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Hello everybody,

I spent some time trying to figure out the best way to assign trimming small aircraft (A2A Cessna 172 in this case).

This is my setup:

- Saitek Pro Flight Yoke and Throttle Quadrant
- Saitek Rudder Pedals
- P3D v4.1
- FSUIPC 5 registered - all controls and calibrations assigned through it...

I tried using the mouse wheel (that's an option in FSUIPC) but that way I couldn't turn knobs like radios, indoor light using the mouse wheel...

Then I tried to assign one of the yoke buttons, the one that you operate with left thumb. That kind of works but I feel like it's moving too slow for my needs. For example when I'm on approach in the A2A 172 and set the 1st notch of flaps, the nose goes up ridiculously (am I missing something?) and I have to hold the button for 10 good seconds to trim the plane right.

My question is, how do you guys manage your trimming? I know that there is a piece of hardware that does the job, but I don't feel like spending $70 on a plastic wheel. Or is it worth it? For me, it means 10 hours of work in my country.

Any tip / advice would be appreciated. 

Thanks,

Tomas.


Tomáš Pokorný

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I run all my controls through a registered (paid) version of FSUIPC (an essential utility in my opinion) and this lets me adjust the trim rate on a per aircraft basis where necessary.

Al

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If you use the A2A C172 Input Configurator and assign a key, button, or switch to YOKE TRIM UP and YOKE TRIM DOWN , the trim will work fast enough. 

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15 hours ago, ThomassoCZ said:

I spent some time trying to figure out the best way to assign trimming small aircraft (A2A Cessna 172 in this case).

This is my setup:

- Saitek Pro Flight Yoke and Throttle Quadrant
- Saitek Rudder Pedals
- P3D v4.1
- FSUIPC 5 registered - all controls and calibrations assigned through it...

[Buttons.Bonanza]

3=RB,2,C65607,0 ; -{ELEV_TRIM_DN}-
4=RB,3,C65615,0 ; -{ELEV_TRIM_UP}-

I have the same setup.  I assign all my control functions through FSUIPC5 and they work great.  

If you use aircraft specific profiles in FSUIPC look at your FSUIPC5.ini file and see if you have two entries like the above in the [Buttons. ] section. I don't have the A2A 172 in P3Dv4 but I do in FSX and the button assignments are identical.  This maps the trim to the up / down button switch (#3 & #4 on the Saitek yoke) that is just below the POV Hat switch.


[CPL]  I9-9900K @5.0GHz HT ON, Maximus XI Hero, ASUS TUF RTX4080 OC, 32GB DDR4 3200 14, 1TB NVMe SSD, 500GB SSD, 1TB HDD, 40" Samsung 4K TV, Honeycomb Alpha & Bravo, Logitech Rudder Pedals, WIN11

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18 hours ago, ThomassoCZ said:

Then I tried to assign one of the yoke buttons, the one that you operate with left thumb. That kind of works but I feel like it's moving too slow for my needs. For example when I'm on approach in the A2A 172 and set the 1st notch of flaps, the nose goes up ridiculously (am I missing something?) and I have to hold the button for 10 good seconds to trim the plane right.

With FSUIPC you can fix this. There are two ways (at least). Simplest is to call the trim up/down function multiple times for each button click. Five times is good. To do this you need to know how to do multiple button actions, which is basically to edit fsuipc5.ini (as I presume it is now called) and duplicate the appropriate lines. The other way is to write Lua programs for the up/down trim and essentially do the same thing. I'm not sure if the Trim function accepts a parameter, so you could try that too.


MarkH

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Core i7-7700K / 32Gb DDR4 / Gigabyte GTX1070 / 1080p x 3 x weird / Win7 64 Pro

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On 11/8/2017 at 10:06 AM, ThomassoCZ said:

Any tip / advice would be appreciated. 

Thanks,

Tomas.

Just get the Saitek Cessna Trim Wheel. :)
You will wonder how you ever flew without it.

gb.


YSSY. Win 10, 6700K@4.8, Corsair H115i Cooler, RTX 4070Ti, 32GB G.Skill Trident Z F4-3200, Samsung 960 EVO M.2 256GB, ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger, Corsair HX850i 850W, Thermaltake Core X31 Case, Samsung 4K 65" TV.

