Command for View/Pan toggle in Germ,man?

[supera380]

Hi,

I need some help with the Tower View in FSX. I have the German FSX version (still learning the language!) and need some help to find the View-Pan Toggle command in the keyboard menus. I believe this will allow me to use the hat switch and have different views from the airport tower rather than be locked onto the user airplane.

Can someone help me?

thanks
Mark

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi Mark.

In FSX you can add to the Cameras.cfg file. In my XP system it's here:

C:\Documents and Settings\Dick\Application Data\Microsoft\FSX

This is what I currently have:

[CameraDefinition.001]
Title = Cockpit
Guid = {B1386D92-4782-4682-A137-738E25D1BAB5}
Description = This is the description of the cockpit view
Origin = Cockpit
ShowPanel = Yes
SnapPbhAdjust = Ordinal
SnapPbhReturn = True
PanPbhAdjust = Ordinal
PanPbhReturn = True
Track = None
ShowAxis = FrontOnly
AllowZoom = TRUE
InitialZoom = 1.0
SmoothZoomTime = 2.0
ShowWeather = Yes
XyzAdjust = TRUE
ShowLensFlare=FALSE
Category = Cockpit
HotKeySelect=2

[CameraDefinition.002]
Title = Virtual Cockpit
Guid = {C95EAB58-9E4A-4E2A-A34C-D8D9D948F078}
Description = This is the description of the virtual cockpit view.
Origin = Virtual Cockpit
MomentumEffect = Yes
SnapPbhAdjust = Swivel
SnapPbhReturn = False
PanPbhAdjust = Swivel
PanPbhReturn = False
Track = None
ShowAxis = YES
AllowZoom = TRUE
InitialZoom = 0.7
SmoothZoomTime = 2.0
ZoomPanScalar = 1.0
ShowWeather = Yes
XyzAdjust = TRUE
ShowLensFlare=FALSE
Category = Cockpit
PitchPanRate=30
HeadingPanRate=75
PanAcceleratorTime=0
HotKeySelect=1

[CameraDefinition.003]
Title = Spot
Guid = {BCA3FDD1-FB83-4BBA-8407-4922A7F0D00C}
Description = This is the description of the spot view.
Origin = Center
SnapPbhAdjust = Ordinal
SnapPbhReturn = False
PanPbhAdjust = Swivel
PanPbhReturn = False
Track = FlatChase
ShowAxis = No
AllowZoom = Yes
InitialZoom = 1.0
SmoothZoomTime = 2.0
ShowWeather = Yes
XyzAdjust = FALSE
Transition = Yes
ShowLensFlare=TRUE
Category = Outside
ClipMode = Spot
PitchPanRate=30
HeadingPanRate=75
PanAcceleratorTime=0

[CameraDefinition.004]
Title = Locked Spot
Guid = {BCA3FDD1-FB83-4BBA-8407-4922A7F0D00D}
Description = This is the description of the spot view.
Origin = Center
SnapPbhAdjust = Swivel
SnapPbhReturn = False
PanPbhAdjust = Swivel
PanPbhReturn = False
Track = FlatChaseLocked
ShowAxis = No
AllowZoom = Yes
InitialZoom = 1.0
SmoothZoomTime = 2.0
ShowWeather = Yes
XyzAdjust = FALSE
Transition = Yes
ShowLensFlare=TRUE
Category = Outside
ClipMode = Spot
PitchPanRate=30
HeadingPanRate=75
PanAcceleratorTime=0
HotKeySelect=3

[CameraDefinition.005]
Title = FlyBy
Guid = {6B79DD49-9B4A-439D-BF40-ACBF157B0BA0}
Description = This is the description of the fly by view.
Origin = Center
SnapPbhAdjust = Swivel
SnapPbhReturn = False
PanPbhAdjust = Swivel
PanPbhReturn = False
Track = FlyBy
ShowAxis = No
AllowZoom = Yes
InitialZoom = 10.0
SmoothZoomTime = 2.0
ShowWeather = Yes
XyzAdjust = FALSE
Transition = No
ChaseDistance = 500
ChaseHeading = 15
ChaseAltitude = 10
ChaseTime = 20
ShowLensFlare=FALSE
Category = Outside
ClipMode = Tower

