Controller config/ UI

[Retro]

I hope this post will clear up questions/problems you may encounter in that screen.. feel free to add stuff or post questions.

• I want to quickly configure the one controller I have, and be done with it
  You want to use the Express mode.. just go into the controller options, select your joystick, and that was it.. exit the page by clicking one of the buttons in the bar on top of the page, click "ok" when the game asks you if the changes should be saved, and fly.
• I want to setup BoB so that it takes input from multiple controllers
  In this case you need to use the "custom" screen ! Enter the controller options, press "custom" and you should be presented with an table showing, in the first column, the available in-game axis, and in the second column the associated "real" (physical) axis on your joystick(s). Should look like this. In case you own an FFB stick, you will see the FFB options at the bottom of the screen, provided you have FFB playback enabled (Pic)
  
  Now, in order to map a device to an in-game axis, you click on the second colum of the axis you want to map to, then move the device you want to map.. the game should pick it up. If you reconsider and do not want to map anything to that axis, or if the game picked up the wrong axis, click the "Clear Axis" button. Should look like this
  
  Finally, after the axis have been assigned, you can change their properties by selecting the in-game axis (click on the first column in the table), the associated axis details should pop up on the right side of the screen (like this)
• I want to invert one of the in-game axis
  In the custom controller screen, mark the in-game axis you want to change, then the axis properties should pop up to the right. Then just select the deadzone. Click the "Reverse" button to change the direction.
• I want to change the deadzone of one of the in-game axis
  In the custom controller screen, mark the in-game axis you want to change, then the axis properties should pop up to the right. Then just select the deadzone. Please note that throttle, proppitch, fov and zoom axis do not feature a "deadzone" property.
• I want to unmap one of the in-game axis
  In the custom screen, mark the in-game axis that you want to free, then click the "Clear Axis" button. The button is in the middle bottom of the screen, this picture shows it.
• Just what is "saturation" anyway ?
  Think of saturation as a "deadzone at the end of the axis range". For example, the joystick may not be able to reach the minimum value that it reports of the game, either because of some physical limit or because of old potentiometers etc.. so for example you could never reach the theoretically possible minimum pitch because your joystick just cannot reach this value.. saturation just makes the joystick report its maximum (or minimum) value even if it has not yet physically reached it. Drawback of bigger saturation zones is a "steeper" axis ascend, ie the stick will get more sensitive.
• What is "filtering" supposed to do ?
  This property is primarily supposed to help with "spiking" on some axis, caused by old potentiometers (something most joysticks encounter when they get older). It's a lowpass filter that averages the joystick's input over multiple frames. The higher this is set, the smoother the input will seem, the downside is that the input will also get more sluggish.

[RichardIII]

Thank you for posting this Retro. I'll give that a try and get back if it doesn't work. I have a CH HOTAS with all three controllers and the game is seeing all of them so this should work...

BIG thanks, (group hug??)

[edit] Update: works like a charm .

Rich

[musk]

[*]What is "filtering" supposed to do ?
This property is primarily supposed to help with "spiking" on some axis, caused by old potentiometers (something most joysticks encounter when they get older). It's a lowpass filter that averages the joystick's input over multiple frames. The higher this is set, the smoother the input will seem, the downside is that the input will also get more sluggish.
[/list]

Great writeup by Retro and one I should have paid a bit more attention to. While it's probably obvious to most, it wasn't to me, so for those of a like mind, my advise is to only use higher filtering values if you actually need it. You'll know you need it if you open your Windows Control Panel -> Game Controllers -> Properties, and see the yellow circles jumping around ("spiking").

If you don't see spiking, the planes respond much faster with filtering set low.

Thanks again, Retro.

[keithb77]

How do I configure the sensitivity of my controller (Saitek X-52)?

Even the slightest movement causes the plane to leap about the sky uncontrollably!
Dead zone / saturation dont help, its a 'gearing' issue I think, as though the game is multiplying controller inputs 10* or more?.

IL2 (for instance....) has a sensitivity settings page.....

Cheers,
keith

[musk]

Keith, make sure you have Saturation set to none. Anything higher for saturation will make your stick more sensitive. Then maybe try a slightly larger deadzone value. Fiddle with filtering too, if it helps. Also if your controller allows setting of gain/response for axes, try adjusting those. You have a popular stick, so I'm sure others will have suggestions too.

