TouchBuddy

[RogueSnake79]

I saw this awhile back, while surfing the flight sim forums I often freqent.

http://www.touch-buddy.com/

This could be a very cool addition to your steelbeast experience.

What is touch-buddy?

Its a program that alows you to create custom touch screens for any sim.

What do I need? A touch screen, and the software. Then you can create a custom screen, with keys on it anyway you want. And have it look like a panel from inside your favorite tank.

I can't seem to find a thread at simhq I was looking for, it has alot of info about it. I'll post it when I find it.

[RogueSnake79]

Here is the thread that started it all.

http://forum.lockon.ru/showthread.php?t=13472

Another good one

http://forum.lockon.ru/showthread.php?t=16753

[Wolfman]

I don't know man, sounds quite perverted.

[RogueSnake79]

I knew that wouldn't take long. :)

[ARM505]

Yeah, it got even worse on the Lockon forums when one guy posted a topic with the title 'My Touchbuddy experience'!

I was the only person to comment on that though, oddly enough!

[RogueSnake79]

LOL! The guy who thought up the name must be old, or really need to get out more.

[Kingtiger]

I knew that wouldn't take long. :)

Especially when it camed from Wolfman... :P

[Zorlac]

LOL! The guy who thought up the name must be old, or really need to get out more.

Or someone who was deliberately baiting people with nothing better to do...

[Zorlac]

(BTW, SB is on my list of games to get once I have cleared my Credit card a bit more... then maybe i`ll knock up a video.... thats if I havent been hounded out of here for being old and really needing to get out more that is :) )

[congo]

Yes he should have called it a PTFB Unit.

"Push the friggin button"

[169th_PoleCat]

The Touch-buddy software along with an 8" touch screen is simply excellent! Zorlac has expressed true genius in filling the need to have all buttons actually labeled so you know what the hell you are doing at all times during your favorite simulation or game.

I have this setup and it works great. The completely customizable nature of everything from the buttons to the backgrounds puts this far ahead of any thing else out there you may choose to purchase to use for this purpose. And the software is FREE!

It is great that we have HOTAS systems that can hold hundreds of key presses for us but just try and remember where they all are in a complex simulation like LOMAC. Touch-Buddy rocks!
I use it for LOMAC FC and plan to use it for all of my complex simulations including Steel Beasts Pro PE. It is really amazing to me that no one has done this before. There is a very real need for this IMHO.

Did I mention the software is FREE?

Thanks to Zorlac, Wild Bill Kelso, and Ruggbutt. Keep up the excellent work.
It is greatly appreciated.

S!

[singleshot]

just played a bit with the tb-toolkit...
http://www.bf2fan.de/files/images/steel/tb1.jpg
http://www.bf2fan.de/files/images/steel/tb2.jpg
http://www.bf2fan.de/files/images/steel/tb3.jpg

[Zorlac]

Didnt know you were lurking in here Polecat :)

Singleshot, thats fast (and nice) work on those button graphics.

Next release (no ETA yet) will support "skin" mode, so no "buttons" as such, but the images will be drawn into the background of the window (with layers), and clicking on the image area will trigger the key press events. The images will support transparency/alpha channels in "skin" mode.

[RogueSnake79]

ROTF! Its you! :)

[tarball]

wow, this looks like a real winner...

[Zorlac]

ROTF! Its you! :)

hehe...Busted :)

[RogueSnake79]

I've been talking about this with some of our multiplayer guys. And alot of them were intrested right off the bat. And started slinging questions :)

I'm still looking for that special deal on a touchscreen, so, I'm not up to speed yet, and can't answer their questions.

About the touchscreens, How do you set them up? And whats the best one to get.

[Zorlac]

One quick question for SB players who have two screens (dual-head). Can you move the mouse cursor off the game window area and onto the second screen? Or does SB "lock" the cursor so you cant move to the second screen?

I've been talking about this with some of our multiplayer guys. And alot of them were intrested right off the bat. And started slinging questions :)


Fire away with the questions....


About the touchscreens, How do you set them up?


Install the touchscreen drivers on PC, attach touchscreen to spare/second VGA output on gfx card, plug in the USB cable for mouse emulation... job done for the touchscreen install :)

As for TouchBuddy, there are two ways of running it:

Local Mode - with TouchScreen attached as second screen on game PC. Run TB on Game machine, move TB window to touchscreen, away you go...

Client/Server - with TouchScreen attached to second PC. One copy of TB running in server mode on game PC, another copy running in client mode on second PC (with the touchscreen). Commands are sent from TB client on second PC to TB server on the game PC.