[CameraDefinition.006]
Title = Top-Down
Guid = {A2849229-938A-448f-8AC6-01EF2291C171}
Description = This is the description of the map or top down view.
Origin = Center
SnapPbhAdjust = Orthogonal
PanPbhAdjust = Orthogonal
Track = None
ShowAxis = Yes
AllowZoom = Yes
InitialZoom = 256
SmoothZoomTime = 2.0
ShowWeather = No
XyzAdjust = FALSE
Transition = No
ShowLensFlare=FALSE
Category = Outside
HotKeySelect=4

[CameraDefinition.007]
Title = Nearest Tower
Guid = {60BC0819-BD04-4AF6-8954-8FC8AA3545FF}
Description = This is the description of the tower view.
Origin = Tower
SnapPbhAdjust = Swivel
SnapPbhReturn = False
PanPbhAdjust = Swivel
PanPbhReturn = False
Track = Track
ShowAxis = No
AllowZoom = Yes
InitialZoom = 8.0
SmoothZoomTime = 2.0
ShowWeather = Yes
XyzAdjust = FALSE
Transition = No
ShowLensFlare=FALSE
Category = Tower
ClipMode = Tower
NoSortTitle = True

[CameraDefinition.008]
Title = Facilities Tower
Guid = {AA8C80C0-9EE2-4284-A1C2-B20CD3F5F3D9}
Description = This is the description of the tower view.
Origin = Fixed
InstancedBased = Yes
SnapPbhAdjust = None
PanPbhAdjust = None
Track = Track
ShowAxis = No
AllowZoom = Yes
InitialZoom = 8.0
SmoothZoomTime = 2.0
ShowWeather = Yes
XyzAdjust = FALSE
Transition = No
ShowLensFlare=FALSE
Category = Tower
CycleHideRadius = 7
ClipMode = Tower

[CameraDefinition.009]
Title = Facilities Runway
Guid = {607C4520-CA6F-4135-AE10-8BF28838068F}
Description = This is the description of the runway view.
Origin = Virtual Cockpit
InstancedBased = Yes
SnapPbhAdjust = None
PanPbhAdjust = None
TargetCategory = Fixed
Track = TrackBank
ShowAxis = Yes
AllowZoom = Yes
InitialZoom = 1.0
SmoothZoomTime = 2.0
ShowWeather = Yes
XyzAdjust = FALSE
Transition = No
ShowLensFlare=FALSE
Category = Runway
CycleHideRadius = 7
ClipMode = Tower
CycleHidden=Yes

[CameraDefinition.010]
Title = AI Planes
Guid = {75A8357E-AB58-4294-9416-90C73FAFDD90}
Description = This is the description of the AI aircraft view.
Origin = Center
SnapPbhAdjust = Swivel
SnapPbhReturn = False
PanPbhAdjust = Swivel
PanPbhReturn = False
Track = FlatChaseLocked
InstancedBased = Yes
ShowAxis = No
AllowZoom = Yes
InitialZoom = 1.0
SmoothZoomTime = 2.0
ShowWeather = Yes
XyzAdjust = FALSE
Transition = No
ShowLensFlare=TRUE
Category = AirTraffic
TargetCategory = Container
ClipMode = Spot
PitchPanRate=30
HeadingPanRate=75
PanAcceleratorTime=0
CycleHidden=Yes

[CameraDefinition.011]
Title = Multiplayer Planes
Guid = {2559BCED-9F13-4bc0-88C8-3996B9311681}
Description = This is the description of the Multiplayer other aircraft view.
Origin = Virtual Cockpit
InstancedBased = Yes
SnapPbhAdjust = None
PanPbhAdjust = None
TargetCategory = Container
Track = TrackBank
ShowAxis = Yes
AllowZoom = Yes
InitialZoom = 1.0
SmoothZoomTime = 2.0
ShowWeather = Yes
XyzAdjust = FALSE
Transition = No
ShowLensFlare=FALSE
Category = MultiPlayer
CycleHideRadius = 7
ClipMode = Tower
CycleHidden=Yes

