Thrustmaster lack of Joystick Yaw

[Hooplah]

Greetings,

With the upcoming release of ED on the PS4 and the Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS 4 support I'm wondering how well do players do using rudder pedals playing the game? Thrustmaster does not have joystick yaw control.

I'm totally into joystick yaw. It is very fast to acquire a target and makes station approaches smooth with a feeling of a ballet dance turning into the final. Adding rudder pedals would seem to make this slower as well as totally dedicating the body to one position for flying. That could get old over many hours of game play as well as pets wanting to lay by your feet.

As a Thrustmaster T.16000M, T.Flight (Turns out that they have joystick yaw. My mistake.) Warthog owner what solutions have you come up with for yaw control? The options appear to be use rudder pedals, assign a controller input (using two hands for rotation instead of one) or don't use yaw.

The game can be played without yaw and I suspect that the PS Dual Shock 4 controller won't have it. So what works for you?

Note that I thought to post this in the PlayStation forum but it is really about Thrustmaster yaw control for everyone. The PS4 is just an example.

Regards

UPDATE: A response from Merkir informed me that the the T.16000M and T.Flight both have twist yaw control! I even downloaded the manuals for them and still didn't see it looking instead at that USB port to plug in the rudder pedals. I just hate it when someone uses misinformation then writes a post...and here I am doing it! Apologies all around. Still the solutions for the Warthog apply and lots of great responses so far setting joystick yaw and the fastest station approaches is worth a look!

 

[Kyennamo]

I use pedals for laterals and verticals. I love them.

I originally used them for yaw (which worked great) but i found sliding the pedals for laterals and twisting the joystick for yaw just felt "more right".

Maybe if you put the laterals on the pedals it would free up a place on that joystick for yaw? I dont know that particular stick so take that suggestion with a grain of salt

 

[Gunnet]

It's all just a matter of opinion of course, but I wouldn't dream of playing a flight game/sim without rudder pedals unless there was no other option. The only thing worse would be having no yaw control at all.

Pedals are quick and precise. The flying position is no worse than when operating any kind of vehicle in reality, it just makes it more important to have all your controls positioned properly.

 

[Hooplah]

I use pedals for laterals and verticals. I love them...

Interesting. Thanks for the idea!

It's all just a matter of opinion of course, but I wouldn't dream of playing a flight game/sim without rudder pedals unless there was no other option. The only thing worse would be having no yaw control at all.

Pedals are quick and precise. The flying position is no worse than when operating any kind of vehicle in reality, it just makes it more important to have all your controls positioned properly.

You are right of course. It's a brain thing. I'm left handed but took the plunge and now use a right handed joystick. I cannot imagine ever flying left handed again. Pedals would just be another skill to get comfortable with.

 

[Terry Bruge-Hiplo]

Isn't it identical to the Hotas.X? In which case, you have a twist axis on the stick and a yaw paddle on the front of the throttle handle? The only thing I find lacking on there is no axis for vertical thrust...

 

[[VR] Merkir]

The T.16000M and T.Flight both have twist yaw control.

 

[PiLhEaD]

...Thrustmaster does not have joystick yaw control...

Err... yes it does - both the T-Flight and the T.16000M have yaw from twisting the joystick, the T-Flight also has it from an analogue 'rocker' on the leading face of the throttle.

Sorry mate, suggest you cut back on the onion-head.

 

[Monk]

The T.16000M and T.Flight both have twist yaw control.

Yup, it has twist yaw. For me, it is missing a secondary analog joystick for thrust control. I would even go for a hat on the throttle for vertical/lateral thrust but there are only a few available buttons there.

The rocker, I would use that for forward and reverse thrust (handy for FAoff or a temporary push to reverse or any spot I'd want to hop back to my blue zone setting from).

 

[[VR] Merkir]

Yup, it has twist yaw. For me, it is missing a secondary analog joystick for thrust control. I would even go for a hat on the throttle for vertical/lateral thrust but there are only a few available buttons there.

The rocker, I would use that for forward and reverse thrust (handy for FAoff or a temporary push to reverse or any spot I'd want to hop back to my blue zone setting from).

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/223392-Thrustmaster-T-Flight-Hotas-X-SRV-supported-starter-keymap-bind-file

Not sure if this might help. I use bindings similar to this. It uses 4 of the buttons on the throttle as "shift keys", in effect multiplying the total number of controls.

 

[PiLhEaD]

...The rocker, I would use that for forward and reverse thrust...

The rocker (on the T-Flight) is on the leading edge of the throttle, which is already pretty useful for forward and reverse...

Additionally, I'm not aware it's possible to separate the 'input' that the joystick twist and the throttle's rocker both apply to. As best I know they both only and forever present as the same input. Happy to be wrong!

