A DCS-BIOS-based plugin for Touch Portal (Macro deck remote control for PC) where you can use Android or iOS phone/tablet as secondary display to focus on parameters such as extension of flaps and speed brakes, wheels fully or partially down, remaining chaff/flares, states of non-frontal control switches, digital readings for warbirds (eg. altitude and speed), and etc. You can also issue commands to your aircraft via sliders or buttons with the plugin's library of actions and connectors.
This pack does not come with any ready-to-use TP pages. However, the following samples are available if you need a quick start.
* F/A-18C:
https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3319504/
* F-16C:
https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3319505/
* Mosquito FB Mk IV:
https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3319710/
* UH-1H:
https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3320621/
* FC3 (SU-25T & SU-33):
https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3320800/
* F-14B:
https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3324780/ (authored by Cpt.P99)
* AH-64D:
https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3326762/
* L-39:
https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3336442/ (authored by virgo47)
- with accompanying video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rL1EsVrLeI
***** SPECIAL NOTE *****
1. While I can assure you that the uploaded files are clean, for your peace of mind and own protection, scan the unzipped files first before using them. If your anti-virus and/or anti-malware triggers, DO NOT PROCEED with the installation and delete the files concerned.
2. If you get a false positive from an anti-virus application, kindly feedback via a comment below with details of the product and its virus definition version - so that I can take it up with the support of the anti-virus or anti-malware company concerned. Note that DCS-COINS_Setup.exe has been whitelisted by Norton, Microsoft, Symantec, and Avast.
===============================================================================================
-------------------------
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
-------------------------
Special mention of works by other developers which made this product possible.
* This plugin uses the following code libraries:
* dcs-bios-api by danieltian (
https://github.com/danieltian/dcs-bios-api)
* touchportal-api by Spdermn02 (
https://www.npmjs.com/package/touchportal-api)
* For user convenience, the installer contains a repack of DCS-BIOS lua files from DCSFlightpanels.
(
https://github.com/DCSFlightpanels/dcs-bios/tree/master/Scripts/DCS-BIOS/lib)
--------------------------
TERMS & CONDITIONS
--------------------------
1. This is a freeware provided as-is for the DCS user community. Note that the code author is not affiliated with Touch Portal and does not gain anything financially from the said company.
2. The code author will not be liable for any issues, problems, losses and/or damages arising from the use of this freeware.
3. The freeware may not be repacked, resold, and/or redistributed on another platform without the code author's explicit permission.
4. The act of downloading, installing and/or using this freeware automatically constitutes acknowledgement and consent to the terms and conditions outlined above.
------------------
REQUIREMENTS
------------------
* DCS World 2.7 and above
* Touch Portal on Windows 10/11 - v4.0 onwards (Free) -
https://www.touch-portal.com/
* Touch Portal on Android (4.1 or higher) or iOS tablet/phone - v4.1 and above (sorry, NOT FREE - need the Pro upgrade for plugins.)
* FlightPanel DCS-BIOS - if installed separately, its version must match that bundled with the DCS-COINS package
* Firewall on Windows to enable TCP/UDP port 5040 and 12136 (normally enabled by default)
----------------
INSTALLATION
----------------
1. Download and unpack installation file.
* Save DCS-COINS.zip to a temporary folder (eg. C:\Users\MyUserName\Downloads).
* Unzip DCS-COINS.Install.zip to a folder of its own (eg. C:\Users\MyUserName\Downloads\DCS-COINS).
2. Run Setup program.
* Go to the unpacked DCS-COINS folder.
* Double-click DCS-COINS_Setup.exe.
* It will attempt to locate your user DCS Scripts folder and DCS-BIOS installation (if any).
3. Setup: Install DCS-BIOS (Skip this step if you already have DCS-BIOS installed).
* Click button "Install DCS-BIOS".
