Giving up on the Huey till its patched

[whartsell]

It's not cheap but checkout Komodo

[howie87]

That's interesting. Do you find it has any resistance/friction either getting it out of the deadzone or anywhere else, or is it very smooth and precise in all directions?

 

Exactly what Flamin squirrel said, just deadzone when changing the direction of the yoke from one way to the other. I've not noticed it on the rudder or elevators, just the ailerons. Probably a Cessna thing but wouldn't know as I've never flown anything else. Can make it tricky to make small, precise adjustments though.

 

My local flying school has PA-28's for hire as well so I might give them a try. Also has a PA-34 and Cessna 182 but they're a bit out of my price range!

[Flamin_Squirrel]

The warrior 2 I fly occasional is nice. Can't compare it to the 152 for you as I've not flown one though. Probably not worth the extra cost while you're training mind.

[doveman]

It's not cheap but checkout Komodo

 

Interesting but the lack of hats is a bit disappointing and makes it a bit unsuitable to use with some of our DCS aircraft. Not that I could afford it anyway ;)

[Flamin_Squirrel]

Interesting but the lack of hats is a bit disappointing and makes it a bit unsuitable to use with some of our DCS aircraft. Not that I could afford it anyway ;)

 

A hat isn't essential for a heli. Unless you're using it view control. In which case you should immediately buy a track ir!

[Yurgon]

A hat isn't essential for a heli.

 

I guess that's what they said about fighter sticks until someone came up with the HOTAS idea. :lol:

 

Translated to helis, that should probably be called HOCAC. And since I've never flown Black Shark or the Huey without such a setup, I just can't imagine how real pilots can fly and operate these things if they have to take their hands off the primary flight controls for all kinds of tasks.

 

(Okay, I can. The Huey is a two-seater and the Shark can fly itself. Anyways, more Hands-On-Cyclic-And-Collective sure wouldn't hurt :music_whistling:).

 

Unless you're using it view control. In which case you should immediately buy a track ir!

 

That I agree with. :)

[b00ce]

You don't need to be constantly adjusting the collective to fly. ;)

[howie87]

The warrior 2 I fly occasional is nice. Can't compare it to the 152 for you as I've not flown one though. Probably not worth the extra cost while you're training mind.

 

Yeah, my club has a warrior 2 and an archer 2. Think I'm gonna stick to the cheaper option though!

[doveman]

Doh! :megalol:

 

Anyway, yes, smooth and precise. This is something that makes many (even high end sticks like the warthog) unrealistic; aircraft controls simply don't snap back to a defined central point. Control forces are light in the centre, making small control inputs from one direction to another easy.

 

I think I've concluded that it's better to use an Xbox360 controller to fly with than my Thrustmaster Hotas X :huh:

 

The problem is, with a real stick you'd be making lots of small movements around the centre to balance the aircraft, whereas this doesn't seem possible with the Hotas X, partly because you have to move it a bit out of the deadzone, partly because it's a bit sticky and too spring-loaded.

 

With the Xbox360 "stick", I can make very small and precise movements to balance the aircraft and it also seems easier to use the triggers for rudder than using either the rocker or twist rudder on the Hotas X, giving me much more control and precision. Having a very small radius, I have to be careful not to push the stick too far, thus oversteering and have currently set a curve of 20, a Y translation of 50 and a deadzone of 5 but I've only tried it a couple of time so this might not be even close to ideal. It might be that this stick is too small to work well for both small, precise movements and larger adjustments but for the former it's much better than the Hotas X.

 

I found the same in ArmA2 and 3 recently, where it's a lot better to use my mouse as it gives me the ability to make the necessary small and precise movements to keep in control of the aircraft, which just can't be done with the Hotas X it seems. I still feel more comfortable using the Hotas X when in flight (not saying it's better, just that it's more comfortable to have both hands on the HOTAS) but for landing/take-offs the mouse is so much better.

 

The Xbox360 controller isn't ideal, as there's no analogue slider for Collective/Throttle so I still need to use the Hotas X for that. Using a HOTAS is also more comfortable and provides more easily-accessible buttons. The Xbox360 controller has a fair amount of buttons but they're not so easy to use without letting go of the sticks or triggers.

 

I was thinking the other day that a left/right slider that stays in place would be a good rudder control for those of us who can't afford/haven't got room for pedals (and I'm not sure if there are any that stay in place to simulate being trimmed without modding them to remove the springs anyway). Some sticks have a small slider at the base which is intended as a throttle control and it would probably be confusing anyway as they're orientated in a up/down direction, rather than left/right but that sort of thing would allow us to adjust the pedals quite precisely and leave it set, as if trimmed and we'd be able to clearly see where it's set.

 

I have no idea how other sticks compare to my Hotas X. Obviously they cost more and have more controls and stuff but I've been around enough to know that doesn't necessarily mean the actual stick is anything like a real one or gives the required control but then again, plenty of people are using various HOTAS sticks and not complaining so I guess some of them must be OK but I can't afford to be buying stuff to see if it's any good, so I guess I'll just have to transition to using the Xbox360 controller for now until I can find out if there's a decent stick I can afford.

 

All this time I thought I was just not getting it and it turns out it's my stick that's been trying to kill me :joystick:

[msalama]

A hat isn't essential for a heli.

 

The hell it isn't. Been using a hat for SKHVAL panning all these years - and ain't gonna change that even if you shot me down ;)

[Slazi]

I think I've concluded that it's better to use an Xbox360 controller to fly with than my Thrustmaster Hotas X :huh:

 

Curves!

