Introducing the VKB-Sim ‘Modern Combat Grip’ (MCG)

[dburne]

Yea!

 

Still waiting on my extension kit!

 

EDIT :

NIX THAT!

 

I also have a tracking number from Kong Hong!

 

EDIT, EDIT:

And I just got a text saying that it will arrive July 5th. Thursday?

It takes forever to purchase one. Weeks to get it shipped. Then, 2 days shipping from Hong Kong to Ohio???

 

That would be amazing.

My grip's last scan was yesterday showing in Hong Kong.

[gordon200]

That would be amazing.

My grip's last scan was yesterday showing in Hong Kong.

 

My last order from VKB (Mk IV rudder pedals) arrived at my home 48 hrs after leaving Hong Kong. It was flown directly to Chicago and then to my town on the US east coast.

I think DHL was the carrier on this end.

[dburne]

I just got a text notification from DHL that my grip will be delivered on Tuesday July 10th.

Good day for me as I have nothing going on that day, so will have my new Gunfighter ready for it.

[NineGzuz]

Helicopter version? Do you mean the left hand will be mounted like collective lever in a heli?

[UIV]

Yes.

[TomOnSteam]

Interesting! I will be keeping an eye open for that.

[Dudikoff]

It is out of design stage, the firmware for it is written but not tested, and right now we have no resources to do it - probably till early fall.

MCG-TM is not the highest priority but we don't cancel it and will deliver it finally.

 

OK, thanks for the update. Was just wondering if it's still coming or it's cancelled or something as there were no updates after the MCG-Pro release.

[dburne]

I had a nice surprise this afternoon, the MCG Pro grip I ordered that was scheduled to arrive on Tuesday actually arrived this afternoon.

That is 3 days from date of shipping (Tues) to receipt here in the U.S. today. Very impressive!

 

Holding it in my hand it feels very nice, solid and smooth button actions. With all the 4 ways with push it is not lacking in the available buttons department.

The flip up trigger and the brake axis paddle are very nice as well. When you flip up the trigger, it has a nice solid clunk to it as it hits the stop, I like that.

 

The only thing that I think might be a little difficult, extending my right index finger to manipulate that 4 way button on the side of the stick might be somewhat cumbersome, and I have large hands. I don't mean in reaching it, it is just where that button is positioned on the inside of my index finger, pushing it forward might be a little challenging. I think my large hands maybe hurts me a little with this. Will have a better feel for that once it is hooked up and I am actually flying with it.

 

And one disappointment I had, and this is on me really. I was thinking the pinky button on the stick was situated more to the front middle of the stick, facing the brake paddle. I was hoping to use it in DCS as a "modifier" button, where I could assign two commands to a button press by using a modifier. Not sure it is going to work well for me with it being so far on the side of the grip. I would want to use it as a press and hold modifier. So say I press button 1 and it does one thing, then I hold the pinky button and press button 1 and it does another. Again though, will need to get it all hooked up and actually fly with it to get a better feel on this.

 

Thinking it was not arriving till Tuesday I do not have my Gunfighter converted to the Pro and hooked up to my extended Monster Tech Mount yet, so can't just slap it on and go flying.

Maybe tomorrow I will get time to get it all hooked up and give it a spin.

 

Overall though initial impression from just holding this grip, it feels very solid - I like the weight it has to it, button presses feel great! Triggers are nice, brake paddle is very nice. English labels look great. Just couple of concerns on how easily I will be able to use a couple of the buttons for what I hoped for remains to be seen until I get it all hooked up and flying with it.

 

Once I have that done and flying with it for a bit, will report back.

 

I have been waiting on this puppy for right at a year, finally now I will have a reason to pull my new ( over 1 year old ) Gunfighter out of the box and get to try it out. So I am excited about finally getting to use the VKB setup as I had intended.