[Seeker]

Hi,

I am having serious problems in mapping my CH Pro pedals (which want to install themselves as Controller #1 in my PC - no way to change it I think) and Saitek X52 HOTAS properly.

The problem is that both controllers seem to want to override each other's settings all the time:

1. Express setup doesn't do the trick to me, as the default mapping is not satisfactory

2. Whenever I open the Custom setup window for my pedals, it does somehow weirdly seem to have returned some default settings, which means that it maps Ailerons and Elevator to the pedals, which is obviously not what I want. So I go on and clear those axises, and only set the pedals up to control the Rudder (don't mind the wheel brakes yet)

3. I save the pedal settings, and then go on to map the axises of my Saitek X52. I open the Custom screen, and here, the default mappings have been taken, which means that the rudder is now being controlled by the stick! Other settings are pretty much OK

4. What seems now to have happened is that the X52 Rudder setting has overridden my pedal settings. This can be seen when I try to open the pedal settings once again: the rudder setting has disappeared, and voilá: once again I see the default settings for the pedals!

5. As a consequence, the pedal settings have now once again screwed up the X52 Aileron and Elevator settings.

And this pattern seems to go on and on. Obviously the pedals and the HOTAS somehow seem to interfere with each other, but how to avoid this is a mystery to me. (If I dare say, a similar problem does not appear in IL-3 Sturmovik.)

Any help is VERY welcome. I want to get up in the air ASAP!

[Seeker]

...and, obviously, I did want to refer to an existing game instead of a fictitious one: IL-2 Sturmovik

[bandag]

Nice going mate,I owe ya bigtime! Nothing worse than dicking around for an hour or 3 adjusting one's joy! cheers mate!

[S77th-GOYA]

The problem is that both controllers seem to want to override each other's settings all the time

I'm seeing the same problem with a CH Fighterstick and an X45. I'm only using the throttle of the X45. Anybody?

edit: I got it figured out. You don't set up each controller seperately. You enter all the axes in the same screen.

[davstub]

Ok, I get all my controllers nicely assigned and everything works well.

Then I have a 'Doh' moment and boot up BoB with the power turned off of my Saitek FF stick and get a message that BoB is setting controllers to default settings.

Is there a config file somewhere that I can back up so I can quickly restore all my contoller settings?

[Bader]

The SAVEGAME folder contains inputcfg.dat and settings.cfg. You could try making them read only, I suppose. But once overwritten, I'm afraid you'll have to remake them..

[davstub]

Cheers Bader, I'll stick copies in a spare folder.

[Buddye]

Here is a info summary for configuring your stick by CP_Bomber:

CONTROLLERS, CUSTOM
This is where you can assign the main joystick axis.
Left click on the required axis under the "assign axis" list. The axis should be highlighted red. The move the required axis in it's full range of motion and it should be recognised.

1)If you make a mistake with the axis assignment, highlight the one you want to undo then click on "clear" to return to it's default setting.

2)Repeat until all main axis have been assigned to your liking.
Once complete, click on CONTINUE (top right of screen). And when asked if you want your changes saved, click on YES.

3)IMPORTANT. Now, exit the game back to desktop, then restart it. The game does not permanently keep any changes or settings unless it has been quit & restarted.

4)Go back to controllers, then click on KEYMAPPING.

5)Scroll through the list, and left click with the mouse once to highlight the current button/key assign to the control of your choice. At the bottom, a message will appear:

"polling input devices.. please press the button you want to map, or the "cancel" button to stop polling. Press "clear" button to remove a mapping."

When you press the required stick button or key, this should be recognised and listed by the function you wanted to remap.

Repeat for all commands required. NOTE: you "must hit save in the lower left corner or your keys will not be saved.

[Darr]

I have noticed an exaggerated movement in the helm of address(RUDDER) of the airplanes, intent to graduate them but sisguen being very exaggerated has a joystick of microsoft precision pro sidewinder and I have not noticed that in other simulators flight...

[Osram]

Do you look at the 3D model in external view?
And then the rudder deflection when you move the joystick to say 50% or 100% is bigger than in other simulations?
Or does it "flutter" (move) even when you hold the joystick steady?

BTW, sorry to say, but I do not understand 100% of what you say. Which languages do you speak? We have speakers of probably dozens of languages on this board. On russian forums I always write both russian and english as my russian is so bad people don't understand it either (or worse, missunderstand it)