Howto Does anybody know ?

[patrico 8]

Does anybody know on the Saitek xt2 Hotas what the  2 hat switches  on the throttle control are and also the slider ? for and how to set them up for jet flying

[jaydor 345]

You should be able to assign what you want them to do in setting controls. Chose buttons;  Is there a rocker switch on the back of the throttle grip

 

You should be able to assign that to Rudder (I think)?

[patrico 8]

Hi James,

You are refrying to the Saitek Pro Yoke and throttle quadrat, I am talking about the X52 Hotas

[jaydor 345]

Sorry wrong Hotus, but you still should be able to find a wheel button that may do the job?  On the throttle controller.

[allardjd 1,853]

Patrico,

 

There are essentially two kinds of controls that FSX recognizes, switches and axes. 

 

A switch is simply an on-off device and even though a hat switch may seem to be something else, it's just two switches on the same button. 

 

Axes allow you to move a controller along an "axis" and set something to some intermediate position.  Typical examples are the stick on a joystick, the twist on a joystick, a throttle control, rudder pedals, etc. 

 

The twist grip joystick really controls three axes with a single stick - fore & aft, left & right deflection and left and right twist.  The throttle lever is another axis type controller.

 

Ideally rudder should be assigned to an axis, not a switch.  To fly properly you do not want to have a rudder which must be either centered or fully deflected.  Like a throttle or the pitch and roll control, you need to be able to apply just enough, not all or nothing. 

 

I understand you have dexterity issues and pedals are not a viable option, but you should consider some kind of axis controller if at all possible.   The usual alternative to rudder pedals is a twist grip joystick, though I find them to be an extremely difficult way to operate the rudder properly.

 

As a possible Plan B for you, perhaps it might be possible to assign a pair of buttons (keyboard or on another controller) to the rudder trim function and use one to drive the rudder to the right and the other to drive it to the left.  The beauty of that is that the rudder will more or less remain where you set it AT ANY GIVEN AIRSPEED.  As with any trim function, you're "flying" the control surface with the aircraft slipstream, so changing airspeed will affect the deflection of that control surface.

 

John

 

EDIT: I should explain that flaps may sometimes seem to be an exception to the above, but they really are not.  They are usually controlled by pair of switches and can be set incrementally along their span of travel by momentary switch actuations.  One switch (or button) will deploy them one increment from their current position and another will retract them one increment from their current position.  Flap controls are not typically an axis, though at first glance they may seem to be.

 

Trim controls work similarly to flap controls in that they are controlled by a pair of switches, not an axis controller, but do not have fixed increments of travel.  Unlike flaps, trim can be set anywhere along its span of travel.  FSX recognizes and supports rudder trim functions via a pair of switches.

 

JDA

[patrico 8]

Hi John,

Thanks for that great lesson. Perhaps I should explain I fly PMDG aircraft exclusively and would normally only ever use ruder on 2 occasion 1. for taxi use 2.during take off roll to keep the plane on the centre line of the runaway

But I still need advice on what the slider and the 2 hat switches on the throttle control of the Saitek X52 do.

I just came across on this forum an article written by you in 2011 on flight planning. Is their any chance you could update it to include the PMDG Aircraft, FS Build, exporting a flight plan etc.

[jaydor 345]

Patrick have a look at this

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Thrustmaster-T-flight-Hotas-X-PC-and-PS3-Joystick-/221293395099?pt=UK_Controllers_Attachments&hash=item33861d3c9b

 

The throttle part has a rocker switch on the hand throttle that looks like it can be used for rudder?

 

Check out the Thrustmaster site or ask UKJim as he has just got one.

 

http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2012/07/cyborg-fly-5-vs-thrustmaster-t-flight-hotas/tflighthotasx-1-1280x1024.jpg

[UKJim 502]

I did not get one after all - I opted for the Logitech 

 

But... the thrustmaster was a close second and it has some good features. 

[jaydor 345]

Thank you Jim,  Patrick this is why I say the hotus above on ebay may be the one you need.

 

check this out, what it says is the throttle hand grip rocker can be used for rudder control

 

http://www.flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=13269

 

 

[stu7708 244]

Hello Patrik.

 

I seem to recall you saying elsewhere that you also have one or two Saitek Throttle quadrants in your setup.

