Calibrating the joystick

[Anthony Trice]

Hi! Apologies if this is a stupid question!!

I have a registered copy of your FSUIPC module and have used it to calibrate my Saitek basic joystick. However, on the joystick page, within your module, the numbers are changing in the boxes after I have set them. In addition within FS 2002 the throttles and the cockpit stick are seen to be juddering. On the ground the aircraft appears to be drifting to the right even though there is no crosswind. Have I not calibrated the joystick correctly?

Anthony Trice

[Pete Dowson]

on the joystick page, within your module, the numbers are changing in the boxes after I have set them.

The IN and OUT numbers on the left aren't set by you. They are the live real numbers -- IN from the joystick and OUT to FS after calibration. The numbers you can set are those on the right, under each of the separate "Set" buttons. Those are set by you to calibrate the axis and stay fixed unless you change them.

In addition within FS 2002 the throttles and the cockpit stick are seen to be juddering.

Jitter on your joystick inputs isn't cured or caused by calibration. If the digital filter I provide since FSUIPC 3.40 isn't enough to smooth those jitters then you will need to investigate the cause. Things like poor power supply, bad connections, and interference from other devices can cause jitter on joysticks. If yours is connected to a game port then jitter is even more likely -- especially if you use a game port on a sound card.

On the ground the aircraft appears to be drifting to the right even though there is no crosswind. Have I not calibrated the joystick correctly?

Drifting when you are taxiing? Do you steer with rudder pedals or have auto-rudder set and use aileron? There's several possible reasons for failing to keep straight -- incorrect calibration of the centre is one, yes, but rudder and aileron trim also need checking.

Please note the version 3.41 of FSUIPC is now available, and fixes some problems with calibration of axes which have no centres.

Regards,

Pete

[Hans Hartmann]

Hi Pete,

a friend of mine just told me that he got a range of -16384 to 32768 when calibrating the throttle axis with 3.41. I just installed version 3.41 too and noticed the same. That means that a 2/3 throttle setting results into full throttle in FS.

We both use FS9.1, FSUIPC 3.41 and MS Sidewinder FFB2.

Thanks a lot.

Best regards,

Hans

[Pete Dowson]

a friend of mine just told me that he got a range of -16384 to 32768 when calibrating the throttle axis with 3.41. I just installed version 3.41 too and noticed the same. That means that a 2/3 throttle setting results into full throttle in FS.

Really?

I'll check it out over the weekend. Not sure how that could happen.

Regards,

Pete

[Anthony Trice]

Thanks for the reply Peter.

My joystick is connected via a game port on a sound card. I do not have rudder pedals and rely on autorudder. I steer using the keyboard number pad keys as I find this is more controllable than using the joystick.

Anthony Trice

[Pete Dowson]

Big Ouch!

I just checked -- you are quite correct.

The calibrations for 5 of the axes are to a maximum of 32768 when they need to be to 16384. The axes affected are:

Page 1: Throttle

Page 2: all (Prop pitch, Mixture, Left and Right brakes).

This means, as you say, that the best calibration will only use 2/3rds of your axis travel. Yuck!

The bug was actually in 3.40 but it was masked (cancelled) by the other bug which I just fixed -- fixing the one revealed the other. Sorry.

I'll get a revised version out (it will be 3.411) some time tomorrow.

Thanks for reporting it so quick. I just wish my other testers were as good! :wink:

Regards,

Pete

[Hans Hartmann]

fixing the one revealed the other. Sorry.

Oh, don't worry. I know that feeling very well, happens to me all the time :D

Thanks for the quick help :)