Repeat option in keyboard assignments

This one has got me stumped for ideas at the moment and it concerns the keyboard assignment for Brakes Apply/Release.

The repeat box over to the right has gone missing and it is happening for all aircraft and not just one. I have a separate fs9.cfg file for each aircraft that I fly but no matter which one I load up the problem is always there. However, if I allow the sim to build a new fs9.cfg file then the repeat box is available. And, yes, the default setting of "." is correctly set up. Weird :confused:

Repeat boxes for other assignments which need them are there as they should be - it's just the Brakes Apply/Release one which has gone South.

This seems to suggest that there might be one "overall" setting which has got upset somewhere but I am getting clueless by the minute as to what. Any ideas, anyone?

TIA

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Update - If I assign a button on my yoke to Brakes Apply/Release then the repeat box will appear and I can use it OK with the keyboard. But if I then delete the yoke assignment the whole lot goes South again.

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Dijvid

Possibly because there's no need for a repeat function on the brake key; hold down the key, you have brakes, release it , you don't. What would repeat do in that instance?

Thanks for the reply.

I think that if you try your suggestion out then all you will get is the effect of stabbing just once on the toe brakes - that's the way is works for me and always has. If you want the effect of continuous braking then you need to be able to get the key to auto repeat just as you would hold and keep the toe brakes down until you had slowed to the speed you need. That's what the repeat box is for - it stops you having to continuously hit the key to get the same effect.

Not all assignments have a repeat box associated with them but those for which MS have programmed one in they have done for good reason!

Dijvid

jgf makes a valid point. The key press for brakes requires no repeat. They are either on or off. If you are trying to use toe brakes you should assign as an axis.

edt... thought some more about this. It is possible that the default . brakes key is a momentary application of brakes and the repeat function by default is enabled. I have never noticed this, if that is the case.

Your method of using a different fs9.cfg for each aircraft is not a good one however. I suggest you get the registered version of FSUIPC for assignment/calibration of buttons/axes. It will enable you to have a different set of settings for each aircraft type, and has greater flexibility that the default FS9 settings.

I have some evidence that I believe supports the OP.

When I installed Office 97 on my laptop, many years ago, the install process changed something to do with key repeat. I don't remember what those changes were, but they definitely happened - that's how I found out about key repeat in the first place.

My production FS PC has a vanilla XP-SP3 install, with no MS Office, and I have definitely not made any commanded changes to repeat.

The point here is that holding keys down, not only in FS but in other applications, often works quite differently on one than it does on the other. Specifically, there is most definitely a difference in braking behaviour in FS on the two PCs with identical aircraft when holding down the brakes key.

Steve from Mudgee.

The 'difference' is that some keys are meant to be a 'PRESS & HOLD' operation (like the brake key which, in my case. is the 'Trigger' key on my Joystick). So no REPEAT is involved. Keys like F2/F3 have REPEAT because those keys are used to increase/decrease a value (ie:throttle) while you HOLD it down. Brakes don't involve increasing/decreasing a value. It's on or off (hold=on, release=off). Just like apples and oranges are BOTH 'fruit', but in a different 'way'. That is why it's important to investigate the TERMINOLOGY of the different parameters and what those 'words' mean. You have to stop and think. THINK. Don't guess. Look it up in a dictionary? Or Google it. Right? Right!

Chuck B

Napamule

Well the OP is claiming to have seen the "repeat" setting control iFS9 for brakes.

I have never looked fo it, nor need to as I use FSUIPC to assign/calibrate the brake axes.

But surely the question over whether a repeat button for brake key press exists or not should be easy to solve.

When you assign the brakes to an external controller, like a joystick, you are given the repeat setting.

For the keyboard, the repeat setting is not offered or needed.

FS9 has always been like this for me and holding down the "." key on the keyboard stops the plane completely. I do not have to repeatedly press it to get the plane to stop.

peace,

the Bean

jgf makes a valid point. The key press for brakes requires no repeat. They are either on or off.

Well, I regret to disagree but the key press DOES REQUIRE THE REPEAT BOX and I've just tested this again to make sure I am right. This has always been the case for me ever since I bought FS2004 11 years ago.

Perhaps my system is different to everyone else. Anyway, I have solved the problem and now have this feature working again in the way it has always been for me.

Your method of using a different fs9.cfg for each aircraft is not a good one however. I suggest you get the registered version of FSUIPC for assignment/calibration of buttons/axes.

I understand what you say but, again, different fs9.cfg files have always worked OK for me. There are, as they say, many different ways of skinning the cat!!

Dijvid

If you read my post in its entirety, you would have seen I was open minded. StringBean kindly offered the solution.

How you run your sim is up to you. I can only offer advice.

On the laptop, as Bean said, holding down the '.' key stops the plane completely. The white-on-red BRAKE widget comes on and stays on until I release the key.

On the production PC, with aircraft copied unchanged from the laptop, holding down the '.' key starts to brake the aircraft and the widget comes on. However, after a couple of seconds, braking stops and the widget goes off. I have to release and repress the '.' key, which repeats the process. So to brake an airliner from 140kt, I might have to do this nearly a dozen times.

This is not an problem for me per se, but AFAIAC it shows quite clearly that there is some kind of issue happening with the brake key. Whether this is related to the OP's issue I of course have no idea. But an issue there is.

Steve from Mudgee.

Quote: '..have to do this a dozen times'. *

That's just like the guy who went to see the Doctor because every time he raised his arm over his head he felt an awful pain. He wanted to know what he should do. Take a pill or get a shot, or what? The ADVICE he got from his Doctor was: '...stop raising you arm over your head!!!!'. That will cure it. Ha!

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* In other words Press and HOLD the '.' until your airplane stops! That WILL work.

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Here is a pic of what FS9 and FSX have to offer as far as 'Brakes' is/are concerned. In both sims you can ASSIGN any keypress to any 'external controller' (such as a USB Numpad (which I use) or to the joystick).

Since in BOTH sims the '.' is 'apply/release', the '.' will 'release' the (parking) brake. Or brakes (plural) if you prefer.

In FSX you can have multiple 'assignments' for any 'action' (or macro, which equals to an action requiring multiple key presses). IE: you can assign the '.' to keyboard '.', to Numpad 'Del' (as for my USB Keypad), to joystick 'button 01' ('trigger'), or to any OTHER botton on joystick.

Bean must have his Numpad light 'ON' for a single press of '.' to stay on and be applying the brakes until his airplane stops. Otherwise it don't make sense (to me).

Chuck B

Napamule

Bean must have his Numpad light 'ON' for a single press of '.' to stay on and be applying the brakes until his airplane stops.

That is not what I said. What I did say is that I can hold down the period key and my plane will come to a full stop.

And I use the period key on the main keyboard, not the Numpad, so Num Lock has no effect on it.

peace,

the Bean

OK, now explaining for the third time. For those getting bored, this will be the last time. So please pardon the caps.

On one PC, I PRESS AND HOLD he "." key. the brakes come on. I KEEP HOLDING. THE BRAKES STOP WORKING.

IT BEHAVES CORRECTLY ON THE OTHER INSTALLATION.

THERE ARE OTHER "REPEAT" RELATED ISSUES WITH OTHER APPS.

my Conclusion: KEY_REPEAT SETTINGS IN WINDOWS * DO * AFFECT THE BRAKING IN FS.

I am done and outta here.

Steve from Mudgee