Trouble refueling with HOTAS X

I'm getting very frustrated with this guys. I can stay behind the tanker no problem, but as soon as I need to do small changes to position, it all goes pear shaped. I have softened the stick and adjusted the Axis on Pitch,Roll and Rudder. This happens to all modules. General flying, landing etc, no problems.

At the moment, my settings are Deadzone 10, Curvature 30.

Should I loosen the stick fully, or should I be thinking of getting a better joystick. It could be me getting nervous near the end.

I was thinking of setting my Hat switch to Roll as I have Pitch set already. Fed up with practising and watching videos for such a long time and getting nowhere.

Any pointers to joystick etc would be great

I took apart my throttle and filed down the piece of plastic responsible for the detent at 50%. That made more difference than any amount of curves. For the stick, mine is tightened down about half way with a little curve and deadzone. My curvature on X and Y are around 25, and deadzone is 4. It's personal preference I think.

Small corrections are hard with this setup. Part of it is because the base isn't very stable, especially if you have the throttle and stick detached from each other or your cables aren't tucked in their channels properly. Could also be your mounting surface, like if it's on a rolling keyboard tray that moves ever so slightly.

I'm going to eventually get a better HOTAS setup as well. This setup is more for the casual gamer than hardcore folks.

Thanks boscoh for your help. The joystick is set on a solid worktop and cables are stored ok. I don't think I will be filing anything. I will try your settings and see how it goes.

I totally agree with you regarding the joystick upgrade.

Little of column a, little of column b.

If you can, obviously, you'll want an upgrade. Either way, it is often beneficial to make modifications to it. Examples of two modifications recently undertaken here :

Saitek X52 has detents I believe every 25%, or at the 25% and 75% marks, somthing like that. Anyway, we removed the detent altogether. Prior to that, fine corrections in throttle during formation flight, etc, were nearly impossible.

Saitek X56 has extremely thick, goopy glue stuff on the throttle axis, making small adjustments difficult, and it hardened if it sat more than a few seconds stationary. Removing the goop vastly improved the quality of control.

In most cases, such modifications are very easy to undertake. Don't be intimidated, as long as you don't break a wire, you're not going to hurt anything. There's plenty of YouTube video walkthroughs you can follow, as well.

Thanks zhukov032186

I will take a look, but with upgrades, its still a minefield if money is tight. Need something middle of the road to have some confidence with.

Thanks zhukov032186

 

I will take a look, but with upgrades, its still a minefield if money is tight. Need something middle of the road to have some confidence with.

A lot of guys seem to like the Thrustmaster T1600 HOTAS. Seems to be a good middle of the road option.

A lot of guys seem to like the Thrustmaster T1600 HOTAS. Seems to be a good middle of the road option.

I use the 16000 and really like it. It’s affordable but does a good job and has a lot of buttons. Here’s a link to it on Amazon and it’s price right now.

https://www.amazon.com/Thrustmaster-T16000M-FCS-Flight-Pack/dp/B01N2PE8CZ/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1536854320&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=thrustmaster+t16000m&dpPl=1&dpID=41AYvwZA6zL&ref=plSrch

Thanks for the info Sparky and boscoh. I tried again for a few hours and I'm pulling my hair out (nearly bald anyway) ha ha. I've tried so many adjustments to the curves and deadzone I'm getting fed up with it. I know this might be crap but, if there was an autopilot for it so that while you are practicing getting it right, you could see exactly the way to go.

I think with my joystick, it's either one way or the other, no middle ground. Gentle, minute adjustments does nothing and then a little more and you are into PIO. I can fly formation with it OK, but when the basket is on it's way, the slightest movement and forget it.

I think I will continue to try now and again but will fly fully tanked for the time being.

Im having the same issue and I'm thinking its my Hotas X. I can do everything in my aircraft but refuel. I've been researching on either getting the Saitek 52x or Thrustmaster T16000M FCS HOTAS.

I think Im going to go with the FCS

I'm getting very frustrated with this guys. I can stay behind the tanker no problem, but as soon as I need to do small changes to position, it all goes pear shaped. I have softened the stick and adjusted the Axis on Pitch,Roll and Rudder. This happens to all modules. General flying, landing etc, no problems.

 

 

 

At the moment, my settings are Deadzone 10, Curvature 30.

 

 

Should I loosen the stick fully, or should I be thinking of getting a better joystick. It could be me getting nervous near the end.

 

 

I was thinking of setting my Hat switch to Roll as I have Pitch set already. Fed up with practising and watching videos for such a long time and getting nowhere.

 

 

Any pointers to joystick etc would be great

So did you make the modification or got a new joystick?