P3D V4.5 with Maxflightstick. Best control settings [Answered]

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butchkravitz
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P3D V4.5 with Maxflightstick. Best control settings [Answered]

Post by butchkravitz » Thu Nov 19, 2020 5:58 pm

Hello, board - MilViz newb here. Experienced fixed wing pilot IRL, and years with P3D flying G58 Baron. Time on my hands now, learning to fly MD530.
Just received Maxflightstick control set (206-ish generic collective, cyclic and anti-torque pedals), installed MD530 and Cabri G2 aircraft add-ons.
Questions for you experts:
- what's the consensus for best sensitivity and dead zone settings? I've mapped correctly, and they work, but not sure they're at "real" yet
- which control calibration rules? I've setup in Windows USB Game Controller and then within P3D. Or, do they "sum" somehow?
- why does MilViz require P3D to start with "default" aircraft? I've found indeed it will not work properly otherwise. Seems unnecessarily inconvenient to me.
It's a start - and I'm enjoying it already. Thanks in advance.
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Slayer
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Re: P3D V4.5 with Maxflightstick. Best control settings

Post by Slayer » Fri Nov 20, 2020 12:01 pm

There are really no hard fast rules as there are so many different controls on the market. Find what works for you and go with it.

For deadzone I use that to nullify the "slop" around center that you get with most joysticks. For instance if you can jiggle the stick because of mechanical slop around center and it is sending unwanted inputs, increase your deadzone a little at a time until it goes away or will not cause movement when your stick is centered and you let go of it.

For calibration I believe if you are using direct input then the windows calibration apply. If you use Raw, then you are using unfiltered raw input directly from the control effectively ignoring control panel calibration.

Regarding using a default aircraft. In short It is required on some aircraft to initialize certain variables in the sim that will not otherwise work. It is a common practice with many add ons. Some don't require it.

butchkravitz
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Re: P3D V4.5 with Maxflightstick. Best control settings

Post by butchkravitz » Mon Nov 23, 2020 6:02 pm

Thank you, Steve -

The Maxflightstick control set has some noise in it, so I've tried to set the deadzone to mask that. For example, even when I'm holding the cyclic stick in place and very still, I can see the stick bouncing on the display screen, so I've gradually expanded the dead zone until it doesn't change the actual power setting in the sim. The rudder pedals are also noisy, but the main problem with them is that they are just waaaay to sensitive. They also seem to have more input delay than the other controls, which leads to chasing the yaw ball when flying.

So, if I change from Direct to Raw in Setup USB Game Controls panel, that bypasses the Windows calibration, but not the controls calibrations in P3D? Would that reduce the control lag time? If I'm already doing the control calibration in P3D itself, why do it twice?

I'm blessed to have a friend who is a recently retired Army Colonel, was the commander of a 600+ Blackhawk squadron at the Base near here. He doesn't have time in the 530; but, has lots of time in 206, EC135, and of course UH-60H. He spent a couple of hours with me flying the 530 while I gradually adjusted all the deadzone and sensitivity settings until it "felt right" to him. Here's a pic of the resulting settings. But, as I mentioned before, the rudder still doesn't feel quite right - too sensitive and too slow to respond. I welcome your thoughts, please:
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Re: P3D V4.5 with Maxflightstick. Best control settings

Post by Slayer » Mon Nov 23, 2020 10:26 pm

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This is the setting in P3D I'm referring to in regards to RAW/DirectInput. I believe what you see in windows game controllers is just showing you raw data not actually letting you use it(unless there is some setting you have that I don't)

If you use VSYNC it can induce controller lag in games (and P3D) but there is always a tradeoff as you may get screen tearing.

I always put a rather large deadzone in rudders as they tend to overreact in the sim. Try a 5 for deadzone and drop your sensitivity to 5 or so and turn off vsync if you are using it. Other than that there is not a whole lot you can do as P3D doesn't allow you to adjust control curves like other sims (DCS) to really fine tune it.

Just to be sure. You have a key mapped in MVAMS for force trim and are using it?

butchkravitz
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Re: P3D V4.5 with Maxflightstick. Best control settings

Post by butchkravitz » Tue Nov 24, 2020 6:07 pm

Thank you again, Steve - I appreciate your continued prompt attention and assistance.

I do presently have that Input Method button set to "Raw". Sorry about my confusion previously with where that was. I had previously set the Windows USB Game Controller back to "Default", anyway. What is the functional difference between "Raw" and using the DirectInput API, anyway? As I did mention previously, one would expect that less processing means better control responsiveness, right?

I have tried turning off VSync, but the FPS hit is too great for my existing GTX770 card. When the new RTX 3000 -series cards actually become available (lol - yeah, right) and I can do that upgrade, I'll try again.

I changed my rudder settings to 5 and 5 as you suggested, and it does seem to be an improvement, although it's still too sensitive in general, as you mentioned.

I've read about the MVAMS force trim, but I'm not (yet) using it - I don't fully understand the feature in the sim, to be honest. Of course I use trim when flying fixed wing (both electric and manual), so I expect trim in rotorcraft will be similarly important and useful. In the RFM, it shows the hat switch as Cyclic Trim. But that is commonly mapped to views (Look around) in most sims. Should I map force trim there? Sorry, just not enough detail in the instructions for me..

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Re: P3D V4.5 with Maxflightstick. Best control settings

Post by Slayer » Tue Nov 24, 2020 10:50 pm

On a heli when you press the trim button - the position of your cyclic , rudder, collective etc becomes the centerpoint of the controls therefore releasing hydraulic pressure off the stick and rudder so you don't have to constantly put pressure on the controls to hold an attitude. So instead of like an aircraft where you trim up /down/yaw etc. You simply push the button and when you release it the controls hold that position. Makes it a lot easier to hover etc without having to fight the controls the whole time. What it means for you since you don't have force feedback controls is that you can let your stick center and the heli will hold that attitude.

Some chopper pilots maneuver while holding the button down then release it where they have the controls where they want, others do lots of trim button clicks and fine adjustments. The cyclic trim works more like an aircraft where it allows fine adjustments without having to push the trim button and mess with your rudders or collective.

butchkravitz
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Re: P3D V4.5 with Maxflightstick. Best control settings

Post by butchkravitz » Wed Nov 25, 2020 7:55 pm

Thanks again, Steve -

I've mapped that as you instructed to one of the push buttons on the Maxflightstick cyclic. I'll be experimenting with in the days ahead.

So, to be clear, a "real" MD530 has cyclic trim, which trims cyclic only; but, it does not (?) have the "force trim", which trims all controls at their respective setting(s) when activated (button pushed)? I can see how both would be useful to have -

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Re: P3D V4.5 with Maxflightstick. Best control settings

Post by Slayer » Wed Nov 25, 2020 9:52 pm

Butch: for an in depth explanation and how to use it ( there are 2 other switches) please have a look at our product page and scroll to the bottom. There is a great explanation on how it all works.

https://milviz.com/flight/products/MD530F-PBR/index.php

butchkravitz
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Re: P3D V4.5 with Maxflightstick. Best control settings [Answered]

Post by butchkravitz » Tue Dec 01, 2020 4:48 pm

Thanks again, Steve -
The answer to many of the "where is that documented?" questions: "Scroll Down!" lol
Richard


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