DCS Input Command Injector by Quaggles

Summary

A mod that allows you to configure custom input commands inside your Saved Games/DCS/ folder instead of inside your game folder, when DCS is run these commands are merged in with the default aircraft commands. This method avoids having to manually merge your command changes into each aircrafts default commands when DCS updates.

After reading the install guide I'd recommend also looking at the DCS Community Keybinds project by Munkwolf, it uses this mod and contains many community requested input commands without you needing to code them manually.

The goal of this mod

Commonly in DCS users with unique input systems will need to create custom input commands to allow them to use certain aircraft functions with their HOTAS. Some examples are:

• Configuring 3 way switches on a Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS to control switches the module developer never intended to be controlled by a 3 way switch
• Configuring actions that only trigger a cockpit switch while a button is held, for example using the trigger safety on a VKB Gunfighter Pro to turn on Master Arm while it's flipped down and then turn off Master Arm when flipped up
• Adding control entries that the developer forgot, for example the Ka-50 has no individual "Gear Up" and Gear Down" commands, only a gear toggle

In my case, on my Saitek X-55 Throttle there is an airbrake slider switch that when engaged registers as a single button being held down, when the slider is disengaged the button is released. In DCS by default few aircraft support this type of input so a custom input command is needed, in my case for the F/A-18C:

{down = hotas_commands.THROTTLE_SPEED_BRAKE, up = hotas_commands.THROTTLE_SPEED_BRAKE, cockpit_device_id = devices.HOTAS, value_down = -1.0, value_up = 1.0, name = 'Speed Brake Hold', category = {'Quaggles Custom'}},

Until now the solution was to find the control definition file DCSWorld\Mods\aircraft\FA-18C\Input\FA-18C\joystick\default.lua and insert your custom command somewhere inside of it, if you weren't using a mod manager then every time the game was updated your change would be erased and you'd need reinsert your commands into the files for every aircraft you changed.

If you were using a mod manager such as OVGME if you reapplied your mod after an update and the developers had changed the input commands things could break and conflict.

With this mod you should just need to re-enable it after every DCS update with OVGME and your custom commands are safe with no need no change anything.

Installation

1. Go to the latest release
2. Download DCS-Input-Command-Injector-Quaggles.zip

OVGME (Recommended)

3. Drop the zip file in your mod directory
4. Enable mod in OVGME
5. Reenable with each DCS update

Manual

3. Extract the zip
4. Find the DCS-Input-Command-Injector-Quaggles/Scripts folder
5. Move it into your DCSWorld/ folder
6. Windows Explorer will ask you if you want to replace Data.lua, say yes
7. Repeat this process every DCS update, if you use OVGME you can just reenable the mod and it handles this for you

Configuration

New commands are configured in the Saved Games\DCS\InputCommands directory, lets go through how to configure a hold command for the speedbrake on the F/A-18C Hornet.

Setting the folder structure

• Recommended Grab the premade structure with empty lua files, download and extract the Input Commands folder into your C:/<User>/Saved Games/DCS/ directory

For the F/A-18C the default input files are located in DCSWorld\Mods\aircraft\FA-18C\Input\FA-18C, inside this directory are folders with the generic names of your input devices, these can include joystick, keyboard, mouse, trackir and headtracker. Each generic input folder contains default.lua which is the default set of commands the developer has configured, this is an important reference when making your own commands. It also contains many lua files for automatic binding of common hardware like the Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS but these can be ignored (*.diff.lua).

The DCS input folder structure needs be duplicated so that the folders relative to DCSWorld\Mods\aircraft are placed in Saved Games\DCS\InputCommands. The folder structure needs to match EXACTLY for each generic input device you want to add commands to. In my F/A-18C Speedbrake Hold example that means I will create the structure Saved Games\DCS\InputCommands\FA-18C\Input\FA-18C\joystick\, for an F-14B in the RIO seat I would create Saved Games\DCS\InputCommands\F14\Input\F-14B-RIO\joystick. To find the structure for other aircraft browse to DCSWorld\Mods\aircraft and follow the folder structure from there until you find the joystick,keyboard,etc folders for that aircraft.

