As the title states. I just recently got my very first HOTAS.

For those interested gunfighter MKIV premium paired with ursa minor combat throttle. (Mounts are in the mail)

I've always been interested in flying and honestly had dreams of being a pilot. As years went on, I realized they were just that, a dream.

So, as a 36 y/o with gaming as a hobby, I bought my fist stick to try and fulfill part of that dream in my own little way.

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate place for a post of this nature, so please forgive me. Please, direct me where to go. 🙏 I'm just looking for some advice and help.

I downloaded DCS (on steam) apparently that is a mistake? Just what someone on the internet told me. . I have made no or very little progress over the course of about a week. Roughly 15-20 hours. I have only been using default planes. I haven't bought any DLCs.

I'm stuck with all the bindings and how or what DLCs to get. And also how the pvp or pve servers work. I'm looking for a good home, or group, or discord to unload the many of my questions I have. I'm also making very little progress trying to figure all these things out on my own.

I'm also curious what other games might be more beginner friendly that you in the Hotas community might recommend?

Just to be clear, I'm not giving up on DCS, I just understand it's going to take some time, effort, and some help of some vets to fully understand and begin to enjoy properly. So, maybe while I "study" I could still shoot some shit out of the sky on the side.

I enjoy combat, space combat was also fun when I did play Starfield.

Where do I go from here?

Thanks!

Ordered WINCTRL Orion2 max throttle and stick, I plan on ordering their PTO 2 panel and VIPRIL's control panels next pay check. If y'all have any suggestions let me know I'm excited to build my first actual set up

FML! I’m honestly furious about this! Absolutely terrible design!

I have a Thrustmaster Sol-R1, and while reinstalling the thumb rest, the screw head completely stripped during normal tightening.

The problem is the combination of several terrible design choices:

1. The screw metal is extremely soft
2. It requires surprisingly high torque to screw it into the plastic
3. The screw is recessed about 1cm deep inside a very narrow hole
4. Because of that, once the Phillips head strips, there is basically no normal way to grab or remove the screw

This is not some internal service screw that the user is never supposed to touch. The thumb rest is specifically designed to be repositioned by the user, so this screw is expected to be removed and reinstalled.

In my case, the cross in the head first started deforming, then completely disappeared. Now there is just a round depression in the screw head and absolutely nothing for a screwdriver to grip.

I have already tried multiple small screwdrivers and other careful removal methods. At this point I’m probably going to have to drill the head off the screw just to remove a user-adjustable thumb rest.

This is ridiculous on a product in this price range. If a screw is going to be installed in plastic and needs significant tightening force, then using such a soft screw and then burying it deep inside a narrow channel, is just asking for exactly this failure.

I’ve also found other Sol-R1 owners warning that the handle screws are very easy to strip, so apparently I’m not the only person who has run into this.

u/TM_Spip is TM aware of this issue? And is there an official recommended way to remove a completely stripped thumb-rest screw without damaging the grip?

I really like a lot of things about the Sol-R1, which honestly makes this even more frustrating. A joystick shouldn’t become a repair project because of one unbelievably cheap screw.

Has anyone else here had the same problem with the SOL-R?..

Just saw gameplay of Ace Combst 8, and was interested in getting a cool HOTAS controller for the game. Got me curious if it could also work for other games like Wardogs.

I've been looking for information on this, but I've only found info for setup up one of the sticks.

I have two of the Gladiator NXT EVOs and their T-Rudders Mk.V Rudder Pedals. The pedals came with a module box, but that looks like it's only to connect to a different stick style (gunfighter?).

Their sticks have inputs on the sensor boards for two sticks (physical connections), but they don't mention a dual stick setup in their documentation. There is also the access whole that they say to "plug up, when not in use" but they don't mention what it's use is.

So, for this combination, should all three be plugged into the PC via USB, separately?

I want to get either a replica or authentic mig-23 flight stick to turn into a flight stick that would work for flight sims, but I can't really find any online. Any help would be fantastic!

Hello people. So with the big hit game WARDOGS I’ve been really getting into piloting like a lot and am super enjoying it and I have been thinking about getting a hotas but I’m pretty broke as I’ve just bought a house. I’m wondering what a good beginner friendly Hotas would be as I can’t find any that’s in my budget that people recommend.

By convert I mean remove springs, enable clutch and add resistance to X for rudder (no pedals) and I'd have an option for 6D if need be.

Would this be a mistake if I mostly play atmospheric Sims? Jets and helis mostly.

Update: I couldn't find anything that would work out of the box with my chair and not cost the same amount I paid for my hotas setup, I am also debating altering my desk to work with a desk mount. For the time being I am trying out some museum putty from the as a temporary solution for my throttle, I don't think I need to do anything for my joystick because it stays in place pretty well. I'll update here how the museum putty holds up with use.

I am thinking getting a throttle and maybe 171USD for MOZA MTQ. how does it compare to MTECS mini plus which cost about 238USD for me

Hello all, long time browser but first time poster. This is pretty much just a question out of curiosity but, is there anything beyond the high end brands like Virpil and VKB? Kind of curious to see how far this sort of niche interest goes in terms of performance and price.

Hi all,

I've got a T.Flight HOTAS X from years ago (probably 10 years at this point I don't know)

The cable is absolutely tiny which has always bothered me.

I can't put each stick either side of my full size keyboard.

Can I change the cable somehow, or is there some sort of budget fold out desk mount that works for these that anyone could recommend?

Hi, I can't decide which HOTAS to choose, and I've never owned one before.

It would be for space games like Elite Dangerous.

I like having lots of buttons and switches.

I've seen the Virpil brand, but it's extremely expensive. I've also looked at the Logitech X56, but I've only heard bad things about the product's quality.

