DCS Integration

OpenKneeboard supports integration with DCS, including:

  • a clock in OpenKneeboard’s footer showing the current mission time, both in local time and zulu time
  • various tabs showing files or data related to the current mission

Configuration

DCS must be listed in OpenKneeboard Settings -> Games, and the ‘Saved Games’ path must be correct. If you have any trouble, check the troubleshooting guide; if the steps there don’t resolve your problems, check out Getting Help.

The clock and DCS tabs are shown by default; if you have removed the DCS tabs, you can re-add them by opening OpenKneeboard Settings -> Tabs, then either:

  • restore the default tabs
  • click ‘add tab’, and pick the tab type you want to add

The ‘DCS Aircraft’ Tab

This will show any image files for the current aircraft, from:

  • DCS saved games path\KNEEBOARD\aircraft
  • DCS installation path\Mods\aircraft\module\Cockpit\KNEEBOARD\pages
  • DCS installation path\Mods\aircraft\module\Cockpit\Scripts\KNEEBOARD\pages

‘aircraft’ and ‘module’ are usually the same; two exceptions are:

  • The F-16C module in the DCS installation corresponds to the F-16C_60 aircraft in Saved Games
  • The FA-18C module in the DCS installation corresponds to the FA-18C_hornet aircraft in Saved Games

For example, I put my A-10C kneeboard images in C:\Users\fred\Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\KNEEBOARD\A-10C_2.

OpenKneeboard aims to look for these files in the same location as DCS’s built-in kneeboard, however it is only able to display image files; it is not able to display any kneeboard pages written in Lua; for example, these are not supported, and are unlikely to be supported in any future version:

  • generated charts
  • carrier landing grading
  • built-in kneeboard page that control the aircraft or its’ payload

The ‘DCS Briefing’ Tab

This will show objectives, briefing images, briefing text, and weather from the current .miz file - the same content you see before starting the mission. It will also show the coordinates and magnetic variation at the bullseye, along with the A-10C CDU wind calculations at the bullseye (not your initial starting point) if you’re flying an A-10C.

It currently does not show forces, airfields, or frequencies.

This tab is mostly useful for missions or campaigns which do not include custom kneeboard images - which will appear in the ‘DCS Mission’ tab’ - but the weather and bullseye information here can be useful even with kneeboard images.

The ‘DCS Mission’ Tab

This will show any custom kneeboard images inside the .miz file; the .miz file is essential a zip file, and this tab shows any files that the mission designer has put inside the KNEEBOARD/IMAGES subfolder.

This could be empty, the same as the briefing images, or entirely different - this is up to the mission designer, and matches DCS’s built-in kneeboard.

The ‘DCS Radio Log’ Tab

This shows all radio or mission messages that include text, similar to the ‘Message History’ feature within DCS; it does not log any spoken radio messages from voice chat.

This is particularly useful for AI or scripted campaign JTAC 9-lines.

The ‘DCS Theater’ Tab

This will show any image files from:

  • DCS saved games path\KNEEBOARD\theater
  • DCS installation path\Mods\terrains\theater\Kneeboard

Most DCS maps do not include any kneeboard images.

DCS’s built-in kneeboard will only load kneeboard images from the DCS installation path; OpenKneeboard also will load any from saved games for convenience.