Thrustmaster Warthog and PMDG NGX

[pilotwannabe 6]

I am thinking about getting the Thrustmaster Warthog (actually interested only in the throttle, but they do not appear to sell it separately) and was looking for some information. The few people who use it and have posted here, use it with FSUIPC. Is it possible to configure the throttles to control the engines individually without using FSUIPC? Is the set up fairliy straightforward or quite cumbersome?Appreciate any advice / feedback.For those interested, the Warthog is available at Sears for less than $420 and free shipping - best deal I have seen on this.Thanks!Rushad Ed.

[ckeddf 4]

The throttles appear as DirectX sliders - you should have no problem assigning them through FSX. FSUIPC however is neat for getting the reversers to activate in the throttles "off" detent. Probably LINDA can take care of that stuff, too.

[M_Sauce 6]

I have the Warthog and I do not have FSUIPC. I don't use the Thrustmaster software, in my previous rig it gave me huge performance hit on FPS with FS2004. I haven't since tested it on my new rig with FSX.The joystick is great and extremely smooth. I mapped the buttons using the FSX native commands, and the throttles work great. I highly recommend this joystick if you fly lots of other aircraft as well as airliners. Flying 737 with a stick is OK, not the most realistic, but you don't really notice much difference. Flying a fighter with a yoke is downright ridiculous and feels really dumb and cumbersome. I also find developing things like Afcads very cumbersome with a yoke, so I got rid of my yoke and barely got any use out of it.There are some calibration tools available from the Thrustmaster forum, they are not bundled with the joystick software (at least they weren't when I bought the thing). I ran into a slight calibration issue with the thrust levers being slightly out of synch and these tools sorted that out for me.You will love how solid this thing feels. I will eventually get FSUIPC so I can map some of the toggle switches better, but it works fine without it.

[Buzz313th 0]

I'm gonna be getting the setup as soon as my X52 dies. JB

[pilotwannabe 6]

Thanks al,l for your replies.Mariano, do you have the links for the calibtation tools you mention? Thanks!Rushad Ed.

[M_Sauce 6]

Thanks al,l for your replies.Mariano, do you have the links for the calibtation tools you mention? Thanks!Rushad Ed.

Try this forum:http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=65901

[brian747 5]

Hi Mariano!I totally agree about the solidity and smoothness of the Warthog — without doubt the finest stick & throttle I have ever owned (and I've owned a few, over the years!).Just one suggestion: if you're using the 'hog with the NGX do yourself a favour and buy FSUIPC so that you can then use (Donationware) LINDA. Using LINDA you then have easy access to 466 named functions which address just about every control you might ever want to use on the NGX. The FSX native controls are fairly basic, by comparison, as well as being a very limited subset of what the NGX offers. As for TARGET, I have never looked at it, so I can't comment — other than to say that I certainly don't need it.The 'hog is bristling with controls, and LINDA allows you to make use of every single one of them! :( Cheers,Brian

Edited January 24, 2012 by brian747

[M_Sauce 6]

Hi Mariano!I totally agree about the solidity and smoothness of the Warthog — without doubt the finest stick & throttle I have ever owned (and I've owned a few, over the years!).Just one suggestion: if you're using the 'hog with the NGX do yourself a favour and buy FSUIPC so that you can then use (Donationware) LINDA. Using LINDA you then have easy access to 466 named functions which address just about every control you might ever want to use on the NGX. The FSX native controls are fairly basic, by comparison, as well as being a very limited subset of what the NGX offers. As for TARGET, I have never looked at it, so I can't comment — other than to say that I certainly don't need it.The 'hog is bristling with controls, and LINDA allows you to make use of every single one of them! :( Cheers,Brian

Hi BrianI have FSUIPC but I have not installed it yet. Right now I am using the basic FSX controls. When I had FS9 installed in my old rig I tried the TARGET software and it was a performance hog, so I haven't even installed it on my new rig seeing as FSX needs the resources.As far as LINDA, I've heard it mentioned briefly in the FSUIPC manuals. Is it required to program the controls, or can you just use FSUIPC to do that? What is LINDA exactly?Thanks for the info.

[brian747 5]

Hi Mariano!(With apologies to the OP, since we're starting to get a little OT where the 'hog is concerned....) :(

> As far as LINDA, I've heard it mentioned briefly in the FSUIPC manuals. Is it required to program the controls, or can you just use FSUIPC to do that? What is LINDA exactly?

