Need help with Virpil CM3 Throttle

[pyrius omega]

Hi,

I'm trying to get the rZ axis or rather the lever on the right side of the throttle to act as a landing gear lever. Up for gear up and when the lever is in the 'down' position, the landing gear is lowered. I'm currently trying to work this out in the gremlin software with no luck. Can anyone help with this?

 

[Darth Wonko]

Heya, Pyrius. I've got the CM2 and wanted to do the exact same thing. Unfortunately, the landing gear is a toggle and not two separate functions for lowering and retracting, so you'll need to map it as a button. Even if it were two separate functions, there would still be an issue since an axis control offers degrees of input rather than just on/off.

(I could be wrong about all of this, but that's my experience.)

I'd also caution against mapping landing gear in such a way that you have to take your hand off the throttle. I had it mapped for the longest time to the top center lighted button on the base. The problem with that is twofold:

1. You can't see the button labels (mine are labeled) when the throttle is in the full rear position, so it's difficult to find it in a hurry
2. If I were using vertical/horizontal thrusters, taking my hand off the throttle took away my ability to control the ship

Of course, the second issue is due to my mappings; thrusters are mapped to the X/Y axes.

I've found the best mapping (for me) is to keep the thrusters on X/Y axes and map the landing gear to button 14 (pressing in the control stick for the X/Y axes). This way, I can raise the gear without taking my finger off the thruster control.

 

[pyrius omega]

Darth Wonko,

I'm getting closer. So, in the Virpil software I set the rZ axis to no center and the 'axis to button' part to 0% and 100%. In the gremlin program I set the 'Z rotation' for the rZ lever to map to keyboard twice. Under the Action tab for the first 'Map to keyboard' I set it to the keyboard key "L" for landing and also set that way in ED. Leave the 'condition tab' alone. Then go to the 'virtual button tab and set the active axis between 0.00 to 0.49. Then I set another 'map to keyboard' under that one in Gremlin. I did the same thing but the active axis is .51 to 1.00. It does work. So, when the lever is in the down state, the landing gear is down. When the lever is in the up state, the landing gear is up. Visually in game you can see the indicator work in the down and up state. However; when going to the up position, the landing gear goes off twice, but in the end it still works.

 

[Darth Wonko]

Well, does everyone see what creative thinking and perseverance accomplishes?

Nice job!

I might rethink my binding and see if I like the lever, but I'm partial to keeping my hand on the throttle. Regardless, well done!

 

[pyrius omega]

Thank you Darth! Yes, creative thinking and perseverance pays off... plus having everyone here chiming in!

 

[pyrius omega]

Ok guys I figured it out again for the rZ axis to button. I went to my other account at the Virpil forums to post it there first. So, if you wan to use your lever to activate a button, follow the write up I hope it helps somebody here! Here's the link:

Need help with CM3 Throttle and setting up the Zr Axis to buttons [Solved]

Hi, I need help in configuring my throttle's Zr Axis. I would like to get the Z Axis when set to 0% to have the landing gear deployed and when the Z Axis is set to 100% then the landing gear would go up. I've tried using 2 buttons, 3 buttons, gremlin software using macros. No dice. I've looked at...

forum.virpil.com

Sorry for the pictures...not my best.

 

[BDelacroix]

Darth Wonko,

I'm getting closer. So, in the Virpil software I set the rZ axis to no center and the 'axis to button' part to 0% and 100%. In the gremlin program I set the 'Z rotation' for the rZ lever to map to keyboard twice. Under the Action tab for the first 'Map to keyboard' I set it to the keyboard key "L" for landing and also set that way in ED. Leave the 'condition tab' alone. Then go to the 'virtual button tab and set the active axis between 0.00 to 0.49. Then I set another 'map to keyboard' under that one in Gremlin. I did the same thing but the active axis is .51 to 1.00. It does work. So, when the lever is in the down state, the landing gear is down. When the lever is in the up state, the landing gear is up. Visually in game you can see the indicator work in the down and up state. However; when going to the up position, the landing gear goes off twice, but in the end it still works.

This is similar to how computers determine 0 or 1 of a bit value. You can't actually have 0 and 1, but you do have between 0 and 5 volts. Above a certain voltage is counted as a 1.

 

[CMDR Harada]

Congrats on figuring it out ! Huge sense of accomplishment, and your HOTAS is set to your spec. I sometimes think it would be funny if we could live stream CMDRs trying to fly using another CMDRs mapping.

I found doing things like this to be a massive rabbit hole, and sometimes more fun than ED. Weeks were spent mapping out my HOTAS, LED colors, and performance maps. What finally ended it was the 'wife unit' asking if I was actually going to play the game I bought the HOTAS for...

 

[pyrius omega]

Yes, it can be a huge rabbit hole and also give the sense of satisfaction/accomplishment. It would be funny to see others use another cmdr's mappings. It would be much simpler if we had just one mapping. But, i'm glad that we don't and that each one of us has that sense of curiosity and exploration in doing what each of us feels right. Yep, the 'wife unit' is a factor...hehe. I'm retired now and taking up additional hubby duties. I have more time being with the 'wife unit' and also ED . works! I just took up ED once again after being out for over a year. I'm in the stage of 'recreating the wheel' on my setup. I had to start from scratch and it's fun. I'm in the process of getting my Virpil hotas setup by relearning the Virpil software. I just got Tobii running yesterday and the trackir the day before. Last will be voice attack. Then back to the hotas. Good Luck commander and have fun exploring!

 

[Jinx Chrome]

Yes, it can be a huge rabbit hole and also give the sense of satisfaction/accomplishment. It would be funny to see others use another cmdr's mappings. It would be much simpler if we had just one mapping. [...]

Yes, it requires a bit of trial and error.
For your reference, here are my mappings (Virpil Alpha and CM3): Github
Feel free to reuse and/or make suggestions

(Edit: wrong link)