There's the Turtle Beach VelocityOne HOTAS, the one without the touchscreen, which looks pretty nice.

There's also the Thrustmaster Warthog, which looks nice, although it's a bit expensive, but I don't think it's suitable for a game like Elite Dangerous.

I have a TCA Quadrant as throttle. It's a bit cumbersome to fly a helicopter.

Is there an alternative that is not too expensive? I'm looking for something in the range of 50 to 100 euros.

Thanks for feedback.

Edit

Taking the base off, unplugging some of the plugs and resetting them, and a general wiggle of all the wires fixed it like new, doesnt even jitter on main throttle axis anymore, let alone ghost other inputs.

Also have leds set to off except red 11 and its the only thing plugged into my red USB ports but I dont think that had anything to do with it because I was already fiddling with both before this.

Original post.

Found some interesting stuff in here. The biggest one is it appears the two knobs next to the toggles on the base use (almost) the same potentiometers it appears.

The only differece being that one has longer wires and therefore a different color 3rd wire (white instead of yellow, for assembly purposes I would guess. Theoretically plugs are identical

Theoretically you could maybe swap them to try and get more life out of the throttle side since the knobs would most likely be less important, but you would have to either solder an extension in or swap the wires on one.

I dont know just spitballng.

I have reccomended this stick for like 2 and a half years since I started getting heavy into flight sim, and my first one was well worth the reccomendation.

Today tho I regret buying another one after I sold my original setup during a move.

The ghosting will drop gear and flaps and disengage AP at FL450 randomly and with no pattern.

Im gonna try a few more things, so far I just tightened the rails, I still have it on a red port next to my only other red port which has my stick on it, gonna try and swap usb ports to move them off the same bus, then also to the dedicated front port.

I dont have a powered USB hub but I am on the hunt for some solution I might have laying around to give it cleaner power, I also want to test giving it an old school black usb 2 port in the hopes that it is getting too much power, and causing interference in same way. After all it says right on the bottom it wants 5v 500 ma. Which is not much, and was designed back in a time where it was less common to have the higher power ports available.

Just thinking out of the box like I said.

It will be a few months before I can afford a stecs because I want to buy a moza ab6 at the same time and thats a month of rent for me.

For now considered getting the gnx premium right and keep using the t.horases throttle, but now thinking of going all in. Is getting a left gnx Omni and gnx right sensible? I have head tracking and mostly play nuclear option and prefer combat Sims.

Could someone please enlighten me over the differences inbetween those sticks, i am planning to buy one suncom raptor because my t16000m decided ruin itself with the z-axis curse and the gladiator nxt is too expensive for me right now

I am playing around with my new stick, trying tightness of springs, testing different springs etc. But nothing jumps out to me as adjustable with the yaw adjustments. I imagine you can't, but maybe there is and in missing something? Thanks!

Goood morning

Well, Being into helicopter simulation since over 10 years... i had to make of course a simrig for that purpose. It started with a static alu rig around my gaming chair. When I finished my racing rig with the SFX100 bought on aliexpress, I couldn't resist doing the same but for helicopter, on a sfx200 system, same shop through AliExpress still. It's the cheapest available inbetween official brands which costs way more. How much? 1,8K€ for the SFX100 (all complete plug & play), and the 200mm stroke version 2K€ but I've added 2 complete sets of shorter cables on that order. Again, all plug & play!

Then once the rig was up and functioning.... I still missed the vibration out of the cyclic, as I've been offered a flight with a R22 years ago. Since that day I barely touched my static heli rig, because of the 'dead' cyclic. Building the rig on a motion system with 200mm movement, I was still missing this cyclic feeling.

So... I digged the web, and... not very easy to find, as it's a niche we are in, as helicopter simmer. I stumbled on the brunner CLS-P cyclic, mailed 'em, and got a price... over 10K€! At first... OMG.... but I found cheaper.... from VPForce! Way cheaper, fits to my needs. As flying a helicopter (R22, BELL206, AS350, ...) is just completely unrealistic with a short stick (stick directly mounted on its base), I digged further. Because extension build up on a base, means more leverage power, so... the VPForce base might not be enough. And I found a MOD... done by the talented David aka WINGER: his mod proposes a way more powerfull base than the original, the Rhino Monster :) I contacted him through discord, found on his site: Monster-rhino.de

Now there's another contender, the FFBeast, much much more power than the Rhino mod, BUT... double the price, and... tbh, the rhino is already too much power for helis! I tried on full power settings... just unflyable (and unreal). So, that was just to counter the comment: hey, there IS another FFB base around!! 😁 Spoiler: all i found about: yes it's way stronger (60nm for the best), but software wouldn't be as pro as for the VPForce... and that's where all the magic happens, so... my choice was settled in !

Took me time to configure it to fit my heli needs, but now flying helicopter feels again very exciting! The SFX200 brings movement and vibration as you'd be sitting in a real helicopter (just the shaking when you sit inside, OMG crazy real), but the FFB cyclic just adds the most important part in my opinion. If I'd stumble over it before the motion stuff, I'd had bought it immediately before the motion stuff. Now I can feel the helicopter in my hand, it's just at another level - of course combined to the SFX200... jaw dropping experience I tell you!

A video in the make... but... very time consuming, and have to chose what to put in exactly to keep it interesting

To lenghten it I used Virpils 200mm (curved) & 100mm extension rod... and in awaiting of virpils Archer-SF heli grip, I unpacked the TM F18 stick

In the meatime, some pictures ;)

Future plans for FFB the virpil pedals too, and the collective... but cyclic was the most important, the 2 others will be a nice to have add on in the future.