Noob, Greetings, VR and My Old X52.

[Flit]

A quick hello message (my 1st post) before I ask for a little help...

 

Hello Mi-8 pilots! I treated myself to this amazing Mi-8 the other day (and a Huey). I chose a couple of helis to get serious with as I figured helis are probably the most suitable flyer for a VR user in this present age, what with the state of the res.

 

My old X52 stick seems to fall out of favor with the Mi-8 when I enter a 'create new mission' in cold and dark. It's fine in any other kind of scenario. Completely weird. I just want to check there is no quirk to the Mi-8/DCS that I might be ignorant of that might cause this. The wife will poison me I'm sure if I tell her I need to spend $lots$ on a new flight stick after all I've spent recently.

 

Did I mention DCS in VR is awesome? It is!

[lmp]

Hi Flit, welcome to the forums!

 

What do you mean by the stick "falling out of favor"? Does it work at all? It would indeed be weird if it didn't. Or maybe you're finding the helicopter hard to control after a manual start up? If that's the case, it's possible that you didn't activate the autopilot (or one of the systems required by it, therefore preventing the autopilot from engaging). Make sure the pitch/roll channel of the autopilot is on before you take off.

[Flit]

Hi Imp,

 

Thanks for your time.

 

For example... I spawn in the cold and dark Mi-8, I can see the cyclic moving about and corresponding with what I am doing with the x52 as I can with the collective, which I set to zero, I move on to batterys and invertors and APUs and then I notice that neither the cyclic nor collective is responding to my movements anymore - they are dead. BUT, on my desktop I have a Saitek program going and I can see the stick moving about on the axis thing, AND strangely the buttons work on the cyclic for the trimmer when the stick goes frozen, but the stick won't move and it is not moving the control surfaces (which was confirmed rather dramatically on the ramp once lol). :joystick:

 

It just seems to be timing out for periods of time and then some unknown event will cause it to come back online again. I can't figure it out. I think my x52 is dying - it is about 13 years old now and has been through a lot.

 

I was just checking above that there was no 'Mi-8 cyclic lock' or something daft that I was unaware of. But, now that I have experimented even more, I am almost certain the problem is not this.

[Goldsmack]

Welcome to the wonderful world of DCS and bravo for starting with helicopters, you are a braver man then I. Especially with the Mi-8 :thumbup: took me about a year to just get the thing off the ground without a "Controlled Flight Into Terrain", now flying it feel effortless. Shes one of a kind. As for you issue. Go to settings then control, select Mi-8MTV2 and select each row except the keyboard and hit clear category, then re bind your axis under Axis Assign. DCS default bindings can cause problems. Also make sure you have the latest and correct drivers for your X52, and you could also try switching USB ports? I haven't manually started the mi-8 in a while but I think the controls loosen after you apply hydraulics. Check out some of the startup videos on you tube and follow them closely and read the manual as well. Also just fyi theirs some extra options under Settings Special then go to the Mi-8 module and set them to your liking. And again welcome! one of the greatest things is having new pilots to help share this amazing sim.

Edited September 29, 2016 by Goldsmack

[lmp]

I'll try to recreate your problem after work to see if it's your joystick or some issue with the game/module.

[Art-J]

Mi-8 controls are hydro operated - they need hydro pressure up (engine already running) to move freely. Applies to both cyclic and rudder, not sure about collective.

 

That being said, sometimes they move indeed on "cold and dark" startup scenario (for example if it's the first mission played after loading up DCS), but that's a bug, or rather result of "traditional" problems of DCS engine with recognizing PC controllers position, 'cause they definitely shouldn't have :D.

[gospadin]

FWIW, my throttle (collective) position is often mis-detected at startup. I always move it full-stroke after loading the module to calibrate the position/throw, before I start the engines.

[Goldsmack]

I found using synchronize HOTAS controls on start up helped for me wit that problem.

[Flit]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I remapped the keys, changed ports.

 

Actually, I reckon Art-J nailed it with this one. I think I was getting into the start process, finding my stick unresponsive and rather than continuing with start up procedures; getting into a tangle about the stick. I think I had started rotors once and must have left the collective on and of course after some spooling the whole machine spiraled up and then into the ground, which led me to think it was 'stuck', but probably the whole ship in that state was just beyond recovery.

 

Long story short, I haven't had the issue since starting the engines, but do observe the stick is 'frozen' until I do.

 

Thanks again.