Controlling Left and Right Throttles with Special SC offsets

[MichaelB]

Hi Peter,

 

I am trying to set up for testing purposes a saitek throttle quadrant to use special offsets to control Engine 1 and 2 within FSUIPC with two axis until I build my proper TQ for this Aircraft

 

The offsets which are dedicated for this avionics software are

 

LEFT_THROTTLE=0x18173
 

RIGHT_THROTTLE=0x18174

 

I was told that the values for it are from 0 to 1023 (1023 being MAX power)

 

 

First off, I have disabled all axis assignment in FSX regarding the throttles.

 

Second I went into FSUIPC and went into the "Axis Assignment" tab and scanned and found the left throttle axis. I then selected the "Send to FS as normal axis" I then selected the <Custom Control> and put in the offset for Engine 1 throttle which is 0x18173 and clicked ok. FSUIPC then showed it as 98675

 

I then carried out the same for the Second axis with the second offset and FSUIPC then showed .98676.

 

I am getting a response but it's always either 0 or max power with the levers when I add this to the FSUIPC.ini file.

 

[Axes]
0=0Z,1,F,98675,0,0,0,+1023
1=0U,256,F,98676,0,0,0,+1023
2=1U,256,D,3,0,0,0,*0.5,+8192
3=1V,256,D,3,0,0,0,*-0.5,-8191

 

As you can see I have another two axis from a Pokeys card for rudder pedals in which I completed with two pots from another post I seen you posted to help another member here on the forum. (2=1U and 3=1V) with some added math which works perfectly by the way, thanks for that information.

 

I was wondering what would be the proper math for my throttles axis so that I can use them correctly as of now, they only either go full power or idle power.

 

Thanking you in advance

 

Michael

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pete Dowson]

Hi Peter,

 

I am trying to set up for testing purposes a saitek throttle quadrant to use special offsets to control Engine 1 and 2 within FSUIPC with two axis until I build my proper TQ for this Aircraft

 

The offsets which are dedicated for this avionics software are

 

LEFT_THROTTLE=0x18173

 

RIGHT_THROTTLE=0x18174

 

 

Offsets range from 0x0000 to 0xFFFF and except for certain areas free for users they are either all allocated already or should be applied for before use so I can ensure they do not conflict with anything else.  The values you have a meaningless.

 

Second I went into FSUIPC and went into the "Axis Assignment" tab and scanned and found the left throttle axis. I then selected the "Send to FS as normal axis" I then selected the <Custom Control> and put in the offset for Engine 1 throttle which is 0x18173 and clicked ok. FSUIPC then showed it as 98675

 

Ah, so you do not mean "offsets" at all, but "controls"! Those are always known in decimal in any case.

 

I am getting a response but it's always either 0 or max power with the levers when I add this to the FSUIPC.ini file.

 

[Axes]

0=0Z,1,F,98675,0,0,0,+1023

1=0U,256,F,98676,0,0,0,+1023

2=1U,256,D,3,0,0,0,*0.5,+8192

3=1V,256,D,3,0,0,0,*-0.5,-8191

 

 

Well, that's not surprising, is it, when you are adding 1023 to the result? Why are you doing that?

 

I was wondering what would be the proper math for my throttles axis so that I can use them correctly as of now, they only either go full power or idle power.

 

Since I have no idea what numbers your throttles are providing, I can't possibly advise how to scale them to the range you need. You will have to measure the minimum number and the maximum number, that multiple it by a suitable number to get a range of 1024 and add whatever it needs to get it to start at 0. You should be able to see the numbers you are getting in the FSUIPC axis assignments tab -- but remove that +1023 from your assignments first!

 

Regards

Pete

[MichaelB]

Hi Pete,

 

+1023 is now removed and I have a normal Axis line added. I just need to add the math to the end of the line...

 

Thanks very much for your informative reply. My range on the Axis numbers (Hardware) goes from 0 % throttle in Axis which = -16384 and 100 % throttle axis (Hardware) = +16383, That's what 0 to 100% looks like in the Axis assignments tab shows when I move them from 0 to 100 %.

 

I was looking at the manual for advanced users in the AXIS section and I can see about scaling the actual movement for the throttle axis regarding the "Controls" not offsets as I stated before, but that is what I was given via the vendor, hence my offset statement.

 

The reason I also state about the 1024 as the MAX for the "Controls" or which I thought was the Axis Max for the avionics as thats what I was told it was. From 0 / 1024. So hence why I mentioned it in my first post. The developers don't use FSUIPC or have no expierence with it so that's why I am here asking about it, as I already asked them, and that's one of the answers I got, other than having to program Hardware to Simconnect etc.

 

I will keep scaling the multiplier to see what I can achieve. I will report back once I have hit a block wall again.

 

Thanks for your help so far Pete !

 

regards

 

Michael.

Edited October 23, 2013 by MichaelB

[Pete Dowson]

My range on the Axis numbers (Hardware) goes from 0 % throttle in Axis which = -16384 and 100 % throttle axis (Hardware) = +16383, That's what 0 to 100% looks like in the Axis assignments tab shows when I move them from 0 to 100 %.

 

I will keep scaling the multiplier to see what I can achieve. I will report back once I have hit a block wall again.

 

You don't need to "keep scaling", you can calculate it now you know the inputs! Look, it is simple arithmetic. Your input is -16384 to +16383, which makes 65536 total range, right? You want a total range of just 1024, so the "scale" is 1024 divided by 65536:

 

1024/65536 = 0.015625 (use a calculator to check if you wish).

 

So the first part of the 'scaler' is *0.015625

 

This would give you -512 to +511 and you want 0 to 1023, so now you need to add 512. So the total part to be added is:

 

*0.015625,+512

 

See? Nothing magic, nothing mysterious just simple arithmetic!

 

Pete

[MichaelB]

And here's me thinking you were some form of magician, just kidding.

 

Thanks Pete, it was adding the - and the + and then dividing by the max to get the multiplier (Scaler) I missed or miss understood in both the manual and your instructions here. Hell, I was pretty good at maths in school, but that was a while ago. It's late here, and had a busy day with kids and work.

 

Thanks again Pete, it's working great now. As always, your software always gets me out of a situation regarding hardware / software integration.

 

regards

 

Michael.