X52 Pro - Very confused.

Rojo Habe

Rojo Habe
MY shiny new X52 Pro arrived today and I have to say I haven't a clue what's goimg on.

  1. I donwloaded the Software as recommended by Logitech and this seemd to do nothing other than reboot my PC. Literally. It just chugged a progress bar for a few seconds and then replaced it with a "Restart" button. Clicking this immediately and unceremoniously reboots the machine, after which the software is nowhere to be found.
  2. Downloaded the Profile pack and opened the zip. Saw that there was an ED profile but no instructions on how to install it. A little searching on the web suggests puting it in C:\Users\Public\Documents and then a Saitek directory that doesn't exist because the software I tried to install turned out to be nothing more than a Reboot button. And seriously. A company like Logitech sticking with directoy names of the previous owner?? Backwards compatibility I suppose.
  3. I was sort of hoping that having a three-way mode switch would triple the number of buttons available but all it seems to do is change the colour of an LED, from red to blue via a pretty mauve. I'm assuming this would be enabled if I actually had the software, rather than a reboot button?
  4. A lot of the axes are very noisy in the middle, necessitating deadzones. Particularly the rotary controls.
  5. The only thing approaching an analogue ministick seems to be exclusively for controlling the mouse. I was hoping to use that for thruster control.
This is just me getting started. I am pretty sure I will encounter many more sources of bewilderment over the next few days, while I try to configure some sort of sense out of the thing.

Oh, and the trottle detents are so weak as to be not worth bothering with. No wonder the default ED profile has it set to Forward Only.

Very disappointed so far. Might be returning it. :(
 

Scrubmage

S
using the windows search bar (next to the start menu) search for and launch 'set up usb game controllers', then select the hotas and click 'properties' you can set your deadzones/LED and MFD settings there.

You can launch the software from the system tray, there'll be a joystick icon in there, click that, this software handles the button mapping and macros.

For using the keybinds you've found, assuming default install location, put the .pr0 file in C:\Users\Public\Documents\Logitech\X52 Professional
and the .binds file in C:\Users\<yourusername>\AppData\Local\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options\Bindings

Once those are in place, load up the logitech software by clicking the sytem tray icon, click 'PROGRAMMING' then 'open' select the .pr0 file you moved earlier to load in those settings, then click the 'Profile' button to set it for use (it looks like a small blue crosshair, next to the Views dropdown)

The system tray icon should now have a green backgound, and the MFD should say something new, depending on the profile.

Now load elite, go to 'Options' then 'Controls' you should fine the .binds you added earlier in this dropdown list, select that, and you're good to go.

If your binds file doesn't show up in elite's settings, you may need to do a find&replace in the binds file, it depends on which profile and stick you have. If this happens, It's an easy fix.

That mouse thing is garbage for thruster imho though, I use the 8 way hat on the back of the throttle
 

SgtMajRaz

S
Straha Yeagar said:
I used the x52 pro for years and never even downloaded to software.
Click to expand...

Nowadays, in-game keybinds are much better than using the software. I personally found the X-52 software to be terrible. I don't ED on PC, but I now use a VPC Constellation Alpha with a T-50C throttle for my other sims and the software for those sort of feels like I need to be a programmer to get it just right.
 

Scrubmage

S
The software is janky indeed, but if all you're doing is loading in a profile, it's fine. Last I checked, you couldn't use the profile switching without it either, Elites ingame binidings may have gotten better since then, I just use the software because it's already set up, and I don't need to touch it again
 

mollymawk

mollymawk
I found this list of old drivers:
ftp://ftp.saitek.com/pub/software/full/

not tried them, no idea is they still work
 

Rojo Habe

Rojo Habe
Scrubmage said:
You can launch the software from the system tray, there'll be a joystick icon in there, click that, this software handles the button mapping and macros.

For using the keybinds you've found, assuming default install location, put the .pr0 file in C:\Users\Public\Documents\Logitech\X52 Professional
and the .binds file in C:\Users\<yourusername>\AppData\Local\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options\Bindings

Once those are in place, load up the logitech software by clicking the sytem tray icon, click 'PROGRAMMING' then 'open' select the .pr0 file you moved earlier to load in those settings, then click the 'Profile' button to set it for use (it looks like a small blue crosshair, next to the Views dropdown)

The system tray icon should now have a green backgound, and the MFD should say something new, depending on the profile.
Click to expand...

That's just it though. There's nothing in the system tray. There's nothing on the Start menu and there's nothing in C:\Users\Public\Documents\. The installer does nothing but reboot my machine!

Just got the Windows 2004 update the other day. I'm willing to bet that's the problem.

Still, from reading the posts in this thread, it's no biggie as far as ED is concerned. I've set the last couple of hours manually setting it up; it'll probably take another hour before I'm ready to test drive it but that'll have to wait for another day now. Got to go to work tonight :(

Shame I've got this big bright MFD that does absolutely nothing though. I was hoping that would work with MS Flight Sim when it launches next month but there's no way to install the plug-in without the software. That's if they've even written one yet (or ever will).

I do feel it would have served me better to buy yet another T16000 HOTAS and hope it lasted longer than the previous three. No guarantees this thing will be any more reliable and the lack of a proper ministick really hurts.
 

GraphiteGB

GraphiteGB
The logitech rebrand has better components than T16000 plastic crappy pots for yaw, they are no better than the console hotas builds versions..
If the yaw was braking on the T16000 thats not going to be an issue with the logitech rebrand as they don't use those rubbish pots..
 

VR Murgle

VR Murgle
Rojo Habe said:
That's just it though. There's nothing in the system tray. There's nothing on the Start menu and there's nothing in C:\Users\Public\Documents\. The installer does nothing but reboot my machine!