4. Make a backup copy of your Export.lua file (in case in you need to restore it later).
* The location of the Export.lua is displayed in the process log line "* Info: DCS script folder found in ...." (eg. C:\Users\MyUserName\Saved Games\DCS\Scripts).
* Copy out the Export.lua file to another folder for safekeeping or you can keep it there under a different file name (eg. Export.lua.20211023).
5. Setup: Sel ect DCS modules that you currently have installed and want to setup for interfacing with Touch Portal.
* Click button "Sel ect Modules" and you will get a pop-up window:
* Check the checkboxes of the modules that you have.
* Click "< Back" to cancel, and "Next >" to proceed with your selection.
* It should show "* Next step: Create TP File".
6. Setup: Execute configuration per module selection and generate Touch Portal plugin file.
* Click button "Create TP File".
* It will take a few moments and when finished, it will display the following:
* Created: TP plug-in file.
* Final step: Exit Setup and use Touch Portal to install TP plug-in file.
* TP plug-in file: <DCS-COINS install folder>\Munt.G_DCS-COINS.tpp
* Click button "Exit Setup".
7. Touch Portal: Install the plug-in.
* Right-click on Touch Portal icon fr om system tray and click "Open".
* Click on the gear icon on the top right.
* Click "Plug-ins" on the left.
* Click "Import plug-in".
* Navigate to the DCS-COINS install folder as indicated in the last line of Step 6, and sel ect "Munt.G_DCS-COINS.tpp" and click "Open".
* Click "OK" in the pop-up.
* Click "Trust Always" in the next pop-up.
* Click "Save".
And that's it! You should be able to see DCS module events in Touch Portal to start building custom pages for your favorite aircraft.
----------------
TIPS & TRICKS
----------------
TIP# 1: Testing to confirm that DCS-COINS is able to interface with DCS-BIOS and trigger events to TP.
1. Press "Windows" + "R".
2. Key in "cmd" and hit ENTER (to run the command prompt).
3. Type "cd " and followed by your DCS-COIN install folder, and hit ENTER.
4. Type "DCS-COINS -v" to run in verbose mode.
5. Run DCS as usual.
6. Switch back to the command prompt. If the interface is working, you should be seeing a stream of messages regarding aircraft parameters being triggered to TP.
TIP# 2: To identify the event or whether an event is being triggered when you work on specific aircraft controls.
1. Repeat steps outlined in TIP# 1.
TIP# 3: Enabling/disabling certain events from being triggered to TP.
1. Note that certain parameters have been disabled by default due to them being either irrelevant (at least to the code author) and/or to improve system performance.
2. The parameters for each modules are stored in text files bearing its respective aircraft name and with the file extension ".pp" in the "acdb" folder.
3. Open up the file of your interest (eg. FA-18C_hornet.pp) using a text editor such as Notepad++.
4. Each line represents a parameter record extracted from the corresponding .lua file. If one or more '#' characters exists in a line, the parameter concerned is disabled (will not be triggered to TP).
5. To enable a disabled parameter, just delete all the "#" characters fr om the line concerned. Test out the events concerned using steps outline in Tip#1.
6. If you are satisfied and wish to configure the changes for TP, redo "Create TP file" via the DCS-COINS_Setup.exe. And then go to TP, delete the DCS-COINS plug-in, quit TP, and then reinstall the DCS-COINS plugin.
TIP# 4: Improving Touch Portal page response to the generated events.
1. If you can get it to work, connect your Android/iOS device to your PC/laptop via a USB connection. Follow the instructions outlined in Touch Portal website. It's definitely faster than via WiFi.
2. Refer to TIP# 3 to remove unneeded and noisy events from being processed on both Android/iOS device and PC/laptop.
---------------------
NEWS & SUPPORT
---------------------
https://forums.eagle.ru/topic/207264-touch-portal-app/page/2/
---------------
CHANGELOG
---------------
* 2021-10-25: Repacked to include missing 7z.dll file.