[CameraDefinition.012]
Title = Landscape
Guid = {C11E251E-9892-43ad-8E4A-70FA6C3C26BA}
Description = A landscape view.
Origin = Center
ShowPanel = No
SnapPbhAdjust = Ordinal
SnapPbhReturn = Yes
PanPbhAdjust = Ordinal
PanPbhReturn = Yes
Track = None
ShowAxis = FrontOnly
AllowZoom = No
InitialZoom = 1.0
SmoothZoomTime = 2.0
ShowWeather = Yes
XyzAdjust = Yes
InitialXyz=0.0, -4.0, 0.0
ShowLensFlare=No
Category = Cockpit

[CameraDefinition.013]
Title = Panning Nearest Tower
Guid = {60BC0888-BD04-4AF6-8354-8FC8AA35C5FF}
Description = Panning Tower
Origin = Tower
SnapPbhAdjust = Swivel
SnapPbhReturn = False
PanPbhAdjust = Swivel
PanPbhReturn = False
Track = None
ShowAxis = No
AllowZoom = Yes
InitialZoom = 1.0
SmoothZoomTime = 2.0
ShowWeather = Yes
XyzAdjust = FALSE
Transition = No
ShowLensFlare=FALSE
Category = Tower
ClipMode = Tower
NoSortTitle = True

Entry 13 is a tower view that pans with the hat switch. I can now pan from the nearest tower... right click on the viewport and select the Panning Tower view.

I don't know if your entries should be in German.

Dick

 

[jvile]

Mark

I have been posting the 'how to' and using the "view track pan toggle" since FSX was released. That feature did not exist is FS9 and was published as a tip in the offical MS FSX book that Users can purchase.

If you look in some of my very early FSX airport downloads (CYXS 01-15-2007) at AVSIM I add to the readme the following which I took out of the FSX Book.

Go into the keyboard assignment list of FSX found in the Display setting menu. Scroll down toward the bottom until you see a entry called

"View track pan toggle"

Assign a keyboard mapping (stroke) for this event. I used Shift+D which belongs to dropping something. I don't plan on dropping anything but will probably use something different in the future.

So what does this do?

In FS9 the Tower View always locked to the User Airplane. In FSX we now can unlock the Tower view from the User Airplane which is refereed to Track/Pan Toggling as per the Tower cameras. This allows us to toggle between tracking and free-panning modes. What you do is go to the Tower view. Once you are in the Tower now hit the key assignment you used to unlock the look view toward the User Plane.

You are now free to pan 360 degrees/up down (hat switch or keyboard shift + number keys) in any direction plus ZOOM in and out all from inside the Tower. Keep in mind that the Tower camera by default may be set to ZOOM 8x so hit the backspace key and the ZOOM will reset to 1x. The + or - will ZOOM in or out but always remember backspace will reset to 1x.

Dick's method is one way to work with Tower view and my way is what MS/ACES published so a key stroke defined in the "View track pan toggle" codes the camera for you without a manual edit of the .cfg

 

[supera380]

Hi Jim,

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, I will search for this info you mentioned, but the biggest problem I have is translating the actual View/Track Pan toggle command from English in the menu list since I have the German language version of FSX and have not been able to translate the exact wording for this option.

If you or anybody else that has the German version of FSX and can point me to the specific command in German, I can then set up the keyboard shortcut.

Hope someone can help me out?

Regards
Mark

 

[jvile]

I will send someone over here if I can to translate for you.

 

[Helli]

Hello Mark,

I just got back from a two-day skiing excursion in the Alps and found Jim's request to help.

Give me a couple of hours, latest tomorrow morning to catch up, what the request is all about.

For credentials: I have the German FSX-version, I am German and I talk to Jim Vile and his friends in English.
We will have an answer for sure.

Helli

 

[Helli]

Mark

I have looked into things, I have discussed it behind the scene with my friends and here is a first preliminary answer.

Your and my German version of FSX has in the keyboard allocation table only 14 entries under "Sicht" (View) compared to the English version, which has 25 options.
Among the missing 11 options is also the one, which you are looking for.

