DCS World
For DCS World RigReady goes further than for any other game: it finds the installs, reads DCS's own files, shows what they say in plain language, and writes them for you when you ask it to. This section covers everything RigReady does with DCS: installs and aircraft, the MFD screens, Export.lua, the bindings and their problems, kneeboard pages, the binding guide, and what still needs SimAppPro. The cheat sheets and the trainer work for the racing games too, so they have their place in Controls.
The DCS World page
Configure > Games > DCS World has four tabs. It opens from its card on the Games page, which is there when DCS is found on this PC, and from Set up DCS World on the DCS World game page.
- Overview: the installs with their version and whether an update is waiting, the Saved Games folders, the aircraft, and the state of the screens, Export.lua, the graphics options and SimAppPro at a glance. A warning at the top says when a file RigReady manages was changed by something else, and a note says when DCS is running.
- Screens: the monitor setup, described on MFD screens and the monitor setup.
- Export.lua: the export scripts, described on Export.lua.
- SimAppPro: what RigReady does in SimAppPro's place and which setups still need it running, described on SimAppPro.
The bindings have their own page, Configure > Bindings with DCS chosen in its game picker, and the binding guide is under Configure > Binding guide, which the menu has when DCS is found. The cheat sheets under Configure > Cheat sheets serve DCS aircraft and racing cars alike. All of them find DCS the same way, through the installs described on Installs and aircraft.
Binding guides are included for the F/A-18C, F-16C, A-10C II, A-10C, A-10A, F-14 (pilot and RIO), F-15E (pilot and WSO), F-15C, MiG-29, Su-27, J-11A, Su-33, Su-25T, Su-25, Ka-50 III, Ka-50, UH-1H, P-51D, TF-51D, F-86F and Christen Eagle II. Any other aircraft can have one drafted by AI with your own key; see Binding guide and AI help.
Close DCS before writing
RigReady refuses to write DCS's files while DCS is running. DCS reads options.lua and the monitor setup when it starts and Export.lua when a mission starts, rewrites options.lua when it exits, and keeps the bindings in memory and writes them back when you press OK in its controls screen. A change made while it runs would be lost or half read.
While DCS runs you can still look at everything. The buttons that write are disabled, the bindings page says that nothing can be saved, and a fix that would write a DCS file reports that DCS must be closed first. RigReady looks for DCS.exe among the running processes. The message each page shows, and what to do, are on RigReady will not write DCS files.
Kneeboard pages are the exception: writing them is not blocked, because DCS reads that folder when a mission starts, so new pages simply appear in the next mission.
Where DCS keeps things
DCS writes everything of yours into a folder under Saved Games: Saved Games\DCS for the Steam edition and for a standalone install without a variant, or Saved Games\DCS.<variant> when a standalone install has a dcs_variant.txt file. RigReady calls this the user folder; in a setup it is the path variable {DCS_USER} (see path variables). The install folder, {DCS_INSTALL}, is only ever read.
| What | Where under Saved Games\DCS | What RigReady does with it |
|---|---|---|
| Graphics and other options | Config\options.lua | Reads the window size, full screen, VR and the monitor setup; changes single keys and nothing else when you write a screen setup or a setup fixes the options |
| Bindings | Config\Input\<aircraft>\joystick\<Device name> {ID}.diff.lua, plus modifiers.lua, disabled.lua and wizard.lua | Reads them together with DCS's defaults to show what is bound; writes edits, cleanups, copies and restores; renames them when a device ID changed |
| Monitor setup | Config\MonitorSetup\RigReady.lua | Writes its own file and selects it in options.lua; never edits a file it did not write |
| Export scripts | Scripts\Export.lua | Adds or removes one tool's line and leaves every other line as it was |
| Kneeboard pages | Kneeboard\<aircraft>\RigReady - 01 - ....png | Writes cheat sheet pages; replaces or removes only pages it wrote itself |
| The log | Logs\dcs.log | Reads the version and date of the last run; never writes it |
| Aircraft and their default bindings | <install>\Mods\aircraft\... | Reads the aircraft list and the default input files; the install folder is never written |
The aircraft folder names are DCS's input profile keys, for example FA-18C_hornet and UH-1H, not the display names.
Every change is backed up
Nothing outside RigReady's own folder is written without a copy being kept first and the change being described. Every DCS file RigReady writes is listed under Configure > Safety (The Safety page) with Undo, and before a write you see what will change, as a plain-language list and as the exact text. See Backups for the whole-rig backup that includes the DCS files.
Not yet verified in the real game
Two things have not yet been verified in the real game: they passed their tests on recorded data from one rig, but have not been looked at inside DCS itself. The changelog lists them under known limitations.
- A binding written by RigReady has not been checked in DCS's own controls screen. See DCS bindings.
- The MFD displays drawn by DCS from RigReady's monitor setup, with SimAppPro closed, have not been looked at. See MFD screens and the monitor setup.
Both pages say what to look at the first time.
- Installs and aircraftHow RigReady finds the Steam and standalone editions of DCS World, several Steam libraries, a waiting update, the Saved Games folders and the aircraft list.
- MFD screens and the monitor setupPut the main view and the cockpit displays on your monitors: RigReady.lua, options.lua, bezel crops, SimAppPro's plan as a start, and what to check in DCS.
- Export.luaOne line per tool in Export.lua: add or remove WinWing, DCS-BIOS, SRS, Tacview or Helios lines, and put them back after another program rewrites the file.
- DCS bindingsWhat every control does in an aircraft, DCS's defaults plus your changes: bind by pressing a control, review the file change, and the .diff.lua files.
- Binding problemsThe Problems tab: one input on several actions, one action on several devices, defaults DCS put on panels, important actions left unbound, and the fixes.
- Device IDs changedWhy Windows gives a controller a new ID, what that does to DCS bindings, and the Device IDs tab that moves binding files and modifiers to the current ID.
- Copy between aircraft and snapshotsCarry common controls from one aircraft to another; keep named snapshots of the binding files, compare them with now, and restore them, following device IDs.
- Kneeboard pagesCheat sheets as DCS kneeboard pages, day or night, in the aircraft's Kneeboard folder: only its own pages are replaced, and a check keeps them current.
- Binding guide and AI helpTwenty binding guides for DCS aircraft, guides of your own, the walkthrough that binds with you, and optional AI help with what is sent shown first.
- SimAppProWhat RigReady does in SimAppPro's place (screens, options.lua, Export.lua) and what still needs it running: backlight sync, UFC and ICP displays, vibration.