symowallo

Good point! It ought to be good for the price they're asking :)

Per above, (refer to my comment regarding “base rotaries”) I use the volume knobs for things like HMD brightness and wing sweep. You could also use it for light/HUD brightness.

I used a bunch of ferrite cores with 3mm inner diameter and 5mm inner diameter. For example, here's some in 3mm: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32827107564.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.2fcf4c4dtZT6zJ Photo of the X56 innards after installation is in the first pic in this thread.

In addition: - For the virtual mouse, I use that as the TDC as it's an axis and works really well for that. - For the bottom 4 way in your picture, I use that for radar range up/down (Right MFD PB11 and PB12 on the Hornet) and left is Comm2, right is Comm2. - For the 4 way just above the one in the picture, I use that for speed brakes (up/down) and MIDS A and MIDS B (left/right). I still don't know what MIDS does but haven't gotten to that yet, I just saw that the real F/A-18 HOTAS has it on the throttle as well, so if a real pilot needs it near the hand, then so do I.

I map the antenna elevation to the top wheel. I map the pushbutton function of that wheel to SRS1 (not that I use this yet - I am using Discord as I am only doing multiplayer with my kids at the moment until I get better) I map cockpit zoom to the bottom wheel. I use this a lot, particularly when lining up for landing - it helps me sight the runway. I map the pushbutton function of that wheel to SRS2. The clicky wheel is useless to me. I tried to get it working as an in-cockpit zoom but it didn't map. I got it working as a mouse zoom for external views however. Of limited use in my book as it doesn't map to an axis from my experimentation (I could be wrong - gave up after mucking about with it for an hour or so). I use one of the base rotaries for the Helmet Mounted Display brightness. I find it really helpful as it becomes an annoying distraction when you're fence out and heading in to land. For the F-14 I use one for manual wing sweep. I use the base switches for various things. Landing gear up/down for one of them. Flaps (auto/half/full) for another. Master arm on/off for another. A2A/A2G for another. Quite useful. I'm still fairly new to DCS but I'm quite happy with my control mappings now. Let me know if you want my exported config.

2 weeks later, no ghosting. Gave it to my son to thrash and he reports no ghosting. Pretty happy with that fix - wasn't too difficult and it was cheap.

Happy to say that I’ve had no more ghosting in the last 8 missions that I’ve flown in the last week, after performing my ferrite core “upgrade”. It’ll be interesting to see how it goes while the system is under heavy stress, but I’m not good enough with the sim yet... mostly simple missions so far. For anyone interested, I purchased the ferrite cores via AliExpress.

Ghosting? Is it occurring with the throttle or the stick? Which buttons/switches specifically?

Sounds like you need to open it up and check to see whether you bumped some of the wire harnesses; that’s the only reason I can think of.

It’s disgusting stuff. Only reason I got rid of some grease is because it basically came off on the bench when it was upside down as I was fixing the internals. You’re absolutely right in not using anything harsh on the plastic. I was going to use Teflon grease but decided to just leave the rest of it intact. Seems to be a bit better than when I started so that’s good. My tension knob is busted so this was really the only option for me anyway.

Since opening mine up to repair it and getting rid of some of the grease, I've found it to be much better. I didn't get rid of all of it, just some of the excess.

Fellow newbie to newbie... I too have an X56 and F/A-18 and I'm also a month or two into it. I spent so much time tweaking mine but I'm fairly happy with it now. Basically, I followed Grim Reapers X56 HOTAS setup guide on YouTube as a starting point, then I customised it to suit. The SLD is just a 2-way switch. I mapped brakes to one of the 4 ways. PM me your e-mail address and I'm happy to e-mail you my config. I'm pretty happy with it now. I modified it ever so slightly from Grim Reapers - I moved SRS and a few other things around. The ministick is an axis. If you select the Axis drop down you'll see it in there, where you can map TDC to it. Add some deadzone by right clicking on it in DCS. Works well as the TDC cursor. Where mine differs from GR is that I'm using the switches on the base for flaps and gear. I can't see the point of wasting a perfectly good 2 way switch near the hand on landing gear - even the real plane doesn't have gear on the HOTAS, and you don't normally need to lower the gear in a hurry. I would suggest thinking about it this way when mapping something to the hand vs base. - Will I need to hit this switch/button in a hurry? - Is it OK to take my hand off the stick to activate this particular command? From my perspective, I would disqualify flaps and gear from the hands-on part of the hotas and instead put them on their own switches. Same with Master ARM and Helmet mounted display brightness. At the end of the day though, it's what you're comfortable with. I'd also suggest looking at the F/A-18C early access guide PDF from DCS (search for it under your install folders) as it shows the real F/A-18C HOTAS and the controls mapped to it on the real plane. Pretty much everything you need to hand is there, and nothing you don't (mostly!) I like having the following on the throttle/HOTAS - Radar elevation - you definitely want that on the HOTAS - Speed brakes - same - Radar range - I like this on the HOTAS - TDC - as above - Cage/uncage - SRS 1 and 2 - Chaff/flares (I mapped this to the 3 way switch - flares up, chaff down) - Head tracker re-centre (I have this on the stick, easy to get to) - Zoom in/out (for inside the cockpit) - I have this on one of the twirly dials on the throttle. I find that it helps immensely when lining up the runway from about 5 miles out. Kind of like having binoculars I guess. etc etc. You'll probably tweak it a few times until it's right for you. Main thing I find is that getting some consistency between aircraft helps - I tried to keep most of it the same for the F-16 then decided to just stick with the F/A-18C for a while until I'm good at it.

