TSH v4 Functionality Improvements
The TSH v4 Axis Switcher
When to use the axis switcher
TSH v4 provides support for 7 analogue axis controls:
- 1. Pitch
- 2. Roll
- 3. Throttle
- 4. Rudder
- 5. TDC slew Left/Right
- 6. TDC slew Up/Down
- 7. Radar antenna elevation + FLIR contrast/brightness
Because of this, there may be more analogue functions that you want to use than there are physical axes on your controller(s). If this is the case, you may want to use the axis switcher.
Function IDs
TSH v4 assigns new analogue functions to an ID. The TDC is fixed at ID 00, while other functions can be assigned to IDs from 00 to 09. When a function’s assigned ID is active, that function is active. When another ID is active, that function is inactive and accepts no analogue input. Please note these are function IDs and are independent from the controller IDs discussed previously.
By default, all analogue functions are on ID 00, and they are all active simultaneously. For example, assume that TDC Up/Down motion and radar antenna elevation + FLIR contrast/brightness are both assigned to axis V1. If the axis switcher is not used, moving V1 will move the TDC and the radar antenna or FLIR contrast/brightness at the same time. Most likely this is not desirable behavior; the axis switcher can be used to separate these functions.
In this case a typical solution would be to assign radar antenna elevation + FLIR contrast/brightness to ID 01, since TDC motion is always on ID 00 and cannot be changed. Assigning radar antenna elevation + FLIR contrast/brightness to ID 01 means that when ID 00 is active, V1 controls only the TDC, and when ID 01 is active, V1 controls only the radar antenna + FLIR contrast/brightness.
Since IDs 02 through 09 are also available, these can be used as IDs where axes control nothing at all; this can be useful to turn off axes entirely or for other uses with programmable joysticks. Additional analogue control might be added to these IDs in future TSH releases.
The ID is changed with three commands:
- INC_AX: increment the ID by 1 until wraparound
- DBL_AX: increment the ID by 2 until wraparound
- TDC_AX: reset the ID to 00
Assigning IDs
Analogue functions are assigned to IDs by using the line ID_AXES= in the F18addon.ini file. This line is not controlled by the TSH Manager and must be added manually to make use of the axis switcher. The line takes the syntax ID_AXES=aa*bb*…ii*jj*. “aa” denotes the assigned ID of the radar antenna elevation + FLIR contrast/brightness, while “bb” through “jj” denote the assigned ID of blank functions. The following examples demonstrate this.
ID_AXES=00*
All functions will be active on ID 00. INC_AX, DBL_AX, and TDC_AX will have no effect in-game.
ID_AXES=01*
The TDC will be active on ID 00 and the radar antenna + FLIR contrast/brightness will be active on ID 01. At the start of a mission, the TDC will be active (ID=00). Pressing INC_AX (ID=01) disables TDC function and enables the radar antenna + FLIR contrast/brightness. Pressing INC_AX again or pressing TDC_AX (ID=00) disables the radar antenna + FLIR contrast/brightness and enables the TDC. DBL_AX will have no effect in-game.
ID_AXES=01*02*
The TDC will be active on ID 00 and the radar antenna + FLIR contrast/brightness will be active on ID 01. ID 02 will be available but will not contain any analogue functions. At the start of a mission, the TDC will be active (ID=00). Pressing INC_AX (ID=01) disables TDC function and enables the radar antenna + FLIR contrast/brightness. Pressing INC_AX again (ID=02) disables the radar antenna + FLIR contrast/brightness, turning off all TSH analogue axis controls. Pressing INC_AX a third time or pressing TDC_AX (ID=00) enables the TDC.
OR
At the start of a mission, the TDC will be active (ID=00). Pressing DBL_AX (ID=02) disables the TDC, turning off all TSH analogue axis controls. Pressing INC_AX, DBL_AX, or TDX_AX (ID=00) enables the TDC.
Note that even if two functions are assigned to different physical axes, assigning them to different IDs will prevent them from being active simultaneously.
Naming IDs
Using axis switching, a busy pilot can quickly forget which ID is active. To prevent this, a 3-character identifier of the active ID is printed in the UFC. The identifiers are customizable and are controlled by the lines in F18addon.ini NAME_IDXX=AAA, where XX is the ID from 00 to 09 and AAA is any three characters. As an example, say TDC motion and radar antenna elevation + FLIR contrast/brightness are on two separate IDs (AXES_ID=01*). To distinguish between these IDs, the following lines could be added to F18addon.ini:
NAME_ID00=TDC
NAME_ID01=A/F
“A/F” would stand for “antenna + FLIR”. These identifiers would appear on the UFC in CNI and MDI modes, always indicating the state of the function ID. Note the following:
- Identifiers will appear in capital letters in-game even if they are entered lower case into F18addon.ini
- Identifiers can be a maximum of three characters. Additional characters will be truncated and will not be printed in-game.
- Non-standard ANSI characters may not display properly in-game. Please use for identifiers only characters generated through single and shift-chorded key presses in Notepad.
Screenshots of ID names in use can be seen below. Expand the thumbnails to see the animations.
UFC in CNI Mode, function ID cycled by pressing INC_AX
UFC in MDI Mode, function ID cycled by pressing INC_AX