Edited July 6, 2018 by dburne

[rrohde]

Thanks to UIV and AeroGator on keeping everyone informed from the VKB HQ side of things. Always appreciated to glean some info that I (as a sales rep) wasn't aware of. :music_whistling:

 

So, now on to what I came here for today:

 

For those of you who have an MCG series grip inbound for your Gladiator Pro Mk.II or Gunfighter joystick, please follow the respective guide provided on how to Flash/Reset/Calibrate your joystick with your new MCG or MCG PRO grip installed:

 

Gunfighter: Flash/Reset/Calibrate Guide

Gladiator: Flash/Reset/Calibrate Guide

 

Hope these are useful to you.

 

Important: You will have to flash your Gunfighter or Gladiator base to make your new MCG work with it. Simply removing your current grip and installing your new MCG will not magically make the base understand what just happened. You need to tell the base (via firmware update) that there's a new grip in town!

[dburne]

Thanks for the heads up and reminder rrhode.

Does it matter in what order one does the flash, either before or after installing the MCG Pro grip? I would think probably best to install grip first then flash?

[rrohde]

Right, so the assumption is that you removed the old grip and installed the new grip, and then you flash (I added a line about that in the howtos as well). :)

Edited July 6, 2018 by rrohde

[dburne]

Right, so the assumption is that you removed the old grip and installed the new grip, and then you flash (I added a line about that in the howtos as well). :)

 

Gotcha, thanks! I have it fastened on the extension now, so should be good to proceed. Gotta had out for our workout and dinner, so likely tomorrow before I get to finish up.

[Bearfoot]

Thanks to UIV and AeroGator on keeping everyone informed from the VKB HQ side of things. Always appreciated to glean some info that I (as a sales rep) wasn't aware of. :music_whistling:

 

So, now on to what I came here for today:

 

For those of you who have an MCG series grip inbound for your Gladiator Pro Mk.II or Gunfighter joystick, please follow the respective guide provided on how to Flash/Reset/Calibrate your joystick with your new MCG or MCG PRO grip installed:

 

Gunfighter: Flash/Reset/Calibrate Guide

Gladiator: Flash/Reset/Calibrate Guide

 

Hope these are useful to you.

 

Important: You will have to flash your Gunfighter or Gladiator base to make your new MCG work with it. Simply removing your current grip and installing your new MCG will not magically make the base understand what just happened. You need to tell the base (via firmware update) that there's a new grip in town!

 

Could you provide a link to the latest beta/use-at-your-own-risk firmware for the gunfighter?

 

I am consistently getting crazy ghost presses again, and would like to see if this fixes it before opening a ticket and going through the whole troubleshooting dance?

 

Thanks.

[rrohde]

Could you provide a link to the latest beta/use-at-your-own-risk firmware for the gunfighter?

 

I am consistently getting crazy ghost presses again, and would like to see if this fixes it before opening a ticket and going through the whole troubleshooting dance?

 

Thanks.

 

Send me an email, so I can attach a beta version (specify whether it's for the MCG PRO or non-Pro version).

[Bearfoot]

Send me an email, so I can attach a beta version (specify whether it's for the MCG PRO or non-Pro version).

 

Sent!

[dburne]

So where are the dry clutches I am supposed to loosen up on my new Gunfighter Mk 1?

Bottom plate is off , will they be apparent to me when I go in to replace the springs?

No such thing as a dumb question right?

 

I looked at the VKB FAQ, while it talks about dry clutches really does not show where they are for adjusting.

[Mars Exulte]

They're the white plasticy looking things along either side. Hard to miss.

[dburne]

Well I seem to be getting rather confused, may have bit off more than I can chew by having to go into this thing. Assuming the entire gimbal assembly has to come out? I watched the Gladiator Pro spring replacement but something not quite clicking for me I guess.

 

Edit: Have emailed rrhode to see if he can give me some assistance so as not to clutter this thread up with my dumb questions. Just having trouble figuring out what all I need to remove and worried I am going to screw this thing up - the video on the faq is for Gladiator Pro, and I seem to be missing something trying to follow it for this Gunfighter.