Client/Server is better because it doesnt interfere with mouse movemnt on the game machine. In Local mode, when you press the touchscreen, the system will move the mouse cursor to where to pressed, but the game will pick this mouse move up (not good if using mouse move to pan around on external views for example).


And whats the best one to get.


There are a few discussions over on the TB forums from people who have bought various makes/models. The best bet is usually eBay... we have yet to find a touchscreen with VGA and USB that hasnt worked, but if you choose a screen that hasnt been tested, I cannot say if it will work or not (*standard disclaimer*)


http://www.touch-buddy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4

http://www.touch-buddy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44

I personally run all my code and tests on a LinITX screen, but we also have other users running on Lilliput, HAIM and Innovatek screens (as well as some "no name" screens)

[Zorlac]

Just been told by a friend who has SB Pro that the mouse is locked into the game window area, and it cannot be moved over to the secondary screen area (i.e outside the game window area). This will cause problems if you try to run TB in local mode with SB (i,.e second screen on the game PC is the touchscreen)

Just ordered SB Pro PE, will take a while to get to me, but will take a look at the issues when it arrives.

[Ssnake]

What if SB Pro PE is being run in windowed mode?
That might mitigate the issue.

[Zorlac]

Windowed mode isnt a problem :)

Damn, cant wait for my copy to arrive now....

[Zorlac]

What if SB Pro PE is being run in windowed mode?
That might mitigate the issue.

Do you know if the cursor locking is using ClipCursor or SetCapture to prevent the mouse leaving the full screen area?

[Ssnake]

Do you know if the cursor locking is using ClipCursor or SetCapture to prevent the mouse leaving the full screen area?
This is what Al told me:Yes, we use ClipCursor to prevent accidental clicking outside the SB area on multi-monitor systems. It would be an easy thing to change, if this is what we really want.
I interpret this as "Give us a reason to change it, and we'll do". ;)

[Zorlac]

If its ClipCursor, then TouchBuddy can already disable this on the fly (its an enable/disable option in the touchbuddy.cfg file since v1.0.1, originally used so I could use TB with EEAH/EECH).

(EDIT: Oppps... The disabling routine for ClipCursor is always on in v1.0.1. Its the yet to be released v1.0.2 that has the option to enable/disable this behaviour)

So, there is hope for TB + SB in Local mode.... woohoo!!

[MatsW]

Does anyone have a profile for TouchBuddy for SB to share?
Could be to any view or vehicle.

Best regards
Matsw

[Zorlac]

The first thing I`ll be doing when my copy gets shoved through my letter box is to knock up a SB profile.. honest...

[MatsW]

Edit: Problem solved

[Zorlac]

I`ll help out here if I can :)

OK, as I dont have SB yet, you have to explain... is the w key a key you have to hold down to make it move forward, and the longer you hold it down, the faster you move? (Like most other games I can think of)

Normal button type "button" create a single key press, and thats all they do. SO creating a button for "w" will press "w" once and then release it.

What I *think* you require here is a button type "touch", which will send a macro when you press the button down, and send another macro when you release the button.

Try this (you will have to change some items to match your config)



[new-button]
type = touch
name = forward
tabname = <your-tab-name>
xpos = 15
ypos = 100
image_file = <your-image-filename-here>
# "touch" buttons currently only support two "states"
# and as such, can only use two images
#image_file_secondary = simple-layout\white-hold-1.gif
macro_select = predef:W, KEYDOWN
macro_deselect = predef:W, KEYUP
[end-button]



What this is doing is sending a KEYDOWN event for the W key when you press this particular button, and then sending a KEYUP event for the W key when you release it. This way, so long as you are still holding the button down, the W key will appear to the system to still be held down.

The learning curve is a little steep with TouchBuddy, but thats because it can do so many things in different ways. Once you have had a play with the various button types, and understand the various macro definitions (and how to create them), it becomes a lot easier.

The next TouchBuddy release will have a whole load of nice new graphic goodies to work with, including the ability to layer buttons on top of each other, displaying images in the window, having transparency in button images (think: a background image with the SB control panel of choice, and overlaying switches and knobs in various states over the top of them... press on a switch, and the switch lever can swap from on to off, or rotary dials can rotate).

[Zorlac]

Edit: Problem solved

Ah well, that was easy then :)

[MatsW]

Sorry, but I probably have some more questions later on.

