Commands no longer sent to DCS

[jfri]

I have encountered a strange problem not seen before. In the DCS sim VoiceAttack hear what I say since it is printed in the App. But the command can't be sent to the sim since nothing happens. I then tried launching MSFS and there everything worked as intended. What can this be that only seem to affect DCS ?

[Gary]

Are you running DCS as an administrator, by chance?    As a security measure, Windows will block virtual input from accessing applications (like DCS) that are running as an administrator if the source of that input (VoiceAttack) is also not being run as an administrator.

If so, try running VoiceAttack as an administrator:  https://forum.voiceattack.com/smf/index.php?topic=1706.0 

If that works, you'll want to look into why DCS is suddenly running as an administrator.  If not, are you running any plugins?  You may want to try disabling the plugins from the Options > General tab (uncheck the box labeled 'Enable plugin support').

Hope that helps!

[jfri]

Are you running DCS as an administrator, by chance?    As a security measure, Windows will block virtual input from accessing applications (like DCS) that are running as an administrator if the source of that input (VoiceAttack) is also not being run as an administrator.

If so, try running VoiceAttack as an administrator:  https://forum.voiceattack.com/smf/index.php?topic=1706.0 

If that works, you'll want to look into why DCS is suddenly running as an administrator.  If not, are you running any plugins?  You may want to try disabling the plugins from the Options > General tab (uncheck the box labeled 'Enable plugin support').

Hope that helps!

I am running DCS as I have always done. I did not do any changes to DCS before the problem arose. I am the only user of the computer and I think I am logged in as administrator. In VoiceAttack the option to run it as administrator is checked. Plugin support is already unchecked.
EDIT I checked run as administrator in properties for DCS the problem still remains. So both VA and DCS run as administrator

[Pfeil]

Are you using a third-party profile, or one you have created yourself?

Is a "Recognized" entry appearing in the log on VoiceAttack's main window when you speak a command?

Does this occur with all commands, even one that presses a single key, like G to toggle landing gear?


Neither application should be running as administrator, to be clear.
As Gary mentioned, running VoiceAttack as administrator should only be necessary if a target application is also running as administrator, which for games is rarely the correct configuration.

[jfri]

Are you using a third-party profile, or one you have created yourself?

Is a "Recognized" entry appearing in the log on VoiceAttack's main window when you speak a command?

Does this occur with all commands, even one that presses a single key, like G to toggle landing gear?


Neither application should be running as administrator, to be clear.
As Gary mentioned, running VoiceAttack as administrator should only be necessary if a target application is also running as administrator, which for games is rarely the correct configuration.

I have created my own profiles.
Yes the recognised entry is there in VA and it seem to be all commands which sends one key (tried 'center view' 'escape' 'space' 'move forward')(5 Esc space up arrow).
I have never changed the option to run as administrator in VA so it seem to have been run as administrator from start. And that has been working before

[Pfeil]

How long are the keys being held down?


On my machine, I created a command with the phrase "landing gear" containing a keypress action that holds the G key for 0.05s
Started DCS, updated to the latest stable version (2.9.6.57650, which released on the 11th of this month)
"INSTANT ACTION", "TF-51D", "Flight over Tbilisi". As soon as I have control of the aircraft, spoke the command, the landing gear deployed.

[jfri]

How long are the keys being held down?


On my machine, I created a command with the phrase "landing gear" containing a keypress action that holds the G key for 0.05s
Started DCS, updated to the latest stable version (2.9.6.57650, which released on the 11th of this month)
"INSTANT ACTION", "TF-51D", "Flight over Tbilisi". As soon as I have control of the aircraft, spoke the command, the landing gear deployed.

As long as they were when things worked. In my examples 0,6 sec some 0,3 sec

[Pfeil]

If you create a new profile and add a one-keypress command to it (making no other modifications to the profile or command settings), does the same issue occur when that command is executed?


If you launch DCS, click the gear icon in the upper-left corner to open the options menu, then in the first dropdown from the left in the upper-left corner choose "General", and execute a command corresponding to one of those controls (E.G. G for "Landing Gear Up/Down", assuming you haven't remapped that), is the corresponding control highlighted in the list?

[jfri]

If you create a new profile and add a one-keypress command to it (making no other modifications to the profile or command settings), does the same issue occur when that command is executed?


If you launch DCS, click the gear icon in the upper-left corner to open the options menu, then in the first dropdown from the left in the upper-left corner choose "General", and execute a command corresponding to one of those controls (E.G. G for "Landing Gear Up/Down", assuming you haven't remapped that), is the corresponding control highlighted in the list?

Yes it seem so. I added gear up G. And when saying gear up that column was highlighted with G displayed.
Another thing noted. When I disabled VR in DCS and launched it then wearing the headset and saying commands they worked. But as soon I switched on VR again commands were not executed

[Pfeil]

I dug out my VR headset and tested on my machine: in VR mode, having VoiceAttack press G lowers the landing gear ingame, as it should.


VoiceAttack is sending the G key. If the profile is new and unaltered, it's sending it to the active window. As long as DCS has focus, that's where Windows is sending the keypress.
How the game then handles that keypress, is up to the game.

[SemlerPDX]

How long are the keys being held down?


On my machine, I created a command with the phrase "landing gear" containing a keypress action that holds the G key for 0.05s
Started DCS, updated to the latest stable version (2.9.6.57650, which released on the 11th of this month)
"INSTANT ACTION", "TF-51D", "Flight over Tbilisi". As soon as I have control of the aircraft, spoke the command, the landing gear deployed.

As long as they were when things worked. In my examples 0,6 sec some 0,3 sec

Not only should you account for time that a keypress is held down before being released, but also the time between keypresses, too.  0.6 and 0.3 are both rather slow - you should be able to go down closer to 50ms (or 0.05 seconds) for time to hold a key down and the time between keypresses, but nothing wrong with starting slow just to be sure the keypresses are getting through first.

For example, this is what we mean for keypress time AND time between key presses: