Hey,
I'm looking for a decent guide on how to setup the T.16000M FCS (Flight Control System) flight stick and the TWCS (Thrustmaster Weapon Control System) throttle?
I've done some research and the only things I can see of benefits on the T.A.R.G.E.T. Software (Or similar software) is improved S-Curve & Deadzone and MACRO's? I've tried plug and play in ED and felt there wasn't enough curve on default. Also keen to use the HOTAS for example for multiple functions such as Targeting & UI navigation.
Is this right?
Also I'm not 100% sure how to load a custom bind/config in ED? Do you map existing ED keyboard structure into T.A.R.G.E.T and just run it or do you also create a custom bind also in ED? As there seems to me to be multiple methods?
Any help and basic 101 guides would be appreciated!
I have the exact same setup and I got it not even a month ago so I know how confusing it can be to begin with...
One thing you have to realize is that even though you're eager to jump into the game and use it.. you really have to take a deep breath and actually devote the time to set it up properly (which can take almost a day).
It's not like an xbox controller where you plug it in and jump into the game and stuff is already there for you to press along with nice context menus and all...
So yea, that part took me by surprise, especially since in the past 10 years I was trying to actually adjust myself to the default bindings of each game I played as to avoid this kind of messing around with bindings
But here.. that lazy strategy doesn't work unfortunately haha..
So on to the technical stuff then..
What TARGET is.. is actually a controller emulation software. Basically what it does is it creates a single virtual controller from all the analogue controllers that you select to include. The reason for it mashing everything up into a single virtual controller is that some older games require you to specify the exact controller you're using and you can only select one.. That means in games like that you would only be able to use either the joystick OR the throttle and not both of them, but by using TARGET you can combine them into a single virtual controller and select that in those games, making both of them work.
This part however isn't required in most newer games like ED as it can take input from every single controller you have on the fly. However there are still advantages to using TARGET, such as the settings you described regarding the S-curve and outer deadzones.. etc, which you cannot adjust in conventional ways (unless using one of the alternative joystick controller software listed in the above replies). The other major advantage of TARGET (and possibly other similar software) is the layer functions.. With that you can set up a button to act as a toggle between 'layers' and in each layer you could have your other buttons map to different keys. This means that you can double the amount of functions that your buttons can perform if you have 2 layers.. (you can add up to 6 layers).
There is also a drawback to TARGET. The drawback is that it uses DirectX to emulate the virtual joystick and game controllers in DirectX are limited to 8 axis and 32 buttons (joystick buttons, not keyboard mapped buttons - so you're completely safe on the button side, only limitation is the 8 axis). So again that means that the virtual joystick it creates cannot have more than 8 axis and 32 buttons, but when you map a physical joystick button in TARGET to a keyboard key, those don't count towards the 32, only when you map it in TARGET to the buttons of the virtual joystick (it's below the keyboard layout when you select the key mapping in TARGET).
Now this isn't a major drawback as 8 axis are more than enough for Elite and you only have 1 left which is unused.. - this HOTAS setup has 9 axis so one of them will not work (I choose the small throttle control axis on the base of the joystick as the inactive one, since it would be awkward to use anyway as you'd have to reach over.. and there isn't really anything I would map on it anyway, since I have the dedicated big throttle controller). If you would have the pedal as well you might be slightly more annoyed of not being able to have all your axis available, but like I said, in ED 8 is already more than enough so even that would only be a problem in other games.
Now on to the subject of setting this all up..
Many people choose to actually learn the scripting language and simply write a binding script by hand, which offers much more flexibility and the app for running the script consumes slightly less memory than the GUI one.
BUT.. we're here to play games and not to learn programming, at least that's how I go about it
So even as a former software developer, I actually choose to go with the GUI (plus if you have memory issues you can always take the script generated by the GUI and run it in the script editor tool afterwards). It does have certain flaws and bugs (for example if you set up a layer key by dragging the button to the correct spot in the UI, you cannot undo this regardless of what you try in the GUI.. so there's one bug for you.. I had to manually find the markup file for the profile and remove the section from there to get rid of it, since I don't use layers for Elite). So my suggestion is that you use the GUI as well and only start meddling in scripts if you really can't do something you want, or you need to or WANT to for some reason
Allright so how you go about configuring this?.. I did it the messy way since I thought I could throw it together.. but ended up getting confused in what I wanted to do several times.. and also got frustrated by the long process
So my suggestion to you is..