 

If you do, and have an axis on one of those not currently in use it should be able to use that as a make shift rudder control for the purpose you are after...

 

Just map that axis to the rudders in FSX and make the fully forward position be the equivalent of rudder fully deflected left and the full back position be rudder fully deflected right, or the other way around if that is more to your liking..  the only slight issue that solution might have is to find the exact center position again.

 

EDIT: Scratch that idea.. after reading the topic at hand I think it's safe to assume that you don't have a throttle quadrant...

 

However, after looking at the specs for the X52 the slider on the throttle could work too if you don't want to use the twist function on the joystick... that's most likely an axis rather than a pair of buttons..

 

Do you use the native FSX controller settings or FSUIPC to assign the controller settings??

 

 

[stu7708 244]

As for the hat switches it's hard to tell without having one to experiment with.

 

On my Logitech G940 controller there's two different types of hat switches. One type basically acts like 8 buttons (one for each direction N, NE, E and so on) and the other is of an analog type ideal for panning your point of view, but sadly more or less useless for other tasks since it's difficult to map it to any function in FSX...

[patrico 8]

Hi guys first of all thanks to everyone for your valuable advice and information. On my SAITEK X52, I have a twist rudder on my joystick which suffices (now that I have  learnt how to use it) its the slider and the two hat switches on the throttle I needed  to know about, I was hoping that there might be  some Saitek X52 users on this site to give me advice, I am afraid, I cannot justify any  more expense on hardware as I have already given away my Saitek Pro Rudder pedals and will shortly  be giving away for free my Saitek Pro Yoke and Throttle Quadrant

[allardjd 1,853]

The hat switches are probably meant to control the outside view and/or manipulating a cursor on an MFD or something like that. The most likely thing for the slider is throttle. Having said that, FSX provides the capability to assign switches and axes to whatever function you wish. You are not locked into any particular setup.

I mis-spoke above about hat switches, saying they are two switches on one button. In fact, they can be as many as four switches on one button, and operated on the diagonals they are able to actuate two switches at once. Rockers are two switches on one control.

As for centering of the rudder if using a lever type control, FSX provides a software slider for "null zone" for exactly that reason. Set it fairly high and there will be a generous dead area in the center where the rudder will be centered.

John

[patrico 8]

Thanks for that John, any news about thee possible update to your article written in 2011 on Flight Planning 

[allardjd 1,853]

...any chance you could update it to include the PMDG Aircraft, FS Build, exporting a flight plan etc.          

 

 

Patrico,

 

I'll have a look at the original article but am not a tube-o-chairs flier and don't own any PMDG aircraft or FSBuild.  Will look into the latter but will have to learn something before attempting to write something about it.

 

John

[patrico 8]

 

...any chance you could update it to include the PMDG Aircraft, FS Build, exporting a flight plan etc.          

 

 

Patrico,

 

I'll have a look at the original article but am not a tube-o-chairs flier and don't own any PMDG aircraft or FSBuild.  Will look into the latter but will have to learn something before attempting to write something about it.

 

John

 

 

curious what is a tube-o--chairs flier ?

 

[allardjd 1,853]

curious what is a tube-o--chairs flier ?

 

 

Someone who flies airliners...

 

John

[brett 2,316]

Tube full of chairs, pretty funny.

[adrians69 159]

Hi guys first of all thanks to everyone for your valuable advice and information. On my SAITEK X52, I have a twist rudder on my joystick which suffices (now that I have  learnt how to use it) its the slider and the two hat switches on the throttle I needed  to know about, I was hoping that there might be  some Saitek X52 users on this site to give me advice, I am afraid, I cannot justify any  more expense on hardware as I have already given away my Saitek Pro Rudder pedals and will shortly  be giving away for free my Saitek Pro Yoke and Throttle Quadrant

 

Hi Patrick, I have an X52 Pro HOTAS and I use the slider for speedbrakes on all aircraft including the PMDG. The black hat switch I use for elevator trim and the other silver one I don't use at all as I have Track IR which means I need no view control. These can be assigned through FSX controller setup. The slider can be set in the Axes section and the hat switches can be setup as buttons in the button section. Keystrokes can also be assigned to these separately in the Smart Technology profile editor that was installed when you first set up your HOTAS.

 

Hope that helps.