Hardware & Technical joystick advice

Deadly Chicken

D
Hi, I am looking at getting a joystick for this game, I have never played anything with a. joystick before, but combat seems to require one from what people say.

So I looked at the X52 thing from Saitek, and it looks pretty good, then I saw a review some guy did on a CH F-16 and pro throttle, and I realzl;y looked the feature of the joystick on the throttle, sounded like a great idea, but On the CH Product site it doesn say its compatible with windows 8, I take it that's just an oversight ?

Lot of cash to splash if it isn't gonna work right ;)

Finally are there any other recommendations ? I pickled the sound of the twist axis on the Saitek, but overruled it with the F-16 looked a lot more normal ;)
 

RCKJD

RCKJD
CH products work fine with Windows 8. I have the CH Pro Pedals in addition to the Saitek X52 and they work like a charm on my Windows 8.1.

If you have a LOT of cash to splurge, maybe get the CH Fighterstick, the CH Pro Throttle and the CH Pro Pedals and you have everything covered and more.
 

Jexter

Jexter
I simply do not understand how this game is controllable in any sensible way at all with a Joystick/HOTAS. In any regular flight sim joysticks are fine because of how you use rudder, but in ED the problem is both roll and yaw are equally important in combat and one of them you'll have to assign to the pedals or twist (or rudder rocker which was a great feature of the early saiteks but now sadly gone). I tried the option where you start out yawing and it goes into roll but that just felt plain wrong (for me).

I just cannot percieve how it's done, please can someone shed some light on this for me? I'd LOVE to splash out on a proper HOTAS setup but it just doesn't seem viable.

edit
I'm rather into DCS at the moment but I need ED to be my main reason for this investment as it's what I'll be playing probably for the rest of my life :eek:
 
Last edited:

euclydian

E
Jexter said:
I simply do not understand how this game is controllable in any sensible way at all with a Joystick/HOTAS. In any regular flight sim joysticks are fine because of how you use rudder, but in ED the problem is both roll and yaw are equally important in combat and one of them you'll have to assign to the pedals or twist (or rudder rocker which was a great feature of the early saiteks but now sadly gone). I tried the option where you start out yawing and it goes into roll but that just felt plain wrong (for me).

I just cannot percieve how it's done, please can someone shed some light on this for me? I'd LOVE to splash out on a proper HOTAS setup but it just doesn't seem viable.

edit
I'm rather into DCS at the moment but I need ED to be my main reason for this investment as it's what I'll be playing probably for the rest of my life :eek:
Click to expand...

Firstly, I'd disagree and say yaw is far less important than roll or pitch in ED. Regardless, I have yaw on pedals and it works fine anyway? I imagine it would work fine on twist also.

Back to the subject, I have the CH Fighterstick, throttle and pedals and they all work great on Windows 8.1. Just be aware the CH sticks don't have twist on them so you might want pedals also if you go CH.
 
Last edited:

Ozric

Volunteer Moderator
Ozric
I use a "basic" Thrustmaster T16000M, I use the keyboard with my left hand for all the throttle/thruster controls and just fly with my right. I have my Yaw set up on a twist of the stick and I have absolutely no problems with it at all and it cost me £30 :)
 

Comrade Napoleon

Comrade Napoleon
If you can : try out a joystick with twist, and one without and find out what suits you.
Without twist the Warthog and pedals is the top, with twist the x52Pro is a good stick and throttle.
I will not recommend anything but HOTAS , even if there are other good joysticks out there.
HOTAS + voice attack , you are good to go.

Cheers Cmdr's
 

Deadly Chicken

D
euclydian said:
Firstly, I'd disagree and say yaw is far less important than roll or pitch in ED. Regardless, I have yaw on pedals and it works fine anyway? I imagine it would work fine on twist also.

Back to the subject, I have the CH Fighterstick, throttle and pedals and they all work great on Windows 8.1. Just be aware the CH sticks don't have twist on them so you might want pedals also if you go CH.
Click to expand...

Well, I didn't know how important the twist was ? but I did consider getting the CH throttle, and then the X52 pack and just not using the throttle that comes in that ? as it would cost the same as the f-16 fighter and the CH throttle.

