Flight control issues with FC3 only

[GVer]

Dear Users,

 

I'm seeking HELP with a flight control issue I'm having with FC3 only.

 

I'm generally quit new and have purchased all required equipment incl the TM Warthog HOTAS. Except the rudder pedals aren't available currently so I figured I have to manage with the keyboard for the time being.

 

So I have all the equipment set up and with the A-10C everything works fine, albeit not perfect with using keyboard rudders.

 

Now, when I start a CF3 mission - whatever aircraft type or mission - the flight controls snap in an extreme position whenever I ramp up throttle on the HOTAS, regardless if I do it fast or slow.

 

- Looking from an external plane view, I can see the flight control flaps snapping into extreme positions. It cannot be related to the increase of the engine thrust.

- I have checked calibration and settings. As said with the A-10C everything works fine as far as flight controls are concerned.

- Rudder pedals are assigned to X and Z, no other inputs! (BTW side question: I tried to change this to left and right arrow, the menu confirmed, but in-game nothing had changed! Still X and Z - why?)

 

For me currently CF3 is unflyable which is quite frustrating. Anyone had this too? Please help me. Many thanks in advance!! :helpsmilie:

[DarkFire]

Firstly, welcome to the forum :)

 

The no.1 most common cause for control issues is that DCS has multiple axes mapped to the same control input. Unfortunately DCS has a nasty habit of assigning every control axis it can find on any attached HID-compliant devices to various in-game axes.

 

The fix is easy: make sure that only 1 physical device axis is mapped to pitch, roll, yaw within the game. Obviously you have to do this for each of the FC3 aircraft separately.

 

Some other possibilities:

 

1. Does your antivirus software come with ransomware protection? For a while I couldn't understand why I could never save my options in-game then I realised that Bitdefender had essentially designated my entire "my documents" folder as strictly read-only.

 

2. It's vaguely possibly that the FC3 installation corrputed for some reason. Not sure if you downloaded the torrent file or the FTP files (they're supposed to be absolutely identical) but I had all sorts of problems with the torrent version and hand to re-download the FTP version which has worked ever since.

 

Anyway, hope this helps...

[GVer]

Hi Darkfire,

 

thanks a lot for your quick reply. Indeed the Y/axis was coupled the rudder as well as the keyboard. So that was a big improvement! Thanks for the hint.

 

However, now in the air in the F15 at full afterburner - when I throttle back quickly the aircraft pulls left hard suddenly and violently, still need to figure out that one...

 

Good hint btw with the virus software as I noticed it has a gaming mode allowing chances. So thanks a lot!!

[DarkFire]

No problem :)

 

With regards to the yaw on throttle change problem, does it yaw in the opposite direction when you throttle up? If so, it indicates that your left & right throttles aren't perfectly matched in terms of calibration or axis curve so when you change both throttles you get a differential thrust condition. I don't have the Warthog but if it's possible try mapping both throttles as a single item to both engines & see if the problem goes away.

[fitness88]

Firstly, welcome to the forum :)

 

The no.1 most common cause for control issues is that DCS has multiple axes mapped to the same control input. Unfortunately DCS has a nasty habit of assigning every control axis it can find on any attached HID-compliant devices to various in-game axes.

 

The fix is easy: make sure that only 1 physical device axis is mapped to pitch, roll, yaw within the game. Obviously you have to do this for each of the FC3 aircraft separately.

 

Some other possibilities:

 

1. Does your antivirus software come with ransomware protection? For a while I couldn't understand why I could never save my options in-game then I realised that Bitdefender had essentially designated my entire "my documents" folder as strictly read-only.

 

2. It's vaguely possibly that the FC3 installation corrputed for some reason. Not sure if you downloaded the torrent file or the FTP files (they're supposed to be absolutely identical) but I had all sorts of problems with the torrent version and hand to re-download the FTP version which has worked ever since.

 

Anyway, hope this helps...

 

I thought using the DCS interface, only one input was allowed per axis or any other command? So how can there be multiple inputs mapped to a single command using the DCS interface?

[DarkFire]

I thought using the DCS interface, only one input was allowed per axis or any other command? So how can there be multiple inputs mapped to a single command using the DCS interface?

 

When manually assigning interface devices (e.g. joystick) to axes that's true, but the automatic assignment when you first install a module or run the game doesn't seem to abide by the same rules. For example, if you have a thumb-stick on your throttle DCS will think it's an extra mouse & assign the "mouse" X & Y axes to all sorts of weird things.

 

The default mapping is actually pretty good, it's just necessary to remove all the duplication to make it actually work.

[fitness88]

When manually assigning interface devices (e.g. joystick) to axes that's true, but the automatic assignment when you first install a module or run the game doesn't seem to abide by the same rules. For example, if you have a thumb-stick on your throttle DCS will think it's an extra mouse & assign the "mouse" X & Y axes to all sorts of weird things.

 

The default mapping is actually pretty good, it's just necessary to remove all the duplication to make it actually work.

 

If I understand correctly, you're saying DCS will map 1 input device such as what you mentioned to more than one command as opposed to what I said about mapping more than one input device to 1 command?

[DarkFire]

If I understand correctly, you're saying DCS will map 1 input device such as what you mentioned to more than one command as opposed to what I said about mapping more than one input device to 1 command?

 

Having thought some more about this, I think what it's doing is confusing different physical axes on different devices and is applying those different axes to different in-game axes under but the same label, e.g. it might think that a trim wheel on a joystick is the same sort of device as the thumb-stick on a throttle, and then call them both an "X" axis but apply them to different commands. But, it only seems to understand an input from one of what it thinks are all "X" axes, with the effect that it confuses the trim wheel on the joystick (which is supposed to act on the in-game zoom axis) with the X-axis on the stick, which is supposed to apply to the in-game pitch axis.

 

I think this is what it's doing. Maybe.

[fitness88]

Having thought some more about this, I think what it's doing is confusing different physical axes on different devices and is applying those different axes to different in-game axes under but the same label, e.g. it might think that a trim wheel on a joystick is the same sort of device as the thumb-stick on a throttle, and then call them both an "X" axis but apply them to different commands. But, it only seems to understand an input from one of what it thinks are all "X" axes, with the effect that it confuses the trim wheel on the joystick (which is supposed to act on the in-game zoom axis) with the X-axis on the stick, which is supposed to apply to the in-game pitch axis.

 

I think this is what it's doing. Maybe.

 

OK now I understand what you're getting at. When on the DCS controls option page, by pressing an input on your stick, it's a good idea to see where they are mapped to, if mapped at all. Complicating things is when you use the HOTAS software as well, it's important to make sure you are only sending commands through either the HOTAS software or DCS software.