Thanks
Mats

[Zorlac]

Thats what I am here for... :)

[ruggbutt]

To give you an idea of what can be done, here's a WIP shot of an F15 cockpit I'm doing for Lock On.

http://iplaster.net/rugg/f15.jpg

What you see here is the center cockpit panel that represents the real areas where switches and buttons are in the real plane. Kind of like a "clickable" cockpit but much better. No messing around with a mouse. I'll be doing the left and right console panels on other "pages" of TouchBuddy. Say you want to turn on your formation lights and open your refueling door, you'll have to know what buttons on the real aircraft to "touch".

To perform these commands there will be a combination of hotspots (or invisible buttons), regular buttons with some areas transparent and regular buttons. For instance when the gear lever moves and the gear lights go on, the area in the gear lever where the shadow is will be transparent. Think alpha channel. The Master Warning reset will just be a regular button, and the grey-blue buttons on the MPCD itself will be hotspots, so you'll touch that area and your command will be sent to the game. I've requested a few other things for Zorlac to implement. I'm really good with ideas but horrible at coding. ;)

There's so much that can be done with this program that it's a bit overwhelming at first. One of the guys is running two touchscreens independantly of each other. I plan on running 3 in my cockpit.

[169th_PoleCat]

Stunning work Rugg!

Out

[RogueSnake79]

I've got an 8'' touch screen on the way. Making texture is what I'm looking forward to the most.

[169th_PoleCat]

You will absolutely love Touch buddy! It is the bees knees.

Out

[cobrabase]

To give you an idea of what can be done, here's a WIP shot of an F15 cockpit I'm doing for Lock On.

http://iplaster.net/rugg/f15.jpg

What you see here is the center cockpit panel that represents the real areas where switches and buttons are in the real plane. Kind of like a "clickable" cockpit but much better. No messing around with a mouse. I'll be doing the left and right console panels on other "pages" of TouchBuddy. Say you want to turn on your formation lights and open your refueling door, you'll have to know what buttons on the real aircraft to "touch".

To perform these commands there will be a combination of hotspots (or invisible buttons), regular buttons with some areas transparent and regular buttons. For instance when the gear lever moves and the gear lights go on, the area in the gear lever where the shadow is will be transparent. Think alpha channel. The Master Warning reset will just be a regular button, and the grey-blue buttons on the MPCD itself will be hotspots, so you'll touch that area and your command will be sent to the game. I've requested a few other things for Zorlac to implement. I'm really good with ideas but horrible at coding. ;)

There's so much that can be done with this program that it's a bit overwhelming at first. One of the guys is running two touchscreens independantly of each other. I plan on running 3 in my cockpit.

Hey man... do you have the Cougar HOTAS system?

I gave up trying to come up with a good set up for Lockon. I've got the pedals too. Got a good setup????? HUh????? HUH?!!!!!!!!>??????????????????

[ruggbutt]

I have a CH setup. Currently I own 5 of their controllers.

[flyboy]

Was wondering if this product could be a help to you guys.Three monitors on the go at one time.
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/matrox_triple_head_2_go_preview/page2.asp

[Zorlac]

As if we dont have enough gadgets to save up for already :)

[flyboy]

Hhhhhhmmmmmm...gadgets.

[ruggbutt]

If I did that I'd have to redo my cockpit. And buy 2 more 27" monitors. :shocked:

[ruggbutt]

Ok, here's a progress report: The center panel is done, which is the hardest to do. For the side panels it will be faster because I only have to make a couple button types of each and a couple knob types. I'm also posting the legend for the keypresses, if you have any suggestions or better ideas I'm all ears. ;) All the hotspots are in green.

Another thing, when you declutter the TEWS the Mig25 graphic will disappear.

I know this is a tank sim forum, but I'm just trying to show off how versatile TouchBuddy is. All the lights turn on and off, gear lever moves up/down, etc.

http://iplaster.net/rugg/f15_center_panel.jpg

http://iplaster.net/rugg/f15_legend.jpg

[Vasco]

Has anyone written a Steel Beasts TB profile they can pass on? My touch screen arrived today and I can't wait to try it out!

[Zorlac]

New TouchBuddy release (v1.0.2). Read about it (and the extra new features) here:

http://forum.lockon.ru/showthread.php?t=18025

http://www.touch-buddy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=378

and also new version of the TouchBuddy Toolkit:

http://www.touch-buddy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=379

Am away on vacation for a bit, so when I return, I`ll knock up a basic SB profile, when I have more of a clue as to what i`m doing in this sim :)

Z

[Zorlac]

right, i`m back from vacation, and caught up with life, work, some more TB related coding, and now may actually have some time to create some dodgy profiles for this :)

Its a touch call.... which is more fun?... playing the games?... or coding new cool stuff to make TB work better for games... mmm....