Hi Gang,

I'm >< this close to putting the finishing touches on the New Control Manager Dummies Guide. And believe it or not, I need YOUR help. I'm at a point in the Dummies guide where I discuss selecting modes. As some of you may know, with CMS there 4 modes available in CM. I was trying to think of a reason to use 4 modes in a .map. Personally, I have enough buttons, switches and axes for a single mode. Any ideas on what one would use 4 modes for? I look forward to your replies...

The obvious one that comes to my mind is in Falcon 4 - Nav, A2A, and A2G modes. I remember that when I was playing Falcon 4 with my Saitek X35/45 (I can't remember which one I had at that time) the map that I was using was set like this and it provided quick access to the various necessities as they related to the mode that the jet was in.

For DCS: Black Shark I am not sure that the complexity of the AC requires this level of customization in the flight setup. Then again I could be completely misreading your question. :-)

I've always found mode switching with any stick to be a little cumbersome. It all depends on how many buttons that are available, but if I put anything in other modes I always try to put stuff that would never be used in combat there.

In DCS with my X52 the only things I offloaded to a second mode were the controls to slew the search light (which are my SHKVAL controls in mode 1) and, uhh, the button to turn on the search light! I think that's honestly it.

In Lock On I had mode 1 for flight/combat and mode 2 for landings only. I made an attempt to have a flight mode, air to air mode and air to ground mode but I found it just made things harder.

Hope some others share their tips, these kind of control questions are so personal!

Thanks guys. But, if you were to use a fourth mode, what would you use it for?

Answer the phone, and change the t.v. channel?

May I ask a silly question? Just what 4 modes are being discussed here? I've been using the CM for many years and I've only seen 3 modes. Are we all talking about the same modes here? I am referring to the 3 tabs labeled 'Mode 1', 'Mode 2' and 'Mode 3'.

Maybe there is a new version out? I am currently using 4.51.

Aviar

I guess it's good thing I'm adding this to the New And Improved Dummies Guide then. 4 modes has been available for as long as I can remember (v2.0). All you have to do to select 4 modes is select CMS as your Mode Control:



And then a wee bit of scripting to indicate the JS and B you'd like to use to select the desired mode, like this:

Well, then let me ask you something. When I switch between the 3 modes, the corresponding LED on my Fighterstick also lights up. Obviously, this lets me know which mode is currently active. Since there are only 3 LED's, what happens if I switch to the 4th mode?

Aviar

Using CMS does not allow for the LEDs to change. You'd just have to remember what mode you were/are in.

Ok, thanks. I'll just stick to my 3 modes.

Aviar