In the JF Tornado F3, as we know, the wing sweep function is an extension of the sim’s flap system and is set as an extension of the flap commands: flaps down, mid up, 25, 45, 67 and reverse. It’s possible to have a slider control the wing element independently.
With help from Rich at Just Flight I established that the sweep position lever in the cockpit triggers the following variables – “L:sweep_VC_LC,number” & “L:sweep_VC_RC,number”. That means a mouse left click on the lever triggers a one increment decrease in wing then flap. Conversely, a right click triggers an increase. This action can be saved as a macro.
I operate the Tornado F3 flight simulator in Lincolnshire and my friend “Gazzer” Coleman produced a custom wing sweep lever that fits onto my Thrustmaster Warthog throttle box attaching to the slider control. Although I programmed this system, the method should work on any slider control.
There was, therefore, a need to come up with a program in FSUIPC to allow the slider axis to operate the wings independently of the flaps. I work P3D V4.5 and FSUIPC 6.
The method:
Check your slider axis is working. You can do this in Windows or FSUIPC
Generate two mouse macros in FSUIPC for the wing sweep lever commands. I named them F3_Sweep_Incr and F3_Sweep_Decr. You do this by selecting the “mouse macro” box in FSUIPC, then placing the mouse over the wing sweep lever with a left click for decrease and a right click for increase. Place the macros in the host folder for your FSUIPC program. They will then appear just like any other command and be selectable in FSUIPC.
Go into Use the FSUIPC calibration function in the left window. Check the first tickbox on the left hand side. Select “Unused”.
Move the slider to activate the function. Look for the ranges selection on the right hand side. You will see 1 in the window with up/down selection arrows. Cycling up gives 2 then 3 etc.
Check the first function and look in the drop down window. You should see F3_Sweep_Incr and Decr. You will be programming 5 ranges. With the axis live, pressing from and to will set the limits of the range. You will see Up and Down boxes that can be checked. Program the values in accordance with the following table. The range values are approximate but get as close as you can:
Range 1 +14647 to +16383 Down box checked. F3_Sweep_Decr
Range 2 +512 to +3168 Down checked F3_Sweep_Incr
Range 3 -16384 to -15677 Down checked F3_Sweep_Incr
Range 4 -3759 to -1510 Up checked F3_Sweep_Decr
Range 5 +13759 to +16383 Up checked F3_Sweep_Incr
Voila, you can still operate both wings and flaps on your flap lever but switch to the slider for wings once airborne. There may be some inconsistencies in the commands but it works.
I assume this would work for the JF GR1 but I have yet to try it.
I pass this on only because of the effort it took to work out the right controls for consistent operation. Thanks to John Dowson at FSUIPC for his help in working this out. Please try it at your own risk but you may wish to back up FSUIPC.ini first, should it not work for you.
