AIRSTRIKEpro, level-bombing app for Saitek X52pro display

[FS~Daedalus]

AIRSTRIKEpro v2.3

Accurate levelbombing is indeed not too easy and there are some very good tutorials on how to make bombing runs and how to use bombsights, but since wind found its way into our favourite sim (v4.10.1m and following) accurate levelbombing became even more challenging.
I tried to solve most of the upcoming difficulties by writing a small application for the display of the Saitek X52pro joystick that is capable of computing correct dropping-angles and sideslip-corrections even when there is wind.



Update to version 2.3

- AIRSTRIKEpro communicates with IL2 1946 via DeviceLink. It receives IAS and altitude directly from the game, no need to enter these values manually anymore with this feature enabled (optional).
- Integrated simple autopilot, no restrictions, it can control every aircraft in the game (two modes: fighter or bomber)
- Speedbar, fuel status and engine temperature/setup information added
- option to choose units, select between (km/h, m), (mph, ft) and (kn, ft)
- option to temporarily disable the DeviceLink connection
- Clutch button LED indicates connection status
- reworked page-design
- no console window anymore but a Tray-Icon instead (the bomb :mrgreen: )
http://i342.photobucket.com/albums/o422/Daedalus80/tray-1.jpg



This is the current page layout:

http://i342.photobucket.com/albums/o422/Daedalus80/page_layout_1.jpg



Download: AIRSTRIKEpro v2_3.zip (http://www.fileden.com/files/2012/8/1/3332473/AIRSTRIKEpro_v2_3.zip)



The scroll-wheel on the left lets you scroll through the pages, the scrollwheel on the right lets you increase or decrease the values shown in the active line. The active line can easily be spotted by the arrow "->" in front of it. Pressing the right scroll-wheel (select) lets you jump through the lines of a page and navigate to subpages.
Have a look into the ReadMe to learn more about the application and how to use it on bombing missions.

Add these two lines at the end of your IL-2 1946 conf.ini:

[DeviceLink]
port=3333

If you wish to use DeviceLink online (some important information is not sent by DeviceLink when playing online) please activate the 'DeviceLinkOnline Mod by Fireball' which is already included in the download.
The application supports all bombers in stock game (v4.11.1m), HSFX 6 and UP 3.
The pages #4, #5 and #6 are optional, have a look into the file startup.ini to customise the program to your likings.

The tool does not interfere with the Saitek Programming Software, so you can use it along with any joystick-profile you created for IL2 1946. The tool will just create a few new pages on the display.
Depending on what driver-version for the X52pro you currently use it might be necessary to update your drivers to the latest version.
You can find the latest Saitek X52pro drivers and SD6 programming software here: http://www.saitek.com/uk/down/drivers.php


Known Issues and Workaround

There are reports of the display showing strange behaviour when having the X52pro plugged to an USB-hub. This is a known issue, but saitek does not fix it (they can't or they don't want to...).
(For me) the issue was solved by plugging the stick directly to the computer.


There are also reports of the display not showing anything after starting AIRSTRIKEpro. This has probably to do with 64Bit operating systems (like Win7 64Bit) and the “Saitek DirectOutput Service” not being started correctly after your computer started.
Should you not see anything on the display of your X52pro after starting AIRSTRIKEpro please do the following (once):

1. Restart your computer and do not start AIRSTRIKEpro
2. Reinstall the latest drivers for your X52pro
3. Right click on the task bar at the bottom of your screen and select "Task-Manager"
4. Select the tab "Services"
5. At the bottom right, you will see a button "Services...", click on that button
6. A window will open, scroll down and find "Saitek DirectOutput". Right click on it and choose "properties"
7. Again a window will open, in the middle of it you will see "Startup type:" and to the right you will see a pull down menu.
Click on the arrow on the right edge and choose "Automatic (Delayed start)". Click the button:"OK"
8. Close the Task-Manager and restart your computer

After your system rebooted there will now be a 10 - 15 seconds delay before your X52pro display will work properly, so just wait a few seconds after your computer started before starting AIRSTRIKEpro.




