DCS Panel Manager

DCS Panel Manager is a modern Windows application for detecting, monitoring, and eventually configuring flight simulation panels for DCS World.

The first supported devices are:

• Logitech/Saitek Pro Flight Switch Panel PZ55;
• Logitech/Saitek Pro Flight Multi Panel PZ70.

The project uses C#, .NET 10, and Avalonia UI. DCS-BIOS will be the primary interface with DCS World; this project does not reimplement DCS-BIOS.

Version 0.6.1 adds tested PZ55 gear LEDs and PZ70 LCD/autopilot LED output, alongside DCS-BIOS monitoring, profiles, the interactive mapping editor, and opt-in live DCS-BIOS commands.

Current features

• automatic PZ55 and PZ70 detection;
• hot-plug connection, disconnection, and reconnection;
• support for multiple devices and multiple instances of the same model;
• individual identification using the complete HID path and serial number when available;
• display of VID, PID, instance path, and connection state;
• raw HID report capture;
• decoding for switches, buttons, selectors, and encoders;
• Live Monitor with Hardware, Mapping, DCS-BIOS, and Error filters;
• backend-independent mapping engine;
• versioned and validated JSON profiles;
• safe NoSync strategy by default;
• dependency injection and structured logging;
• command-line hardware diagnostic tool.
• read-only DCS-BIOS UDP multicast listener;
• DCS-BIOS connection and inactivity detection;
• active aircraft detection through the official _ACFT_NAME export;
• automatic import of aircraft control metadata from DCS-BIOS JSON files;
• DCS-BIOS packet count and sampled receive activity in Live Monitor.
• validated JSON profile catalog plus automatically generated starters for every aircraft and helicopter exposed by the installed DCS-BIOS metadata;
• automatic aircraft profile selection with Generic fallback;
• searchable DCS-BIOS control catalog for the aircraft detected in the active mission;
• interactive mapping editor with physical input learning, command search, safe preview, automatic saving, and mapping removal;
• separate On/Off and Pressed/Released triggers with DCS-BIOS argument suggestions;
• opt-in DCS-BIOS command transmission from saved mappings, disabled by default at every application start;
• data-driven Profiles and Mappings pages.
• ready-to-use PZ55/PZ70 starter mappings for the F-5E-3, F/A-18C, Mirage 2000C, and F-16C;
• PZ55 green, red, yellow, and off landing-gear LED states;
• PZ70 upper/lower numeric LCD rendering and all autopilot LEDs;
• hardware-only output test buttons on the Devices page.
• a Live Monitor that begins empty for each new application session.

Hardware validation

HID input has been tested with real hardware on Windows:

Panel	USB identifier	Status
PZ55 Switch Panel	VID 06A3 / PID 0D67	Detection, inputs, and gear LED output validated
PZ70 Multi Panel	VID 06A3 / PID 0D06	Detection, inputs, LCD, and autopilot LED output validated

Testing confirmed PZ55 state changes and PZ70 selector positions. Streams remain open while panels are idle and close cleanly when the application stops.

User interface

The application currently contains these pages:

• Dashboard: system overview, live DCS World/DCS-BIOS status, connected panels, and active profile;
• Devices: detailed cards for every detected panel and instance;
• Live Monitor: structured and filterable event console for HID, mapping, DCS-BIOS, and error events;
• DCS-BIOS: connection status and a searchable catalog of the active aircraft's identifiers, command interfaces, outputs, and descriptions;
• Profiles: selectable catalog with aircraft, device, mapping, and safety details;
• Mappings: learn a physical panel input, select a writable DCS-BIOS command, preview it safely, and save or remove mappings from the active aircraft profile;
• Settings: current safe configuration and upcoming preferences.

Requirements

• Windows 10 or Windows 11;
• .NET 10 SDK;
• a PZ55 or PZ70 for hardware features;
• DCS-BIOS for simulator data. The application and hardware monitoring still start when it is absent.

