Resolved Really struggling due to a lack of knowledge

[Expecting to Fly 147 2]

Hi there everyone, first of all I don't know what a tag is or why I might need it, however I am presuming it is the dot or star before a topic so that you know what sort of message it is and the status.  I place a full-stop in the topic tags box and will keep my fingers crossed.   I am new to flight simming and to forums (hence the tag issue already), I have to admit that I know very little about computers and certainly have yet to know where anything I download is (thank god for desktop icons) so what follows is going to be a real challenge I am sure and one of many but since I cannot physically fly anything (no directional control!!) .

 

The following problem has been a developing one started small but now a disaster. I have had a cyclic made and was just starting to fly the EC135 Air Ambulance (a friend who knows how to downloaded it) and everything (apart from the helo immediately shifting backwards and to the left) seemed to be working fine.   Within about an hour I then started to see the onscreen image of the cyclic twitch and jump (rather than move) very quickly to the left intermittently.  In virtual cockpit terms this was by about 6".  Occasionally this was to the right.  This was without any input from me.  As this happened the helicopter responded to what I was seeing the stick do if the injured person was dead before they were now.  This suggested to me that something else was trying to take control.  This got increasingly worse over a very short space of time and now (48 hours later) I have no left or right movement of the cyclic just occasional twitching and once off the ground the helicopter veers sharply over to the left all the time (yawing I think it is called) and then crashes.  

 

During this 48 hour period I went into the control settings and recalibrated, this made no difference.  I pulled all USB's out and re-plugged and still no difference.  I put my other Thrustmaster Warthog stick in (I have two so that one is permanently fixed to the cyclic) and tried to flying other aircraft from different airports (both FSX and downloads of London City and Exeter) experiencing exactly the same problem.  I have switched everything on and off over a 24 hour period - no difference and today I finally tried to fly just using the key board to rule out wiring, USB and hardware and still exactly the same problem.  I even plugged in my saitek yoke in to see if this would be different and chose a small fixed wing aircraft.  Whilst on the runway I noticed that the yoke start position on the screen was to the left (11 o'clock) it then started to twitch almost immediately and this got very quickly worse.  Ho hum!  I checked this starting position with nothing plugged in again for the cyclic in the C135 again and as soon as I plugged it in the stick on the screen moved to the left in an instant by about 3 inches in the virtual cockpit.  All other controls worked fine.  I now cannot flying anything, ho blinking hum!!

 

I believe there is some sort of software conflict.   I have FSX SE on my computer.  

 

I really hope someone has the patience to assist me and thank you in advance as I am expecting to fly this and other aircraft otherwise I have spent a lot of money on a rig that currently is a piece of art.

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

... a rig that currently is a piece of art.

 

Given your situation, that is a very creative term you used there.

 

I have no idea what the resolution to your problem is, but wanted to welcome you to the forums.

I'd suggest you try to give as much detail about your system/simulator/addons/..and especially about "The cyclic/stick you had made" as without those kind of details it is doubtful any of the techminded here will be able to address your problem...

 

Cheers

Coff.

[allardjd 1,853]

Paul,

 

Try a default fixed-wing aircraft with only one controller plugged in - as simple a setup as possible.  I suggest your Thrustmaster Warthog and the default C-172.  Use the twist-grip rotation (if any) for the rudder controls or set Autorudder on in the FSX setup.  Physically unplug ALL other controllers.  Be sure the "Mouse Yoke" is turned off in the FSX top-line menu.  Go to an outside spot view from the rear where you can see ailerons, rudder and elevators.  Calibrate the joystick and see if the AC controls behave properly or not.  Set the reality slider to easy.  Work with that and gradually get the reality slider set higher.  If all works begin to try different aircraft and different controllers.  Change only one thing at a time and then test.  Keep notes of changes and results, and keep us posted.

 

Avoid add-on aircraft (either payware or freeware), helicopters and non-commercially made controls until you get to the bottom of this.  Stick with the plain vanilla stuff - you're more likely to get good help if not using things like helicopters and home-made controllers - others will have limited knowledge or experience with that kind of thing and will be more reluctant to jump in if they are not familiar with what you are describing.

 

Do you have FSUIPC installed?  What version?  Does it show up under the Add-Ons bar of the FSX top-line menu.

 

Are you using any kind of add-on camera program, e.g. EZDOK or any other odd add-ons?

 

Tags are "keywords" you can add to your post so it will be easily found by anyone searching on one of those words.  "Controls" might be a good one for this thread, for instance, but it's not mandatory to use them. 

 

Welcome to MH.  This is a pretty friendly site with some very sharp people and I suspect that you'll have some good help getting to the bottom of this.

 

John

 

EDIT:  If you're using a USB hub, is it a powered one, i.e. does it have its own power plug?  If possible, don't use it in the above testing.  Plug any controllers you are using directly into ports on the computer.

 

JDA

[hlminx 301]

Hi Paul

Welcome to mutleys!

A little bit of twitching is common with contollers (I have one ultra sensitive throttle lever), but what you have is definitely excessive.

