Starting to make little progress

[SlipBall]

Yea, I made a copy of config and saved in a safe spot, also after setting the controls press save as/then you can load that/ or a similar file say bomber control etc.

[mxmadman]

Well, I think you're best off mapping your own keys as you have planned, but I don't think you should take time off of flying to map them.

Obviously you want it to make sense, so some thought is required to make sure the buttons that are needed in combat situations are easy to press without moving your hands or eyes.

You can change the controls during a mission also by hitting escape. I have a Saitek x52 that has multiple modes so I can assign the same button to multiple uses depending on which mode I'm in, so I have a 'start-up mode' and flight mode.

You may not have this ability, but can still do something similar. Map all of your preflight keys in a sequence somewhere, like having 1 as fuel cock, 2 and 3 as magnetos, 4 as toggle sight illumination, and 5 as ignition.

This way you can't forget what to do, just hit the fly button and slam 1 2 3 4 5 in succession, and as long as your engine is in the proper start-up condition you'll be ready to go.

Also, as far as take-off is concerned, you want to trim your plane for take off before hitting the run way. In a Spit this means full right rudder and very nose-up elevator trim.

During take off, before wheels up, you'll notice that you need to begin dialing back the right rudder more towards centered as you build speed, and this increases as you get to cruise speed. After wheels up you want to obviously retract your gear and immediately go back to trimming elevator and rudder.

This trim process during take-off makes the ac much easier to control.

[d.burnette]

Originally Posted by mxmadman

Well, I think you're best off mapping your own keys as you have planned, but I don't think you should take time off of flying to map them.

Thanks for all the great tips mxmadman,
I will certainly keep them in mind as I plan and map out my new Cougar profile for this sim. By doing it this way, I will be able to map so much more to the stick by utilizing the 3 way switche, so each button can have multiple functions assigned to it.
I can easily program preflight functions onto buttons on my stick with a toggle switch in one location, and regular flight functions with the toggle switch in another, so doing as you describe regarding having all the preflight stuff close together is certainly doable . Just takes a little planning and preperation on my part.

Will take some time to get it going, but I think will pay off in dividends as I really get into flying this thing.

Thanks again,

[mxmadman]

Originally Posted by d.burnette

Thanks for all the great tips mxmadman,
I will certainly keep them in mind as I plan and map out my new Cougar profile for this sim. By doing it this way, I will be able to map so much more to the stick by utilizing the 3 way switche, so each button can have multiple functions assigned to it.
I can easily program preflight functions onto buttons on my stick with a toggle switch in one location, and regular flight functions with the toggle switch in another, so doing as you describe regarding having all the preflight stuff close together is certainly doable . Just takes a little planning and preperation on my part.

Will take some time to get it going, but I think will pay off in dividends as I really get into flying this thing.

Thanks again,

Excellent! Its great that your stick also has the ability to switch between different modes. Its easily one of my favorite features.

As far as tips I picked up when I was first assigning keys (wasn't long ago).

Assigned fov 30 and fov 70 (these are under Camera keys) to something very easy to reach. I use my hat switches (because I have Track IR). Fov 30 is basically zoom in, which is very helpful in aiming. Fov 70 is defaul and needed to get back to normal view.

Same goes for 'lean to gunsight' which is under View I believe. This is similar to the above as it zooms you in a little bit, but it also centers your view on the gunsight. Very helpful in the bf 109 where the gunsight is not centered on your screen by default.

Also, this may not be useful to you, but you can assign a button to the shift key in your joystick configuration. This is done in your joystick software outside of the game.

Using a shift key on your joystick or throttle is helpful to double up on the most accessible keys while you're in combat. For instance, my shift key is right under my thumb on my throttle, so its very easy to use. Trigger for me is just fire MG, and I have another button for cannons, but holding shift and hitting trigger fires both Mg and cannons, this way I don't have to move my trigger hand and mess up my aiming when I want to use both.

[d.burnette]

Originally Posted by mxmadman

Excellent!