Just got the Windows 2004 update the other day. I'm willing to bet that's the problem.

Still, from reading the posts in this thread, it's no biggie as far as ED is concerned. I've set the last couple of hours manually setting it up; it'll probably take another hour before I'm ready to test drive it but that'll have to wait for another day now. Got to go to work tonight :(

Shame I've got this big bright MFD that does absolutely nothing though. I was hoping that would work with MS Flight Sim when it launches next month but there's no way to install the plug-in without the software. That's if they've even written one yet (or ever will).

I do feel it would have served me better to buy yet another T16000 HOTAS and hope it lasted longer than the previous three. No guarantees this thing will be any more reliable and the lack of a proper ministick really hurts.
Click to expand...
If I remember correctly you need to install the software before you connect the X52, that might be the problem.
 

dubsdj

dubsdj
Never had an issue with mine and set up some great bindings for it. The only issue that I have every time I update windows is the clutch thingy. The red blue pink LED whatsitmajig does something with profiles, but never figured out how to make use of it. I just change the colours from time to time for no particular reason.
 
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Darth Ender

D
welcome to the wild wonderful world of hotas...where your device could have been on the shelf for half a decade and you wouldn't know it because few people buy them and fewer changes are made over the course of 10 years. Where you can spend 200-300 bucks on a device and it still behave like some non-quality controlled garbage. I'm surprised elite didn't drop hotas support when they dropped VR from the upcoming new game... probably just as many people use either these days.

They almost always have quirks...little things that just dont work right that you either live with or play the return and try again game.

You shouldn't need any special software for the device unless you're using the profile feature or want to add curves to your axis'.

Small dead zones are to be expected with any analog input.

In elite, picking the x52 profile should be a good starting point for your bindings.

In windows, I have to totally disable that mouse control as my unit has always had a bug where the stick is stuck in one direction. But yea, it shows as a mouse in windows so you have no hope of mapping it independentally from a mouse in the game.


I have no issues using it in linux or windows (and linux obviously doesn't have saitek software).
 

Rojo Habe

Rojo Habe
[VR] Murgle said:
If I remember correctly you need to install the software before you connect the X52, that might be the problem.
Click to expand...
You know what, I should have thought of that! It's the exact opposite of the tiny little instruction leaflet that came with it (Pic of USB going in hole, pic of computer screen with web address and download symbol on it on it, in that order, not a word in any language to be seen) but I have to admit that is usually how Logitech do things.

I've also just noticed that the list of available downloads is haphazard to say the least, and doesn't put the newest versions at the top as you'd expect. Looks like I've downloaded a very old version that ought to be sitting in an archive somewhere, and not offered to customers as suitable for their OS. The version it offered me when it "auto-detected" my OS didn't work at all as it was 32-bit, so after clicking the "show all downloads" button I went for the first 64bit version I came across, never thinking that newer versions lurked, not at the bottom but in the middle somewhere!

When I get home I'll start (after sleep) by completely uninstalling the drivers I've got and unplugging the device. Then I'll download the latest version (8.0.213.0 by the looks of things) and try again.

Lostgear said:
I would highly suggest checking this out for x52 setup.
github.com

GitHub - spliffz/X52Elite_v3.3.0-beyond: X52/Pro Profile for Elite Dangerous v3.3+ Beyond Update [Updated Nov2019]

X52/Pro Profile for Elite Dangerous v3.3+ Beyond Update [Updated Nov2019] - spliffz/X52Elite_v3.3.0-beyond
github.com github.com
Click to expand...
Thanks, I'll check that out.
 

Rojo Habe

Rojo Habe
Well that all worked :)

Spent the day (yes, a whole day) customising the profile recommended above (don't need the Driving mode since I use a wheel for that, so I took the opportunity to use that third mode to give me a few more commands), and took it for a quick test drive in the training simulations. It's like learning to fly from scratch all over again :(

Those weak detents are going to be a serious problem though, particularly on the rotary dials. I smacked straight into the station infrastructure as soon as the docking clamps were removed and it took me some time to realise that it wasn't a rotational correction issue but an unwanted lateral thrust kicking in (the very reason I ditched the T16000 with its noisy pots). It's so hard to find the middle of travel with these dials that I've had to set up an overly large deadzone. This is going to make high-G planets a no-go as I just can't see enough vertical thrust control being available to get me down safely.

Guess I'll just have to try it and see if I die. Not before I train some new muscle memory into my hands though...

Not warming to this thing yet, unfortunately.
 

Rojo Habe

Rojo Habe
Urghh!!!

Too many buttons under the right thumb; too few on the throttle. I keep unintentionally snagging the second POV hat, which is my targeting hat. And I can't assign that hat to anything else as that could have even more disastrous consequences.

Plus the comment above about cheap pots on other brands isn't borne out, unfortunately. This one is as noisy as hell on all axes except the Hall Effect ones (pitch/roll/throttle). I've got massive deadzones coming out of my ears.

I can't fight for toffee with this thing; I even have trouble polishing off those silly little sidewinders in the training scenarios! I don't think I'll ever train myself to find the right buttons at the right time, nor find an arrangement that's comfortable. I think it'll have to go back :(

Shame really, as the throttle itself has a much nicer action than the TWCS.
 

Terekhov

Terekhov
I too have a recent x52 pro. Too old to send back, but I am very disappointed with it.. In particuar, the main shaft of the stick seems slightly loose in the collar that it rides in, giving quite a few mm of uncentered stick wobble. I added some extra magnets inside, so it’s not strictly a dead zone, but its still very limiting.

As for thrusters, I put vertical and horizontal on the hat on the back of the throttle, and In landing mode, have fore/aft and a second mapping of left/right thrusters on the pov hat just above the ‘C’ button..
 
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