Problems with CH Throttle Quadrant and FSUIPC

[dom1984]

Hi, I'm using a resgistered copy of FSUIPC to calibrate my CH Throttle Quadrant. All has been working generally fine, but I've recently had some problems in getting the throttles to work with the Aerosoft Airbus X Extended. Two of the throttle axes dont seem to work, as the throttle is too jumpy (one axes skips straight to the Climb detent, missing all of the manual mode, the other works ok in the low ranges then skips the Climb and Flex detents and moves to TOGA). When I looked in FSUIPC I noticed the raw position values of the throttle levers seemed to be skipping a huge amount of the range. For example, only moving the throttle slightly caused it to go from -65 to 16383 on one axis and from 0 to -16384 on the other, completely missing all the values in between. I've recalibrated using the CH Manager and all looks ok there, but I'm still getting this problem in FSUIPC and can't figure out why. Nor can I seem to find an answer here on the forum. It's worth noting that the other axes seem to work fine. First time I've posted here so let me know if I haven't posted enough information. Many thanks!

[Pete Dowson]

Hi, I'm using a resgistered copy of FSUIPC to calibrate my CH Throttle Quadrant. All has been working generally fine, but I've recently had some problems in getting the throttles to work with the Aerosoft Airbus X Extended. Two of the throttle axes dont seem to work, as the throttle is too jumpy (one axes skips straight to the Climb detent, missing all of the manual mode, the other works ok in the low ranges then skips the Climb and Flex detents and moves to TOGA). When I looked in FSUIPC I noticed the raw position values of the throttle levers seemed to be skipping a huge amount of the range. For example, only moving the throttle slightly caused it to go from -65 to 16383 on one axis and from 0 to -16384 on the other, completely missing all the values in between. I've recalibrated using the CH Manager and all looks ok there, but I'm still getting this problem in FSUIPC and can't figure out why. Nor can I seem to find an answer here on the forum. It's worth noting that the other axes seem to work fine. First time I've posted here so let me know if I haven't posted enough information. Many thanks!

It certainly sounds likely that you have conflicting assignments -- perhaps both in FSUIPC and FS. However, if things were okay and only recently started behaving badly, without any software settings changed at all, then you can't rule out hardware or USB connection problems. But check for multiple assignments first. If you haven't disabled controllers in FS this sort of thing can occur quite easily as FS makes automatic assignments when it things you've attached new controls.

I would also be suspicious of the CH Control Manager. Most folks find things work better without, I think, though perhaps others will advise you more on that as I don't have any CH stuff myself.

BTW you posted the same question twice with different thread titles. To avoid confusion I've deleted the other one.

Regards

Pete

[dom1984]

Thanks Pete. Sorry for creating the second thread by mistake!

Generally I use FSUIPC for the controls and leave the FSX Controllers option disabled. But I did once mistakenly try to calibrate the throttle through FSX. I remember that caused me no end of problems and I had to delete and completely reinstall the controller. I wonder if this could be the source of the problem if FSUIPC remembers the old controller.

Do you know how I can delete all the assignments so I can start again and calibrate with only FSUIPC rather than CH Control Manager or anything else? I suppose you never know, but I suspect a hardware issue is unlikely as the throttle is only a few months old and the PC only a month old.

Thanks again,

Dominic

[Pete Dowson]

I wonder if this could be the source of the problem if FSUIPC remembers the old controller.

If you've moved its connection then it would appear with a different joystick number. If the old joystick assignments are still there, then, yes, that could interfere, depending on what drivers are also left in Windows. Just check the settings in the [Axes] sections of the FSUIPC INI file. Also the [JoyNames] section which lists all the devices FSUIPC knows about.

Do you know how I can delete all the assignments so I can start again

If you want to start again completely, just delete the INI file before loading FS. FSUIPC will make a new one with no assignments. If it is only the axes you are worried about, just delete the [Axes] sections.

Pete

[bdf369]

Have you checked the Aerosoft forums? http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/forum/551-throttle-issues-with-fsuipc/

Seems like there are some nice Lua scripts that add idle detents and reverse thrust for CH throttles. I don't use CH or the AXE but my understanding was that you're not supposed to use FSUIPC calibration with the AXE. I would make an aircraft-specific profile and set it up as recommended in the support forum.

Barry

[dom1984]

Pete, Barry, thanks for the tips. I'm away at the moment but will follow up on your suggestions when I get back home in a week.

Thanks,

Dominic

[dom1984]

I've tried deleting the [Axes] section and reloading FSX. I don't see any joystick assignments, CH Manager is not running and FSX Controllers is disabled. But I still have the problem of the skipping axis values. Only moving the throttle slightly still causes one axis to go from -65 to 16383 and another from 0 to -16384. The other four axes seem to be working fine.

I've previously checked the Aerosoft Forums and managed to get one of the throttles working with the LUA scripts. But I can't get these scripts to work on either of the axes with the jumping values.

I think if somehow I can resolve the values problem I'll be able to get it to work. Would a full reinstall of FSUIPC help at this point?

Thanks,

Dominic

[Pete Dowson]

Only moving the throttle slightly still causes one axis to go from -65 to 16383 and another from 0 to -16384. The other four axes seem to be working fine.

It certainly sounds like either faulty potentiometers or, perhaps more likely, bad definitions of those two axes in the Registry, possibly caused by the original installation or another driver. If the values you see coming in on the Axis assignments tab in FSUIPC are misbehaving so much there's really nothing FSUIPC can do about that -- those are the values actually being read from the device.

I think if somehow I can resolve the values problem I'll be able to get it to work. Would a full reinstall of FSUIPC help at this point?

Since a "full reinstall" of FSUIPC merely replaces the one FSUIPC DLL with an identical FSUIPC DLL, no. It will make n difference. FSUIPC does not store things away in Registries or anywhere else. Everythng is cntained in the program (the DLL) and its settings (the INI file). You'd probably be better off trying to uninstall the joystick device and driver (eg via the Windows device manager) and reinstalling, or even allowing Windows to select a suitable default driver.

For CH devices you should find a lot of help over at the CH Hangar, http://www.ch-hangar.com/. There's also a lot over in Bob Church's "stickworks", http://www.stickworks.com/, including a lot of downloadable files and programs for helping sort stuff out.

Regards

Pete

[dom1984]

Thanks very much. I'll follow up on your suggestions. Regards, Dominic

[dom1984]

I fixed the issue! I used the Controller Settings within FSX to reset the controller assignments and now all seems to be working fine. Thanks for all the help. Dominic