Presently we are trying not only to find out, why this is the case but also how to get the 11 options into the German FSX version.

So please be patient and look occasionally here, wether we have found a solution.

Helli

 

[n4gix]

I would look in the standard.xml file located in the user's APP DATA folder. On my Vista machine, the file is located here:

C:\Users\Bill\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX\Controls

Note that I've assigned the event to CTRL+SHIFT+T keys:

<SimBase.Document
        Type="Controls"
        version="1,0"
        id="Standard">
    <Descr>Controls Mapping File</Descr>
    <Filename>Standard.XML</Filename>
    <SimControls.Map>
        <Name>KEYBOARD_MAIN</Name>

<snipped>

        <Entry>
            <Key>CTRL+SHIFT+T</Key>
            <Down>VIEW_TRACK_PAN_TOGGLE</Down>
        </Entry>

I would be very surprised if this won't work even with the German version...

 

[jvile]

Bill

Thanks for the help and snip

We have already looked in all 3 places which include the in game keyboard assignments, kneeboard, and the standard.xml.

We are trying some test to manually enter the XML like you show into the standard.xml to see if FSX will read backwards since this is the file that captures all assignments as you already know.

Helli has a paning view working but is having to write a camera definition like Dick is showing. Even the camera.cfg is different between the 2 Country versions. The ADE beta members which Helli is part of are working together to find a solution.

 

[Helli]

Bill

As Jim wrote, I looked at "..FSX => Controls => Standard.XML"

The Entry "VIEW_TRACK_PAN_TOGGLE" is not there.

But since this whole file is in English and none of the entries are in German, this file can`t be the one which is used by FSX.

I am still searching the German XML, which carries the German "Entries" - knowing that the one in question won't be there.

But we might try to put it there, mightn't we?

Helli

 

[n4gix]

Bill

As Jim wrote, I looked at "..FSX => Controls => Standard.XML"

The Entry "VIEW_TRACK_PAN_TOGGLE" is not there.
But we might try to put it there, mightn't we?

Helli

That is precisely what anyone MUST do! There is no such entry in the default "standard.xml" file...

This file located in the "users\App Data" folder, is -just like the fsx.cfg file- the one used by FSX...

Keep in mind that FSX itself is very language specific: it will recognize only the precise variables and tokens listed in the SDK. The command "VIEW_TRACK_PAN_TOGGLE" will always be just that...

I believe that regardless of the UI's language presentation, anything changed via the UI is eventually written to this specific file for consumption by FSX.

 

[rhumbaflappy]

I think Bill's solution will work... it does for me.

I did find that my location:

C:\Documents and Settings\Dick\Application Data\Microsoft\FSX\Controls

contains the Standard.xml, but the file is rewritten upon exiting the sim ( with the original )... so my changes are lost after one use.

Dick

 

[Helli]

Dick and Bill!

Thanks a lot.

Before I proceed further and do this experiment, please could you clarify for me:

I have 2 versions of "standard.xml"

- one is in C:\Documents and Settings\Helli\Appl.Data\Microsoft\FSX\Controls\Standard.XML...........(39 KB)
- the other is in G:\FSX\Standard.xml......(170 KB)

Which is which??

Helli

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi Helli.

As Bill indicates, your sim uses:

C:\Documents and Settings\Helli\Appl.Data\Microsoft\FSX\Controls\Standard.XML

I don't know why it gets rewritten on FSX closing, or where the old definitions come from... maybe write-protecting the file will force changes to stick.

If I delete the '...\Controls\Standard.XML', then run FSX, the XML file is rewritten on exit.

Dick

Edited.........

This sticks:

        <Entry>
            <Key>CTRL+SHIFT+VK_QUOTE</Key>
            <Up>VIEW_TRACK_PAN_TOGGLE</Up>
        </Entry>

 

[n4gix]

contains the Standard.xml, but the file is rewritten upon exiting the sim ( with the original )... so my changes are lost after one use.

Dick

Odd, that! The normal action for writing to an ".ini" type file (which is all that ths standard.xml file is) is to simply "update" things that've been changed via the UI. It should not however "erase" anything that isn't explicitly modified in the UI...

