaults are:

IPAddress=127.0.0.1

PortS=48001

If you are running both DCS and the motion software on the same PC then you do not need to change the defaults. If you wish to run the motion software on a different LAN PC then you must change IPAddress to that of the motion software PC.
 

Operation:

The software operation is mainly as described in Section 3 Operation.

The default .bff configuration files contains a start-point for tuning motion cues to suit your own motion platform and aircraft. There are two default files for the two free aircraft provided with the base DCS package. You may need to tune your settings differently when using other pay-ware aircraft.

To enable DCS to connect to the TCP server in the motion software the motion software must be running BEFORE a flight is made active in DCS. The motion software window text will give the status of the DCS connection.

If, when you start a flight, the motion software does not receive the DCS connection then recheck your settings and the Export.lua file and check also the DCS log files for error messages. They are usually in your UserName/Saved Games/DCS/Logs folder.

NOTE: In its default setting the motion software will automatically send the cue to Hold when it detects a loss of data from DCS - this usually is because the flight has ended or paused.

The Drive hot-button can then be used to return the cue output to drive mode.

Remember you can use the Drive and Hold hot-keys or hot-buttons which are defined in your .bff cue configuration file to control drive and hold commands.

The refresh rate of the motion driver can be controlled using the .bff configuration file parameter MD_Delay. Reducing the value (in ms) will increase the speed of reception of the telemetry data packets up to the rate of export by DCS. However reducing it too far may cause the motion software to consume CPU resource inefficiently.

NOTE: In some Windows PC's all values of MD_Delay lower than 16ms may be treated as a value of 16ms. If you find that values less than 16ms have no effect on your system then you may need to switch the delay off completely by setting MD_Delay=0.

If you find any bugs or strange behaviours in the beta version then please let me know.

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