1: start by taking out a piece of paper and list the name of all the buttons you have (or draw them or something). Sit with the controllers without actually starting the game.. and just try to imagine and get a feel for which control would you prefer on which button (press them several times and think about how it would feel if you had to press that to do the function you were thinking about during play).
2: Once you have your list and you KNOW which in-game function would you prefer on which button start up the TARGET GUI.. and make a new profile (with the new configuration button on the right side) - select a file location where the markup file will be saved in that window and give it a name like Elite Dangerous - HOTAS or something..
Select the two controllers you have from the list, the Joystick and the Throttle (they will be auto-selected if the software detects them - make sure you installed the unified driver package as well from the Thrustmaster site) and go to the next page
3: Set up your dead-zones and curves for the axis.. Now notice here that on the left you have a dropdown list next to each PHYSICAL axis you have with the name of the VIRTUAL axis that it's going to be mapped to selected. Make sure you don't have any duplicates and decide which axis you don't want to use and select 'None' for those (it's going to be the 3 pedal axis, since the pedal normally plugs into the throttle so they're listed, but you don't have them) AND the one you decide to skip, like I have done with the mini-throttle axis on the base of the joystick. For all the rest, make sure a different virtual axis from among the 8 possible (not counting the mouse ones) is selected to avoid conflicts. So anyway.. set up your curves and stuff and go to the next screen.
4: Now you can go about this part in a number of different ways.. Some people try to directly map the buttons they want to the default keybinding the game has on the keyboard.. so they don't have to change the in-game keybindings too much... but that requires either writing them out from the in-game biding interface or knowing them... I went with the fast approach. First I tried to use up my 32 virtual joystick buttons as those wouldn't conflict with anything.. then I used keyboard mappings to random keys (I didn't really care which ones as I was going to rebind them in-game later).. The goal here is to have every physical button you have access to (all the switches and buttons on the throttle as well as the joystick) mapped to.. SOMETHING, doesn't matter what.. either a virtual joystick button or a keyboard button. You need to do this, because otherwise they won't do anything at all
Also by default the interface firing mode is set to 'pulse' which I hate.. since it means you cannot hold the button down to get a repeat effect.. so I changed pretty much all of them to 'Hold' (remember to save after changing, right below the mapping area, otherwise if you click to a different button, you lose the changes)
5: Once you have every physical control create some sort of virtual 'event' for the game to recognize.. you can go ahead and go into Elite.. go to the bindings section and map everything.. click the function, press the corresponding joystick control / axis / etc.. then apply and you can simply launch the basic combat tutorial to test it each time, without messing anything up with your main game due to clumsy controls. The reason I told you earlier that you don't need layers is because Elite has built in mode switches.. so you can simply scroll down to the Mode Switches section in the bindings.. and set up a button for UI mode (I have the pinky button on the throttle for it) and then when you hold that down you can define separate controls to open / use the UI.. (I use the hat switch on the Joystick which is bound to up / down / left / right and normally adjusts the pips... when I hold the throttle pinky button, I can use the hat switch on the joystick to open the corresponding panel then navigate it.. etc..
Anyway.. this post is getting WAAAAAY too long
so I hope that it will be at least of some use to you...
Good luck setting everything up and fly safe!
Cheers!
Edit: A couple of things I forgot to mention, though you would've figured them out probably..
1. You NEED to run the configuration every time you want to play, so you have to open up the GUI and select the configuration on the left side and click run then leave it there in the background in order for the virtual joystick to be present.
2. Sometimes Elite is really stubborn and even though TARGET attempts to hide the physical controllers.. it will still see them so when you try to map them in-game it will show a combination of the physical button plus the virtual one you bound it to.. so it would show something like [Joy 6] + Q, instead of the 'Q' key you expected it to show.. when that happens tab out of the game.. unplug your controllers, plug them back in and restart Target and run the configuration again.. When you go back into the game the first binding will be messed up, but just try it again and it should work.. Later on when you're playing this won't matter, only for the initial binding.
