I managed to order the Virpil throttle, Mongoos T50 base and Constellation Delta stick on a rare occasion they had stock [big grin]
Getting it sorted is no mean feat, so it was suggested that I share the experience here. I would add screenshots but for some reason I can't. This forum is so 1995...
They are brilliant bits of kit - far better than the Warthog, build quality-wise - but ‘plug in and play’ they definitely aren’t, yet. It’s probably as they’re a young company and are still getting the software side of things nailed down. Also, their sales support is sluggish to respond, but again this will probably improve.
Software
The only bit of software you need to run them is the VPC Configuration Software downloadable from their website. Plug your bits in and run the software, and the peripherals will appear in the top left box as two ‘boot loader’ items. This means that they’re present but without firmware.
Profiles
Next, install the appropriate profile for each. If it’s isn’t clear which is which, move an axis on either the stick or the throttle and watch where the raw data changes on the main settings window.
The bottom right of the main window has a button called 'Import profile from file'. Clicking this will show the available profiles for whichever peripheral you have selected. They will have been installed on your machine when you downloaded the software. Install the relevant profile for each peripheral (they’re named appropriately).
Firmware
Next, firmware. Go to the firmware window. click 'Open firmware update mode', then 'Start firmware update'. It will ‘boot load’ for a few seconds, then prompt you to close the window. At this point, click 'Close firmware update mode'. You’ll need to do this for each.
Next, click the ‘save profile’ button. Do this after changing anything.
Calibrating the axes
Next, go to the Axis window, and click the 'calibrate' button to start calibrating the axes for each peripheral. This isn’t hard - just move each axis on each device slowly throughout its range, leave them centred, then click 'set centre'. Note that the thumb stick on the Delta is an axis too.
Once all the axes on each peripheral are done, save the profile again. After that, load each profile (so that the status icon in the top left goes green), close the VPC Configuration Software, and be happy you never need to open it again [big grin]
That sorts the issue of Windows and games not recognising the axes. Next, you’ll need to find a way around the button limit that most games put on peripherals.
Getting Elite to recognise all those lovely buttons
I recommend Joystick Gremlin - it’s a free download and is powerful and simple (note: download vJoy first, also free). You can do all sorts of smart things with it (the same functionality as Thrustmaster’s Target software, as it happens) like macros and shift functions etc, but the simplest way to get Elite to recognise all the buttons is to use Gremlin to map all the buttons on the lower half of the throttle to keyboard buttons. Remember to save your profile in Gremlin, then click the little gamepad icon to run it before you play.
It took me eight days of intermittent faffing to get this far, but I love the Virpil stuff. Hope this helps some of you get to grips with it faster than that!
Getting it sorted is no mean feat, so it was suggested that I share the experience here. I would add screenshots but for some reason I can't. This forum is so 1995...
They are brilliant bits of kit - far better than the Warthog, build quality-wise - but ‘plug in and play’ they definitely aren’t, yet. It’s probably as they’re a young company and are still getting the software side of things nailed down. Also, their sales support is sluggish to respond, but again this will probably improve.
Software
The only bit of software you need to run them is the VPC Configuration Software downloadable from their website. Plug your bits in and run the software, and the peripherals will appear in the top left box as two ‘boot loader’ items. This means that they’re present but without firmware.
Profiles
Next, install the appropriate profile for each. If it’s isn’t clear which is which, move an axis on either the stick or the throttle and watch where the raw data changes on the main settings window.
The bottom right of the main window has a button called 'Import profile from file'. Clicking this will show the available profiles for whichever peripheral you have selected. They will have been installed on your machine when you downloaded the software. Install the relevant profile for each peripheral (they’re named appropriately).
Firmware
Next, firmware. Go to the firmware window. click 'Open firmware update mode', then 'Start firmware update'. It will ‘boot load’ for a few seconds, then prompt you to close the window. At this point, click 'Close firmware update mode'. You’ll need to do this for each.
Next, click the ‘save profile’ button. Do this after changing anything.
Calibrating the axes
Next, go to the Axis window, and click the 'calibrate' button to start calibrating the axes for each peripheral. This isn’t hard - just move each axis on each device slowly throughout its range, leave them centred, then click 'set centre'. Note that the thumb stick on the Delta is an axis too.
Once all the axes on each peripheral are done, save the profile again. After that, load each profile (so that the status icon in the top left goes green), close the VPC Configuration Software, and be happy you never need to open it again [big grin]
That sorts the issue of Windows and games not recognising the axes. Next, you’ll need to find a way around the button limit that most games put on peripherals.
Getting Elite to recognise all those lovely buttons
I recommend Joystick Gremlin - it’s a free download and is powerful and simple (note: download vJoy first, also free). You can do all sorts of smart things with it (the same functionality as Thrustmaster’s Target software, as it happens) like macros and shift functions etc, but the simplest way to get Elite to recognise all the buttons is to use Gremlin to map all the buttons on the lower half of the throttle to keyboard buttons. Remember to save your profile in Gremlin, then click the little gamepad icon to run it before you play.
It took me eight days of intermittent faffing to get this far, but I love the Virpil stuff. Hope this helps some of you get to grips with it faster than that!
Last edited:
