Need Help With Rudder Pedals

[English Rebel]

I just took my Saitek rudders off FSX control and set them up under FSUIPC. Under Axis I selected Rudder in the drop down box with the Send to Calibration box checked. In calibration I followed instructions as to setting MAX and MIN (backing off a little at the two extremes). I set the NUL zone in center two boxes. Now when I'm taxing it's very difficult to keep the Cessna 172 on the centerline as it swings too much and if I take my feet off the pedals the plane wants to turn to the right (the ball in the yaw indicator moves to the right and stops at about one third way). This did not happen when I was using FSX to control the pedals although the plane was very difficult to control on the ground which is why I decided to go the FSUIPC route instead.

Here is my .INI file entry (the Saitek is CR). Am I doing something wrong and do the rudder pedals control the nose wheel steering below a certain speed (not sure that is important as I don't see any settings in FSUIPC for nose wheel steering except I see an entry in the .INI file for Steering Tiller Control)?

Thanks

Alan

[Pete Dowson]

Under Axis I selected Rudder in the drop down box with the Send to Calibration box checked. In calibration I followed instructions as to setting MAX and MIN (backing off a little at the two extremes). I set the NUL zone in center two boxes. Now when I'm taxing it's very difficult to keep the Cessna 172 on the centerline as it swings too much and if I take my feet off the pedals the plane wants to turn to the right (the ball in the yaw indicator moves to the right and stops at about one third way). This did not happen when I was using FSX to control the pedals although the plane was very difficult to control on the ground which is why I decided to go the FSUIPC route instead.

When you say "NUL zone" do you mean the centre zone, around the area where the pedals go when you take your feet off? That's what you need to get right.

I see from your INI file that you have Filtering enabled on the rudder. Why? That is generally not advised unless you have a really badly behaved set of pedals. Try turning it off.

Do you have the FS realism set high? If so, check some of the sliders. most of them need to be near centre for realistic torque and ground effects. You'll ALWAYS need to use rudder to keep staright when taxiing, though, and the twisting effect is higher with more throttle, so keep the throttle low. Also take care of side winds by ailerons into wind.

Here is my .INI file entry (the Saitek is CR). Am I doing something wrong and do the rudder pedals control the nose wheel steering below a certain speed (not sure that is important as I don't see any settings in FSUIPC for nose wheel steering except I see an entry in the .INI file for Steering Tiller Control)?

Steering tiller is nose wheel control, but FS uses rudder input for both in any case. If you have a steering tiller, separate from your pedals, you can use that with different calibration to suite ground steering, and FSUIPC will balance the two depending on airspeed.

Regards

Pete

[English Rebel]

When you say "NUL zone" do you mean the centre zone, around the area where the pedals go when you take your feet off? That's what you need to get right.

Yes I mean that I moved my pedals a little in either direction and set them in calibration.

I see from your INI file that you have Filtering enabled on the rudder. Why? That is generally not advised unless you have a really badly behaved set of pedals. Try turning it off.

Okay I did that and it made control a little easier but when I taxi at walking pace it's still a little tough to keep on the center line as it wants to over correct. Should I set a larger NUL zone (mine is from 64 to -64)?.

Do you have the FS realism set high? If so, check some of the sliders. most of them need to be near centre for realistic torque and ground effects. You'll ALWAYS need to use rudder to keep staright when taxiing, though, and the twisting effect is higher with more throttle, so keep the throttle low. Also take care of side winds by ailerons into wind.

All Realism sliders are set to the middle.

BTW is it possible to have both left and right brakes operable from one pedal as every time I brake it wants to slew to one side or another as I must be hitting one just a fraction of a second before the other?

Thanks for your help.

Alan

[Pete Dowson]

Okay I did that and it made control a little easier but when I taxi at walking pace it's still a little tough to keep on the center line as it wants to over correct. Should I set a larger NUL zone (mine is from 64 to -64)?.

Well, I expect the minimum change is about 64, or even more, so that's the same a not having a null zone. If you are over-controlling try using a slope with a flattened centre.

Taxiing straight is something learned with practice.

BTW is it possible to have both left and right brakes operable from one pedal as every time I brake it wants to slew to one side of another as I must be hitting one just a fraction of a second before the other?

Both brakes together are via the "." key on the keyboard. If you want to lose the ability to use toe brakes for differential braking (better cornering), the I suppose you could assign both toe brake axes to both left and right brakes. The axis assignments facility does allow up to 4 assignments to each axis, after all. But it is a little wasteful of having toe brakes in the first place.

Regards

Pete

[English Rebel]

Thanks Pete, I'll practice with different slopes and widen the NUL zone.

Alan