Edited July 6, 2018 by dburne

[aaron886]

After the mockup - and only if we are quite happy with what we have - we will look for testers who will get pre-serial units. (consider it a controlled leak). After the device is through with testing, and the flaws are dealt with, the launch will finally happen.

 

This is great news. This has been one of my few complaints about my VKB products thus far... I feel like a guinea pig when an updated/fix version of a device is sold months after I receive mine. I think this will really help improve quality.

[dburne]

Ok got her all hooked up and updated along with calibration, solid green on the black box so good to go. There was a VKB DevCFG dated with today's date on the download page, so went ahead with that as it was the latest.

 

Now to get it mounted to the Monster Tech extended mount and then do some quick button assignments and check it out. Since I am using the extension I went with one each of the #50 springs for each axis, will see how that feels.

[dburne]

Ok so on the Master Mode hat switch on the MCG Pro grip, I see it can switch between relative axis and analogue POV axis.

I assume then that this hat cannot be digital as button presses?

 

Edit - Never mind I see it can in analogue pov mode, had a brain fade moment lol.

Edited July 7, 2018 by dburne

[dburne]

Ok so everything set to go, I go into DCS and figure I would give it a whirl in the Spit.

Man I am all over the place, went in and put some curvature on pitch and roll, still pretty rough.

One thing I have noticed, especially in the pitch. There is a large dead area around center, by dead I am talking physical - not electronically. There is probably 10 degrees of play in the middle of the pitch axis. If I move stick forward and let go, the plane is diving drastically. If I move back and let go, it is climbing drastically.

 

There is a similar but little smaller dead area around center in the roll axis also.

So somehow I need to tighten the center up on this stick.

 

I used the #50 springs as recommended with the extension kit, should I open it up and work on the friction plate adjustments to try and compensate for this dead area?

Anyone else run across this with the Gunfighter?

[Bearfoot]

Ok so everything set to go, I go into DCS and figure I would give it a whirl in the Spit.

Man I am all over the place, went in and put some curvature on pitch and roll, still pretty rough.

One thing I have noticed, especially in the pitch. There is a large dead area around center, by dead I am talking physical - not electronically. There is probably 10 degrees of play in the middle of the pitch axis. If I move stick forward and let go, the plane is diving drastically. If I move back and let go, it is climbing drastically.

 

There is a similar but little smaller dead area around center in the roll axis also.

So somehow I need to tighten the center up on this stick.

 

I used the #50 springs as recommended with the extension kit, should I open it up and work on the friction plate adjustments to try and compensate for this dead area?

Anyone else run across this with the Gunfighter?

 

Nope. Nothing like this at all. No dead zone at all, and, in fact, I had to actually add a dead zone in the F-18 to stop the AP disconnecting. And no curves needed either. Easily the cleanest and most precise controller on the table. I cannot remember the springs I am using, but I don't think it was the 50. Maybe 30 and 10?

 

How do the responses look like outside of DCS? Using a third party tracking program like Dlview etc.?

[dburne]

Nope. Nothing like this at all. No dead zone at all, and, in fact, I had to actually add a dead zone in the F-18 to stop the AP disconnecting. And no curves needed either. Easily the cleanest and most precise controller on the table. I cannot remember the springs I am using, but I don't think it was the 50. Maybe 30 and 10?

 

How do the responses look like outside of DCS? Using a third party tracking program like Dlview etc.?

 

They look the same, showing that same huge dead area. I can tell it easily by just looking at the stick position also.

I kept adding deadzone to the pitch axis in DCS until the entire amount of slop was in the dead zone, took a 23 for deadzone to get this.

 

Edit: When I say physical dead area, I mean the area the stick is just a slop and will not return to center.

Edited July 7, 2018 by dburne

[Bearfoot]

They look the same, showing that same huge dead area. I can tell it easily by just looking at the stick position also.

I kept adding deadzone to the pitch axis in DCS until the entire amount of slop was in the dead zone, took a 23 for deadzone to get this.

 

Edit: When I say physical dead area, I mean the area the stick is just a slop and will not return to center.

 

Could this be an over-dialled in friction setting?