Using a shift key on your joystick or throttle is helpful to double up on the most accessible keys while you're in combat. For instance, my shift key is right under my thumb on my throttle, so its very easy to use. Trigger for me is just fire MG, and I have another button for cannons, but holding shift and hitting trigger fires both Mg and cannons, this way I don't have to move my trigger hand and mess up my aiming when I want to use both.

Most excellent tips, and all are very doable with my setup. Yes my toggle is a 3 way, so I can setup 3 modes on my stick/throttle, and have lots of buttons available to me.
I have both printed them out and saved to my computer to have for reference.

Great tips and I appreciate them very much, will be very helpful once I start writing my joystick file!

Thanks again,

[d.burnette]

Originally Posted by mxmadman

You may not have this ability, but can still do something similar. Map all of your preflight keys in a sequence somewhere, like having 1 as fuel cock, 2 and 3 as magnetos, 4 as toggle sight illumination, and 5 as ignition.

This way you can't forget what to do, just hit the fly button and slam 1 2 3 4 5 in succession, and as long as your engine is in the proper start-up condition you'll be ready to go.

Hey mxmadman,

If I may, can I ask you to elaborate a little for me? I have been assigning keystrokes in the controller menu, actually got a lot of assigning done last night. Still have a ways to go though, as I still need to create my joystick file for my Cougar,but will be able to make use of a tremendous amount of buttons configurations.

Anyway in regards to starting the engine or engines. Obviously here in the early going, my main focus will be on single engine aircraft.

First:
The simple route - say having a button that simply does everything for you and fires the engine up - I am sure that exists, but I can not identify by what I read in the controller menu? I would like to have this mapped to a button for those lazy moments.

Second:
I am sure I will get more satisfaction by going through the actual routine as you stated above, and will have this method mapped to buttons close by on my stick, ie puncing 1 through 5 as you described.

I went back in the controller menu this morning, have begun assigning to keystrokes.
However, there are so many options it confuses me. Like in the magnetos you mention above, there is previous magneto regarding a specific engine number, next magneto, etc. I truly am unclear , with all the options available in there, what I truly need to assign to keystrokes and map to my stick? I see in addition, like a magneto toggle, etc. Same goes for things like fuel cock, radiator, oil radiator, etc...

I hate to ask for elaboration but I am really confused by all the choices... For this 5 step process as you mention, what exactly do I need to assign to complete that 5 step process?

Lastly, one of the steps you mention for starting engine is " toggle sight illumination". What is that in regards to starting engine? I do not see that command listed, at least under aircraft?

Sorry for my confusion and perhaps this is better suited in another subforum, just wanted to ask you directly here as you had already given me great tips to get me started in this control assignment daunting process..

Thanks for any help in this regard, it is truly appreciated! I really want to get much of this accomplished this weekend and actually get to spending some quality flying time with this sim in the upcoming days...

[addman]

Originally Posted by d.burnette

Hey mxmadman,

If I may, can I ask you to elaborate a little for me? I have been assigning keystrokes in the controller menu, actually got a lot of assigning done last night. Still have a ways to go though, as I still need to create my joystick file for my Cougar,but will be able to make use of a tremendous amount of buttons configurations.

Anyway in regards to starting the engine or engines. Obviously here in the early going, my main focus will be on single engine aircraft.

First:
The simple route - say having a button that simply does everything for you and fires the engine up - I am sure that exists, but I can not identify by what I read in the controller menu? I would like to have this mapped to a button for those lazy moments.

Second:
I am sure I will get more satisfaction by going through the actual routine as you stated above, and will have this method mapped to buttons close by on my stick, ie puncing 1 through 5 as you described.

I went back in the controller menu this morning, have begun assigning to keystrokes.
However, there are so many options it confuses me. Like in the magnetos you mention above, there is previous magneto regarding a specific engine number, next magneto, etc. I truly am unclear , with all the options available in there, what I truly need to assign to keystrokes and map to my stick? I see in addition, like a magneto toggle, etc. Same goes for things like fuel cock, radiator, oil radiator, etc...

I hate to ask for elaboration but I am really confused by all the choices... For this 5 step process as you mention, what exactly do I need to assign to complete that 5 step process?

Lastly, one of the steps you mention for starting engine is " toggle sight illumination". What is that in regards to starting engine? I do not see that command listed, at least under aircraft?

