A way to change the Warthog Throttle behavior, some may not know about.

[lxsapper]

First of I would like to apologize to the comunity because I have had this information for a very long time, a few years in fact. The reason why I didn't put this information out there sooner is because I tried to do it in video but my video editing skills aren't quite up to the task. Also I belived other people would be aware of this fact and that more people would eventually be made aware of this. But still in 2018 I see most don't seem to know this at all.

 

So here we go, but not without a disclaimer first. This makes use of thrustmaster calibration tools. You can only get this tools offitialy if thrustmaster suport sends them to you to help with some hardware problem. However you can get them right here on ED Foruns, in this thread: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=65901

The Disclaimer part is that I belive this tools work by flashing the firmware on your Joystick and Throttle respectively. And that may come at a risk, I don't know. I don't know how many times this can be done safely, will it always be safe. I just don't know. So if you decide to try this, you do it at your own risk and responsability.

 

So as to the trick it self and what does it intend to do:

 

As you know the warthog two throttle axis resister no input aft of the idle cutoff position. Making many people belive this is the end of the physical axis and that you cannot get any input aft of this point. Well this is actually not so. The #29 and #30 DXinputs that work in this region of movement are actually programeed into the firmware, they are not physical switches, anyone who has opened the WH throttle unit has probably noticed this, and they will infact remain funcional even after using this trick. The only diference is that you can actually get axis range through the whole range of of physical movement of the throttles.

 

What do you have to do to get it? Run the WH throttle calibration tool, and do everything it tells you to, right up to STEP #6, when it tells you to move your "Dual Throttle" to the idle position - DON'T. Keep them on the OFF position. Finish calibration and now you will have full use of your whole AXIS range of motion.

To restore default funtionality, just run the tool again and follow the instructions correctly this time around.

 

Now some of you may ask why would you need this. Well in some sims it will work very well out of the box. Falcon BMS is one of them, or an airliner sim where you have the reverse throttles engaged in such a way. Other than that comunity members like Debolestis https://www.shapeways.com/shops/debolestis are 3D printing custom parts to replace your throttles detent piece. Some of this parts can give you a smoth travel trough the entire physical range of the axis, usefull for WW2 birds, or to have a detent at the physical middle of travel (Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen, etc). The possibilities are great.

 

Anyway, just wanted to make people aware of this, what you do with it is up to you.

[Supmua]

This is pretty cool info. I’ve used the calibration tool even recently but never thought to do it this way. The center detention mod also sounds great for spacesims/mechwarriors. This makes me truly appreciate the flexibility of the TMW throttle. Together with Target software and the 50 button dx script it can pretty much handle any types of games and more.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hansangb]

Filed it away in case I need it! Thank you.

[Captain Orso]

I did this somewhat as described here, a while ago, and it was working perfectly. During calibration, instead of leaving both left and right levers at off on step 6, I advanced the left lever to IDLE, but left the right at OFF.

 

This gave me the full axis on the right lever, PLUS when pulled all the way back to OFF it activated button 29 :thumbup:

 

Now I've had to re-calibrate my throttle for unrelated reasons, and I can't get button 29 back. It simply wont activate.

 

I've tried advancing the right throttle just a little bit past OFF at step 6, but I have to advance pretty far that there is a large throw which is dead, before it activates button 29, and I need the full axis of the throttle to configure the Harrier throttle properly.

 

If anyone has an idea on how to fix this I would appreciate any help immensely.

[lxsapper]

I did this somewhat as described here, a while ago, and it was working perfectly. During calibration, instead of leaving both left and right levers at off on step 6, I advanced the left lever to IDLE, but left the right at OFF.

 

This gave me the full axis on the right lever, PLUS when pulled all the way back to OFF it activated button 29 :thumbup:

 

Now I've had to re-calibrate my throttle for unrelated reasons, and I can't get button 29 back. It simply wont activate.

 

I've tried advancing the right throttle just a little bit past OFF at step 6, but I have to advance pretty far that there is a large throw which is dead, before it activates button 29, and I need the full axis of the throttle to configure the Harrier throttle properly.

 

If anyone has an idea on how to fix this I would appreciate any help immensely.

 

Sorry don't really know what to tell you. I have my throttle always calibrated for full range now. I use it this way to keep functionality for other sims that can make use of it, and use saturation to keep the unwanted part of the throttle as a deadzone in sims like DCS.

Even though I keep it like this, buttons 29 and 30 have always worked for me.

I know this was a long time ago but I never revited this thread until now. So hopefully you got it figured out by now.

[Captain Orso]

Sorry don't really know what to tell you. I have my throttle always calibrated for full range now. I use it this way to keep functionality for other sims that can make use of it, and use saturation to keep the unwanted part of the throttle as a deadzone in sims like DCS.

Even though I keep it like this, buttons 29 and 30 have always worked for me.

I know this was a long time ago but I never revited this thread until now. So hopefully you got it figured out by now.

 

LOL hey thanks for replying.

 

I don't recall what I ultimately did exactly. I think I just played around with it until it kind of worked like I wanted it to more or less.

 

There are so many things that just don't fit right in general. The on-size-fits-all solution of TM basically means, either it fits only 1 or none properly.

 

After buying the AV-8B I needed the indent on the lower end of the throttle. Pushing over the upper end of the throttle to push Emergency Power i the P-51D I simply moved to a different switch -- I practically never use it anyway -- but now the P-51D thinks the throttle goes all the way to stop and not just indent, and I know if I configure it like that I lose buttons 29 and 30...

