Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog Flightstick

[jfri 42]

Could you just cut a few inches off you table legs and lower everything?

 

gb.

 

No have non height adjusted desktop with metal legs

[KingGhidorah 209]

If you don't like the Warthog in front of your screen, but won't put it to the right side, or you won't buy some kind of stand or tray for it to make it lower, and you aren't willing to try your hand at building something, then I'm really not sure there is much more for people to suggest. I guess you have no choice but to send it back, buy something else, and take the chance that you'll like that better.

[jfri 42]

If you don't like the Warthog in front of your screen, but won't put it to the right side, or you won't buy some kind of stand or tray for it to make it lower, and you aren't willing to try your hand at building something, then I'm really not sure there is much more for people to suggest. I guess you have no choice but to send it back, buy something else, and take the chance that you'll like that better.

 

Another thing I could do is buy the CH Fighterstick without first sending back the Warthog. Then after testing both send back the one that suits me least. And if that would be the CH Fighterstick accept the the extra cost of shipping. If I choose to keep the Warthog I think I need to reconsider what first intended. Buy some stand or maybe try an extension and using it on my right side. Also I think I would really want to add the throttle quadrant as well. Since this mean significantly more money spent it might be worth trying the Fighterstick before spending more money on the Warthog solution.

Has anybody here used this stand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH3ozuqF010

[gboz 157]

Another thing I could do is buy the CH Fighterstick without first sending back the Warthog. Then after testing both send back the one that suits me least. And if that would be the CH Fighterstick accept the the extra cost of shipping. If I choose to keep the Warthog I think I need to reconsider what first intended. Buy some stand or maybe try an extension and using it on my right side. Also I think I would really want to add the throttle quadrant as well. Since this mean significantly more money spent it might be worth trying the Fighterstick before spending more money on the Warthog solution.

Has anybody here used this stand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH3ozuqF010

First, seems like overkill for just the JS.

Second, seems very poor positioning if using both JS and throttle.

Throttle should be down by your left side and JS at centre or right side.

Would a cheap laptop stand fit into your setup? Like...

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Beech-Mobile-Laptop-Desk-Adjustable-Notebook-iPad-PC-Stand-Table-Tray-Bed-Wheels/261658045107?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D29950%26meid%3Df619b47c479e4d08b48cd231a114ee07%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D310845841581&rt=nc

 

You could rotate the top 180 degrees and counterweight the base so you could have the top at your right side and the base away from your chair.

Also take the wheels off for stability.

 

gb.

[jfri 42]

 

 

Would a cheap laptop stand fit into your setup? Like...
http://www.ebay.com....845841581&rt=nc

 

Does not ship to Sweden. And I think the fairly big table board and need for counterweights would be somewhat unpractical.

 

 

First, seems like overkill for just the JS.
Second, seems very poor positioning if using both JS and throttle.
Throttle should be down by your left side and JS at centre or right side.

 

There are an adapter for use with only the joystick which would be more practical than the table for both stick and throttle.

 

My conclusions so far is that the Warthog is not feasible for use on the desktop. Either it will have to be a stand like the one linked to or the Warthog goes back and I will try the Fighterstick.

 

My questions (concerns) regarding this stand is

Can my CH Rudder pedals sit stable on the stand like they do on the floor ?

Is it practical to use the rudder pedals even when the stick is stowed ?

When stowed the stick would be tilted almost 90 deg and then the Stick will lean forward because of its weight. Could this not be detrimental to the stick ?

[gboz 157]

 

 

Does not ship to Sweden. And I think the fairly big table board and need for counterweights would be somewhat unpractical.

 

Well that was just a suggestion.

Maybe Ikea would have something...

 

gb.

[TheHoser11 39]

I was worried about ergonomics when I received my Warthog, however I have become very comfortable with it now to the right of my main monitor. The stiffness was never a problem for me and I've gotten used to the height with it sitting on my desk.

 

I can't imagine flying any other way now.

[jfri 42]

I was worried about ergonomics when I received my Warthog, however I have become very comfortable with it now to the right of my main monitor. The stiffness was never a problem for me and I've gotten used to the height with it sitting on my desk.

 

I can't imagine flying any other way now.

 

I find the stiffness somewhat uncomfortable. More so if the stick is high like on the desk and less but still notable if lower (on my knees). A stand is going to be a must have.

[Poppet 710]

This would cost 426 Euro for free deliver or 456 for 2 day delivery WOW big money.    Its something i have had my eye on for some time, I fly both heli and planes.    Just one question, one of the main reasons for buying this would be all the buttons i could assign for different tasks, so not to be always tapping my keyboard.   Can i assign the buttons for anything or are you restricted with your selection?     It would also stop the constant mouse tapping and pressing as well. 

[KingGhidorah 209]

I would like you a lot better if you became a Warthog woman!

 

The thing you need to note about the Warthog is that a lot of it's switches are 3 position switches, where the middle position is a NULL. You can deal with this in FSX/P3D by taking advantage of FSUIPC's ability to cause an action both when the button is first pressed, and also when it is released. In other sims like DCS, some of the planes (obviously the Warthog) support everything by default, but for other aircraft, it takes a little more: You can download alternate control files, or you can do some scripting on your own to achieve the same.

 

The Warthog comes with something called TARGET (or you download it maybe) to do some button programming. I'm not familiar with that, but I think it is some Thrustmaster propriety scripting method. I don't do things that way, I deal with the Warthog using FSUIPC or scripting things directly into the DCS files.