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9 hours ago, MarkDH said:

With FSUIPC you can fix this. There are two ways (at least). Simplest is to call the trim up/down function multiple times for each button click. Five times is good. To do this you need to know how to do multiple button actions, which is basically to edit fsuipc5.ini (as I presume it is now called) and duplicate the appropriate lines.

Yes.  The codes I gave him above for the buttons in FSUIPC5 include a repeat while held function.  That way pressing and hold the trim button acts exactly the same way as electric trim would in the airplane.


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4 hours ago, bbuckley said:

Yes.  The codes I gave him above for the buttons in FSUIPC5 include a repeat while held function.  That way pressing and hold the trim button acts exactly the same way as electric trim would in the airplane.

No, this is not the same thing.


MarkH

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On 8. 11. 2017 at 2:30 AM, ark said:

I run all my controls through a registered (paid) version of FSUIPC (an essential utility in my opinion) and this lets me adjust the trim rate on a per aircraft basis where necessary.

Al

And how exactly do you adjust that rate if you could explain? Thanks :-)

On 8. 11. 2017 at 2:53 AM, pracines said:

If you use the A2A C172 Input Configurator and assign a key, button, or switch to YOKE TRIM UP and YOKE TRIM DOWN , the trim will work fast enough. 

Thanks, will try that.

18 hours ago, bbuckley said:

[Buttons.Bonanza]

3=RB,2,C65607,0 ; -{ELEV_TRIM_DN}-
4=RB,3,C65615,0 ; -{ELEV_TRIM_UP}-

I have the same setup.  I assign all my control functions through FSUIPC5 and they work great.  

If you use aircraft specific profiles in FSUIPC look at your FSUIPC5.ini file and see if you have two entries like the above in the [Buttons. ] section. I don't have the A2A 172 in P3Dv4 but I do in FSX and the button assignments are identical.  This maps the trim to the up / down button switch (#3 & #4 on the Saitek yoke) that is just below the POV Hat switch.

Yes, I have assigned the trim to the exact same button but it just doesn't move fast enough when I hold it. Does the entry work with turn rate?

14 hours ago, MarkDH said:

With FSUIPC you can fix this. There are two ways (at least). Simplest is to call the trim up/down function multiple times for each button click. Five times is good. To do this you need to know how to do multiple button actions, which is basically to edit fsuipc5.ini (as I presume it is now called) and duplicate the appropriate lines. The other way is to write Lua programs for the up/down trim and essentially do the same thing. I'm not sure if the Trim function accepts a parameter, so you could try that too.

Thanks, will try this as well :)

8 hours ago, gboz said:

Just get the Saitek Cessna Trim Wheel. :)
You will wonder how you ever flew without it.

gb.

So you think it's worth the price that's equivalent to 10 hours of working? :) I mean, yeah sure, the yoke and the pedals are essential and have a high added value. Does the wheel really have that much added value to purchase it? I also fly airliners so I am not like a GA geek.

 


Tomáš Pokorný

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EQUIPMENT -> YOKE: Saitek Pro Flight Yoke System + Throttle Quadrant, Saitek X52 | RUDDER PEDALS: Saitek Pedals | CAMERA: TrackIR 5

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20 minutes ago, ThomassoCZ said:

So you think it's worth the price that's equivalent to 10 hours of working? :)

For me definitely, but I'm more GA than airliner.
It's quite a solid, well made product. Also just big enough to be taken seriously.

gb.


YSSY. Win 10, 6700K@4.8, Corsair H115i Cooler, RTX 4070Ti, 32GB G.Skill Trident Z F4-3200, Samsung 960 EVO M.2 256GB, ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger, Corsair HX850i 850W, Thermaltake Core X31 Case, Samsung 4K 65" TV.

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15 minutes ago, gboz said:

For me definitely, but I'm more GA than airliner.
It's quite a solid, well made product. Also just big enough to be taken seriously.

gb.

OK thanks, I will consider it. However, it looks like it's not available anymore in my country.


Tomáš Pokorný

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SYSTEM -> CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K @ 5.0 GHz | GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 Ti @ 2027 MHz | RAM: 2x8 GB G.Skill Trident RGB 3200 MHz | MOBO: AsRock Z370 Extreme 4 | SSD: Kingston 256 GB, Samsung 860 EVO 1 TB | HDD: Western Digital 1 TB | CPU COOLER: Corsair H115i | CASE: Corsair Obsidian Series 750D | PSU: Seasonic Focus Gold 750W 

EQUIPMENT -> YOKE: Saitek Pro Flight Yoke System + Throttle Quadrant, Saitek X52 | RUDDER PEDALS: Saitek Pedals | CAMERA: TrackIR 5

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6 hours ago, MarkDH said:

No, this is not the same thing.

