New to A10C - hotas commands?

[dburne]

Hey gang,

 

I recently purchased A10C from Steam when they had it on sale. I have since downloaded and installed it directly from here, to get the latest version and be ready for DCS World.

 

I have been looking around the controls menu, have done a little in the training missions, now I am at the point I need to go ahead and build my own joystick profile for my Cougar, so I can really get into and start learning this sim.

 

I have found a pdf file of key commands for this sim, and ready to get started. I am feeling a little dumb right now I must say, there are several commands listed as HOTAS commands, and I am not really sure what they are so I don't have a good idea of what of these I need and where I might like to assign them on my stick and throttle.

 

I have browsed some through both the GUI manual, and the full manual, and maybe I did not look good enough but did not see a real explanation of what these items are.

 

For instance, there are:

HOTAS - CMS, TMS, DMS commands

HOTAS - Coolie switch commands

HOTAS - Boat switch commands

- China Hat commands

- Pinky switch commands

- slew commands

 

Is there a reference I can go to, that would give me a better understanding of what all of these actually do? I think if I had a better understanding it would really help me to develop a joystick file for this sim...

 

I would appreciate any tips or pointing me somewhere, thanks!

[cichlidfan]

The initial problem is that most of those switches do different things depending on what 'mode' you are in.

 

Pages 85-93 in the flight manual tells you what they do in each mode but then you will have to investigate HUD modes, for example. The answer is not exactly in one place I am afraid.

[Depth]

TMS, DMS and slew should be your first priority, as you'll be using these a lot. The others are perfectly workable with modifiers but once you play around a bit with those three and the boat switch and become familiar with them you can make a profile that suits you best

[Snaut]

You can start with the included Flight Manual - from page 85 on there's a detailed explanation with pictures of stick and throttle.

[Cypher]

Download this.

 

http://files.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/38315/

 

Print it out or if you have a tablet, put it on there and fly with it. It won't take long and you will know these like the back of your hand.

[dburne]

Many thanks gang, I must have missed it when perusing through the manual - I will study up on it.

And thanks for the link Cypher, I got it and will print it out to have handy!

[jiblet]

If you have a Cougar then CMS, DMS and TMS should be simple to setup as your stick is almost exactly the same as the actual A10 stick. The only thing your missing is the clickable CMS (CMS Z-axis).

 

Working from left to right across your stick hats they are CMS (H4 - farthest left hanging off the side of the stick). TMS - on the left side of the face of the stick - H2. Then DMS on the right side of the face of the stick - H3.

 

Your throttle has a thumb microstick right? That should be your slew.

The mic switch on the front of the cougar throttle I'd explore creating a modifier so that you can use that as both Coolie hat and Mic switch (when modifier is applied)

 

As for boat switch you could put that on your Dogfight switch as it has the same movement.

And china hat... I'm not sure where would be best to put that on a cougar throttle. I'd imagine someone around here must have made a usable profile for the Cougar, so you may be best starting with that and tweaking it as you find you need to.

 

 

Edit take a look at this example:

http://www.cavallersdelcel.cat/magatzem/comunitat/perfils/DCSWarthog_Viper.jpg

Edited May 14, 2012 by jiblet

[dburne]

Thanks for the great info Giblet!

 

Re: The microstick on the throttle, unfortunately I will not be able to assign the slew to it, the microswitch has apparently gone bad and I have it disabled. A few years ago when a guy was offering them, I ordered a couple of spare microswitches, if I can ever find them and figure out how hard it would be to replace I might give that a try.

If I did not have so much invested in this setup with the gimbal mod and hall sensors , I might consider upgrading to say the Warthog HOTAS.

 

Thanks again,

[jiblet]

If it helps I came from a background of 2 cougars (first throttle died and the stick got very wobbly) and went to a HOTAS Warthog and it's like night and day!

[dburne]

I am considering it - only thing is my setup is so dang smooth with the NXT gimbal mod and the hall sensors all the way around. But I am enticed by that new Warthog I will admit.

 

Thanks,

[dburne]

Well I must say after looking at it more and seeing a video, I am even more enticed.