 

426 Euro? What is that in Dollars? I see the Warthog HOTAS combos in the range between $400 and $500 on a place like Amazon. So that 426 Euro is just for the stick, or does it also include the throttle unit? The Throttle unit is mega cool, and if you've now become a heli pilot, that is where that 16 bit precision is really going to come into it's own most of all, on the collective lever.

 

The same advice to Jfri, upthread, applies. I don't think you need to have the hands of a quarterback to enjoy the Warthog, but you might be surprised by it's size and heft, so I still contend that the lower you can place it, the more leverage you have, and the happier you'll be with it. I have a little table placed strategically under the main desk so that it doesn't block my legs getting to the rudder pedals, but it juts out so I can put the joystick on that.

[Poppet 710]

 

 

I would like you a lot better if you became a Warthog woman!

Why thank you strange internet man 

 

Thank you King for your detailed answer.    So a 3 position switch basically means theirs a middle position "Null" and then you can flick it up, back to middle and then flick it down yes?  

So lets build a scenario here,  I buy the warhog stick and want to assign a couple of simple tasks like my battery and my generator switches in the Dodosim to my new stick using 2 on the "3 positing switches",  i can do this straight out of the box by simply assigning them like i would on my Logitech stick?  Or would i need the FSUIPC software to do this.  

 

 

426 Euro? What is that in Dollars? I see the Warthog HOTAS combos in the range between $400 and $500 on a place like Amazon. So that 426 Euro is just for the stick, or does it also include the throttle unit?

426 Euro would be for the full kit, throttle and stick for free delivery,  take about 7 days i guess.  It works out about at 475 American Dollars

[Penz 45]

The only thing that could possibly make me switch to another HOTAS than my trusted (coming up on 20 years old) Thrustmaster Cougar would be the Thrustmaster Warthog. Both are great.

[Ebs 114]

 

 

Can i assign the buttons for anything or are you restricted with your selection?

 

you can assign anything to anything.... anything. to. anything.

 

Sorry for the 'overdramaticness' (?) but it's worth mentioning. the software is called TARGET and is basically an entire programming language just for the Warthog. Anything you could every imagine doing with software is possible with TARGET. Before the Warthog I had an old Thrustmaster F-16 and TQS and the software was known as Foxy, but TARGET blows it out the water. for example...

 

you could set up a button to act as a momentary toggle, you hold down the button and it increases the sensitivity of your XY Axes. I used this for air to air refuelling in the A10 in DCS World. You can set one of those three button switches to perform a macro at one position that switches on all the lights, tunes to a radio or launches an external program (or all of those together at the same time!)

 

I used the features a lot more in DCS World. I had hardcore A10, Blackshark and Huey profiles meticulously programmed and have switches and axes doing all kinds of things.

 

These days in P3D it's much more straightforward. The registered version of FSUIPC allows you to do a *ton* of controller stuff so if I had to do everything again, I'd just use that exclusively without TARGET.

 

...oh yeah, and if you're not a total geek you can just use the Warthog as two seperate plug and play controllers in windows by default and assign stuff in the sim...that's the most straightforward way to do it! and keeps you the most sane. But if you're going to spend 400 quid on a joystick you may as well at least dabble

[KingGhidorah 209]

475 us dollars for the joystick + throttle is about the price you'd expect, give or take. The reason I was asking is that I even saw one on Amazon for like $1200 the other day, as if some chump would buy that, when the very next one listed was in the $400 dollar range. So that sounds like a reasonable price.

 

I don't think you can take advantage of a 3 position switch just using FSX/P3D alone. But as an example of how to use the 3 position switch in combo with FSUIPC: Let's say you have a command for "High, Medium, and Low". So when you push the 3 pos switch up, you assign that to High. When you push the 3 pos switch to the far down position, you obviously set that to Low. But how do you set the middle position to Medium, if the middle position is Null? Well, in FSUIPC, for both the High and Low assignments, you just tell it to trigger the action to set it to Medium when "button released". So each time you move the switch from either on High or Low, to the middle position, you get Medium. It'll make more more sense when you get it, but that is the basic way.

 

There will also be no problem using the 3 pos switches to deal with what is actually a 2 position switch. However there are more than enough 2 position switches anyway on the Warthog Throttle for just your standard On and Off type things. These are actually implemented as On and Null, so the bottom position behaves like the middle one on a 3 pos switch. A variation of the principle I outlined above applies there as well. Like I said, it'll make sense.

 

And of course, as Ebs says, there is always TARGET, if you feel like learning that.

 

****since you mention the Dodosim 206 + FSUIPC specifically, there is a strange little thing on that one where if you want to assign an action through FSUIPC, you first have to assign the action to a keypress in FSX proper and then assign the keypress to a button in FSUIPC. Only aircraft I've ever seen that requires that, and has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the Warthog HOTAS, but just thought I would mention it as something for you to keep in mind.****

[untoweechja 35]

After several months of deliberation and research I took the plunge and should have a shiny new Warthog HOTAS here tomorrow.

 

Is there any distinct advantage (or disadvantage) to using the TARGET software over FSUIPC?  

 

I had all kinds of problems using Saitek's profile software with my ailing X52, and though it's not quite as elegant in the UI department, FSUIPC made the problems go away once I neutered the X52 of its "built in" profile.

 

I'm inclined to stick with FSUIPC, but if someone has a strong case for TARGET I'm interested in your thoughts.