-0303-

As long as I constantly moves the joystick it works as it should but if I hold it still the cockpit stick and control surfaces flips back to center by themselves.

I deflect the joystick in X or Y direction. The cockpit stick and control surfaces follow as they should. But holding joystick still 2-3 seconds, the cockpit stick and control surfaces flips back to center position again. The moment I move the joystick again ever so slightly, it flips back to deflected position and then again if joystick held still cockpit stick and control surfaces flips back to center position yet again. This is something stupid but I don't know what. Joystick is HOTAS Warthog an it behaves fine in Thrustmasters "Device Analyzer" in Target Editor. What is going on? Plane is TF51 in DCS.

On eBay and other sales ads I've seen "Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog" and "Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog PC BL". Guessing PC stands for PC (as opposed Mac) but does "BL" stand for anything important? Does BL signify a feature of HOTAS Warthog? I've been suggested "BL" just means BLack and it's a common abbreviation used for many articles. But the Warthog only comes in black. I'm also suggested sellers want to use all letters in their title to improve search standings and therefore add "BL" for black. Because the Warthog HOTAS is very expensive I'm concerned about missing something important before buying it.

Semi philosophical post. I'm regretting so hard throwing away my Thrustmaster RCS (and FCS) three years ago. If you have them and want rid of them, for the love of <insert deity of your choice> sell them on eBay instead of throwing them away. (not my pic, stole and rehosted it) In my 'defense', I bought them 1996 and used them to 2001, but haven't played any games since. No computer had had a 15 pin gameport for 15 years, they took up space and I was tired of glitchy potentiometers. I figured if the mood came on, I would just get new and better gear. The spring had broken twice but I preferred no spring, no artificial 'wind pressure' by then. Now my decision hurts in the soul for the unnecessary waste. Now, after researching, I've realized how very limited of quality products the market for this kind of stuff is. I realized how good (wide and sturdy) the RCS frame aluminum was/is. Almost every new pedal set on offer is narrow (which I hate) and done with cheap plastic components and still quite expensive. Noticing the quality of the RCS frame prevented me from throwing them away earlier but having no interest in gaming and having done no research I labored under the misconception I would have to make my own gameport-to-USB-adapter and make my own Hall-effect-modification, not realizing there was ready made gameport and Hall effect mods available already in the early 2000's. Do I feel better stumbling across a two year old ad selling an RCS for just 30 dollar? Not really, today on eBay they go for between 50-200 dollar + shipping and fees. If I hadn't decided to go upscale I would have gotten an old Thrustmaster RCS from eBay, gotten an gameport to USB adapter (Rockfire RM-203U, good link for someone needing this, read all of it) and tried to find an Hall effect mod (they existed). I would've bought TM RCS rudders off eBay with broken springs, cosmetic flaws and crappy potentiometer just to get the frame before buying anything new of the shelf (my plan until yesterday). If I don't want narrow pedals and don't want crappy mechanisms there's not a lot to choose from. "Thrustmaster TPR: Thrustmaster Pendular Rudder" are probably very good but butt ugly and hideously expensive. But those are the only new Thrustmaster pedals I would consider. Thrustmaster TFRP or Thrustmaster Elite, to narrow, to plastic. Slaw Device pedals, beautiful, very solid all metal design (overly complicated?) but very expensive and difficult to buy, similar with Baur (BRD?). Without having tried them, I don't like the idea of the VKB-Sim mechanism and since I'm going upscale I want the full monty, toebrakes. I think I'm going with MFG Crosswind. I gained the impression of a thorough design process (creator debugged them for years and made them very adjustable) and not as expensive as Thrustmaster TPR or Slaw pedals.

I can buy a next to new and unused Thrustmaster Hotas Cougar in original packaging for the equivalent of $110 dollar available which I think is a good price. Thrustmaster stated in reply email to me that they stopped support for Cougar. Qoute: >We are sorry to inform you that we no longer support the Hotas Cougar, hence we we're not providing any spare parts for this specific product anymore. However please refer to this link: http://www.cougar.flyfoxy.com/index.php as they might provide the requested parts. My main concern is spare parts. I've seen upgrade/replacements potentiometers but what if a something else breaks? I am also concerned about software and about using modern USB pedals like MFG Crosswind. I believe software is not a problem, I can use either Target or installing the old foxy software (read a post from Rudel_chw). Can I use MFG Crosswind (USB) pedals and have them work with an old Cougar? I understand Target software supports the old Cougar and I assume Target software would have no problem integrating MFG Crosswind (USB) pedals for use and calibration?