Good idea John.
What about getting a bunch of people together and setting up a Wiki page to match your concept? Maybe a section for each of the major DCC players like Digitrax, NCE, TCS, ESU, etc.?
As more and more people contribute we can then have a cook book on the various things we want to do. But it must be in your style of "What do I need to set to do this?" instead of a regurgitation of the manual.
Hi MK.
So it turns out that this becomes VERY difficult to explain in words. The problem is that ESU LokSound decoders are simply too flexible. In theory, there are something like 2,304 different combinations of various behaviors that can be assigned to function keys. Because of memory limitations, however, ESU has limited you to programming "only" 40 such combinations. The LokSound V.4 manual has a nice table on page 52 that has 40 rows, and the control CV's applicable to each such row. But that table doesn't tell you which row is assigned to a particular function key. In order to know THAT, you have to know the default function programming table - that is, how did ESU set up each line of that table. And unfortunately, that default table can vary depending on the particular sound file involved. I THINK that it is true that US prototype sound files all follow a similar pattern, which uses the first 22 rows of that table for F0-Forward, F0-Reverse, and then F1-F20. That seems to correspond to the more abbreviated table contained in the LokSound Select manual (which is now FIVE YEARS OLD). But this isn't always true. For example, Intermountain's ESU file for the SD40-2 is set up so that Row 8 of the function key table is "F6 forward direction only" and then row 24 is used to separately program the behavior of F6 for reverse direction. This is done so that pressing F6 will turn on the front ditch lights when the locomotive is moving forward, and the rear ditch lights (if so equipped - for example, on some NS models) if the locomotive is moving in reverse. To reprogram the behavior of F6 in an IM SD40-2 would require changing a boatload of control CV's (although kudos to IM for publishing the default table so that you could actually figure out what to change if you wanted to do so). Similarly, even if you know which line of the table is applicable to which function key, you don't necessarily know what behaviors are assigned to those keys (e.g., what values are programmed into each of the control CV's) for any specific sound file. For example, the Full Throttle files assign Drive Hold to F9 and Independent Brake to F10. But non-FT files assign the "dim lights" behavior to F9 and the airpump sound to F10. Usually. But maybe not always.
There are some common default behaviors. For example, all the LokSound decoders set F0-Forward to turn on the headlight output (white wire) and F0-reverse to turn on the rear light (yellow wire). F1 is always assigned to turn on the sound slot for the bell (usually sound slot 4) and F2 is assigned to the horn or whistle (sound slot 3). F8 is always assigned to the prime mover sound slot (sound slot 1). But everything else depends on the particular file. On some files, F6 turns on both the Aux1 and Aux2 outputs (essentially assuming that these outputs will be used for alternating ditch lights), while on some older files, F5 turns on Aux1 (assuming it would be wired to a rotary beacon). F3 is usually the coupler sound, but not always. And so on. So it is nearly impossible to generalize how to program ESU function keys without knowing how the specific sound file involved set its defaults.
Jeez - I never realized this was so hard until I sat down and tried to explain it in words! To do anything complex, you really almost have to have the LokProgrammer software. Then you can load in a specific sound file, make whatever function key changes you want to make, and then use the "see changes" command to get a list of the CV's that need to be changed (and to what values) in order to do what you want manually if you don't have an actual LokProgrammer (hardware) to do it.
ESU really needs to publish a function key default programming table for each sound file so that people without the LokProgrammer software can figure out what to program in order to change their function key behavior! Or maybe they just assume that anyone who is serious about function key reprogramming can download the LokProgrammer software and use that to figure out what CVs to program. All I know is that it would take a book the size of War and Peace to write this out . . . it took 8 single-spaced pages (3500 words) just to describe how to do a few simple things like program F0 so that the headlight stays on in both directions and how to get F3 to turn on the Aux 1 output.
Now I understand why the manuals aren't (and maybe can't be) written this way.
John C.