IMPORTANT: For some aircraft the 1st and 3rd folders have different names, for example F14\Input\F-14B-Pilot make sure this structure is followed correctly or your inputs won't be found.

An example of the folder structure for some aircraft I have configured:

Creating your custom commands

Inside the generic input folder Saved Games\DCS\InputCommands\FA-18C\Input\FA-18C\joystick\ we will create a lua script called default.lua, paste in the following text, it contains the Speedbrake Hold example and some commented out templates for the general structure of commands

return {
	keyCommands = {
        	{down = hotas_commands.THROTTLE_SPEED_BRAKE, up = hotas_commands.THROTTLE_SPEED_BRAKE, cockpit_device_id = devices.HOTAS, value_down = -1.0, value_up = 1.0, name = 'Speed Brake Hold', category = {'Quaggles Custom'}},
        	{down = hotas_commands.THROTTLE_SPEED_BRAKE, up = hotas_commands.THROTTLE_SPEED_BRAKE, cockpit_device_id = devices.HOTAS, value_down = 1.0, value_up = -1.0, name = 'Speed Brake Inverted', category = {'Quaggles Custom'}},
        	-- KeyCommand Template (Remove leading -- to uncomment)
		-- {down = CommandNameOnButtonDown, up = CommandNameOnButtonUp, name = 'NameForControlList', category = 'CategoryForControlList'},
	}
}

To work out what to put in these templates reference the developer provided default input command file, for the F/A-18C that is in DCSWorld\Mods\aircraft\FA-18C\Input\FA-18C\joystick\default.lua

I'd recommend setting a unique category name for your custom commands so that they are easy to find in the menu.

Hardlinking

If you want to have a set of custom commands for both your HOTAS and your keyboard consider hardlinking your default.lua from your joystick folder to your keyboard folder.

By hardlinking both files look like they are in different directories to Windows and DCS but they actually refer to the same file on the disk meaning if you modify one you automatically modify the other.

Examples

Request AWACS Nearest Bandit

Allows binding request bogey dope to your HOTAS, not every aircraft has this by default in DCS

{down = iCommandAWACSBanditBearing, name='Request AWACS Nearest Bandit', category = 'Quaggles Custom'},

Enable Su-25T Nightvision

Works with Su-25A and A-10A as well if you add the commands for those aircraft, can be added for nearly any aircraft in the game (Except Su-27, Su-33, J-11, MiG-29, F-15C) if you follow this guide

{down = iCommandViewNightVisionGogglesOn, name = _('Night Vision Goggles'), category = _('Quaggles Custom')},
{pressed = iCommandPlane_Helmet_Brightess_Up, value_pressed = 0.5, name = _('Night Vision Goggles Gain Up'), category = _('Quaggles Custom')},
{pressed = iCommandPlane_Helmet_Brightess_Down, value_pressed = -0.5, name = _('Night Vision Goggles Gain Down'), category = _('Quaggles Custom')},

Ka-50 Gear Up/Down

{down = iCommandPlaneGearUp, name = 'Gear Up', category = 'Quaggles Custom'},
{down = iCommandPlaneGearDown, name = 'Gear Down', category = 'Quaggles Custom'},

A-10C Speedbrake Temporary

{down = iCommandPlane_HOTAS_SpeedBrakeSwitchAft, up = iCommandPlane_HOTAS_SpeedBrakeSwitchForward, name = 'HOTAS Speed Brake Switch (Hold)', category = 'Quaggles Custom', },
{down = iCommandPlane_HOTAS_SpeedBrakeSwitchForward, up = iCommandPlane_HOTAS_SpeedBrakeSwitchAft, name = 'HOTAS Speed Brake Switch (Inverted Hold)', category = 'Quaggles Custom', },