* 2021-10-30: DCS-COINS.Setup.exe includes user option to "Set DCS Script Folder" in the event it cannot detect the folder concerned.
* 2021-11-04: Repacked with DCS-BIOS_0.7.43a along with upd ated PP files, and disablement of high-range parameters by default.
* 2021-11-08: Renamed DCSFlightpanels Mosquito files to follow expected file naming convention and repacked DCS-BIOS with only bare essentials.
* 2021-12-05: Enhancement support for future new aircraft models, ease of event look-up in TP (event names in alphabetical order), and repacked with PP adjustments/fixes for AV8BNA, F-16C_50, FA-18C_hornet, and MosquitoFBMkVI.
* 2022-01-15: Support for A-10C II, FC3 aircraft, FC3-compatible mods, Hornet variants, CW Spitfire and others sharing DCS-BIOS lua/json files. Repacked with DCS-BIOS 0.7.44. Reverted to original DCS-BIOS file naming scheme (Mosquito-related files). User-friendly values for UH-1H for switches and knobs.
* 2022-01-16: Minor bugfix for TP File generator.
* 2022-02-02: VERSION 2 RELEASE 2202.02
- Support TP Actions to issue commands to DCS via DCS-BIOS.
- More user-friendly TP value refinements for A-10C, F-16C_50, FA-18C_hornet, and UH-1H.
- NOTE: Certain parameters/values created with DCS-COINS version 1 may no longer be compatible with this version. You will need to delete and recreate them.
* 2022-02-12: Minor PP file fixes for A-10C and UH-1H.
* 2022-02-13: Minor PP file fixes for UH-1H.
* 2022-06-06: Repacked with DCS-BIOS 0.7.45 (include support for AH-64D).
* 2022-07-11: Enabled a few CommonData parameters.
* 2022-10-06: VERSION 3 RELEASE 2210.03
- Support for Slider controls with TP API version 4
- Analog aircraft controls accessible via TP slider and/or action button (both operates independently - action does not upd ate slider position)
- Support for Mirage F1 (requires DCS-BIOS 0.7.46 or newer)
- User friendly values for AH-64D, and minor PP file fixes
- Packaged with DCS-BIOS 0.7.46, which includes support for Mirage F1
- "Common Data" Action "Reset Aircraft States" option to reinitialize aircraft to intial default values
- Execution in verbose mode ignores action requests to DCS-BIOS - avoid duplicate commands
- NOTE: Certain parameters/values created with previous DCS-COINS versions may no longer be compatible with this version. You will need to delete and recreate them.
* 2022-10-06: Patch to fix aircraft alias mismatches.
* 2022-10-09: Revamp of value type se t, patch to remove '%' character from non-analog values, support for simple user-customized value type to multiply or divide a event value with an integer or float. Refer to Readme.txt in acdb folder.
* 2022-10-23: Fixed issue with"Reset Aircraft States" not working as expected, streamlined plugin execution in verbose and non-verbose mode, PP movement values enhanced to percentage format, and PP adjustments F-16C, F/A-18C, Mosquito and UH-1H.
* 2022-11-07: PP file adjustments for AH-64D.
* 2022-11-11: PP file adjustments for F-16C.
* 2023-09-09: Repacked with DCS-BIOS 0.7.49, fixes for recognition of F/A-18 and C-101 variants, and support for F-15E, MB-339 and Blackshark 3.
* 2024-03-13: Conversion to Touch Portal 4.x platform (not backward-compatible) and a minor fix for AH-64D (wiper). NOTE: All actions created prior to Touch Portal 4.0 cannot be edited - you will need to delete and then add them back to the buttons.
* 2024-04-10: Repacked with DCS-BIOS 0.8.0, support for new DCS-BIOS changes, addition of state "aircraft_model" (variant ID) and fix for identification of SA-342.
* 2024-04-11: Patch for setup of F-86F Sabre and Common Data.