Improvement suggestions, bug report and critique welcome!

Daedalus

[Fenice_1965]

+1+1+1

[fruitbat]

That is awesome, thank you very much:cool:

[ECV56_Guevara]

Gracias Daedalus!!!

[FS~Daedalus]

Thank you very much for your kind words! :)

To all that have tested the program:
Any feedback so far? Does the application connect to your X52pro without problems? Do the pages show up on the display correctly?
Feedback (positive and negative) will help to improve the utility and sort out any kind of problems.


Daedalus

[322Sqn_Dusty]

...WoW...

Currently the Hotas set is disconnected but i'm going for this one for sure! very clever.

[FS~Daedalus]

Update to version 2.0!
- AIRSTRIKEpro v2.0 now communicates with IL2 1946 via DeviceLink. It receives IAS and altitude directly from the game, no need to enter these values manually anymore with this feature enabled (optional).
- Integrated simple autopilot, no restrictions, it can control every aircraft in the game
- option to choose units, select between (km/h, km, m), (mph, nm, ft) and (kn, nm, ft)
- reworked page-design


Check the first posting of this thread, download link there is up to date.

Daedalus

[FS~Daedalus]

Bugreport and workaround

There are reports of the display not showing anything after starting AIRSTRIKEpro. This has probably to do with 64Bit operating systems (like Win7 64Bit) and the “Saitek DirectOutput Service” not being started correctly after your computer started.
Should you not see anything on the display of your X52pro after starting AIRSTRIKEpro please do the following:

1. Restart your computer and do not start AIRSTRIKEpro
2. Reinstall the latest drivers for your X52pro
3. Right click on the task bar at the bottom of your screen and select "Task-Manager"
4. Select the tab "Services"
5. At the bottom right, you will see a button "Services...", click on that button
6. A window will open, scroll down and find "Saitek DirectOutput". Right click on it and choose "properties"
7. Again a window will open, in the middle of it you will see "Startup type:" and to the right you will see a pull down menu.
Click on the arrow on the right edge and choose "Automatic (Delayed start)". Click the button:"OK"
8. Close the Task-Manager and restart your computer

After your system rebooted there will now be a 10 - 15 seconds delay before your X52pro display will work properly, so just wait a few seconds after your computer started before starting AIRSTRIKEpro.

[FS~Daedalus]

Update AIRSTRIKEpro v2.2
Work on the update to version 2.2 is done!
The page-layout changed a bit and I added two new pages, a 'classic speedbar' (IAS or TAS) and 'Engine temperature and settings' for each engine of your aircraft (up to four engines).

http://i342.photobucket.com/albums/o422/Daedalus80/page_layout.jpg


Please check the first posting in this thread for the download-link and additional information.


Daedalus

[Ze-Jamz]

Hey mate..

even though i don't play il2 much nowadays i appreciate the work gone into this..

fair play to yer!

~S~

[Rot Bourratif]

Sterling work Mr Daedalus!

Any chance this could be ported to, say, a G15 keyboard screen or another device of the kind?

(I know I am being quite cheeky)

Cheers,

[Fenice_1965]

There's an onscreen display version for no X52 users.
The program is awesome, you can get incredible scores with ease during bomb raids.

[FS~Daedalus]

Thank you all! :)

There is already a small program for the G15 keyboard made by WT_Pedropan and WT_Pitr (original, v1.1) and by Barloggg (remake, v2):
BombSite Table for IL-2 shturmovik game (G15+G19) ver2 (http://www.g15-applets.de/bombsite-table-for-il-2-shturmovik-game-g15g19-ver2-t6769.html)
This program also computes dropping-angles but does not connect to IL-2 via DeviceLink and does not take wind into consideration when computing dropping-angles.

