Upgrade from Saitek X45 to X52 pro

[Raven Morpheus]

Hey all

I've come into a tiny bit of money recently and I'm considering an upgrade to my Saitek X45. It was 2nd hand when I bought it, the Fire C button (the little button on the top front right) 9/10 times doesn't want to work, the grip surface is peeling, the 2nd D-pad "cap" is slightly broken and I think the throttle has a slight problem because in IL2 1946 it keeps "twitching" the throttle every now and then so I get the "Power xxx%" message frequently. It could be because I rest my hand on it though but it didn't used to do it.

So, time for an upgrade methinks.

I'm looking at the X52 Pro, if I can get my hands on one, supply seems short if non-existent at the moment though.

Problem is I don't use rudder pedals and I can't use rudder pedals because I just don't have the room to use them - when gaming I sit on my bed (single, 3ft wide) in front of my monitor because my PC is in my tiny box bedroom (which is no more than 7ft x 9ft) so obviously that rules out using pedals.

I'm also not comfortable with twist rudders, I had that on my Thrustmaster T-Flight HOTAS X, and quickly disabled it in favour of the rocker on the throttle.

And that kind of leaves me with a little problem if I buy an X52 Pro - because it has no rudder rocker on the throttle.

Besides using the X45 throttle and just leaving the stick plugged in but on my floor, or doing some surgery on the X45 to remove the stick but keep the board and put it in the throttle base, is there any other option I have?

Also does the X52 Pro even work in IL2 1946 4.12.2, don't think there's any reason it shouldn't but as it's newer stick than the X45 I'm a little wary of it?

And last but not least can the scroll wheel on the front of the throttle be used as elevator trim in IL2 1946 - if it can, and it's any good, it would save me building my own trim box because I'd have 3 axis to use for trims on the X52 (2 rotaries and the wheel)? Although likely I'll still end up building my own trim box to get more accurate pots...

TIA for any advice on this.

[Pfeil]

Originally Posted by Raven Morpheus

Does the X52 Pro even work in IL2 1946 4.12.2?

Yes. I've personally used that combination successfully.

Can the scroll wheel on the front of the throttle be used as elevator trim in IL2 1946?

Yes. You can use the Saitek profiling software to assign keypresses to the scroll wheel to operate the trim.
This way, every "click" of the scrollwheel will increase or decrease the trim setting, in the same way you can with a normal keyboard.

[Raven Morpheus]

Thanks thats good to know. I've seen a CH Products Fighter Stick for <£100 - that comes with 3 extra axis also, and if I combined it with my X45 throttle I'd have 5 extra axis I could use (in theory). My Saitek X45 throttle seems to be OK, I think the "twitchy" throttle is just where I lean on the handle, I might try adjusting the tension via the screw underneath the base. So I can get away with buying just a new stick, for the moment.

To be honest, after further consideration, I think going down the X52 Pro route would be a bad idea for me (besides the fact they don't seem to be readily available), due to the lack of rudder rocker - I'd end up having to to mix and match, probably with half the X52 and half the X45 left sitting on my floor (unless I did some modifications to pull the boards out). If I go with the CH Fighter Stick I can just use that with the X45 throttle and thus only have the X45 stick sitting on my floor (or do some modification to put the stick board into the throttle base and put the stick components in storage).

The X52 does look good though, makes me wish I had room to sit and use pedals.

Just out of interest though, can the mouse wheel on the X52 throttle be used as an axis (via the SST software, not setting a control in-game to mouse wheel)? Or does it only function as a mouse wheel or buttons?

[Pfeil]

Originally Posted by Raven Morpheus

Can the mouse wheel on the X52 throttle be used as an axis (via the SST software, not setting a control in-game to mouse wheel)? Or does it only function as a mouse wheel or buttons?

As far as I can remember you can't use it as an axis, the profiler can map positions on axes to buttons, but not the other way around.

It's possible in theory, but you can't just "create" axes, you need a HID device to report them. PPJoy for example does this by installing a virtual HID driver.

[Raven Morpheus]

Ah I see, thanks anyway. It's a bit of a moot point now anyway because whilst putting in some spacers, to remove the stickiness caused by the plate under the spring, my X45 has developed a faulty connection on one of the wires somewhere. I took it apart to see if I could find it and I can't. Grrr!

EDIT - I found out roughly where the faulty wire seems to be. It seems to be related to the connector on the stick for the throttle, because when I wiggle the plug from the throttle it "shorts" the stick and the lights turn off and no axis work. Guess I'll have to open up the base and see if I can see if I can fix it...

As I want the rudder rocker on the throttle I might be able to get away with just putting the stick on my floor, as it seems to be OK when on my floor, but I think buying another X45 might be a good idea as the faulty wire is only likely to get worse, and then I can go back to plan B of buying a CH Fighterstick.

[Raven Morpheus]

Well I upgraded to the X52 pro...

Decided against the CH Fighterstick because the trim wheels aren't actually separate axis from reviews that I've read, so they're rather useless.

Having tried the X52 pro for a day or two now I'm not really liking it at the moment. I find that it's just too plasticky overall, although some bits are better than the X45 like the "safety cover" on the "Fire" button, the centre hat switch and the spring mech doesn't stick like my X45 (although I think it could be a little tighter). It's base is lightweight compared to the X45. The throttle handle is bigger than the X45 and the rotaries on the throttle handle are poorer than the ones on the X45, for one thing the detents seem non existent or at best very vague as to where centre is, and the lower rotary, the smaller of the two, is tight. Oh and there's a detent or two in the throttle itself - which I understand can be removed by removing a part under the throttle lever.

Plus of course there's no rudder rocker on the throttle, which I already knew. I've tried the twist and surprisingly it does work rather well, although I haven't (and probably won't) get used to it.

My biggest concern is that I'm having problems landing again - and I do think it's because the X52 pro is that little bit inferior (or so it seems so far), because I just went back to my X45 (I've managed to "fix" the faulty wiring for the moment by wedging some paper under the socket for the throttle plug) and did exactly what I've been doing with the X52 pro and managed to land just fine, although I almost run out of runway - I'm doing it on Midway with the F4U-1D, so it's a short runway anyhow and I usually do almost run out of runway...


EDIT - decided to void my warranty and do the magnet mod on the hall sensors in my X52 pro, using 2x 2mm x 4mm x 1mm strong magnets. And I added a couple of spacers at the top of the spring, and wow! It's like a different stick. Just managed to land an F4U-1D almost as I would using my X45. Think the key, besides the sloppy spring and poor hall sensors, though is trimming, I'm using my X45 throttle (the stick is on the floor) and the rotaries on that make a huge difference. Shame I can't plug in just the X52 stick and X45 throttle without their counterparts and link them so I can use the pinky functions on the X45 throttle!