Saitek Sensitivity and FSUIPC

[gpbarth 12]

I have abandoned the FSX controller settings and settings everything up in FSUIPC. But now I need to set the sensitivity on my Saitek rudder pedals, and I need some advice on doing this in FSUIPC. Can anyone recommend a good tutorial on setting this up? I've been playing with the calibration, but can't seem to desensitize the pedals, and my take-offs are all over the place.

 

Any FSUIPC experts out there?

[tttocs 301]

Gary, have you tried using curves?  Using a curve, you can basically set things up to have reduced sensitivity for small inputs near the neutral point and gradually increase with larger deflections of the pedals.  I don't use this with my Saitek rudder pedals as they seem fine, but I definitely do for pitch on most planes with my Saitek yoke.  Works great.

 

Scott

[gpbarth 12]

Gary, have you tried using curves?  Using a curve, you can basically set things up to have reduced sensitivity for small inputs near the neutral point and gradually increase with larger deflections of the pedals.  I don't use this with my Saitek rudder pedals as they seem fine, but I definitely do for pitch on most planes with my Saitek yoke.  Works great.

 

Scott

That's what I'm talking about, but I still haven't figured out how to use them. I just got the Real Air Turbine Duke, and they recommend around 30% sensitivity on all flight controls. Since I can't set the sensitivity in FSX, I need to figure out how to do it in FSUIPC. I guess I'll go and mess with the curve settings and see what happens.

[tttocs 301]

I'd shoot you a screen capture, but not at home right now so can't fire up the sim.  Can do so later in the evening if you still need an example.

 

Scott

[johnbla 31]

Scott

I have the same problem. Would appreciate the screen shot thanks.

 

John

[KingGhidorah 209]

ttocs, I doubt a screenshots necessary, but when you get the time just please state what value you use for the Duke curves that you feel is equivalent to a 30% axis sensitivity in the FSX cal screen. I think that's what he's asking. I am pretty sure that 50% in FSX, the default, represents pure linearity (no curves). If someone knows differently, please do tell.

[tttocs 301]

OK, assuming you've already assigned the axis in question, go to the "Joystick Calibration" tab and go to the first screen for the main flight control axes that you've assigned:

 

 

In this case, the control I've added a slope to is the Elevator.  Click on the Slope button under the axis you want to change and you'll see this:

 

 

Here I've set a slope of 4 for the elevator which gives a mild reduction in sensitivity near the neutral point.

 

Hope that helps,

 

 

but when you get the time just please state what value you use for the Duke curves that you feel is equivalent to a 30% axis sensitivity in the FSX cal screen.

 

Unfortunately, I've no idea.  I moved to FSUIPC exclusively several years ago in order to solve some persistent issues I had with my Saitek yoke and rudder pedals and haven't used FSX assignments in so long that I have no idea how FSUIPC curves would correlate.  Sorry.

 

Scott

[gpbarth 12]

Well, after doing some research and performing the requisite RTFM chores, I have learned more about FSUIPC, particularly the DELTA setting. Pete says in his docs that the DELTA is the minimum change before stuff starts happening, and the default is 256 (I think...I'm not there right now). The bigger this number is, the more a control can move before a change is seen in FSX. He suggests setting the number as high as possible before you start seeing negative effects.

 

So I decided to "hide" my fsuipc.ini file and start over.  I now have a setting on the rudder of somewhere around 1200, and I seem to have a bit more control over my take-offs now. I'm still working on the curve method, but I think my problem was the rudder was way too sensitive. When I looked at the initial setting, I seemed to have set the DELTA at 1, which meant if I breathed on the ruddres something would happen.

 

I'm going back and reading a lot more about FSUIPC, because I also have problems now with the Duke and the prop speed levers. I assgned them to an axis on my X55 throttle through FSUIPC, and the levers move beautifully...but the prop RPMs don't change at all. I had to hit Ctrl-F2 and Ctrl-F3 to make them work, and I think now that I have to assign them using the FSUIPC command to assign both props, not as one, but individually, to the same command, and then use the "Send to FS" instead of FSUIPC Calibration.

 

I'm a bit on the ADHD/OCD side, so I don't bother with the docs until I've totally screwed everything up, and then the light bulb comes on. Back to my FSUIPC docs now...got a lot more to learn.

[tttocs 301]

 

 

So I decided to "hide" my fsuipc.ini file and start over. I now have a setting on the rudder of somewhere around 1200, and I seem to have a bit more control over my take-offs now. I'm still working on the curve method, but I think my problem was the rudder was way too sensitive. When I looked at the initial setting, I seemed to have set the DELTA at 1, which meant if I breathed on the ruddres something would happen.

 

Yeah, a Delta of 1 would definitely make things pretty jumpy, especially if you've had your gear for a while and the pots are getting a bit grungy.  I've always used the default of 256 on all of my axes (elevator and aileron, rudders and dual throttle quads) and never had any problems.  Sorry - never considered you might have set that to 1.  :huh:  

 

 

 

I'm going back and reading a lot more about FSUIPC, because I also have problems now with the Duke and the prop speed levers. I assgned them to an axis on my X55 throttle through FSUIPC, and the levers move beautifully...but the prop RPMs don't change at all.

 

That's odd, but perhaps I don't understand how you're setting up the axes.  If you're using a single axis to control both - sorry, not sure what the best setting would be.  In my setup with dual quadrants, I have prop levers set up as 'PropPitch1' and 'PropPitch2' and all works as it should with the Dukes (I have both turbine and piston, V1 and V2).  This setup also accommodates single engine planes, as prop 1 (or mixture one, or throttle 1) seems to work fine for single engine planes as well.  The only exception I've found is A2A's GA aircraft, where the throttle needs to be "Throttle" rather than "Throttle1" and similarly for prop and mixture.

