AutoHotkey

[iantron]

I don't know if anyone is interested but I recently wrote an AutoHotkey script to increase the functionality of my joystick 8-way hat switches. Each now has 12 buttons instead of 8. I'd be happy to provide the script to anyone that's interested, although it may take some tweaking for each user.

 

The buttons are:

-up-left

-up

-up-right

-right-up

-right

-right-down

etc...

 

The difference is that up-right and right-up have become different buttons. It only works properly if you actuate the physical hat positions in the listed order (you can't, currently, just go directly to the diagonal positions, my joysticks can't even do that, i could probably change that...). I have also set it up to make some buttons be held down until released and some press only once (whether you hold it down or not).

 

The script allowed me to almost identically match the real life setup of cyclic and collective buttons on two joysticks with a small number of built in buttons.

[Frederf]

That's really nice! The trouble with the diagonal positions on the joystick hats was always that hitting it exactly and not one before the other was next to impossible so it was only good for views or other slew type commands.

[Feuerfalke]

Why 12?

 

With a 4-way-hat, you have up, down, left, right, the 90° positions.

With a 8-way-hat, it's additionally the 45° directions.

 

Combining both, you'd press Up and Up-Left, giving up-up-left-combination, right? Wouldn't that make 16 positions in total? Am I missing something? :huh:

[Boulund]

I think that idahlke is saying that his hat-switch can only go to the 45° directions after going to left, right, up or down. I also think that idahlke's script recognizes up-left as a command and left-up as well, giving 2 commands per 45° direction. This sums up to 4x2 (45° directions) + 4 (90° directions) = 12 commands.

This is how my hat-switch on my Logitech joystick works as well.

[Boberro]

Autohotkey is powerful tool. I thought about auto-trim to Ka-50 :D. I did script but I don't think it was too good - was only for Keyboard. Didn't do it for joy yet.

[JDski]

In the game itself you can assign modifiers. So in combination to what ever modifier you use, you can almost have an unlimited amount of commands for your hat if you wanted to go that route.

I did however do something very simular to what you did here though long ago with Warbirds online because I only had a 4 way hat then and wanted corner views. I think I wound up with 16 views out of a 4 way hat with help of only one modifier button.

It worked out pretty good.

[Frederf]

Why 12?

 

With a 4-way-hat, you have up, down, left, right, the 90° positions.

With a 8-way-hat, it's additionally the 45° directions.

 

Combining both, you'd press Up and Up-Left, giving up-up-left-combination, right? Wouldn't that make 16 positions in total? Am I missing something? :huh:

 

Up then right

Up then left

 

Right then up

Right then down

 

Down then right

Down then left

 

Left then up

Left then down

 

Up then center

Right then center

Down then center

Left then center

 

12