 

Anyway, I'm not really ready to delve into the issue again for the time being. I've got other, bugger issues. I need a hand brake for the Spitfire and an additional switch box, so I'm looking into building a switch box with a hall sensor which I'm planning on hooking up the a bicycle brake lever, which I will then somehow attach to my control stick... somehow. Anyway, I just need more switches, because I'm tired of DCS's non-solution of modifier-modifiers and modifier-switches and no way to know which are set and which not. Either I need an additional switch box or to write my own software to handle switches and display their status... *grrr*

 

This is one of the reasons I have done as little as possible with all this sh*t since back then. It gets my blood pressure up to 1000 over 800 for the frustration of dealing with ED's lazy-ass, incomplete non-solutions from way-back-when that everyone has to fix for them.

 

Just another example coming up right now is the VOIP they are putting together, when there is already Simple Radio Standalone, which they can at best copy in it's functionality. If SRS had chat-rooms for pre-mission start, which I'm 100% certain they could easily do, then there would be nothing for ED to do, but waste their time repeating what someone has already done, instead of doing things only they could do.

 

Okay, enough ranting at you. Sorry about that. DCS and ED just make me crazy these days.

[lxsapper]

I feel you #Captain Orso. I have often talked about how ED never implemented for exemple a proper way for us to set our afterburner range, so it matches our physical throttles. I don't think they ever even aknoledged the issue.

It appears such a straight forward thing. But maybe it's not so much as I previously thought.

I was thinking about it recently how they could add it as a special option, each module could have it, as each module seems to have a slightly diferent range, and you could just set your afterburner range in a percentage (preferably tenths of a percentage), that would be easy enough. Would be better if you could also put a small deadzone there, but i'd be happy with just that.

But I was thinking about it, and I think that maybe the afterburner range in DCS isn't tied to the axis range at all, but rather to the lever in the 3D pit itself. Of course the 3D lever is tied to the axis. But I think this implementation may complicate (obviously not make impossible) what aparently would be just a couple hours of programing (or less) to something much more complicated to which ED has never wanted to alocate resources to solve, even though it HAS been asked for many years.

[Captain Orso]

I have yet to fly an aircraft with afterburners, but the P-51D has WEP (WAR Emergency Power). I think throttles should work as close to how their aircraft worked, which could be problematic to program.

 

In the Real-World™ WEP is implemented as the very last inch of so of possible throttle movement, which is physically protected from entering accidentally with a break-wire blocking the movement of the throttle beyond the wire without using something like 5 lbs of force.

 

Now most throttles AFAIK do not have an indent like the TM Warthog, so ED set up a button-push to simulate having broken the wire. But how this exactly works, I have no idea, because the few times I've done this, I've never noticed any effect :huh:

 

But my throttle has an indent -- albeit a really crappy one, because a good indent would just be a light indicator and reminder that one is pushing over it, and not require having to actually lift the throttle-lever to overcome it. There are exceptions in the real-world too of which I've read, like having to push the throttle-lever slightly to the side to pass the indent.

 

But what ED would have to program would be two variable scales of movement. From the physical throttle's off to the indent would be the lower scale, and beyond the intent the upper. Each would have to be calibrated, because throttles differ, but it would not be magic, just some good old fashioned work to implement it.

 

But it's just another dangling thread of incomplete implementation; another proof that room for improvement is not only the biggest room in the world, but nearly engulfs all of ED.

[markturner1960]

First of I would like to apologize to the comunity because I have had this information for a very long time, a few years in fact. The reason why I didn't put this information out there sooner is because I tried to do it in video but my video editing skills aren't quite up to the task. Also I belived other people would be aware of this fact and that more people would eventually be made aware of this. But still in 2018 I see most don't seem to know this at all.

 

So here we go, but not without a disclaimer first. This makes use of thrustmaster calibration tools. You can only get this tools offitialy if thrustmaster suport sends them to you to help with some hardware problem. However you can get them right here on ED Foruns, in this thread: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=65901

The Disclaimer part is that I belive this tools work by flashing the firmware on your Joystick and Throttle respectively. And that may come at a risk, I don't know. I don't know how many times this can be done safely, will it always be safe. I just don't know. So if you decide to try this, you do it at your own risk and responsability.

 

So as to the trick it self and what does it intend to do:

 

As you know the warthog two throttle axis resister no input aft of the idle cutoff position. Making many people belive this is the end of the physical axis and that you cannot get any input aft of this point. Well this is actually not so. The #29 and #30 DXinputs that work in this region of movement are actually programeed into the firmware, they are not physical switches, anyone who has opened the WH throttle unit has probably noticed this, and they will infact remain funcional even after using this trick. The only diference is that you can actually get axis range through the whole range of of physical movement of the throttles.

 

What do you have to do to get it? Run the WH throttle calibration tool, and do everything it tells you to, right up to STEP #6, when it tells you to move your "Dual Throttle" to the idle position - DON'T. Keep them on the OFF position. Finish calibration and now you will have full use of your whole AXIS range of motion.

To restore default funtionality, just run the tool again and follow the instructions correctly this time around.

 

Now some of you may ask why would you need this. Well in some sims it will work very well out of the box. Falcon BMS is one of them, or an airliner sim where you have the reverse throttles engaged in such a way. Other than that comunity members like Debolestis https://www.shapeways.com/shops/debolestis are 3D printing custom parts to replace your throttles detent piece. Some of this parts can give you a smoth travel trough the entire physical range of the axis, usefull for WW2 birds, or to have a detent at the physical middle of travel (Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen, etc). The possibilities are great.

 

Anyway, just wanted to make people aware of this, what you do with it is up to you.

 

Hi ixsapper, thanks for this - can you advise on the correct settings within DCS for the curve once this has been done?