[Proposals concerning Saitek X-52 problems]

Thanks for the fast reply, Pete.

this was a big help!

you should leave the throttle at idle and rightclick on the Thrustlever on the panel, to get autothrottle and automatic propeller control. So far, everything works fine, the engines spool up and off you go. The problem begins if f.e. you have to steer a little to stay on the runway: This gives a little rudder axis input and the X52 will update not only the rudder, but also the throttle axis, putting it to zero, since the throttle lever is still at idle. So, abruptly, you will lose all power.

You simply need a larger null zone in the idle position so that there's no change in the values.

It is not a problem of the calibration of the throttle axis. The problem is, that the throttle axis will be updated after any movement on any OTHER axis. I am not touching the throttle at all, but as soon as I lift the elevator, or steer the rudder, the throttle will be killed.

BTW, the updating of all axis' at a time also gives FSUIPC problems to identify the right axis in "axis assignments"

That's exactly why I added the facility to temporarily ignore axes. Didn't you try using that?

Thanks for the hint, however, this is not a big problem for me, I manged the assignments allright.

1. It would be great to assign a joystick button to turn on/off the processing of a given axis.

Well, I don't think you need it, but there is already an assignable FSUIPC control to turn the throttles on and off. In fact there are three -- 'off', 'on' and 'toggle'.

This did the trick, I didn't know of this option. FSUIPC is simply amazing!

2. Helpful could also be an option, that disables the throttle axis as soon as the autothrottle is activated, and reactivates it if it is turned off again.

Autothrottle has always been a problem with "jittery" throttle axes, ever since I can remember (FS4?). The solution which always works is to make sure you have good reliable dead zones at both max and min positions, and park the throttle when engaging autothrottle. I normally park it at max on climb-out, and reduce it to min at the start of the descent.

This works because FS ignores axes which don't change.

This is, as I just learned, not exactly correct. The DRIVERS of most joysticks ignore axes that do not change. When - as on the X52 - the driver sends a new zero value for the throttle, FS will accept this, even if the throttle wasn't moved.

My old Sidewinder Joystick worked: as long as I didn't touch the throttle lever, no throttle value was transmitted to the computer. When you opened the Sidewinder driver calibration window, the throttle was put to 100% by default, even if the throttle lever was at zero. You could play around with elevators and ailerons and rudders, their values changing accordingly, but the throttle stayed with 100%. Only when you moved the throttle, was the value adjusted.

On the X52, you get the same picture on the driver calibration window at first, but as soon as you touch any one of the axes or buttons, the whole control set is updated, resulting in the throttle going down to 0% without having touched the Lever.

Nevertheless, I am glad I could solve this with the throttles on/off option, thank you again for this great utility.

Torsten

[Proposals concerning Saitek X-52 problems]

Hi,

the Saitek X-52 is a good joystick with lots of features, however, it has some really nasty problems with complex aircraft, that feature autopilot/autothrottle options.

The reason for this, as I found out, is the very bad habit of the X52 to update ALL of its axis, even if only one is processed.

For example, if you try to takeoff with the Flight1 ATR72, you should leave the throttle at idle and rightclick on the Thrustlever on the panel, to get autothrottle and automatic propeller control. So far, everything works fine, the engines spool up and off you go. The problem begins if f.e. you have to steer a little to stay on the runway: This gives a little rudder axis input and the X52 will update not only the rudder, but also the throttle axis, putting it to zero, since the throttle lever is still at idle. So, abruptly, you will lose all power. The F1ATR AP/AT logic will try to compensate by adjusting the power, but this takes its time and at the next rudder or elevator input, the X52 will kill the throttle again. So in the end you get a big struggle between the X52 and the AP/AT logic and an aircraft that has to takeoff with 30 to 50 percent of the possible TO-Thrust.

This whole problem becomes especially funny, if you assign a mixture axis to the x52. Since internally FS9 uses the mixture axis to regulate the fuel flow to the engines of a jet, the X52 logic will kill the engines of a given jet at any joystick movement if you forgot to turn the mixture controll up to 100% after your last prop flight. (And if you did put the mixture to 100%, X52 will open the fuel valves to the engine on every movement...)

BTW, the updating of all axis' at a time also gives FSUIPC problems to identify the right axis in "axis assignments": Most of the time, I get the Z-axis, even if I try elevator or aileron. I presume, the Z-axis is processed first by the X52 logic, so it will be recognized most of the time. So always verify that the values react as they should, otherways try again!

Now, what can we do?

I first tried to solve the problem using the X52 profile editor. Since the X52 can change between profiles in flight, I thought I would make one profile without throttle control and one with throttle control to be able to change inbetween those two as required.

Since it is not possible to directly disable an axis in the profile, I assigned a blank keyboard command to the throttle. Unfortunately, I learned that the axis will be updated anyway, so it didn't help.

I tried to deactivate the joystick in the FS9 menu and access the axis' directly through FSUIPC, but it was just the same. My workaround at this time is to deactivate the Throttle axis assignment and reactivate it as requiredon the FSUIPC axis assignment page. This works, but it is a little annoying to have to go through FSUIPC calibration everytime I turn on the AP/AT.