 

[jvile]

Mark

With all the help in this thread from rhumbaflappy (Dick), n4gix (Bill), Helli and testing done by the ADE beta Team we have confirmed several solutions.

The first method is rhumbaflappy (Dick's) additional camera view listed above. I will add what he shows here

[CameraDefinition.013]
Title = Panning Nearest Tower
Guid = {60BC0888-BD04-4AF6-8354-8FC8AA35C5FF}
Description = Panning Tower
Origin = Tower
SnapPbhAdjust = Swivel
SnapPbhReturn = False
PanPbhAdjust = Swivel
PanPbhReturn = False
Track = None
ShowAxis = No
AllowZoom = Yes
InitialZoom = 1.0
SmoothZoomTime = 2.0
ShowWeather = Yes
XyzAdjust = FALSE
Transition = No
ShowLensFlare=FALSE
Category = Tower
ClipMode = Tower
NoSortTitle = True

This method is not version specific and will work with any Country version of FSX if View track/pan (Toggle) is missing from the keyboard command list by default (German Version).

---------------------------------------------------

The second method is a 2 step process since we have to work through the FSX translator.

If you have windows XP or Vista we go to the FSX Standard.xml file and open it with a text editor such as Notepad. The standard.xml is in

Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\<User Name>\Appl.Data\Microsoft\FSX\Controls\Standard.XML

Vista
C:\Users\<User Name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX\Controls\Standard.xml

Once you have opened the FSX Standard.xml with notepad add the following <Entry> in the <Name>KEYBOARD_MAIN</Name> section so it looks like this

<Name>KEYBOARD_MAIN</Name>
<Entry>
<Key>CTRL+SHIFT+T</Key>
<Down>VIEW_TRACK_PAN_TOGGLE</Down>
</Entry>

Be sure the <Entry> is added to the <Name>KEYBOARD_MAIN</Name> section since there are more then one sections listed

Save the Standard.xml and exit

Start FSX and open Options => Settings => Controls => Buttons/Keys

and then go down the list until you see => View Track/Pan (toggle)

Your German Version will probably say

- German FSX: Optionen => Einstellungen => Steuerungen => Tasten

then go down the list until you see => Mit Blick dem Kursverlauf folgen (umschalten)

- allocate via "Neue Zuordnung" window tab the same key combination as above (CTRL+SHIFT+T)

We are telling the German version to tanslate that back to what we added into the standard.xml in English.


Note:: Both versions above allow panning with the "Hat Switch" (mouse, keyboard shift + arrow keys can be used) for the Tower View of the actual airport.

When choosing with the "A"-key among the different Tower Views they are called in the German FSX:

-Method 1: "Kontrollturmsicht Panning Nearest Tower"
-Method 2: "Kontrollturmsicht Nächster Kontrollturm"

A personal thanks to Helli and everyone else that helped in working out these methods.

At this point in time we have no reason why some keyboard commands were left out of certain Country Versions of FSX. We can pass this type information over to ACES so in the future the keyboad commands are listed more consistantly in the proper langauge.

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi Bill.

I think what happened to me is that I added the VIEW_TRACK_PAN_TOGGLE:

<Entry>
<Key>CTRL+SHIFT+VK_QUOTE</Key>
<Up>VIEW_TRACK_PAN_TOGGLE</Up>
</Entry>

...after I already had a definition for it. I should have just altered the entry, rather than adding it. I did find the sim evaluates the xml, and rebuilds it after each use.

Mark's problem was that he didn't have an entry at all, I believe. It looks as if Jim has sorted it out.

Dick

 

[n4gix]

This is a terrific testimony of the "Power of Collaboration" in solving a vexing problem!

Each of us contributed whatever we "knew" about the problem, and when added together came up with a "cure" (or at the very least a bandaid...)

 

[supera380]

Great work!

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the long delay in responding, but this is excellent news! I tried the first method from Jvile and it worked perfectly!!!

Can't thank you enough and I really appreciate everyone's help to figure this one out as it had me stumped with the German version of FSX.

Cheers
Mark