X52 pro. Need advice.

[Hexen]

So I was thinking what joystick I should buy next because it's definitely worth to have one in ED. At first I bought Saitek Pacific AV8R stick just to check if I like to play with joystick or not. It was a lot better than mouse and keyboard but later I figured that it still had a lot to be desired in terms of precision. So I was thinking to get Saitek X55 or X65 next but then I came to conclusion that it's more useful to have one for proper flight sim, not for a twitch-based game like ED. And I don't play flight sims, not my kind of thing. And while joysticks from X55 and X65 HOTAS packages looked solid - I didn't liked shape of the throttle. So I bought X52 pro (PS34). I might buy X55/X65 joystick at the later date but I think I will stick with X52 throttle for quite some time. It's just feels so right for me, I love the shape. More so - X52 a bit cheaper and they all made from plastic anyway.

So now once I put all of that aside I had few questions as a beginner joystick user. To mod or not to mod? I heard there were some mods that is "a must" to increase performance of X52 (first that comes to mind is magnet mod). And that X55 joysticks and above doesn't need those because they already got rid from issues of X52 series (was major selling point for me). But right now I’m calibrating my x52 pro joystick with standard utility and everything looks quite precise. My AV8R stick wasn't been even close to those results. So is there any point to actually mod x52 pro? Thank you.

 

[fraz]

Hi Commander,

I have a X52 Pro and the only mod I felt necessary, which did void the warranty, was the removal of the detents at 25% and 75% to allow full motion of the throttle.

Never needed the magnet mod. I suspect that's a X52 (not pro) problem since the sensors in the pro are much better.

Happy hunting!

 

[NapalmJunkie]

I haven't touched mine at all when it comes to mods, so if it works then no real need to do anything. I think a lot of it depends on if you've had a lot of joystick/HOTAS experience and you find the X52 lacking in some way.

If I were to do anything, not that I'm currently inclined, I'd do something about the throttle detents.

 

[Ogidch]

Hi,

I have been doing research on joysticks as just had my first go of ED when they released the training tutorials late last week, the mouse just didn't cut it. I ordered an X52 Pro coming sometime next week.

The X52 Pro as I understand it has an extra half effect sensor, as well as a few other features compared to the X52. The magnet modification was purely on the X52, not the pro version.

I am curious about the left-right and vertical thruster arrangement when used on the X52 pro, can that be mapped to the 'nipple' mouse on the accelerator lever or what ever the technical term is? Or is there a better arrangement?

 

[Gmotagi]

on the x54 pro I've mapped the L/R/U/D manoeuvring thrusts to the other hat on the throttle control. I found that the mouse nipple is much too sensitive.

 

[fraz]

I am curious about the left-right and vertical thruster arrangement when used on the X52 pro, can that be mapped to the 'nipple' mouse on the accelerator lever or what ever the technical term is? Or is there a better arrangement?

I think the default mapping (and certainly the one I have retained) is for the hat on the front of the throttle to control lateral thrusters. It's very intuitive. All thrust controlled from the throttle.

Keep your joystick hats for combat (next/previous threat, ship systems etc)

Don't forget that ED allows 'shifted' buttons, so pressing the mouse nipple gives you another option for every hat/button on the joystick.

 

[Ogidch]

Cheers Gmotagi and Fraz, I will give both these a try to see which fits. I have never used a Hotas so need to test different layouts, the index finger option on the throttle does not seem intuitive to me, but they put it there for a reason!

looking forward to honing my flying skills ready for the 16th

 

[AsmodeusZ28]

I have the x52 pro and I've modded the magnets according to one of the many tutorials that can found on google. I feel that the stick is much more responsive with the mod and I would recommend it for anyone who feels comfortable with taking a screwdriver to their stick.

 

[Splette]

Hi Commander,

I have a X52 Pro and the only mod I felt necessary, which did void the warranty, was the removal of the detents at 25% and 75% to allow full motion of the throttle.

Never needed the magnet mod. I suspect that's a X52 (not pro) problem since the sensors in the pro are much better.

Happy hunting!

Same here. Besides the awful software, I'm pretty happy with my newly bought x52 pro. I don't see the need for the magnet mod, but I did remove the detents of the throttle, which is easily done without the risk of damaging anything...

 

[Razorwire]

I've done the detent removal mod, never looked back, it's so much better. Didn't feel the need for the magnet mod, as I find it precise enough stock.

 

[Hexen]

Thanx a lot for advice! Yeah, those detents are nasty stuff, gonna pull em out.

 

[TANDKO]

on the x54 pro I've mapped the L/R/U/D manoeuvring thrusts to the other hat on the throttle control. I found that the mouse nipple is much too sensitive.

The thing with the nipple that it isn't a hat switch (like the one at the back) but rather another joystick and if you try to set it as hat switch any movement on it will be picked up. But you can set it as a joystick in HUD and in ED settings or you can set bands in HUD so that when it's more than some value it will return some command(key press or macros).

 

[Hexen]

Aaand another question. Is there a way to disable mouse controls on trottle? That's just useless for me and I'd rather assigned something like ship lights on the button there.

 

[AurelTristen]

You can use the programming software to use that HOTAS mouse for something else.

I'm flying a TM Hog now, but my previous stick was the X52. A note about the magnet mod: Here is how you can decide if you need it. In a joystick calibration program (that shows you RAW input) move the joystick in a circle. If the on-screen display looks more like it is tracing out a diamond, you'll benefit from the mod. Essentially, the four corners are less sensitive than the four sides (full left, right up and down), so an ark becomes distorted which makes precision flying impossible. In ED, you MIGHT not have a big problem, but in games like DCS, gunruns are near impossible with the diamond error, and air to air refueling? Forget about it.

The big downside to the magnet mod is that you can't just glue the magnets in place. If they moved from 'center' while drying, you're stuck with an out-of-whack stick. I ended up using stickitac so that I could adjust it, and every once in a while I'd need to open it up and move the magnets back in place.

Once the mod is done though, she traces out perfect circles! SO much better.

TLR
If a circle with the stick doesn't make a diamond pattern in software, you don't need the mod.

 

[jpinard]

whoa... the nipple lets us double all the commands? The little button next to the mouse thingie? If so my prayers have been answered!!

 

[Hexcaliber]

whoa... the nipple lets us double all the commands? The little button next to the mouse thingie? If so my prayers have been answered!!

No, the pinkie button on the stick is used for shift state commands, but you need to set up the commands in the profile software, you also have three different modes which allow you to program each input with three different sets of commands; depending on what you are doing you just switch to the appropriate mode. By default the small button next to the mouse stick is the left mouse button iirc but you can reassign it in the profiler; not used the x52 in some time.