Here are some proposals to FSUIPC:

1. It would be great to assign a joystick button to turn on/off the processing of a given axis. This could help on a lot of axis conflicts and would be the most practical solution. Such an option on the button page would be great.

2. Helpful could also be an option, that disables the throttle axis as soon as the autothrottle is activated, and reactivates it if it is turned off again. (This will, of course, not work in all cases, since several complex addons don't use the FS9 AT parameters, but have their own logic)

3. An option, that disables mixture (and prop?) axis, if a jet aircraft is used.

4. An interface, that allows gauge programmers to disable given axis' on a given time. I see that a lot of addon designers have the problem of conflicts between joysticks and their autoflight logic, so this could be most helpful.

Just my opinions, I would be glad if some of this could be realized, or maybe someone has an even better idea...

Good flying,

Torsten

[Help needed: unable to make a normal takeoff]

Hi,

I really need some help. I tried for three days now and am completely frustrated, because I could not manage one regular takeoff as described in the tutorial. The autopilot logic seems to behave like a random generator and very often crashes the plane as soon as I turn on the autopilot.

Now here is what I tried:

I always programmed the FMC, first the INIT1 page, after that I entered the route, after that I entered the INIT2 (FUEL) values, and finally I entered the PERF pages.

Now let me try to compare what should happen according to the tutorial and what did happen to me:

1. Insert Altitude (f.e. 13000) and click on the knob to arm CLB mode. (CLB and NAV are armed): No problems

2. Activate TOGA with + keys: No problem

3. This SHOULD happen:Rotate and takeoff

This DID happen: I always needed gigantic runway lengths and TO-speeds. With full fuel, I was not able to takeoff on 13123 ft runway in EDDF.

4. This SHOULD happen: After 100 ft turn on AP1

This DID happen: As soon as I turn on the AP most of the times the plane makes a steep right turn and crashes. In about 25% of my attempts, it worked, but don't ask me why.

5. This SHOULD happen: At thrust Reduction Altitude: "LVR CLB" flashes on FMA. Set thrust levers to CL

This DID happen: I NEVER saw LVR CLB flashing. I tried to enter different thrust reduction altitudes, but it never worked.

6. This SHOULD happen:A/THR turns to white, THR CLB in FMA

This DID happen: THR CLB was in the FMA. However, the plane did not comply with the speed restrictions, it just accelerated until 320 KIAS, even if I entered a restriction

Alternatively, I tried to start with the HDG mode, that often resulted in the plane not keeping the pitch or even descending and crashing as soon as the AP is engaged. When I try to change from HDG to NAV mode, the plane starts flying deep curves (usually to the right) and is not able to capture the course.

So my main problems are:

1. The NAV mode seems to be unable to capture the route in about 75% of the cases: The plane usually makes steep right turns and crashes. I was unable to figure out, why it worked in 25% of the cases.

2. The AP does not always keep the plane climbing, sometimes the plane starts to make steep descents, and I can't figure out why.

3. The Logic seems to be very unstable: It was impossible for me to reproduce any situation. If I followed a strict procedure from beginning to the end, with exactly the same input in the same order, I still very often got completely different results. That made it very difficult to figure out what I was doing wrong. I not even could reproduce my errors and crashes, so I am completely at a loss about what's going on.

Since some of you obviously were able to make a flight with this plane (I didn't even manage the takeoff) please let me know how you did it. What inputs have to be made that the takeoff modes work as described in the tutorial.

In real world, I believe the FBW logic should be a safety instrument, preventing the plane from coming into uncontrollable situations. As far as I experienced it on this bird, the FBW logic is a big risk, because it always tends to crash the plane when it is least expected.

I may add, that I fly a lot of the more sophisticated simulations, like PMDG 737, RFP 742 and I even managed the much critizised SSW A310 and can fly it quite riliably. But with this A340 I am completely at a loss even after three days of trying.

Any help would be appreciated,

Torsten Wille

[V1.2: Nothing works, Panel is completely black]

Ok, I was able to fix it myself.

Here is what happened:

I already had installed on my computer a freeware A340-600 which uses a gauge "a340.gau". The Aviograsf A340 gauges are also packed in a gauge archive named "a340.gau". The installer obviously did not overwrite the existing a340.gau-file (I am glad it didn't). Therefore all the aviograsf gauges were missing, resulting in the black panel.

Now, I renamed the other a340.gau file, installed again, and now it works.

I would suggest, that you use a more specific gauge name in the futere, f. e. "a340AVG.gau" or something like that to avoid such conflicts. There may be other people who have some other A340 panels and gauges installed.

Now I could use the plane. The frame rates are pretty low (around 5 to 7 fps), eventhough I have a 3.2 GHz machine, is there anything which can be done about that ?

With kind greetings,

Torsten Wille

[V1.2: Nothing works, Panel is completely black]

Hi,

I just installed your A340-300 v1.2 and so far nothing seems to work properly:

The installer did not recognise my FS9 directory properly. (No big deal, I entered the correct directory manually, but maybe this could be fixed)

I am getting two versions "Aviograsf" and "Avograsf new". Only the TAP repaint seems to use the new model.

The panel on all versions stays completely black, so it is not possible to use this bird.

Please tell me, how to fix this.

Torsten Wille

My specs:

WinXP and FS2004

3,2 GHz, 1GB RAM

GeForce FX5700VE