OpenKneeboard is a free Windows program, originally developed for DCS, which enables the display of custom kneeboards in VR in multiple sims. Some users have reported a drop in performance using it, but perhaps this only applies to older versions, as it has no perfomance impact at all for me.
In addition to displaying custom pdf pages of your choice, it can display open desktop windows in a tab in the VR kneeboard via Windows Capture. These screens update in real time, making it a great solution to be able to view the SRS Overlay in IL-2 VR, rather than using the text-to-speech option to work out which channel you are on.
If you haven’t already installed OpenKneeboard, download it (I suggest the .msi installer version) from here:-
https://github.com/OpenKneeboard/OpenKn ... ag/v1.8.12
If you already use OpenKneeboard in IL-2, and just want to add the SRS Overlay, jump to 8 below.
Otherwise,
1. Install OpenKneeboard wherever you like, and open it.
2. Open “Settings” (bottom left), and then “Advanced”.
3. Check “Multiple profiles”.
4. Click “Settings” again to return to the top level.
5. Open “Input”. Here, you will want to bind HOTAS or keyboard keys to control OpenKneeboard when in VR. I don’t use individual pages, just tabs (more on that below), so I just bind keys for “Previous Tab”, “Next Tab” and “Recenter VR”. You can bind the latter to the key that you already use to re-centre in VR.
6. Left click on the “Default” profile (top left).
7. Select “Edit Profiles”, and in the next screen “+ Create a profile” and call it whatever you like.
OpenKneeboard is a powerful tool, and you can use Tabs as folders, with individual kneeboard pages within them, but that’s too complex for my needs. I just use a Tab for each single-page pdf or Windows screen that I want to display in VR.
To add the SRS Overlay as a Tab to your OpenKneeboard profile:
8. Open SRS, and press the “toggle radio overlay” button. You do not need to be connected in SRS to set this up, but make sure that neither screen is minimised.
9. Make sure that the profile you want to use is selected. By left clicking on the profile name displayed at top left, you can make any other profile you have created active instead.
10. Open Settings (bottom left)
11. Open “Tabs”.
12. Select “+ Add a tab”
13. Choose “Windows Capture”.
14. In the selection pane that opens, choose the open SRS window, and then “Capture this window”. It’s likely that you will see 2 SRS windows – perhaps with the same name! One will be the SRS main window, the other the Overlay. I suggest you add both as separate Tabs – one at a time – as in addition to the Overlay it’s helpful to have the main window so that you can see that you are properly connected to SRS. You will be able to rename them in OpenKneeboard, and move between them if you have bound “Previous Tab” and “Next Tab” in “Settings” > “Input” to your HOTAS or keyboard.
15. In order to see the SRS window(s) in IL-2 VR, you will need to keep them onscreen and not minimised.
16. Now, when you open IL-2 in VR, you should see a kneeboard with the currently selected Tab showing.
17. You can move, and re-size the Tabs if you want to, or zoom into them – plenty of information on that here:-
https://openkneeboard.com/faq/
https://openkneeboard.com/features/
Hope this helps
TBird