solved HOTAS setup

[Boomer74]

I've looked for an answer, but can't seem to find one.

I just got into flying helicopters. I've been flying the F-18 exclusively for about a year. I'm running WinWing HOTAS stick and throttle. My question is this:

When I fly the helo, I have to keep constant forward pressure on the stick (cyclic). The WinWing stick has a return to center feature. I know in helicopters, the cyclic does not do this. So, is there a setting that I can tweak, or something I need to push to keep from having to keep constant pressure on the cyclic? It gets pretty tiring after about five minutes, and takes all the fun out of it. I know it's possible, as I've seen plenty of YouTube videos of people flying helicopters with this stick, but no one explains how to set up a "jet stick" to fly helicopters.

Thanks for the help.

[Hiob]

You need to bind two buttons that are in every chopper module. Trim and Trim reset.*

When pressed, the virtual stick will keep its position and you can put your physical stick back to center.

It requires a little re-wiring of your brain when you only flew fixed wing so far, but you will  used to it.

There are different flavors (set in the special options tab), like instant trim or „return to center“ (with the latter, the stick will only register inputs after you centered it after trimming). You need to try, which one suits you.

I used „central position trimmer mode“ before I got a FFB stick. 

To keep track of where your cyclic position actual is at any given time it could be helpful to have the controls overlay showing.

 

(*do not confuse with pitch and roll trim that are present in some helicopters as well)

Edited June 6, 2024 by Hiob

[Boomer74]

Thanks for the quick response. I'll give this a try.

[Hiob]

1 minute ago, Boomer74 said:

Thanks for the quick response. I'll give this a try.

You‘re welcome.

Helicopter flying is fun and very, very rewarding once it clicked. Some choppers are a bit easier to fly than others, but once you get the hang of it - all are fun.

For helicopters you‘re needs in hotas setup differ a bit from fixed wing. If possible, you want a long stick with very light springs. It makes the minute control inputs so much easier. You are probably stuck with what you have right now, but keep that in mind if you consider upgrading at some point.

[Yurgon]

46 minutes ago, Hiob said:

You need to bind two buttons that are in every chopper module. Trim and Trim reset.*

Great advice!

However, I never understood the Trim Reset thing. It's purely a DCS feature and has no counterpart in real helicopters. By the time a player has mis-trimmed a helicopter so much as to spin out of control, resetting trim to center is probably going to do as much harm as good.

If it helps players, great! Personally, I've never mapped it and after the first couple of hours in my first DCS chopper (the Ka-50) I didn't feel I needed any trim reset.

Trim, in the other hand, couldn't live without it.

[Hiob]

30 minutes ago, Yurgon said:

Great advice!

However, I never understood the Trim Reset thing. It's purely a DCS feature and has no counterpart in real helicopters. By the time a player has mis-trimmed a helicopter so much as to spin out of control, resetting trim to center is probably going to do as much harm as good.

If it helps players, great! Personally, I've never mapped it and after the first couple of hours in my first DCS chopper (the Ka-50) I didn't feel I needed any trim reset.

Trim, in the other hand, couldn't live without it.

You're right. It's much better to trim your way back to the hover position or neutral position. I have it mapped, but usually only use it on the ground when fiddling around. Airborne it can lead to an "undesired" barrel roll or worse.....

[Boomer74]

That did 't seem to work. I still have to maintain forward pressure on the stick the entire time. If I relax the stick, my nose pitches up and I start going backwards

[Yurgon]

2 hours ago, Boomer74 said:

I still have to maintain forward pressure on the stick the entire time.

Check Options -> Gameplay -> Force Feedback and make sure it's off. With the OH-58D this setting can cause the trim to not work when a non-FFB stick is connected. The devs are aware, but I'm not sure if this is something Polychop can fix or if ED needs to do it. Anyway, as soon as you untick that checkbox, it should finally work.

Please keep us updated and let us know if it works.

[Hiob]

19 hours ago, Yurgon said:

Check Options -> Gameplay -> Force Feedback and make sure it's off. With the OH-58D this setting can cause the trim to not work when a non-FFB stick is connected. The devs are aware, but I'm not sure if this is something Polychop can fix or if ED needs to do it. Anyway, as soon as you untick that checkbox, it should finally work.

Please keep us updated and let us know if it works.

I think, he is flying the Huey, isn’t he?

Maybe you bound the wrong trim button? In the Huey it is called „Pilot Trimmer“.

[Yurgon]

1 hour ago, Hiob said:

I think, he is flying the Huey, isn’t he?

Ooops, I got lost in the weeds here.

Yeah, the FFB-checkbox shouldn't have a negative impact for the UH-1H.

A track might be of help in order to figure this out.

[Boomer74]

Thanks all. Yes, it was the Force Feedback box. Once I unchecked it, it made trimming and flying much easier!

[jackd]

Stupid question, Options, Gameplay:

There's no force feedback box with the latest dec 12 2024 update, only at the low right corner it has  presets, and then no force from mission, use mine. is that it?

[AdrianL]

9 minutes ago, jackd said:

There's no force feedback box

Look under the MISC. tab. 
 

Edited December 12, 2024 by AdrianL

[jackd]

ah, thanks, it was on, now off.

Mi-8 chopper: still i can't get this collector thing right for my warthog throttle axis.

Slider on it is engine power, set to full. Got a axis button doubling my yaw (pedals).

the actual throttle id the Flight Control Collective, but it also control;s yaw too, cannot figure out why ....

 

 

[firefox121]

En 12/12/2024 a las 20:39, jackd dijo:

ah, thanks, it was on, now off.

Mi-8 chopper: still i can't get this collector thing right for my warthog throttle axis.

Slider on it is engine power, set to full. Got a axis button doubling my yaw (pedals).

the actual throttle id the Flight Control Collective, but it also control;s yaw too, cannot figure out why ....

 

 

You have at yaw config assigned  two different devices, delete the joy_x binnd from the hotas, this may be making double inputs

[jackd]

Yep, thanks. Did that on purpose. Works OK with other planes. I have this warthog throttle hardware mod on it, works fine, https://deltasimelectronics.com/