Tiller - a feature suggestion

[Murray Crane]

Pete,

I was thinking out loud on the FDS forum about how to get a separate controller for tiller/nosewheel, and I came up the following:

All you'd need is a program that hooks into FSUIPC and assigns a different axis/controller to the rudder when on the ground and below 30kts (taxiing, in other words...) That way, you'd be able to have (in effect) a "tiller" axis/controller for ground movement and a "pedals" axis/controller for rudder while flying/during takeoff and landing rolls...

In thinking a little longer, it occurs to me that this sort of feature could be a part of FSUIPC itself - but I'm no programmer, I haven't the faintest idea whether it would even be possible to "kludge" a different controller, even using (the excellent) FSUIPC!

Thoughts?

[Pete Dowson]

All you'd need is a program that hooks into FSUIPC and assigns a different axis/controller to the rudder when on the ground and below 30kts (taxiing, in other words...) That way, you'd be able to have (in effect) a "tiller" axis/controller for ground movement and a "pedals" axis/controller for rudder while flying/during takeoff and landing rolls...

That's more or less what I do in PFC.DLL for the PFC jet cockpit, which has a tiller axis input too. I actually go further, gradually changing the sensitivities of the two inputs -- what FS sees is a combination of the two, all tiller at 0 kts, all rudder at about 60, half and half at 30.

In thinking a little longer, it occurs to me that this sort of feature could be a part of FSUIPC itself - but I'm no programmer, I haven't the faintest idea whether it would even be possible to "kludge" a different controller, even using (the excellent) FSUIPC!

You can do something very much like it now, using the multiple control input facilites. You won't get the automatic changeover between the two inputs which I implemented for PFC -- but you can do that yourself of course, just take your hand off the one and use the other.

You would calibrate the tiller input (in Windows' Game Controllers and/or FS Assignments) to give maximum effectiveness over a smaller range, and the rudder using its normal full range, thus emulating the greater turning power of the nosewheel.

Just check the section in the Advanced User's guide on Multiple Joysticks. You can actually have up to four different inputs for all three flight controls, as well as the proportional brakes and main (single) throttle. FSUIPC takes the one with the highest deflection, so you just park or leave the unused ones alone (making sure they have an adequate null zone so they don't interfere if they jitter).

These facilities have been available in FSUIPC for a few years now I think.

Regards,

Pete