Hoping to order one of these (AU) however they have been delisted from VKB's AliExpress shop. I assume that's because they're out of stock. Hopefully they can get the factories moving again!

All good, thanks for the suggestions. However I've tried all of that. Every USB combo I could think of. I've got a dedicated powered USB3 hub, a PCI-E 7 port USB3 powered card - all sorts of stuff. Anyway, since I installed the 7 additional ferrite cores around what I believe are some of the less protected wires, it's been better. 10 test flights so far over the last week and no ghost presses so far. I don't believe it's just a USB issue. I think that's part of it, but not the whole cause. I certainly saw improvements after isolating its USB connection, but it didn't fix the issue until I opened it up and installed the ferrite cores for better EMI protection. My refund arrived from Logitech today. It doesn't cover the full cost, but I guess their argument is that the joystick still works, so I can't complain too much.

Basically, the landing gear will activate, master arm/on off, etc etc - at random times. If I'm slow enough, the gear will come down at random times (irrespective of aircraft). It was funny doing some dogfights - I'd be whipping the F/A-18 around in mock combat, trying to get a lead on an F-14 and suddenly my gear was down, flaps were down and master arm off. Hilarious! Essentially, anything mapped to one of the base switches will activate at random. This was even more noticeable on the F-14 as I had wing sweep mapped to the base switches. Not specifically happening in relation to throttle position but there's only so many things I can test. I've already opened the throttle up and there's no wire pinching, and I don't think it's an issue with this model (X55 maybe). As far as parts go, you could try Logitech support directly, although they're having trouble getting stock at the moment (just try their support inbox support@logi.com maybe)

Hey mate, answers inline... Yes Have tried with 30cm USB3 extension and without. No difference. DCS It's random - basically any of the base switches will activate randomly. In the middle of combat, the landing gear wants to come down if I am slow enough, flaps will activate, master arm on/off - which are all switch assigned. Any/all switches activate randomly. No problem! Yes I've checked everything. There's several others on reddit and various other places who've experienced similar issues on DCS and also on Elite Dangerous, which anecdotally points me towards it being a hardware rather than software issue. I've noticed a reduction in ghosting after installation of the ferrite cores. Hoping to receive my replacement unit soon but it's been almost 4 months so far - seems that Logitech have trouble keeping this unit in stock (or are having troubles getting it manufactured!)

Yep, using the latest drivers, latest everything. I've put it on a separate hub, separate PCI-E USB3 card, etc etc. I've done everything I can think of. It was in the X56 application that I had to use 40 units of deadzone to stop the roll/pitch axis from jittering in the application (I think it was 40 on roll, 30 on pitch or vice-versa). However in DCS I just use 10 - as I don't believe the units are the same between the X56 application vs DCS, but I'm not sure. Another few test flights so I can say for sure it's been solved... maybe a month of thrashing it, just to be sure. Yep mine's the grey one too.

Yeah it's not a perfect stick but as far as sticks go, the X56 ain't too bad. Not great, based on what I've seen in forums online, but it's OK, I just have to program about 5 units of deadzone on all axes and it's fine. For roll and pitch axes, I had to put in about 40 units of deadzone. Ghosting is a common issue (I believe) with the X56 throttle where you'll get phantom (ie. ghost) button pushes from time to time, mostly around the toggle switches on the base. So you'd be flying along and suddenly your landing gear lowers, flaps come down, master arm switches on etc (depending on whether you've programmed anything for the base switches of course... which I did). So I'd be in the middle of air-to-air combat in the F/A-18C and the gear would come down all of a sudden. Yes, one could work around it by not using the base switches but I want to use the base throttle switches and rotaries - that's why I bought it. I'm hoping that the ferrite cores I've installed will reduce EMI (Electro-Magnetic Interference) which some believe to be the cause of the phantom button pushes.

Pulled the throttle apart yesterday (twice, I might add...) Added 7 extra ferrite cores to complement the one that's already there, also pulled apart the left throttle half so I could get to the 3-way switch that kept jamming up (really wanted to use that control for chaff/flares but it would keep getting stuck). For the three-way switch, I had to raise the standoffs with little M2 washers where it screws into the shell and insert a couple of fibre washers under the button itself, on the outside, so as to ensure it won't get stuck in a half-pressed state. OK so I probably went over the top with the ferrite cores but they're cheap and relatively easy to install. Also fixed up (more or less) the tension knob as it had come off the gear, so to speak. Have made a few long flights - so far, so good. Not 100% sure it's fixed the issue yet but so far, so good. I still keep the LEDs off (turned down to black, to be exact, as you can't specifically switch them off).