DCS Panel Manager discovers metadata in the standard installation path:

%USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\DCS*\Scripts\DCS-BIOS\doc\json

With DCS World running in a mission, the application listens to the official export multicast group 239.255.50.10:5010. The Dashboard changes to Connected after a valid protocol frame is received and displays the active aircraft when available.

To use saved mappings, open Settings and enable DCS commands only after DCS World and DCS-BIOS are running. The application sends newline-terminated DCS-BIOS commands to the local DCS-BIOS command listener on UDP port 7778. This setting is intentionally disabled again whenever the application starts.

Check the installed SDK:

dotnet --version

Build and test

From PowerShell:

git clone https://github.com/lolo1580/dcs_panel_manager.git
cd dcs_panel_manager

dotnet restore .\DCSPanelManager.sln
dotnet build .\DCSPanelManager.sln -c Release
dotnet test .\DCSPanelManager.sln -c Release --no-build

Current reference status: 0 warnings, 0 errors, 37 passing tests.

Run the application

dotnet run --project .\src\DCSPanel.App\DCSPanel.App.csproj -c Release

Connect the panels, then open Devices or Live Monitor.

Publish the Windows executable

dotnet publish .\src\DCSPanel.App\DCSPanel.App.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true -p:PublishSingleFile=true -p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true -o .\artifacts\DCSPanelManager-win-x64

Launch artifacts\DCSPanelManager-win-x64\DCSPanel.App.exe. Keep the generated profiles folder beside the executable.

Hardware diagnostics

The probe uses the same HID service as the desktop application. The final argument is the test duration in seconds:

dotnet run --project .\tools\DCSPanel.Hardware.Probe\DCSPanel.Hardware.Probe.csproj -c Release -- 20

Operate switches, buttons, and encoders during the test. A successful run reports both connections, raw reports, decoded inputs, and errors=0.

If a panel cannot be opened, close Logitech Flight Panels, DCSFlightpanels, or any other application that may be using the HID device exclusively.

Architecture

src/
|-- DCSPanel.Core/               Abstractions, events, and mapping engine
|-- DCSPanel.Hardware/           Generic hardware models and contracts
|-- DCSPanel.Hardware.Logitech/  HID enumeration and PZ55/PZ70 protocol
|-- DCSPanel.DCSBIOS/            UDP transport, parser, metadata import, and commands
|-- DCSPanel.Profiles/           JSON profiles, persistence, and validation
`-- DCSPanel.App/                Avalonia UI and dependency composition

tests/
|-- DCSPanel.Core.Tests/
|-- DCSPanel.DCSBIOS.Tests/
`-- DCSPanel.Hardware.Tests/

tools/
`-- DCSPanel.Hardware.Probe/

Core does not depend on Logitech, HID, or DCS-BIOS. Logitech protocol details remain confined to DCSPanel.Hardware.Logitech.

Additional documentation:

• Architecture decisions
• HID protocol research
• DCS-BIOS protocol research
• Version history

Main dependencies

• Avalonia 12: the requested cross-platform user interface framework;
• HidSharp: raw HID device and report access;
• Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection: modular dependency composition;
• Microsoft.Extensions.Logging: structured logging;
• xUnit: unit testing.

Core, Hardware, Profiles, and DCSBIOS avoid unnecessary external dependencies.

Roadmap

Milestone 3 - Mappings and commands

• visual mapping editor;
• validated F-16C and F/A-18C mappings;
• NoSync retained as the safe default strategy.

Milestone 4 - Hardware feedback

• PZ55 LEDs;
• PZ70 LCD and LEDs;
• DCS State -> Hardware Output feedback mappings.

Later

• modifiers, layers, and multiple actions;
• keyboard backend;
• Stream Deck and additional device support.

Operational safety

Live DCS-BIOS commands are disabled by default and require an explicit opt-in in Settings for the current application session. Loading a profile never sends physical switch positions automatically, and the NoSync strategy remains the default.

License

This project is distributed under the MIT License.