Which XBox controller to help supplement my Warthog HOTAS for DCS

[Ramstein]

I have a Microsoft XBox controller (wired) and am thinking about getting a new one (old one is worn), to help supplement my Warthog HOTAS. Which model is decent? I want to keep model that is high quality and not a cheap knockoff. But is not expensive. And important, all of the buttons will program with the aircraft controls. Thanx.

[McGraw]

2 hours ago, Ramstein said:

I have a Microsoft XBox controller (wired) and am thinking about getting a new one (old one is worn), to help supplement my Warthog HOTAS. Which model is decent? I want to keep model that is high quality and not a cheap knockoff. But is not expensive. And important, all of the buttons will program with the aircraft controls. Thanx.

Just get the cheapest official wireless x/s one you can find. Some colours are cheaper. It has USB C, feels nicer than the previous one and you can run it wireless or wired

Edited June 24, 2023 by McGraw

[Blazkovitch]

For TEDAC or in general? For TEDAC make sure that triggers are treated as buttons or on split axis which can be mapped by Joystick Gremlin. Otherwise you won't be able to simultanously lase and fire. I'm using 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth with beta firrmware that allows me to switch from XInput to DInput. It's pretty good, uses hall sensors and is somewhat programmable with a desktop application. 

[SharpeXB]

I’ve tried a few console style controllers but the ones with extra buttons don’t allow these to be mapped as actual extra buttons, they’re just repeaters for the standard ones. I guess console games obviously don’t have more commands. I’m curious if the Xbox Elite series allows those bottom paddles to be custom mapped on PC where DCS will recognize them. Anyone tried that?

[Floyd1212]

I wish someone would make a controller "caddy" or "frame" that a standard controller would snap into, and provide more buttons and hats off to the sides and in the space between the grips.  Something 3D printed with a Leo Bodnar wired USB interface would work.  Sell it as a kit with the switches and let the user buy the LB interface and solder the thing together.

I modified my controller to add 8 additional buttons on the front, and rewired the 4 paddle switches on the bottom (the ones that normally just allow you to remap other buttons to them) and buried a LB board inside the controller.  It wasn't that hard, but I would have dropped $50 for a well designed kit instead.

Anyone?

(If no one has taken the idea and run with it, I'll look into it when I get my hands on a printer some day.)

[SharpeXB]

It seems nobody makes a dedicated PC version of a gamepad where every button is assignable. Logitech doesn’t seem to make then anymore and those were kinda cheap feeling. (But apparently good enough to control a submersible ) They’re all designed for consoles where having extra buttons isn’t really possible or needed. Again I wonder what those extra paddles on the Xbox Elite do and if they’re mappable in DCS. 
I got this working but honestly it’s way too expensive for what it does. 

https://www.razer.com/console-controllers/razer-wolverine-v2-pro

[UncleStains]

This software, reWASD, allows you to use the extra paddles on the back of the Xbox Elite controller. You can also set up the triggers to work in stages.