Sorry for my confusion and perhaps this is better suited in another subforum, just wanted to ask you directly here as you had already given me great tips to get me started in this control assignment daunting process..

Thanks for any help in this regard, it is truly appreciated! I really want to get much of this accomplished this weekend and actually get to spending some quality flying time with this sim in the upcoming days...

Forget about magnetos and forget about "toggle sight illumination", sight illumination is for turning the gunsight light on only you don't need to map them, they are not necessary for starting engines in this case. Generally speaking with regards to starting engines you only need to do the following:


1. Toggle fuel cock(s), some planes (like bombers) have more than 1 fuel cocks but most have only one. Assign a key to toggle fuel cock.

2. When you start many engines - not all - you need to have like 5-10% throttle so make sure you apply that amount before starting engines.

3. Simply press I or assign I to a button of your choice.

4. Multi engine planes, make sure you assign keys to "toggle engine 1", "toggle engine 2" etc because you can't start two engines at once, you need to select, for example, engine 1 first and do the start-up procedure then you toggle engine 2 and repeat the procedure there.

There are of course planes - like the Blenheim - that requires extra care when starting and warming engines up so make sure to read the gameplay forum from back to back, some really good help there.

I hope this helps, it takes time to assign buttons and get to know your setup but when you've sorted out irrelevant commands and used it for a few hours it will stick like glue. Setting up the controls and getting to know them is IMO the biggest hurdle to overcome for new players and it can be daunting for someone who doesn't fly sims a lot, the rewards far outweighs the steep cost of entry.

[d.burnette]

[QUOTE=addman;402551]

1. Toggle fuel cock(s), some planes (like bombers) have more than 1 fuel cocks but most have only one. Assign a key to toggle fuel cock.

2. When you start many engines - not all - you need to have like 5-10% throttle so make sure you apply that amount before starting engines.

3. Simply press I or assign I to a button of your choice.

4. Multi engine planes, make sure you assign keys to "toggle engine 1", "toggle engine 2" etc because you can't start two engines at once, you need to select, for example, engine 1 first and do the start-up procedure then you toggle engine 2 and repeat the procedure there.

QUOTE]

addman, very helpful and thank you sir for the quick response. That certainly simplifies it for me and not quite so overwhelming by what I see in the controller menu regarding engine start ups. Thanks for that info and for the tips.

I will go back into the controller menu and make sure my toggles are assigned to keys appropriately. Indeed this is a daunting task, mainly due to the fact that I am assigning keystrokes to a lot of controller comands that do not have them already- but when I write my joystick file, while I will have all those macros already in the macro file for it, I do not have to assign all of them to the buttons on my sticks - but will be available to me down the road should I wish to and would be a simple matter to add to the joystick itself. I am hoping " short term pain will equate to long term gain" for me.

Thank you again for the great info, I really appreciate it.

[d.burnette]

May I ask another much simpler question?

I notice while looking through the various controller menus, the M key is actually assigned to two different commands. Specifically, the Map toggle, and the Mirror toggle...

How can this be? I did not think one single key could be used for two different commands? Would not that keypress then generate, both the map toggle and the mirror toggle?

I believe so far, that is the only key that I have seen assigned to two different commands?

Thanks,

[d.burnette]

Originally Posted by addman

3. Simply press I or assign I to a button of your choice.

Well I have run across another question.
I am in the controls menu and have made the other necessary key assignments regarding the fuel cock toggles. I went ahead and assigned fuel cock toggles for engines 1-4 to have just in case.

I have looked through all the controls menu, and do not see an I assigned to any control function whatsoever. I fear in my early haste to go in and start assiging stuff a couple of days ago to try and get in the air sooner rather than later, I was mapping some stuff directly to my stick buttons versus using key presses like I will be doing now for my joystick file - I am afraid I must have erased the I command from the appropriate corresponding control function to start the engines.

Can you tell me which control function exactly, the I keypress is supposed to relate to, to start the engine?

Sorry for my ingnorance, again it is hard for me to tell which one it should apply to in the controls menu.

Thanks,