Stand down
Stand down puts the rig back the way it was before Make ready: it closes the helper apps that are only useful in the sim and returns the monitors to your desk. It is the main button once the game has closed, and it is always on the right of the Play screen, in the tray menu, under the taskbar thumbnail, in the command palette and in the compact view.
What it closes
Stand down goes through the setup's checks and does what each kind has to do at the end:
- App running checks: the app is closed when the check says so (Close at Stand down: always), or when RigReady started it during this session and the check leaves it unsaid. An app the check says never to close is left alone. RigReady asks the program to close and waits ten seconds; it terminates the program only when the check allows force.
- TrackIR and Stream Deck checks close their app when their Close at Stand down option is on.
- Default audio device checks put back the device that was the default before Make ready changed it, unless you changed the default yourself since.
- Monitor layout checks put back the arrangement from before Make ready, unless a desk layout is chosen (see below).
Then it closes the programs that launch steps started (each step has Close it at Stand down, on by default), runs the setup's own At Stand down steps, and applies the desk layout. The game's own program is never on this list unless you say so.
The desk layout
One saved layout can be the desk layout: choose it with Use as desk layout on Configure > Monitors, or under Desk layout on Configure > Settings; the two are the same choice. Stand down applies it last. The first time, it asks Keep this monitor layout? with the countdown; once you have kept the desk layout with the same monitors connected, it is applied without the question (When RigReady asks, and when it does not). Replacing the desk layout with Replace with the monitors as they are now counts as keeping it, with the monitors connected at that moment. When no desk layout is chosen, the step is listed as skipped ("No desk layout is chosen (Monitors page: "Use as desk layout", or Settings: "Desk layout"), so the monitors were left as they are") and the monitor check's own revert is what puts the screens back. When the chosen layout was deleted since, the step fails and says to choose another in either place. See Monitors and audio.
What it reports
The headline counts what was closed: "Closed 2 apps", "No apps to close", and "1 step needs attention" when something did not close. Every step is listed with what it said. Afterwards the checklist is run again, so the screen shows the rig as it is now (usually Not ready, which is right: you are at the desk).
An app that is still running
Stand down asks an app to close the way its window's X button does, and waits ten seconds. An app that is still there afterwards is named, with the reason:
- "TrackIR5.exe is still running: it was asked to close and stayed open. Some apps only go to the tray when asked."
- "… it has no window, so it could not be asked to close."
- "… Windows did not let RigReady close it. It may be running as administrator."
The line ends with what you can do: close it yourself, or switch on Force it closed if it does not close for that check in the setup editor. With that on, RigReady ends the program when it has not closed after the wait. An app that runs as administrator cannot be forced either, unless RigReady runs as administrator too; for that one the line only says to close it yourself.
The Stream Deck app check has the same switch, off until you switch it on: the Stream Deck window only goes to the tray when asked, so without the switch the line names it as still running. TrackIR has no switch. It is always ended when it has not closed after the wait, and the line then says "Closed TrackIR (it had to be forced)".
An app made of several programs with the same name is closed as one: all of them are asked, and it counts as closed when none is left.
The same is said wherever RigReady asks a program to close before it restores files (a backup, the Stream Deck profiles, the wheel software settings): the program is named with the reason, and nothing is restored while it is open.
When the game is still running
Stand down from the Play screen looks first. If the game is running it asks: DCS World is still running. Stand down closes the helper apps. Should it close the game too? with Leave it running, Close it too and Cancel. The game is closed the way an app is: asked, then waited for, never forced. From the tray, the compact view and the command palette the game is always left running; only the Play screen can close it.
When Close it too closes the game, no countdown starts: the Stand down you pressed is the one for this session. The same goes for a game you close yourself while that Stand down runs.
Stand down when the game closes
Every setup stands down by itself when its game closes, unless you switch that off for the setup. RigReady watches the game. Once it is gone, a notice in the bottom right corner of the window counts down: Stand down in 1 minute, then the seconds. It says what will happen: "DCS World has closed. When the time is up, RigReady stands down DCS F/A-18C: it closes the helper apps and puts the rig back, as the Stand down button does." The notice is on every page. The Welcome back line on the Play screen says the same in one line, and so does the session line of the compact view.
When Stand down will ask a question that needs someone at the screens, the notice says so before the time is up. The one such question is the desk layout's: when the desk layout has not been kept with the monitors that are connected now, the notice adds, with a warning sign: "The desk layout "Desk" has not been kept with these monitors yet. Stay and press Keep it when RigReady asks, or the monitors stay as they are." This happens after you swap gear: a desk layout kept with the flight gear's screens connected has not been kept without them.
- Cancel ends the countdown. Nothing is closed, the line says "Stand down was cancelled. Nothing was closed.", and the Stand down button is there for when you are done.
- Change this for the setup opens the setup editor, where the switch is.
- The small button at the top right of the notice moves the countdown to the top bar. Use it when the notice lies over something you need, such as the setup editor's Save and Cancel. The countdown ("Stand down in 4:05") and its Cancel are then in the bar on every page. Press the countdown there to bring the notice back.
- The game starting again ends the countdown too. So does Stand down pressed by hand (it runs at once, and once), and so does quitting RigReady. Closing the window to the tray is not quitting: the countdown goes on.
- Launch, Make ready and a fix end the countdown the moment you press them, before they start anything, and the line says "Stand down was cancelled. Nothing was closed." A launch can take longer than what is left of the countdown, and nothing it starts is closed under it. Re-check all does not end the countdown: it changes nothing.
- Launch, Make ready and a fix do not run while Stand down is running, wherever they are asked for (the tray, a shortcut, an assistant). They say "Stand down is running." Try again when it has finished.
When the time is up, Stand down runs: the same one the button runs. The game is gone by then, so there is nothing to ask about closing it. The notice then says what was done: Stood down with "Closed 2 apps", or Stand down ran, but 1 step needs attention with each step that did not work, or Stand down did not finish with the reason. It stays until you press OK. It says "Stood down" only when every step worked.
If nobody is at a window of RigReady when the game closes, a Windows notification says when Stand down starts ("DCS F/A-18C: 1 h 42 min. Stand down starts in 1 minute. Open RigReady to cancel.", followed by the desk layout line above when there is one), the window comes back on screen, and a second notification says what was done. See Sessions and history.
The switch and the countdown length
Both are in the setup editor, under When the game closes (The setup editor): the switch Stand down when the game closes, on by default, and Countdown, one minute by default. A setup saved before the switch existed has both defaults. With the switch off nothing is closed by itself: the screen says Welcome back and the Stand down button waits for you.
When it does not start by itself
- The game closed within two minutes of starting. A game that stops right after it started, or a launcher that hands over to the game, should not close the helper apps you are about to need. The line says "It closed within two minutes of starting, so Stand down did not start by itself." The compact view has one short line for it: "It closed too soon: Stand down did not start."
- You stood down while the game was still open. Nothing is offered again when it closes.
- RigReady was not running when the game closed. At its next start it records the session and closes nothing.
A step that asks a question still asks it. The desk layout's Keep this monitor layout? is one: it is the only way back from a layout that leaves no screen you can see, so it is never skipped because nobody is there. When nobody answers, the layout goes back, and Stand down lists that step as not done: "Desk monitor layout: The new monitor layout was not kept, so the previous one is back. Next time, stay for the question and press Keep it." The monitors are then still as the game left them. To put the desk layout back now, press Stand down and then Keep it; with these monitors it is not asked about again.