Flight Control Settings

What are good flight control settings for the pitch and roll? I am currently at Deadzone 10 and Curve 30. Everything else is default.

When I fly the Frogfoot, the controls are just about useless. The nose mushes and flops around and roll control is out of control pretty much. Its not as bad with the P-51 but still not great.

I am a newbie, so please consider that when giving advice! Thanks in advance!

What controller are you using?

That's a lot of deadzone unless you have a very gittery or sloppy controller.

Its an old Logitech Attack 3. Not good to begin with, I know.....

Curve settings are a very individual thing and often change for a given individual over time, as they become accustomed to the specific aircraft.

That being said, unless you have a very sloppy center on your stick, that is a large dead zone. A dead zone that big can mess up your timing and sense of control since you will move the stick fairly far before the aircraft responds, somewhat suddenly. This can lead to over-reaction on your part which just makes things worse.

A curve of 30 is fairly gentle on the edges and in the center, but it gets rather steep in between.

You might try trimming down your dead zone or, if your stick is fairly accurate, eliminate it. Then cut your curve back to between 20 and 25. From there you are just going to have to play with it until you are comfortable.

Lastly, I would suggest trying to concentrate on smooth gentle movements of the stick while in flight. Attempt to see how small a change in your flight path you can make by just barely moving the stick. Then gradually move to larger changes while keeping the motions smooth and even.

Remember, your stick is a lot shorter than the one in the actual aircraft so the amount of stick movement needed, under most circumstances, is going to be smaller than you might think.

Hope that helps.

Thanks! I started with no DZ and no changes to the curve. Read online that these settings were good, but they made virtually no difference.

I'll keep working on it, but I'm wondering if its not something else. The nose just flops around on the horizon and the plane mushes through maneuvers.

The best way to for someone to help answer that further is for you to post a short track of something like a runway start take-off and then a short circuit around the airfield. At the end of a flight there is a button, below the briefing table, to save the track. The file gets saved to your Saved Games\DCS\Tracks folder, IIRC. You can attach the track to a post.

Also, there is an on screen control indicator, turned on with R-CTRL + ENTER, that will show you what your control in the sim is doing. That way you can compare your stick movement to what the sim thinks it is receiving. It would also be good if this was turned on if/when you record a track to post.

Well, I looked at the track you posted in your other thread (not sure why you needed two); your settings are probably correct, I just think you have unreasonable expectations on how a real aircraft behaves. Watching your track, it's only ever 100% input or nothing.

You can almost never yank the stick back fully like that and expect anything reasonable to happen, especially not in an Su-25 doing 400 km/h. In that track, you stall the aircraft and fall out of the sky. Be gentle!

The track I'm talking about was posted here, if anyone wants to give a second opinion.

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2184700&postcount=6

I adjusted my control inputs and its better, but still not anywhere close to realistic.

Question: How does the A-10C or F-15C fly in this game compared to the Su-25?

You are not going to get realistic control inputs on a plastic joystick with well under 1/4 of the throw of the real stick for starters. That you have a decidedly crummy stick is only going to make it worse. That isn't to say you can't learn to fly well with it, just that its going to contribute to the equation of how unrealistic flying these airplanes on a desktop PC is.

Curves are generally very unrealistic as well. A linear input is the most "realistic" but it bothers people because it involves so much finesse, which has a lot to do with that stick throw issue.

I am curious, when you say its not realistic, what are you comparing it to?

If you are basically flying the aircraft improperly due to inexperience it may simply be that the aircraft is behaving perfectly correct and that you're just not used to controlling it. Aircraft require different inputs at a different energy states and phases of flight, loads, etc. When they teach people things like coordinated turns using rudder the term "blending inputs" comes up. Blending three inputs to create a single elegant motion through the air is not a skill that just shows up because you have the right stick settings.

For my money, if your stick isn't totally shot and spiking and there's no deadzone the size of a football field I'd try no curves for several weeks. Everyone says they can't do it, I said I couldn't do it, now I think that doing anything else is absurd, that is if you want "realistic" behavior from your control inputs.

Edit. And for whats its worth the A-10C handles beautifully. It hates to stall and will usually spit you back out into a stable condition the moment you relent on the human input that lead to that stall. Just don't load it up to max takeoff weight and expect it not to mush around.

Thanks! I started with no DZ and no changes to the curve. Read online that these settings were good, but they made virtually no difference.

Watching your track, it's only ever 100% input or nothing.

It sounds like the stick is bound to keyboard commands and not axes.

It sounds like the stick is bound to keyboard commands and not axes.

So how can I confirm this? How do I fix it?

So how can I confirm this? How do I fix it?

Well, you can perhaps show us a track where you don't ever move the stick to it's full extent. Try flying for a minute only using half of the available travel in every direction. If you don't have any trouble doing this, I think we can conclude that your controls are set up properly.

So how can I confirm this?

Take a screen shot of your joystick controls settings and post it. We will be able to tell.

How do I fix it?

Clear the incorrect assignments, if they exist, then click the Axis Assign button near the bottom of the screen and assign them to the correct axis.

Given the old stick you are using, with the large deadzones, I'd save some money and shoot an inexpensive and very rich in function saitek x-52. I really like the stick for its configurability and cheap price.

For the settings: I fly without any curves or deadzones

Given the old stick you are using, with the large deadzones, I'd save some money and shoot an inexpensive and very rich in function saitek x-52. I really like the stick for its configurability and cheap price.

 

For the settings: I fly without any curves or deadzones

I'm sorry, but the X-52 is not inexpensive. It's a fantastic stick, I agree, but it's not cheap.

It is compared with other sticks with the same functionality. Name a programmable HOTAS stick that is cheaper than the X-52...

And you can get it used for almost half the price.

I tried to fly with a Logitech Extreme 3D pro, I don't know how much it is comparable with the OPs stick, but flying was hard, aiming impossible...

Who was comparing it to other HOTAS sticks?

It's an expensive stick compared with the one the guy has already.

Who was comparing it to other HOTAS sticks?

 

It's an expensive stick compared with the one the guy has already.

A can of Pepsi is expensive compared to something you already own and have paid for. In the continuum of flight control peripherals the X52 is the cheapest option with the most functionality.

What people are really saying when they say its inexpensive is they mean its the option with the greatest value for price when trying to spend as little as possible. Having something that is next to useless is cheaper but hardly good value for your time simming either.

Also I own 3 X-52s and one set of Saitek Rudder pedals. The lot cost me less than $200 because I bought it all off craigslist. The cheapest I got an X52 for was $30.

I just last week bought a Logitech Driving Force GT basically brand new off craigstlist for $50. That website is amazing.;)

Here look. If I was in thsi guy's position this'd be a steal. (noting obviously I can't know what city he's in) http://abbotsford.craigslist.ca/sop/4685187378.html