 

Best of luck getting things sorted.  FSUIPC can seem a bit arcane when first tackled, but once you get used to the logic of it, it's pretty sweet.

 

Scott

[KingGhidorah 209]

I agree with ttocs. Set Delta to default of 256 and leave it. Now back to curves, even though you're going to assign your controls in FSUIPC, since that developer recommends "30% sensitivity" in FSX, I recommend you temporarily assign them in FSX with a calibration of 30% sensitivity. See how that feels, unassign in FSX, and then implement a similar feel in FSUIPC to the axis by using curves, as ttocs as shown above. Ttocs use of a curve with a value of 4 on the rudder is where I would start. Real controls are basically linear, so I don't particularly like it when a developer recommends that the user implement non-linear calibration methods in order to establish appropriate control feel; but that's how it is, and the above is how I would go about trying to recreate their calibration recommendations via FSUIPC.

[gpbarth 12]

I have 2 wheels on my X55, the top I've assigned to the props, and the bottom to the condition levers. In FSUIPC, you can assign up to 4 actions to one axis. So I set both prop1 and prop2 to work on that one axis...did the same thing with the condition levers (mixture 1 and mixture 2). Funny thing was that the condition levers worked, but the props didn't - the levers moved, but no change in RPMs. If I used Ctrl-F2 and Ctrl-F3, it worked.

 

I don't think the RA Duke likes FSUIPC, though, so I'm going to try to send to FS through it, and hope that works. I don't want to reactivate the X55 in FSX when everything else is working fine with FSUIPC.

[tttocs 301]

 

 

I don't think the RA Duke likes FSUIPC, though, so I'm going to try to send to FS through it, and hope that works. I don't want to reactivate the X55 in FSX when everything else is working fine with FSUIPC.

 

Well, you have to do what works for you, but I've had all 4 of the Dukes (V1 and V2 of each) and I've used nothing but FSUIPC to control all of them without any issues.  Prop, throttle and mixture (or condition levers in the Turbine) are all bog standard FSX commands, so I can't imagine what's wrong there.  Sorry, I'm out of ideas on this one.

 

Scott

[gpbarth 12]

Well, you have to do what works for you, but I've had all 4 of the Dukes (V1 and V2 of each) and I've used nothing but FSUIPC to control all of them without any issues.  Prop, throttle and mixture (or condition levers in the Turbine) are all bog standard FSX commands, so I can't imagine what's wrong there.  Sorry, I'm out of ideas on this one.

 

Scott

But do you "Send directly to FSUIPC Calibration" or "Send to FS as normal axis?" I had everything set up the first way (with the Duke), and now I'm thinking that I have to use the "Send to FS..." method instead. Anyway, I've reset my FSUIPC.ini file and started over...maybe I had some kind of glitch there. Like I said, I found that the DELTA on several of my settings was 1. I want all of the defaults to remain at 256. I won't have time to do it right away (why does work always get in the way?), but I'll let you know what happens.

[tttocs 301]

All of my axes are set up with "Send directly to FSUIPC Calibration".  This was actually the original issue which pushed me to move to FSUIPC, as I'd repeatedly lose calibration on various axes whenever I'd reboot my system.  Assigning to FSUIPC and using FSUIPC calibration was the ultimate solution to that annoying problem.

 

 

 

(why does work always get in the way?),

 

Why indeed!  Speaking of which, I'd best get on with the work day.

 

Scott

[gpbarth 12]

All of my axes are set up with "Send directly to FSUIPC Calibration".  This was actually the original issue which pushed me to move to FSUIPC, as I'd repeatedly lose calibration on various axes whenever I'd reboot my system.  Assigning to FSUIPC and using FSUIPC calibration was the ultimate solution to that annoying problem.

 

 

 

 

Why indeed!  Speaking of which, I'd best get on with the work day.

 

Scott

Well, I "complained" to RA, and here's the answer I got:

 

Hi Gary,

 

Clearly there is something odd going on with an element in the chain of how you've set up the levers the Duke, whose prop levers work perfectly.

 

I have Saitek throttle levers which I can assign to any function using the standard FSX axis assignments and again they work flawlessly, as they did in hundreds of hours testing.

 

The Duke does not need FSUIPC to function. Perhaps adding another layer of complication is making things unnecessary? Surely your levers can be assigned using the standard axis assignments?

 

We do have a lot of customers for the Duke and so far no reports similar to this. Not knowing exactly what you are doing it is hard to make a useful comment, other than that we are quite certain there is nothing wrong with the prop levers, which, as you say, can be operated in three different ways: Mouse, Keys,or Levers.

 

Regards,

 

Rob

 

So I decided that he really doesn't agree with FSUIPC, and then I read from Pete's FSUIPC docs:

 

Turning to the other assignment method, the one labelled “Send direct to FSUIPC calibration”

actually bypasses FS altogether until the axis input has been through FSUIPC4’s own Joystick

Calibration section. In this case the drop-down shows only those controls which can be calibrated

in FSUIPC4, but this includes some which you would otherwise have to assign special numbers to

in FSUIPC4.INI as described in the Advanced User’s guide. For example these include Aileron

Trim, Rudder Trim, and the four Cowl Flaps controls.

 

So I figure that I probably used a control that was foreign to the Duke, and that I'd get better results by going the Send to FS route, which is what I am about to try as we speak. Maybe you could tell me the exact control in FSUIPC you have assigned to the props. As I said, when I did that, I could move my wheel and the levers moved back and forth, but there was no change in prop RPM. Could very well have been a glitch, too. Gonna keep playing with this until I get it fixed. I'll post again shortly after I run FSX and fly the Duke a little.