Devicelink Functionality

[Pfeil]

Early on, Devicelink was deemed too "exploitable" for use in multiplayer, which in my opinion killed most interest in implementing it. Both for 3rd parties and the devs.

Aside from UDPSpeed and UDPGraph, there are very few programs compatible with, let alone designed for, IL2 Devicelink.
None of the simulator instrument manufacturers(FlightIllusion, SimKits, Simmeters, etc..) support it either.

I bring it up for a simple, fairly selfish, reason; I'm looking to build a simpit for IL2. While it would be mostly generic, as is logical when the amount of flyable aircraft is this diverse, accurately implementable gauges are still a minimum requirement.
When using a hardware cockpit, it makes little sense to view the instruments though a virtual onscreen cockpit, as this would simply shatter immersion.

Therefore, I'm hoping Daidalos Team could consider expanding Devicelink functionality.


I've already done some experimenting myself, and wrote a small app in C# to do the UDP communication. The external software side is not the problem here(I'm willing to figure it out).

The biggest problem right now is that some(quite a few) gauges/values aren't implemented in Devicelink, even though they work in the virtual cockpit(Radio Altimeter, Oil Pressure, Fuel Pressure, OAT, Ammunition Indicators, etc..).
Even things like flap position or prop pitch can only be read from the control setting, not the actual position.

Some outputs produce odd, or no values at all such as Turn and Slip.

In more than a few cases, the documentation doesn't include a description of unit the output value is in(Bar, Degrees, ...)

Many of the switch values(Lights for example) can't be read out through Devicelink either. This makes implementing toggle switches impossible without them getting desyncronised with the sim.

The onscreen messages(engine fire, fuel tank leak, ...) could also be made available.
These have no gauge, but having a light or annunciator in the cockpit/simpit would break immersion much less than the flashing text onscreen(I know it can be turned off, but there's no real alternative to it AFAIK).


Ideally, Devicelink could also support engine ID values for all setting relevant to engines(Feather Prop, Radiator, ...) without selecting engines first.
Though having these controls available per engine though the control settings in the sim itself would be beneficial outside of Devicelink as well.


Lastly, I would like to suggest a few things that might make online availability of Devicelink possible:

Return semi random values during blackout/redout, making the gauges deviate wildly(I.E. if altitude is 2000, return values from 2500 to 1500). Or output nothing.

Disable output when a non-cockpit view is selected. DeviceLink currently has an output for this(cockpit cur, 26), however using it is up to the designer.
This could be coupled to an existing setting like speedbar, so implementing additional difficulty settings could be avoided.

Don't output "true" values, only instrument readouts. This makes sure that DeviceLink instruments can't move faster than those displayed in the sim. Currently the variometer(and other gauges) output changes in value faster than the virtual gauge.
Another benefit of this is authentic needle movement for anything using Devicelink.