 

Set up your deadzones as being really narrow, then setup the curves on on the extremes of the stick as strong and the inside as very weak. This is what I've done with my stick. I'm using the X52 pro, but the same idea should apply. Surely there are others with the Thrustmaster Hotas X who have some advice? There's no way you should be using an xbox controller.

[Nate--IRL--]

Curves!

 

Set up your deadzones as being really narrow, then setup the curves on on the extremes of the stick as strong and the inside as very weak. This is what I've done with my stick. I'm using the X52 pro, but the same idea should apply. Surely there are others with the Thrustmaster Hotas X who have some advice? There's no way you should be using an xbox controller.

 

Curves are a must. I use 7 deadzone and 30 curve in the UH-1 pitch and roll axis settings. It is unflayable at default linear curves.

 

Nate

[IonicRipper]

Curves are a must. I use 7 deadzone and 30 curve in the UH-1 pitch and roll axis settings. It is unflayable at default linear curves.

 

Nate

 

Might I ask what joystick you're using? Just out of curiosity.

[Nate--IRL--]

A cheap and cheerful Logitech 3d Force.

 

Nate

[doveman]

Curves!

 

Set up your deadzones as being really narrow, then setup the curves on on the extremes of the stick as strong and the inside as very weak. This is what I've done with my stick. I'm using the X52 pro, but the same idea should apply. Surely there are others with the Thrustmaster Hotas X who have some advice? There's no way you should be using an xbox controller.

 

I'm not sure what your advice translates to in actual curves but I was using something like 5 Deadzone and 25 Curve. I even played around with Saturation but it didn't seem like there was anything I could do to make the stick responsive enough, whereas in comparison the XBox360 sticks are ultra-sensitive and give much better control.

 

Not that it's comfortable to fly with an Xbox360 controller, so I haven't been doing much flying :(

[Weta43]

Curves are a must. I use 7 deadzone and 30 curve in the UH-1 pitch and roll axis settings. It is unflayable at default linear curves.

 

Nate

 

Not quite unflyable :)

I use no curves and no deadzone (across all modules) - and don't have any trouble at all :)

[cichlidfan]

Not quite unflyable :)

I use no curves and no deadzone (across all modules) - and don't have any trouble at all :)

 

I am inclined to agree, at least since I put a short extension on my Warthog. After I added the extension I removed all curves from DCS, and Rise of Flight fwiw. I did use curves before installing the extension (only 7.5 cm) but they really caused more problems than they solved.

[IonicRipper]

What kind of problems? I use to fly the Huey without curves but I decided to try with a curve of 10 and my hovering got much more stable.

Same thing for the A-10C, AAR got much easier after adding a curve of 10. Aiming as well for that manner.

Edited September 1, 2013 by IonicRipper

[cichlidfan]

What kind of problems? I use to fly the Huey without curves but I decided to try with a curve of 10 and my hovering got much more stable. Same thing for the A-10C, AAR got much easier after adding a curve of 10.

 

10 is fairly small, so the issue would not be as noticeable. With larger curves the non-linearity of movement depending on where on the curve you are bothered me. I haven't tried AAR since I got rid of the curves but hovering the Huey seems easier since the sweet spot isn't in the center and stick movement in any direction provides the exact same response.

 

Of course, everybody is different and add different sticks to the mix and YMMV. ;)

[msalama]

Regarding curves, IMO it really is a matter of preference and what kind of controllers you use. I used to go back and forth with my settings a lot, but have lately settled for curvature 15 / deadzone 1 for the stick and 15 / 5 for the pedals. I'd go 0 / 0 if my JS had a longer throw, but this T.Flight HOTAS stick is just too short for that.

 

So the only rule I've found so far regarding this is that there're no rules; you just have to do what works for YOU :)

 

PS. Oh, and I probably should add that I only fly choppers nowadays; what my fixed wing settings are ATM I can't even remember anymore...

Edited September 1, 2013 by msalama

[msalama]

Oh, and as an aside I just found out the hard way that even if the Huey VRS is toned down somewhat, it still can chew your rear end to pieces. Was flying OL half an hour ago, it was a pitch black night and I thought I'll do a fast combat-style landing just to impress myself; lowered the collective and pulled back and WHAM! Went into a unrecoverable VRS and crashed...

 

And I thought I can fly the bugger like nobody's business by now ;) :D

[Nate--IRL--]

I am inclined to agree, at least since I put a short extension on my Warthog. After I added the extension I removed all curves from DCS, and Rise of Flight fwiw. I did use curves before installing the extension (only 7.5 cm) but they really caused more problems than they solved.

 

I have to ask was this difficult to do? I'd really like to try something like this eventually. Do you have any issues with sensor resolution? I mean is the stick sensor capable of sensing tiny inputs smoothly?

 

Nate

[jay43]

Stick extension is the way to go I have one at 450mm and inputs are ever so smooth no curves or dead zones applied just default axis's.

[Harpoon]

What technology???

 

:megalol::megalol::megalol::megalol::megalol:

[cichlidfan]

I have to ask was this difficult to do? I'd really like to try something like this eventually. Do you have any issues with sensor resolution? I mean is the stick sensor capable of sensing tiny inputs smoothly?

 

Nate

 

In the case of the Warthog, yes it was easy. A gentleman in NZ makes the extension which makes that a no-brainer. The small inputs are picked up just fine as well.