I am still a little concerned , compared to the smoothness of my NXT modded Cougar, it may not feel as smooth - but I am sure it is pretty good.

 

Also my Elite pedals obviously would not work with the Warthog, as I would need usb pedals - what pedals are you using with yours?

 

Edit: Ok just read a good review by a guy that had the NXT gimbal modded Cougar, and he says the feel is even better which is hard to imagine. I am really getting tempted now.

Question - I notice the throttle does not have rotaries on it, like the Cougar throttle - now that I will miss - did you find that a big issue?

Edited May 14, 2012 by dburne

[WarriorX]

Well I must say after looking at it more and seeing a video, I am even more enticed.

I am still a little concerned , compared to the smoothness of my NXT modded Cougar, it may not feel as smooth - but I am sure it is pretty good.

 

Also my Elite pedals obviously would not work with the Warthog, as I would need usb pedals - what pedals are you using with yours?

 

Edit: Ok just read a good review by a guy that had the NXT gimbal modded Cougar, and he says the feel is even better which is hard to imagine. I am really getting tempted now.

Question - I notice the throttle does not have rotaries on it, like the Cougar throttle - now that I will miss - did you find that a big issue?

 

Hi d.burnette, I also had a NXT modded cougar with hall's and the transition to the Warthog is a pleasant one....nice and smooth.

 

Regarding your Elite Pedals, I had a set of Simped's paired with my Cougar via the serial port on the Cougar joystick base. When I got the Warthog, I wanted to keep the Simped's and try to incorporate them into the new hardware.

 

The only solution I could come up with is to disconnect the Cougar throttle cable from the Cougar joystick base. Then remove the Cougar joystick from the joystick base. Then the only thing left plugged in to the Cougar joystick base is the rudder pedals via the serial port. Then plug the usb cable into your PC.

 

Your Cougar joystick base will serve as an expensive serial to usb adapter that will incorporate your rudder pedals.

 

DCS Warthog will see the Thrustmaster Cougar in the controller column in options right next to the Thrustmaster Warthog listings. You can then configure your rudders.

[dburne]

Thanks for the feedback and the tip WarriorX !

I have pretty much decided to at least go with the Warthog, and maybe even some new pedals. Now to keep an eye out for sales...

 

Thanks,

[FBDon]

Our you could buy a ten dollar belkin serial to usb adapter and not tear apart your old stick.

[WarriorX]

Our you could buy a ten dollar belkin serial to usb adapter and not tear apart your old stick.

 

IIRC, that solution did not work.

 

And just to be clear, there is no "tearing apart" in that process, just unplugging one cable and removing the joystick handle...all of which it was designed to do, and can be reversed in 5 minutes.

[dburne]

Yes indeed, that would be an easy and very viable alternative to buying new usb rudder pedals. But then my old Elite's do not have toe brakes, and having them would be nice... trying to justify lol.

[dburne]

Allright I pulled the trigger on the Warthog, I figured now as good a time as any as I don't have a joystick profile made yet for the Cougar, might as well start out fresh with the Warthog and do it right.

 

Thanks again to everyone for the feedback, much appreciated!

[Wrecking Crew]

Nice move d.burnette!

 

Here is a link to a post about Cougar assignments for the A-10C. (I was just waiting to give it to you after you ordered a Warthog! :-) J/K! )

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3360395/DCS_A_10C_Warthog_Cougar_Joyst.html#Post3360395

 

You'd asked about the Warthog not having Range and Antenna knobs - you won't miss them in A-10C, but the WH system is definitely made to marry with the A-10 and not other aircraft...

 

 

You will be able to plug the WH into your system and take off. But if you have Track IR then you will want to re-map the Trim Hat to Trim instead of its default Views. I make a few other changes but those are just preferences that I like. I use the Stick's Paddle Switch as a Modifier so I can map extra functions to the WH.

 

Wrecking Crew

[jiblet]

might as well start out fresh with the Warthog and do it right

Better yet you wont even need one since DCS A10C will detect your fancy pants joystick and set (most) of the controls up for you. You just need to bind the trim hat to trim instead of view panning (assuming you have a TrackIR or substitute). You may want to make some other changes as you go so that you're reaching for the keyboard less and less.