Not the same thing as the real airplane or not what you are talking about?


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5 hours ago, ThomassoCZ said:

OK thanks, I will consider it. However, it looks like it's not available anymore in my country.

An alternative is the Desktop Aviator Model 2700.  More expensive than the Saitek wheel when it was available, but has some extras.

Ernie


Ernest Pergrem

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1 hour ago, bbuckley said:

Not the same thing as the real airplane or not what you are talking about?

You seemed to be saying that the FSUIPC suggestion I posted was the same as the FSUIPC code you had posted. I was pointing out that it isn't the same.


MarkH

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17 hours ago, ThomassoCZ said:

 

On 11/7/2017 at 6:30 PM, ark said:

I run all my controls through a registered (paid) version of FSUIPC (an essential utility in my opinion) and this lets me adjust the trim rate on a per aircraft basis where necessary.

Al

And how exactly do you adjust that rate if you could explain? Thanks :-)

 

As you can see from the picture below from the FSUIPC Offsets Status document, FSUIPC offset 0BC0 is the elevator trim offset with values that range from -16383 (full down) to +16383 (full up). Then under the FSUIPC Buttons and Switches tab the Offset Sword Increment and Offset Sword Decrement controls are used to change the trim value. Increment increases nose up trim and Decrement does the opposite. The 16 in the parameter 16/16383 means each push (or repeat) of the trim button represents a change (increment) of 16 out of the total range from -16383 to +16383. Or said another way, you dividing the -16383 to 16383 range into 32766/16=2048 steps (one step per trim button push or repeat). Increasing the number of steps by decreasing the 16 value gives you finer (slower) trim control, and decreasing the number of steps by increasing the 16 value speeds up the trim action. The same idea holds for the down trim step size, and note the negative sign on the Decrement parameter 16/-16383. By making these values profile specific (specific to particular a/c), you can have different trim rates for different a/c. Note the box "Control to repeat while held" needs to be checked.

The text below is from the box on pg 31 of the FSUIPC Users Guide:

Al

Offset Increment/Decrement Controls
The increment/decrement controls operate on signed (Sbyte, Sword) or unsigned values (Ubyte, Uword), and have a more complex
parameter that specifies both the increment/decrement (always positive) and a limit, thus:
<increment value> / <limit>
This allows things like Trim adjustments to be programmed to be whatever speed you like, or even multiple speed if you have
enough buttons or levers to spare. Taking Trim as the example:
The elevator trim is a signed WORD at offset x0BC0. For this sort of information you'd need the Programmer's Guide in the
FSUIPC4 SDK. Its range is –16383 (full trim down) to 16383 (full trim up). So, when programming your button/levers:
1. Select the "Offset SWord Increment" control to program the nose up trim.
2. Enter x0BC0, or just xBC0 into the offset edit box.
3. Enter 256/16383 in the parameter box. The 256 is the increment and 16383 is the limit. This will give 128 steps between –
16383 and +16383 inclusive (32768 / 256 = 128). If you want a faster, coarser trim adjustment specify a larger increment, and
of course vice versa for a slower, finer adjustment.
4. You'll probably want it repeating whilst held, so check that too (but never set repeat for rotary switches which can be left in
an ‘on’ position, nor latching switches).
5. Do the same for the decrement, with a parameter of 256/–16383 (–16383 being the lower limit). Note that the decrement is
still positive—you can only provide positive numbers for this part. It is the definition of increment or decrement which
controls the addition or subtraction.
6. When reviewing such assignments you may see the parameters showing in hexadecimal (preceded by ‘x’). This is an optional
way of inputting these in the first place, just as with the offsets.
Note: This tmethod can also be applied to the rudder & aileron trims. Select "Offsets sword increment" with 256/16383 as the
parameter to trim to the right, and select "Offset sword decrement" with256/-16383 as the parameter to trim to the left. Enter
x0C04 for rudder trim or x0C02 for aileron trim into the offset edit box, and then proceed as 3 to 5 above

 

 

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