I agree with all of John's recommendations, and would like to suggest a few others, but a couple of important questions first:

1. John asked if you are using a paid version of FSUIPC -definitely need to know if you are or not

2. Do you have any saitek software installed - did you use the discs that came with the hardware/download the drivers? If you do, do you have profiles set up

3. How many controllers do you have and where are they plugged in? Do you unplug one and plug another in the same usb slot?

4. Are you running windows ? If so, what version?

Depending on what your responses are to Johns questions and those above, it sounds more like fsx (and possibly fsuipc) are getting muddled up with settings as you shouldn't put different controllers in the same usb ever as they will invariably react slightly differently... this is a big no no

The only other suggestion to add to John's list would be to delete all the controllers in Windows and then get Windows to re-discover them and their relative usb ports.

Keep us posted

[Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142]

Hi Paul!

 

And welcome to the Hangar!     

 

Just one more suggestion if I may.... Could you go through your control assignments within FSX (all of them, all tabs. all controllers) and triple-check that you don't have two different devices assigned to the same axis? I know it's a chore, but that is a frequent cause of unwanted mysterious axis movements from hell.    

 

Best of luck with fixing your problem,

 

Cheers,

 

bruce

a.k.a. brian747

 

[Andrew Godden 934]

Paul,

 

In addition to the other suggestions, it definitely sounds like you have a controller conflict somewhere in the FSX controllers set-up.  I have multiple controllers permanently set-up on my FS computer and I initially encountered a similar problem.

 

As, Steph eluded to, if you also unplugged controllers and didn't plug them back into the same USB port, it will definitely cause control problems.

 

To fault check / avoid conflicts, I systematically go through and clear ALL joystick assignments and then reassign the commands accordingly.

 

Cheers

Andrew

 

EDIT.  Oh, and Bruce got in ahead of me.  I must type slowly.

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

welcome to Mutley's Paul;
i can see the guys here already have you sorted out; I’m just here to say hello
and complain about the two girls above me changing their hair due every other day (can’t keep track girls )

[stu7708 244]

Hi Paul, and welcome to the forum.

 

Going by your nick-name I assume we met at cosford last weekend.. I'm the tall swede that you discussed your project with

 

I sure hope the fact that we hooked up Joe's controller to your laptop doesn't prove to be the culprit behind your issues

 

As far as your current issue you will hopefully have enough to find a solution based on what the other members have said so far, but if all else fails there is also the option of resetting the controller configuration completely by deleting the associated config file.

 

I think it's a file called controllers.cfg located somewhere in your user profile, but since I'm at work at the moment I can't verify that right now.. I'll take a peek on my sim-computer when I get back home tonight..

 

 

 

 

[Corsaire31 419]

File name is Standard.xml, it's located in c:/users/yourname/Appdata/Roaming/Microsoft/FSX/Controls.

 

I know it well because I swap it every time I switch from yoke to joystick controls following which plane I'm flying. ( if we are talking about the same file...) 

 

Edit : Appdata is a hidden folder, so you have to enable access in Windows first if not done already.

[stu7708 244]

Thanks Loic, saved me the trouble booting up my PC (and waking up the kid in the next room, something is doing it's best imitating the sound of a jet engine in it at the moment)

[Corsaire31 419]

Thanks Loic, saved me the trouble booting up my PC (and waking up the kid in the next room, something is doing it's best imitating the sound of a jet engine in it at the moment)

 

You're welcome...  I know what you mean, I had two of the little buggers... and now they know themselves what it's like ! 

[Expecting to Fly 147 2]

Thank you to everyone for your kind welcome and yes Stu778 we did meet at Cosford and apologies I have not responded sooner but been away from both the computer and simming.  With references to all the responses I have a huge smile on my face  this is undoubtedly the start of a wonderful relationship!  

 

Drum roll please whilst I inform you of the solution to the problem.......... the cyclic needed to be plugged into a powered USB unit.

[allardjd 1,853]

Great news that it was something cheap and simple - things don't always work out that way.

 

Don't be a stranger now that the problem is solved.  There are a lot of good things going on here.

 

John

[Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142]

<BIG grin>   I like the easy ones. (Mostly because they tend to be in a minority, unfortunately).   

 

Well done for getting it sorted, Paul.   

 

Great to see a new rotorhead in the Hangar, too. Now you can get some more practice at balancing the proverbial ball bearing on the proverbial sheet of ice!    

 

Cheers,

 

bruce

a.k.a. brian747

 

[brett 2,284]

Hi Paul, glad you found the problem and got it working, well done.

 

I am going to mark this post as resolved for you by editing your first post in the thread.

[needles 1,010]

Hey Paul,

Glad you made it to the forum. I also met you at the Mutley's stand at Cosford. Glad you got things sorted out. I knew the guys here could help you. You need to post a picture of your rig. Some of the guys will be in awe at what you have got together so far.

Good luck with the Air Ambulance project.

All the best

Brian.

[hlminx 301]

Glad that you got things sorted out.

Happy flying ☺

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Welcome to the forum Paul, glad you were able to sort out the problem, I think we have all had our share of glitches as we grew into this hobby, I know I have, but thankfully with help from the guys on here and an understanding PC engineer I seem to have a rrived at a working system! It still does it's own thing occasionally but I tend to find a way round it.