Setting up the STECS 5-Way Mode Switch for DCS

[wkwkwk]

The STECS mode switch normally outputs a constant button press for each position. DCS can treat these as Modifiers, but a held button blocks other inputs, including those from other devices.

You can change the mode buttons to momentary (Tempo) presses in VKB DevCfg, but DCS won’t accept momentary buttons as Modifiers. It will accept them as Switch Modifiers, but those toggle on with one press and off with a second. Because the mode knob sends only a single pulse per position, each Switch Modifier turns on when selected but only turns off the next time the knob returns to that same position. This allows multiple modes to remain active at once and creates control chaos.

One workaround is to program every mode × button combination inside the STECS, but you quickly run out of logical buttons. Virtual controllers might help, but it’s unclear to me whether more than 128 buttons can be programed across the physical and virtual devices.

My solution is to program each mode position as a toggle where the same logical button is used for both the ON and OFF events. When you rotate the knob, the old mode toggles off as it’s released, and the new mode toggles on as it’s pressed. Each of these toggle events is bound to a Switch Modifier in DCS, so the correct modifier is always active for the current knob position.

The remaining issue is that DCS doesn’t detect the starting position of the mode switch when you enter the cockpit, so the first Switch Modifier isn’t activated automatically. To fix that, I mapped the SYS button to trigger Mode 1. Before I spawn in, I set the knob to Mode 1, and after I spawn in, I tap SYS to initialize the system.

There might be a better way, but I wanted to share my solution. I am happy to describe this setup more if not clear.

Love my STECS Standard + Gladiator + T-Rudder setup!

[Alex Oz]

Your solution isn't entirely clear. Please attach your profile ( zip). Sync is available for some functions.

GIF (click on it)

similarly, it can be implemented using Booleans

[wkwkwk]

The solution is pretty simple. My modal buttons are 3-7. I set each as a toggle where both the press and release are the same logical button, again 3 to 7 for me. In DCS I set up 3-7 as "Switch Modifiers". And that is the entire solution. Every turn of the knob turns off the current switch modifier and turns on the next. By using the switch modifiers I can easily have 5 versions of every button if I want to.

A problem that pops up is that upon start up DCS doesn't recognize the position of the modal switch and thus does not set the first "Switch Modifier" so I have the SYS button programed output the logical button 3. Before opening a mission I have to set the modal switch to 1, then after getting into the cockpit I press SYS to initialize the process.

You are a genius when it comes to controller setup so I look forward to your opinion, but I think the problem is on the DCS side, not the controller side.

[wkwkwk]

Do your set of toggles send a press when turned off? That is the key to getting DCS to work. In DCS you press a key to turn on a switch modifier and you have to press a key to turn it off. My process sends two presses for each turn of the dial. If the dial is on 3 and I turn to 4, it sends both a 3 and 4. The 3 turns off the first modifier and the 4 turns on the next.

[Alex Oz]

Assign to button SYS function SYNC - you don't have to monitor the position of the switch
You will send the actual switch position to the game.

[wkwkwk]

Thank you - the SYNC function is awesome! Now I don't have to worry about where the knob is set.

For the DCS "Switch Modifier" system to work the toggles have to be set as "2 buttons". It works great!

[wkwkwk]

What does the "Ax 3" mean in your example? I just have "T".

[Alex Oz]

development artifact (planned for AUX Switch0)