A-10C VKB Gunfighter Flip Trigger controls master arm

{down = iCommandPlaneAHCPMasterArm, up = iCommandPlaneAHCPMasterSafe, name = 'Master Arm Armed [else] Safe', category = 'Quaggles Custom', },
{down = iCommandPlaneAHCPMasterSafe, up = iCommandPlaneAHCPMasterArm, name = 'Master Arm Safe [else] Armed', category = 'Quaggles Custom', },

F/A-18C Speedbrake Temporary

{down = hotas_commands.THROTTLE_SPEED_BRAKE, up = hotas_commands.THROTTLE_SPEED_BRAKE, cockpit_device_id = devices.HOTAS, value_down = -1.0, value_up = 1.0, name = _('Speed Brake Hold'), category = {'Quaggles Custom'}},
{down = hotas_commands.THROTTLE_SPEED_BRAKE, up = hotas_commands.THROTTLE_SPEED_BRAKE, cockpit_device_id = devices.HOTAS, value_down = 1.0, value_up = -1.0, name = _('Speed Brake Hold Inverted'), category = {'Quaggles Custom'}},

F/A-18C VKB Gunfighter Flip Trigger controls master arm

{down = SMS_commands.MasterArmSw, up = SMS_commands.MasterArmSw, cockpit_device_id = devices.SMS, value_down = 1.0, value_up = 0.0, name = 'Master Arm Armed [else] Safe', category = {'Quaggles Custom'}},
{down = SMS_commands.MasterArmSw, up = SMS_commands.MasterArmSw, cockpit_device_id = devices.SMS, value_down = 0.0, value_up = 1.0, name = 'Master Arm Safe [else] Armed', category = {'Quaggles Custom'}},

F-14 control TID range from front seat

Note: May get broken by Heatblur at any time and could be considered unscrupulous on Multiplayer servers

{down = device_commands.TID_range_knob, cockpit_device_id=devices.TID, value_down = -1.0, name = _('TID range: 25'), category = _('Quaggles Custom')},
{down = device_commands.TID_range_knob, cockpit_device_id=devices.TID, value_down = -0.5, name = _('TID range: 50'), category = _('Quaggles Custom')},
{down = device_commands.TID_range_knob, cockpit_device_id=devices.TID, value_down = 0.0, name = _('TID range: 100'), category = _('Quaggles Custom')},
{down = device_commands.TID_range_knob, cockpit_device_id=devices.TID, value_down = 0.5, name = _('TID range: 200'), category = _('Quaggles Custom')},
{down = device_commands.TID_range_knob, cockpit_device_id=devices.TID, value_down = 1.0, name = _('TID range: 400'), category = _('Quaggles Custom')},

FAQ

My new input commands aren't showing up ingame

First look at Saved Games\DCS\Logs\dcs.log at the bottom is likely an error telling you what went wrong in your code, for finding syntax errors in lua I would recommend Visual Studio Code with the vscode-lua extension, it should highlight them all in red for you making it easy to find that missing comma 😄

If you have no errors open the mod version of Scripts\Input\Data.lua and find the line local quagglesLoggingEnabled = false and set it to true you will get outputs in the Saved Games\DCS\Logs\dcs.log file as the script tries to handle every lua control file, it will tell you the path to the files it is trying to find in your Saved Games folder so you can ensure your folder structure is correct. Remember ../ in a path means get the parent directory.

HELP MY CONTROLS MENU IS BLANK/MISSING

Don't worry, this doesn't mean you've lost all your binds, it means there was an error somewhere in the code loading the commands, usually my injector catches any errors in the default.lua and reports them Saved Games\DCS\Logs\dcs.log. If you see nothing there it could mean that DCS has been updated and changed the format of the Scripts/Input/Data.lua file the mod changes, simple uninstall the mod and the game should work as normal, then wait for an updated version of the mod.

Disclaimer

I am not responsible for any corrupted binds when you use this mod, I've personally never had an issue with this method but I recommend always keeping backups of your binds (Saved Games\DCS\Config\Input) if you value them.