So the answer is yes, Logitech published the SDK for these keyboards, AIRSTRIKEpro could be ported to the G15 or G19. But I do not have one of these keyboards, so the developement would be a bit difficult for me right now. :)

The version of the program Fenice mentioned (being displayed as an overlay over IL-2 game graphics under WinXP operation system) is no longer supported: almost nobody is using WinXP anymore and the overlay over IL-2 game no longer works with Vista or Win7 because microsoft fundamentally changed open-GL handling under these OS. :(


But I'll do some reading on the G15 and G19. These two keyboards are quite widely used by gamers, right?
The software developement kit (SDK) should be in the logitech folder (C:\Program Files\Logitech G15\SDK\). Could someone with such a keyboard please have a look into his Logitech-folder and maybe upload the SDK-folder (including the c++ code-examples if possible) for me? I'll have a look into it then and maybe buy such a keyboard, we'll see. :)

[Pfeil]

Supporting Logitech keyboards should also be handy for the people owning a G13.

I've seen quite a few flight sim setups include it, both for extra buttons and the screen.


Attached are the SDKs that come with the 32bit windows XP software. 3.06.109 comes with the "legacy" GamePanel, while 8.00.100 comes with the new and bloated Logitech Gaming Software.

I'm not sure what the differences between both SDK versions are, as the contents of both archives appear identical, but as the version number(and hash) differs I included both to be sure.

[FS~Daedalus]

Thank you very much for uploading!
The display of the G19 can show much more than the X52pro display, heck, you can even watch youtube videos on it! Quite a bit to read for me it seems. :grin:

Daedalus

[Rot Bourratif]

According to Barlogg's BrlgManual pdf file:
<<
Data from process
This item can receive data from any process by any adress. Must difficulty is to obtain this adress. Pretty difficulty. But if you can – then all is nice.
>>

I guess that process could be devicelink?

I am missing a step to test it out myself...

I own a G19 so I am quite keen on beta testing as well.

[FS~Daedalus]

According to Barlogg's BrlgManual pdf file:
<<
Data from process
This item can receive data from any process by any adress. Must difficulty is to obtain this adress. Pretty difficulty. But if you can – then all is nice.
>>

Where did you get that BrlgManual.pdf? It is not part of the downloads under the link I posted above. I don't have a G15 or G19 (yet) and so I can't test it.

[Rot Bourratif]

I got it from this link:
http://www.g15-applets.de/barlogggs-g15g19-applet-ver-60--bga-v-7-t4799.html

The file is: BrlgClockVer60.rar

There is a documentation folder with .pdf files explaining how to configure his app in russian and in english.

As I said, if you need a tester or if you can give some guidance I would be willing to meet up on TS for example.

Cheers,

PS:
Versions 7 and 8 are here:
http://www.logitechusers.com/completed-sdk-created-lcd-applets/14251-new-file-added-bga.html

[FS~Daedalus]

Hi Rot Bourratif,

I think you mixed something up there. The app I linked: BombSite Table for IL-2 shturmovik game (G15+G19) ver2 (http://www.g15-applets.de/bombsite-table-for-il-2-shturmovik-game-g15g19-ver2-t6769.html) has nothing to do with the app you linked if I understand it right. The app you linked can display various information on the keyboard-display like cpu-temperature, memory-usage, pictures, web-info like weather forecast or email-counter and so on, but it has nothing to do with IL-2 1946 and bombsight-angles.



Data from process
This item can receive data from any process by
any adress.
Must difficulty is to obtain this adress. Pretty difficulty.
But if you can – then all is nice. Not sure what this part of the app you linked does or can do (it looks like it reads directly from main memory and thus needs the hard-to-obtain memory adress), IL-2 1946 (DeviceLink) sends and receives information via UDP network protocol.


Daedalus

[FS~Daedalus]

Update to Version 2.3

http://i342.photobucket.com/albums/o422/Daedalus80/page_layout_1.jpg


- information-page on the amount of fuel left (kg, liter, us.liq.gallons), current fuel-consumption (kg/h, liter/h, gal/h) and the maximum range added.
- some minor changes, mostly performance and user-friendliness improvements

Check the first posting in this thread, the download-link can be found there.


Daedalus



P.S.:
I have not yet started work on a portation of the software to work with the display of the Logitech keyboards. Stay tuned...

[Fenice_1965]

Great work mate !
~S~