Hmm, those questions aren't going to be easy to answer quickly, but I'll be as brief as I can.Let me answer the last one first: LINDA is a rather cool piece of software that allows you to very simply allocate buttons to the controls of various add-on aircraft (such as the NGX) since the basic vanilla-flavour FSX controls are almost invariably insufficient. A little while ago, Pete Dowson realised that FSUIPC was becoming a little daunting to use with some of the more advanced functions, so in version 4 he added the ability to use Lua scripting to be able to add more complex logic and tailoring. But Lua can be a little off-putting for non-programmers, so LINDA adds some clever code and a GUI interface to make it very easy to allocate your buttons using code that someone else has written (such as the interface to the 466 NGX functions that I mentioned above). LINDA leaves the allocation of axes entirely up to FSUIPC, but it can work with anything which to Windows looks like a Human Interface Device (except keyboards and mice), which means almost all joysticks and throttles, although it also specialises in supporting the VRinsight MCP Combo devices. Another virtue of LINDA is that it contains special tracing abilities to allow users to investigate a newly-produced aircraft, so that they can produce the relevant Lua module for others to use.LINDA even adds a Shift function, which effectively doubles the number of controls you have available! :biggrin:So it is a tool with several talents, but the one which will most interest you most at present is that you can install LINDA, install the relevant aircraft module (modules exist for many aircraft, including the PMDG NGX, MD-11, JS41, and 744X - see http://forum.avsim.n...inda-downloads/ ) and you can then quickly allocate NGX functions to your 'hog. (You can allocate the basic FSX functions too, just as easily).For example, here's part of the LINDA assignment screens, mostly relating to my Warthog throttle levers:(The apparent gaps in the above allocation sequence are in fact filled because I allocate EZCA views to those controls, in case you were wondering). :wink:The numbers down the left-hand side are the button numbers as seen by Windows (they are also the numbers used in the illustrations in your Warthog handbook, incidentally). Against each one you can allocate up to three actions: on initial press of the button, on repeat (button held down), and on button release, and the names you see in each category are either NGX functions or FSX functions or, of course, additional functions that you yourself can write in Lua once you get the hang of it (NGX Cockpit Prepare is an example). And your new functions can call existing functions, of course..... But to find out more, do visit http://forum.avsim.n...lcome-to-linda/So that's LINDA, in a nutshell. The answers to your other questions are now fairly obvious: it isn't *required* to program the controls, since you can also do that in fsx or in FSUIPC (or all of them, if you really insist), but it enables you to leverage the hard work done by others to reach into the developer's code in order to utilise almost any aspect of your add-on aircraft that you wish to use — which the basic FSX functions will never do, clearly. The advantage over using FSUIPC alone is that you can access those ready-written functions with ease, as the screenshot above illustrates — although, of course, you do need the licensed version of FSUIPC, since LINDA relies on the Lua interface which that provides. B)I hope that gives you a preliminary picture of LINDA: if you have more questions, may I suggest that the LINDA forum is probably the best place to raise them (both the URLs above get you to some part of it).Cheers,Brian

[CMIBM 0]

As I fly 737NGX and Flaminf Cliffs2, I have looked at "the Hog". Am I right when I understand that buying this, you also need pedals as a separate unit?RegardsCarl Michael

[Alec 370]

Let me ask a question to Warthog users. When I disable FS Control, and use FSUIPC exclusively, my controls seem to be low resolution inside FS, the yoke moves not in a smooth way, same with the flight surfaces I think. Is that something that also happens to you?

[M_Sauce 6]

Thnaks Brian, very informative. Will add their forum to my reading list which grows every day. :(

[Rocky_53 1,579]

As I fly 737NGX and Flaminf Cliffs2, I have looked at "the Hog". Am I right when I understand that buying this, you also need pedals as a separate unit?RegardsCarl Michael

Sure Carl, the Hog doesn't have a twist grip like some of the less esoteric models. If you want to use the rudder then you will have to lay your hands on some pedals. I have partnerd my Hog up with the Saitek combat pedals, and so far I have been very pleased. Don't forget though, if you fly the NGX, then you can simply allocate autoruder in the FSX CP. I know it's not very realistic when flying GA but for the big birds I think it's OK.

[CMIBM 0]

Thanks Howard,There is a small fortune there - both the Hog AND pedals...........Anyhow, I need the rudder function when flying the Hog (A10), so I think I will keep my Saitek X52 for a while yet.RegardsCarl Michael

[gmohr 0]

When you do get around to picking up a hog, you *will* be impressed.Regards,George