Hi, was wondering if anyone might be able to sort this out for me. I've just gotten this throttle, and am trying to assign lateral/vertical thrusters to the joystick. It seems the assignments are not recognized all that well after I made them in the options - the new checklist shows them mapped properly, but moving the joystick is hit and miss in getting a response, and I can't get the down thruster to work at all.
I have not installed the CH software, so perhaps I need to do that to tweak things?
Thanks for any help with this.
Some people say they CH throttle and stick w/o the software but I had to use it for mine to get it set the way I wanted, including the thumb stick. DL and install the CH software. Be warned, I don't think it's been upgraded since 2004 or so, so it's clunky and unintuitive.
Open up "Control Manager." This lets you calibrate and program the stick. First thing you want to do is click the Test/Calibrate button. Choose the throttle from the menu and then choose calibrate. This will let you calibrate the thumbstick and the main throttle level and also tell you if you have a defective device. When it's done, click OK. You can also calibrate your fighterstick.
You'll also want to run the device wizard to set up a basic map for your throttle/stick. There are all kinds of options, including mapping the two devices as one giant DirectX device for older games. ED can handle them separately, so that's how I set them up. You'll also be asked how many buttons and switches should appear. Choose the max.
When that's done, choose a mapping mode from one of the buttons across the top. There is one for Direct (DirectX) mode and one for Mapped, which lets you put in macros and keyboard commands for every button and switch. Direct is where you want to start since it requires no additional configuration unless you want it.
Once you've chosen Direct, save the map as a file and call it Elite Dangerous. And then click the "Download" button. This saves your map to the joystick and throttle.
Now one other tricky detail: the CH managed driver won't load automatically with Windows by default. Along with the Control Manager is another little program (I can't remember what it's called) that's only got a few options that tell the driver how to load, in either direct or mapped mode. You'll want to throw this in your startup folder so it will launch automatically and set your desired mode. (you only have to do that once.) Otherwise the CH mapping won't load automatically and your stick won't appear inside of ED.
If you do launch ED w/o the driver, don't panic when your control scheme seems to be wiped out. Exit ED, launch the mapping manager and reload ED and you'll be fine. But if you put it in the startup folder you won't have to worry about it.
Maybe someday CH will actually release some modern drivers for their stick, but it's not that complicated when you get the hang of it. And if you're like me, the minute your doing the vectored thrust thing with that thumb stick you'll wonder how you got along without it!