 

IIRC, that solution did not work.

 

And just to be clear, there is no "tearing apart" in that process, just unplugging one cable and removing the joystick handle...all of which it was designed to do, and can be reversed in 5 minutes.

 

That's exactly how I had my old CH pedals connected with my warthog for the last 2 years.

Just last week I bought some saitek combat pedals (though I cant recommend them myself... I miss my CH ones!) and gave my CH ones away to a guy who is successfully using them through a £10 gameport -> usb converter.

 

You'd asked about the Warthog not having Range and Antenna knobs - you won't miss them in A-10C, but the WH system is definitely made to marry with the A-10 and not other aircraft...

 

Wrecking Crew is spot on. For the A10 you wont miss them one bit since you simply dont need their functionality. If you go back to Falcon (assuming you were playing that!) then you might want to have your old cougar throttle to hand (I still have mine on a shelf!) or you make do... The warthog does have one spare axis on the throttle that you could use as a range or ant elev... I use it as a view zoom in DCS though.

[dburne]

Wrecking Crew, jiblet,

 

Thanks so much for the great information!

Btw, I did not mention it earlier, but I also ordered the Saitech Combat Pedals as well this morning - I wanted to finally have toe brakes.

 

Great to know the stick will be basically plug and play for A10, I do enjoy getting into doing the profiles as well though, so I am sure I will eventually mod it a little. Course I am going to have to do new profiles for my current sims as well.

I do use Track IR5, so definitely will re-map the POV hat to trim.

Looking forward to trying this out here soon.

 

Thanks again for all the great info,

 

Btw - I am sure this is just going to be perfect for A10-C, and am really looking forward to learning this sim with my new setup. I do hope I like it as well for my other sims as well, namely Black Shark 2, IL2 CLoD, FSX. I guess if I do not I will always have my trusty ole NXT modded Cougar available to me.

Really looking forward to the new setup though.

Edited May 15, 2012 by dburne

[Wrecking Crew]

Those are the pedals I have, too. You will need to invert the toe brakes in the Options Axis assignments.

 

Check that link I gave you and see the other A-10C posts, too...

 

Have a blast!

 

WC

[dburne]

Those are the pedals I have, too. You will need to invert the toe brakes in the Options Axis assignments.

 

Check that link I gave you and see the other A-10C posts, too...

 

Have a blast!

 

WC

 

Thanks WC, will do -- and much appreciated!

[FreeFall]

Btw, I did not mention it earlier, but I also ordered the Saitech Combat Pedals as well this morning - I wanted to finally have toe brakes.

 

Some hints when it comes to Saitek Combat Rudder Pedals:

 

After installing them, first go to the A-10C controller settings and invert the axis of pedal toe brakes. This is a must procedure.

EDIT: Got sniped by Wrecking Crew...

 

After that you maybe could check that the pitch and roll are not mapped to pedals. Cannot remember which version of DCS A-10C I was running when I got the pedals, but anyway, I had to manually fix them (= un-map the pitch&roll from pedals). Maybe you won't face this situation at all, but just wanted tell you.

 

Also, I have noticed with my Saitek pedals that if I release the brakes "too quickly", they don't always go back to zero. You can clearly see that by activating the controls indicator of DCS A-10C (RCtrl + Enter). However, if I go to Windows Game Controllers and see the brake axis, they always seem to go back to zero. Even if I release the brakes very quickly.

 

So, especially with takeoff, I usually release the brakes rather gently.

[dburne]

Many thanks for the tips on the pedals FreeFall, I will certainly make note and make sure I do that.

[FreeFall]

Many thanks for the tips on the pedals FreeFall

 

You're welcome!

 

One more tip:

Using the TM HOTAS Warthog Joystick Pinky Paddle as an additional modifier is extremely handy. It gives you many "extra buttons".

 

For example, with Pinky Paddle + Throttle Mic Switch combinations I Zoom In/Out and reset Zoom. Also, with Pinky Paddle + Nose Down I reset the Trim. Just choose the buttons which you feel comfortable with. I also control the Labels On/Off and Active Pause with certain buttons using Pinky Paddle as an additional modifier.