HOTAS Cougar - Sensitivity drives me insane since years...

[TheCabal]

Hello guys,

 

as the title stated…. I tried to find something about what to do and try -> with no luck.

 

I need a certain dead-zone on the center on Y & X axis. The sensitivity at the center is too strong.... I tried playing with the Curvature but no luck. My plane always jerks like a wild bull… trimming seems strangely hard too with the CTS profile.. it's like going up from 1.0 to 2.0 instead of smoothly 1.1, 1.2.

 

This issue kept me away for almost 5 years. Also:

 

The Axis graph.... I would need a X-bar which is 2 times bigger. It feels like DCS demands a longer stick config for precise controls.

 

I used the HOTAS config to put some curvature into it... hoping it will somehow multiply with DCS's Options (2nd curvature). Now I'm completely lost and short of giving up again. This jerkiness is a total horror.

 

What am I doing wrong? Please help me setting this damn thing up. Shall I reset all Settings (HOTAS config tool, DCS axis tunes?) What to do afterwards?

 

Greetings,

Cabal

[Rudel_chw]

... What am I doing wrong? ..

 

It's really hard to say, the Cougar has its own internal memory for storing user customizations of the Axis, so if you've tinkered with it a lot over the years it is kind of hard to visualize how your stick is currently behaving.

 

Can you make a screen capture of your Joystick Analyzer output? .. My Cougar is like this:

 

BA5POPUq5oU

 

Best regards

[TheCabal]

The Graphs look ok. It's always the same with DCS... everything is completely jerking around/oversensitive which destroys the fun. Pitching… is like hell.. trimming after every 10km/h... In other sims it feels very smoothly.

 

Anything else I can try out?

How can others fly DCS smoothly?

[Deano87]

I hate to say this but the Cougar is not a very good stick unless it’s heavily modified. The Warthog is muuuuuch better from the factory.

 

If sensitivity is the issue try curves on the axis in DCS, this helps a lot. I fly with 15-20 on most aircraft. When you say jumping around do you mean by itself? If you leave the stick alone does it jump? If you push very gently does it jump? I’d so it sounds like you have dirty or spiky Potts which are causing your problem. My recommendation would be to get the Hall sensor upgrade from Vipergear.

Edited February 1, 2019 by Deano87

[TheCabal]

It's oversensitive, this is what I mean by "jumping around". The SMALLEST Input is enough…. the center is too sensitive.

 

Regarding the Hall Sensors:

 

I have a small loose center-Play, how will the hall sensors help me excactly?

[Deano87]

It's oversensitive, this is what I mean by "jumping around". The SMALLEST Input is enough…. the center is too sensitive.

 

Regarding the Hall Sensors:

 

I have a small loose center-Play, how will the hall sensors help me excactly?

 

Ok first we shall try to help with the sensitivity. When assigning Axis in DCS you almost always have to use curves so that the controls aren't too sensitive around the centre. You do this buy clicking on the assignment in the control options (say Roll under Hotas Cougar stick) and then clicking "Axis Tune" at the bottom.

 

 

It should pop up like this:

 

 

You can see here we have various things to change. The two that will help you most are Deadzone and Curvature.

 

Deadzone is a area in the middle of the movement of your physical stick makes no changes in the sim. For sticks with centre-play you can set this to a small setting like 2 or 3, you should be able to see how your changes effect the live feedback graph view on the left.

 

The next one is Curvature. A positive curvature number (slider to the right) makes the control less sensitive around the centre. I usually fly with around 20 in most aircraft for most of the flight controls and it makes things much easier to fly. You can play with this setting to find something that works well for you.

 

Notice: you must change these settings for EACH axis of each control. So your changes to Roll make no difference to Pitch or Rudder. Each axis is adjusted individually, and also per aircraft. If you make a change on the F-18 It will only effect that aircraft and you have to make similar changes to other aircraft.

 

Any questions let me know.

[RazorbackNL]

Maybe there is another option that is gonna work for you. It did a lot of good to me.

I assume you are using Foxy for programming the Cougar?

In Foxy go the Download tab and enable the “Reset axes when downloading” option. This option gave me a completely different Cougar. I hope it works for you also.

Edited February 2, 2019 by Razorback[NL]

[TheCabal]

Thank you all for your help! I will try your propositions out!

[Deano87]

Thank you all for your help! I will try your propositions out!

 

Did any of the suggestions help?

[TheCabal]

Been kinda busy lately.. sorry for the late response. Flying the F-14 lets me think that the axis need to be multiplied by *2 so i can enjoy a smooth ride. Why can't I just lengthen the axis longer...

[Motomouse]

Probably the potentiometers are borked. Bad potiometers spike a lot (uncalled and uncontrollable movement of the plane is the consequence). I can use mine with a big deadzone but it is no fun. Not sure if I shoud upgrade to a warthog base or continue to use my gladiator mk2.