See, those last 2 replies show exactly what the problem is. One said "Read the manual", whilst the other said in a condescending manner "Go to the search box in Google and type what you're looking for". Well, gosh, thanks, because I had no idea how to use Google! There's your problem with the community, right there. Luckily I've not had to rely on such condescending and "Captain Obvious" type of advice and help to get back up and running again. On the other hand, another experienced simmer basically said "Sure, here's some info I put together, here's a collection of info all in the one place that'll help you get up and running as quickly as possible whilst you learn the theory in the background" - that was super helpful and most appreciated.

Great post! Thanks Pac-Man. Much more helpful than just saying "Read the manual" or "The documentation is all in one place" because the best aggregated information comes from a multitude of sources and you've kindly put that together in one place...

Good post and as someone returning back to sims from about 15 years absence, I totally agree with most of what the OP is saying. It's easy for us to forget what's difficult about a sim until we're in that boat. And I'm in it now... I decided to start with the F/A-18, dabbled with the F-14 and now the F-16. All difficult models I suppose. Watched many, many YT videos to get myself up to speed - not so much from a "this is how you fly it" as that part is fairly straightforward as you pointed out (or known by most noobs already). It's the systems that makes it difficult, and the difficulty in finding decent documentation in the one place. The documentation itself is terrific, it's more the flow and orientation and the sheer volume of it that's a bit off-putting. Also, the documentation doesn't necessarily provide "task oriented" information. A good example is the setting up of a HOTAS. You don't really know what commands to setup on the HOTAS without flying it, but working out what to put on the HOTAS requires a lot of testing (or watching videos). Anyway this is not a rant, more an observation as I'm in the middle of it right now. I think this is a really healthy discussion/debate and it certainly has my interest.

Hi all Have a fairly new (3 months) X56, awaiting Logitech to get stock so I can have a replacement throttle shipped to me - very frustrating delay, but patience is a virtue... so they say. (I had a broken tension knob and due to the delays in sending me a replacement, I tried it out and I'm getting ghosting). Here's the issue: - Getting regular ghosting from the switches - all of them - I even started getting some ghosting from the on-throttle hats - The 3 way switch/button on the throttle is semi-stuck, making it unusable. Works occasionally however mapping it to chaff/flares was a disaster - random CHAFF! FLARE! as the button gets stuck on the top/bottom position. Here's what I've tried to fix the first 2 issues: Tried a generic powered USB hub. No change Tried a brand new TP-Link powered 7-port USB3 hub with its own power (4+Amps). Still ghosting. Probably less often though. Stick is fine. Just the throttle with the issues Installed a 7 port USB3 Orico powered PCI-E card in the computer, from which I run only the throttle (everything else is either on the computer or on the TP-Link hub). Was ghosting less often until last night when I tried out the F-16 - constant ghosting including on the hat switches on the throttle. Way worse than before. I've even turned the LEDs off, thinking it was an EMI issue. Will look at the ferrite-core solution shortly, depending on when I receive the replacement throttle - however I'm not convinced that this is not an issue with others as well, as I've seen numerous comments about this ghosting issue from others too. I might still end up with the same problem with the replacement. My question to the group is: has anyone ever truly fixed this issue with the ferrite core fix? Maybe I just have a dud and the replacement will be fine, however due to poor stock availability from Logitech, I was considering going with a Thrustmaster TWCS 16000 to accompany the X56 stick as it's been 3 months of unreliable simming so far whilst awaiting Logitech to get their act together. Anyone tried this combo? The TWCS seems to be a reasonable throttle.

Hi all Long time lurker, first time poster. Have been into sims since the Commodore 64. Microprose Gunship back in 1987 as a teenager and went on from there. Missed out on an air force pilot slot in the 90's so I got a "real" job and changed to the IT field, but flying is my first love. Kids in the mid 2000's put a stop to my simming habits but my teenage son is now really into flight and sims - dragged me back into it, teaching me DCS - we both have F/A-18, F-16, Persian Gulf and Supercarrier. So I decided to do this properly, built up a new rig and decided to dive into DCS - wow, what a big improvement over LOMAC. This sim is amazing. Only issue I now have is my Logitech X56 - the QA has been lacklustre (jammed buttons, ghost presses etc) so I'm looking at keeping the stick and getting a TWCS throttle for the time being. But that should tide me over until my son and I can justify something a bit better in the future (Wife Acceptance Factor...) Really looking forward to a dynamic campaign in DCS in the future, it was the one thing that kept me hooked on F4 back in the day. Anyway, good to be here.