...It uses 4 of the buttons on the throttle as "shift keys", in effect multiplying the total number of controls.

Seconded. Using at least one of the buttons as 'shift' has been hugely helpful for me.

Using this enables my 4-way hat to work in two modes when in docking mode - normal mode gives me up/down & left/right thruster control (digital bursts), shift gives me forward/back & left/right - really helpful!

 

[Comrade Napoleon]

Space ships use yaw in throttle. The Shuttle did anyway.
Measly "aircraft" use al sorts of acrobaticks, like feet.... Monkeys !

Cheers Cmdr's

 

[[VR] Merkir]

Using this enables my 4-way hat to work in two modes when in docking mode - normal mode gives me up/down & left/right, shift give me forward/back & left/right - really helpful!

Exactly. In that link I gave above, the single hat in effect becomes 5 hats. You'll also note Cmdr intel352 hasn't bound the final hat shift (yellow in the diagram), and only used half of the green shift. I use those extras for galaxy/system map and 4 panel toggles (I disabled panel look in VR).

 

[Stealthie]

Twisty sticks are the devil's work.

That is all.

 

[Riktar]

You are right of course. It's a brain thing. I'm left handed but took the plunge and now use a right handed joystick. I cannot imagine ever flying left handed again. Pedals would just be another skill to get comfortable with.

Interesting statement about it being a "brain thing": I started out using the T.Flight Hotas X and I used the "paddle" in front of the throttle as well as the yaw twist in the stick. Initially it felt more comfortable using my right hand for ELE and AIL and the left for throttle and yaw since I fly RC and that is how the sticks are set on the majority of (mode 2) transmitters. I made up my mind to get used to the twist on the joystick as well since no other (that I know of) modern HOTAS had the option for yaw on the throttle.

I happened across a good deal on a Logitech G940 hotas and was thrilled with the thought of having pedals. Until I started using them. Hoo-boy was that a struggle. It took me longer than I thought it would to make the switch from using my hands to using my feet with pedals.

Fast forward to the other night when I was launching out of space dock and suddenly came to the sudden realization that I had no yaw control. I thought my pedals had died a sudden death. So after navigating out of dock, I paused the game and plugged my trusty old Hotas X and WOW! How did I ever manage to fly with this thing? Twisting on the stick, using the paddles all felt like I had no fine control of my ship at all. When trying to line up a target, I was all over the place trying to "do the twist" to affect yaw maneuvers.

Fortunately for me, my pedal problem turned out to be and issue with the USB hub and a simple replacement got me my pedals back.

So if you do go pedals, give them a good/extended chance. You might take to pedals naturally. Or you may find they take some getting used to. But you will get used to them. For myself, I will stick with my pedals.

And better quality USB hubs.

 

[PiLhEaD]

Before I forget, another nice wrinkle that FDev gave us that there is a 'docking mode' (may not be the right term) set of controls in options.

This means that in flight my shifted use of the hat selects targets or hostiles, whereas in 'docking mode' it controls the thrusters. Neat!

 

[who?]

I use pedals.. no point having all kinds of appendages if you don't use 'em! I didn't have a twist-stick so the pedals freed up a thumb.

At first it was very non-intuitive (I even mapped them the wrong way, thinking you'd pull back on the right pedal to go right) but they're completely natural now. Yaw is generally quite gimped in ED, but they really come into their own when aiming fixed weapons.

 

[Aussiedroid]

I actually have the yaw on the joystick x axis, and have roll on my pedals.

I've also set it up so uses that need it could swap roll and yaw and then have the yaw on either the analog nipple on the throttle.

Control options in ED also allow roll into yaw, and hold option to swap yaw and roll on the fly, so depending on your preference you would have a few other options if you didnt want to go a rudder pedal route.

 

[Rocky-451]

UPDATE: A response from Merkir informed me that the the T.16000M and T.Flight both have twist yaw control!

Yes, and one thing to look out for on the Thrustmaster T-Flight HOTAS is that the home button light should be green, not red, to enable separate bindings for the rocker and twist. Strangely it defaults to red when you first turned it on, if I remember correctly.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

The rocker (on the T-Flight) is on the leading edge of the throttle, which is already pretty useful for forward and reverse...

Additionally, I'm not aware it's possible to separate the 'input' that the joystick twist and the throttle's rocker both apply to. As best I know they both only and forever present as the same input. Happy to be wrong!



Seconded. Using at least one of the buttons as 'shift' has been hugely helpful for me.

Using this enables my 4-way hat to work in two modes when in docking mode - normal mode gives me up/down & left/right thruster control (digital bursts), shift gives me forward/back & left/right - really helpful!

I used the twist yaw, and the rocker on the back for up and down thrust. Yes they can be used for different stuff.

 

[lysan]

dislike twist, use pedals.