Hardware & Technical Saitek x52 and keyboard bindings

nrage

nrage
After much tinkering I have come up with the following binds which I like:
viqbFS4.png


Not shown above are the mode transitions and what they do, these are:
Mode 1 - (green) Landing mode
  • Entry press L to deploy landing gear.
  • Exit press L to retract landing gear.
Mode 2 - (amber) Flight mode
  • Entry press down arrow, up, up to adjust 4 pips to Eng.
Mode 3 - (red) Combat mode
  • Entry press U to deploy hardpoints, down arrow, right, right, up to adjust power to (.5, 1.5, 3.5) (sys, eng, wep)
  • Exit press U to retract hardpoints.

Note also that certain modes have buttons remapped for other purposes or even simply disabled:
Mode 1 - (green) Landing mode
  • A and B are mapped to next in route and 75% speed respectively
  • Disabled: 2nd trigger, faoff, boost, frameshift
  • Remapped: Trigger - all stop, Fire - ship lights
Mode 2 - (amber) Flight mode
  • A and B are mapped to next in route and 75% speed respectively
Mode 3 - (red) Combat mode
  • A and B are mapped to shield cell and chaff respectively

These are all handled by the Saitek profile.

Also note that the choice of SPC for both UI select and all stop is not an accident. In mode 1 the trigger actually presses SPC for all stop which I had to remap from the default X so that it would function as UI select (default SPC). In other modes trigger is UI select. I prefer using trigger to C because it's faster not moving my thumb from the HAT to C and back all the time.

Likewise BKSPC for both next in route and UI back is no accident. In mode 1 and 2 it means you can press A to back out of any UI (no more navigating to back etc). Doesn't work in mode 3 (combat) however but who goes to galaxy map etc during combat?

The mouse button click is programmed in saitek to press 7 then 0 to auto target the first wingman target, now if I could just get everyone to agree that my first wingman always calls targets that would be swell :)

I am using the throttle in forward only mode, with a reverse on the i rotary. This allows me to set my speed to 50% throttle in combat and when I want to turn I press i and rotate it to pull a fast FA off with reverse thrust turn using the vertical thrust hat on the throttle for added speed. Noice!

The one button I am not utilising is the click on the mouse wheel. I found that it was too easy to switch firegroup when trying to press it, which is a real problem if you have KWS and a big canon on the same fire button :p

I am also not using the mouse X/Y axis stick at all, I have TrackIR so all other headlook methods are completely disabled.

If you want to give them a go you can download my...

Save/print the excel spreadsheet.

Save the Saitek profile to the Saitek profile editor path, e.g.
C:\Users\Public\Documents\Saitek SD6 Profiles
(or similar, SD7 uses a slightly different path)

Save the Elite Dangerous mapping to:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options\Bindings
e.g.
C:\Users\<YOURNAME>\AppData\Local\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options\Bindings
Then you will be able to select it in the controls menu at the top - you're probably using "custom" or similar ATM.
 
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nrage

nrage
h347h said:
Very cool.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'm also open to any suggestions of things I could do better. My goal is to keep my hands on the throttle and stick as much as possible without having to press too many buttons all at once etc.
 

Rick Venus

Rick Venus
Sweet!
I got an x52 about 2 months ago and it has been fantastic so far except for tracking the changes I have made from the default key bindings.
This looks like a huge help for keeping that stuff straight.
Thank you for posting this!
 

Top Cat

T
nrage said:
Thanks! I'm also open to any suggestions of things I could do better. My goal is to keep my hands on the throttle and stick as much as possible without having to press too many buttons all at once etc.
Click to expand...

Id recommend looking at voice attack.

You can move the macros from joystick buttons to voice commands (for example, intead of pressing U to deploy hardpoints, down arrow, right, right, up to adjust power to (.5, 1.5, 3.5) (sys, eng, wep)) you can simply say "Combat profile", and voice attack will simulate the individual button presses, meanign you can free up the joystick button and do away with the macro in the saitek software.

I have a combat one similar to yours, one for normal flight, and a landing one that adjusts speed to 25%, drops landing gear and also turns on the lights (no use for the lights, it just looks cool!).
 

Top Cat

T
Rick Venus said:
Sweet!
I got an x52 about 2 months ago and it has been fantastic so far except for tracking the changes I have made from the default key bindings.
This looks like a huge help for keeping that stuff straight.
Thank you for posting this!
Click to expand...

Id recommend you take a backup of your bindings file once you have ti configured how you want it. Elite does have a habit of overwriting the file, and it seems to hit most people when a new version is released.
 

nrage

nrage
Top Cat said:
Id recommend looking at voice attack.

You can move the macros from joystick buttons to voice commands (for example, intead of pressing U to deploy hardpoints, down arrow, right, right, up to adjust power to (.5, 1.5, 3.5) (sys, eng, wep)) you can simply say "Combat profile", and voice attack will simulate the individual button presses, meanign you can free up the joystick button and do away with the macro in the saitek software.

I have a combat one similar to yours, one for normal flight, and a landing one that adjusts speed to 25%, drops landing gear and also turns on the lights (no use for the lights, it just looks cool!).
Click to expand...

Thanks! That's an interesting idea. I do have voice attack, and was using it for a while but I found it slower to say things than press a button, plus noises before/after phrases often mess recognition up - so that all put me off. I also fly with a wing and we use TeamSpeak .. so I would have to move to push to talk for that but .. I may still save a button or two so I might just give this another go.

I like the lights idea.. you could even have it flash them on and off like a truck reversing (in some countries).
 

nrage

nrage
Top Cat said:
Id recommend you take a backup of your bindings file once you have ti configured how you want it. Elite does have a habit of overwriting the file, and it seems to hit most people when a new version is released.
Click to expand...

Seconded. The files I shared are actually my backups :)

The Elite binding file was renamed (both filename and internally there is a name property) so I would be surprised to find an upgrade had messed with it.. but I guess when new bindings are added they might want to update all binding files and in cases where they're incompatible in some major way deleting the bad ones might be the most sensible option.
 

nrage

nrage
Top Cat said:
Id recommend looking at voice attack.

You can move the macros from joystick buttons to voice commands (for example, intead of pressing U to deploy hardpoints, down arrow, right, right, up to adjust power to (.5, 1.5, 3.5) (sys, eng, wep)) you can simply say "Combat profile", and voice attack will simulate the individual button presses, meanign you can free up the joystick button and do away with the macro in the saitek software.
Click to expand...

The only thing I can't do with voice attack is disable buttons or alter their function, like I do for landing mode.
 

Hoff

H
Hey,

I just got my saitek x52, and this setup seems to fix most of the stuff i dont like to much about the bindings, but your files cant be downloaded.
Any chance you can update your links so i can test this nice setup out ? :)
 
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