Also how do you control the up and down ( R and F on keyboard ) and strafe left and right ( A and D on keyboard ) with the X52 ? I like the idea of spending less :) but that thumb joystick on the CH throttle looks really useful for that and the strafe feature.

I don't really know the terms yet, yaw and pitch etc. what does the twist translate to ? A and D on keyboard ? voice attazck ? is that where you say "Computer, shields up" and it adds power to the shields etc ? how do you set that up ?
 

Ozric

Volunteer Moderator
Ozric
Deadly Chicken said:
I don't really know the terms yet, yaw and pitch etc.
Click to expand...

cKpA2Twl.png
 

Deadly Chicken

D
Ozric said:
cKpA2Twl.png
Click to expand...

Lol, thanks, I figured that was it, but never really played any flying games so not familiar enough to be sure ;)

Its funny as soon as I saw someone recommend a throttle and joystick I hadn't really considered just using the keyboard like I do now and just replacing the mouse and some key bindings to a nice joystick ? hmmm that could be cheaper.
 

Ozric

Volunteer Moderator
Ozric
Deadly Chicken said:
voice attazck ? is that where you say "Computer, shields up" and it adds power to the shields etc ? how do you set that up ?
Click to expand...

Voice Attack is indeed a program like that. It works by you typing in what command you will say and then what keypresses that command will relate to. You can also get your computer to talk back to you in response. I use it to do things like Raise/Lower landing gear, Cargo Scoop, Lights, Deploy/Retract Weapons etc... etc... There are many, many threads on it and it's too much to explain here, but this is the one you want to start with certainly http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=14382&highlight=Voice+Attack
 

Ozric

Volunteer Moderator
Ozric
Deadly Chicken said:
Lol, thanks, I figured that was it, but never really played any flying games so not familiar enough to be sure ;)

Its funny as soon as I saw someone recommend a throttle and joystick I hadn't really considered just using the keyboard like I do now and just replacing the mouse and some key bindings to a nice joystick ? hmmm that could be cheaper.
Click to expand...

It seems I am in the minority as most people have gone for Keyboard + Mouse or full HOTAS. I didn't, partly because of space, but mainly because of cost. It all comes down to what you are comfortable using. One thing I really like about the setup that I have is because I use the W,S,A,D keys for my thrusters, once I have landed and been plugged in to the stations systems, I don't need to move my hand at all to navigate the station menus as I use those keys for that too. Though I'm sure the HOTAS users probably have it mapped to their sticks, having never used one I wouldn't know :p
 

RCKJD

RCKJD
Deadly Chicken said:
Well, I didn't know how important the twist was ? but I did consider getting the CH throttle, and then the X52 pack and just not using the throttle that comes in that ? as it would cost the same as the f-16 fighter and the CH throttle.

Also how do you control the up and down ( R and F on keyboard ) and strafe left and right ( A and D on keyboard ) with the X52 ? I like the idea of spending less :) but that thumb joystick on the CH throttle looks really useful for that and the strafe feature.

I don't really know the terms yet, yaw and pitch etc. what does the twist translate to ? A and D on keyboard ? voice attazck ? is that where you say "Computer, shields up" and it adds power to the shields etc ? how do you set that up ?
Click to expand...

The X52 stick is slaved through the Throttle with a PS/2 to PS/2 cable. while you can use it most likely with the CH Throttle, you still would have to find a place where to put the X52 throttle.
As for the thrusts, the X52 throttle has a four way hat at its front. The CH Throttles thumb joystick, however, would be a bit more precise (analog vs digital).
 

Deadly Chicken

D
Ozric said:
Voice Attack is indeed a program like that. It works by you typing in what command you will say and then what keypresses that command will relate to. You can also get your computer to talk back to you in response. I use it to do things like Raise/Lower landing gear, Cargo Scoop, Lights, Deploy/Retract Weapons etc... etc... There are many, many threads on it and it's too much to explain here, but this is the one you want to start with certainly http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=14382&highlight=Voice+Attack
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will do some reading, btw ... what are the lights for ??
 

kration

kration
I've got a Thrustmaster HOTAS X combined with Voice Attack. You can get the stick for about £40 or less brand new. When combined with Voice Attack it's perfect for the game and very reasonably priced.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom