Lack of Hardware support in FSW

[rich_cooke 4]

I am a long term sim flyer from FS98 days onward.  My main sim is FSX-SE.  I have about 22 hours in FSW (and I'd completed all of Flight School before that).  I really think FSW is very promising and I am trying to get to grips with it .... but I am finding it a deeply frustrating experience because of the lack of hardware control.  These are some of my issues:

1.    I just tried the Kahului Air first lesson but failed because I was faffing about so long trying to fly the plane and tune the radios in cockpit with the mouse at the same time that FSW took over and landed the plane.   I have both GoFlight and VRInsight radio modules but they don't work with FSW.

2.    I have other hardware that is recognised but the hardware controls you can assign in FSW seem very limited. For example I cannot assign any buttons/rotary controllers to tune the radios.  I don't have a hat Switch (Yoko yoke) and while I can assign buttons to pan up and down I can't see any controls to assign buttons to pan right and left. Yes I can hold down the space bar with one hand and mouse view with the other but how do I hold the yoke while doing this.

3.    The toe brakes are always on using my Saitek Rudder pedals.  I had this in FSX but was able to solve it by using  FSUIPC to limit the axis.  I can't seem to achieve that in FSW.

I understand that FSW probably isn't aimed at hardware nuts like me and it seems currently that the requirement is to fly it using some mouse and keyboard controls but (each to their own) I detest that and cannot and do not want to fly that way.

I sat down this afternoon determined to devote a couple of hours to FSW  getting my hardware to work and, if succesful, I was going to buy the Piper and Last Frontier DLC but these issues immediately occurred and so I gave up after about 15 minutes.

I realise its probably not that high a priority but I recall Dovetail saying early on that you wouldn't need anything like FSUIPC as FSW would provide equivalent hardware interfacing but it isn't anywhere close yet.  I am not being negative about FSW. I think it has fantastic potential and I will keep coming back to it and trying it as it develops and I hope it becomes my flight sim of choice in the long term.  But for the moment its gone back in the hangar on my PC until I can achieve better hardware control.  It would be interesting to know if improved hardware control is on Dovetail's radar.

Rich Cooke

[A32xx 129]

There's only basic controller compatibility at the moment. I have a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick which works fine with FSW, no programming necessary. I also use a CH Flight Sim yoke which I did have to program for Parking Brake, Elevator Trim and Rudder Trim, but everything else worked as it should right away. If you have an old joystick (non-feedback) kicking around, you should be OK with that for the time being.

[SamYeager 244]

16 hours ago, rich_cooke said:

I realise its probably not that high a priority but I recall Dovetail saying early on that you wouldn't need anything like FSUIPC as FSW would provide equivalent hardware interfacing but it isn't anywhere close yet.  I am not being negative about FSW. I think it has fantastic potential and I will keep coming back to it and trying it as it develops and I hope it becomes my flight sim of choice in the long term.  But for the moment its gone back in the hangar on my PC until I can achieve better hardware control.  It would be interesting to know if improved hardware control is on Dovetail's radar.

Rich Cooke

My recollection is slightly different in that I understood their view was that it shouldn't be necessary to purchase a third party product such as FSUIPC as it should be built into FSW and appropriately supported. Now I think it's clear that currently there is no equivalent easy to use frontend interface to SimConnect which provides the same functionality as FSUIPC in FSW. I share your hope that this is something that DTG will address sooner rather later.

[G-RFRY 1,705]

If as you say you are a long term flight simmer then you will know it has often been the case that native support for all hardware has not been there, and still is in some cases with flight controls and has been third party support that was required, as for FSUIPC we don`t know how long it will be supported or developed in the future.  

[rich_cooke 4]

Quote

as for FSUIPC we don`t know how long it will be supported or developed in the future

Nooooo!  I can't fly without FSUIPC.  I would have to freeze FSX-SE and my flying PC forever. :-( 

Hopefully Dovetail will improve this aspect of FSW as time moves on - or a third party might?

Rich Cooke

[ca_metal 2,015]

3 hours ago, rich_cooke said:

Nooooo!  I can't fly without FSUIPC.  I would have to freeze FSX-SE and my flying PC forever. :-( 

Hopefully Dovetail will improve this aspect of FSW as time moves on - or a third party might?

Rich Cooke

For sure, someone will fill in the gap, sooner or later.

In the case of FSW, I'm really confident DTG will do this work.

[Kangaby 14]

On ‎18‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 3:14 AM, rich_cooke said:

3.    The toe brakes are always on using my Saitek Rudder pedals.  I had this in FSX but was able to solve it by using  FSUIPC to limit the axis.  I can't seem to achieve that in FSW

Click invert when assigning them in the controller setup. It was the same in FSX and SE. As a test hold both toe breaks down and see if the brakes text on the lower left of the screen goes away. If so, just invert them in the FWS controller setup.

 

 

[rich_cooke 4]

Thanks Kangaby - good tip.  It solved the brakes always on issue.