The VKB NA shop ships from China so the shipping costs are big part of the slice, but $120 sounds ridiculous (though I guess it’s 120 Canadian?). EU (and probably the Australian) shop are lot more conductive for small orders, I think the shipping is something like 15€ outside Netherlands there. Maybe they’ll come around to making proper NA shop someday.
At least as far as I can see from the EU store the returns are not very favourable as you need to pay for the return shipping apparently (never actually tried it). On the flip side Gladiators do resell rather well, and you might try getting one used with lower shipping costs.
What I did for braking was that I made duplicate of the virtual trimmer button that’s configured within the pedals (button 121 on mine) so that the button was in both slot 120 and 121. I then used the axes to buttons feature on the pedal axis so that it inputted button 120 one way and 121 the other way. The intent was to make it so that both the virtual toe brake axes configured within the pedals were at 100% by default (I previously used T-Link for this). I then removed all the “buttons” on the pedals from the HID interface (by setting buttons to 0 on Global>Common) so that this process was entirely internal and no pointless signals would be inputted to PC. Lastly I removed the center (untick the “C” box) from my joystick twist grip, this makes it so that the axis on one side of the twist is disabled and the other side acts as 0-100% axis.
I then used vJoy + Joystick Gremlin to merge the twist grip axis with both the virtual brake axes via the minimum method, meaning highest input is dropped. This gives you approximately similar differential braking as is actually used on planes that have a brake lever rather than toe brakes.
No, it’s all in USD. Sorry was going off memory. But depending on the courier it’s 117 or 113 to Canada, or 117 or 88 to USA. That’s for 1 stick and 3 modules and a USB HID.
Yeah, seems like no savings by bundling more items in one shipment. Even adding the small USB HID controller added some $. Haha. Oh well. It is what it is.
Thank you very much for your suggestion, that looks really interesting. Just so I can follow this and maybe give it a try, what control, button or lever, are you using for the brakes in the described setup? Is there a separate control to vary the braking between the sides, or does it vary with pedal movement?
The reason I mentioned an additional THQ is because I have the current one set as you’d expect, with one axis each for throttle, Prop and Mixture. I had the brakes mapped to the axis on the base of the stick (it’s an NXT with the upgraded NXT EVO gimbal), but with the stick on my RH side I just cannot get on with using that axis with my left hand while juggling the pedals (rudder and nosewheel) right after landing. I’ve therefore moved the brakes to the red button on the top of the stick, and I find it much easier to land and brake like that but it isn’t as finely controlled as I would like.
My thinking was that adding another THQ (with the WWII throttle handle) would allow me to keep the existing controls for Prop and Mixture, but there would then be two ‘free’ axes between Prop and Throttle, which I could use for LH Brake and RH Brake. I’d set it to have ‘Brakes Off’ with the levers pulled fully back towards me, and therefore push them forwards to increase braking force. I think this would probably feel better than the current setup, so I could pull the throttle right back at landing and immediately move my left hand onto the brake levers right next to it.
Braking would be determined by combination of twist axis and pedal position. I.e. if you have the pedals roughly neutral (IIRC, ±8% by default) and twist the grip 2/3 of the way in your chosen direction you’d get 66% braking on both toe brakes. If you twisted the grip all the way and also pushed the pedals all the way to either direction you’d then get 100% braking on that side only. If you just used the pedals’ axis without also using the twist grip, no braking would occur since the minimum method merge would keep brakes at 0%.
Exactly what happens when a pedal is pushed more than 8% (or if it is indeed 8%) but less than 100% would depend on VKBdevcfg settings, by default it starts gradually reducing the brake on the opposite side (BrakeV3 I think it was) but you can also make it so that it fully and instantly cuts the opposite brake when pushed past the threshold. The various options are described in the VKBdevcfg manual.
What you’d actually assign in MSFS left and right brake axes are the two merged vJoy axes you’d have created with Joystick Gremlin.
Free feel to throw me a DM if you have more questions on this, as the pedal stuff is getting tad OT for this thread.
Their shipping may be expensive, but fast. Ordered the Premium stick last Monday, received it today by FEDEX. Already have it set up for the Osprey. Left all springs, etc. as they came. Much better than my Airbus TCA.
Hi. I am adjusting and mapping my VKB Space Combat Premium and noticed that the Y-axis does not move equally in both directions. Forward about 45 degrees, back barely 1 or 2. Have I somehow assembled it incorrectly ? Attaching the stick to the gimbal seems foolproof.
Impressed how quickly it turned up, and I’m relieved you like it over the Thrustmaster!
The Y axis should absolutely move fully backwards as well as forwards with the stick in the upright (neutral) position, just like the X axis should move fully to the left and the right.
If it moves forwards OK, then I assume the adjustable clutch is not too tight. The only things that might stop it moving backwards is some kind of restriction on the gimbal or possibly some wires that are too tight. Is the cable from the grip definitely going to the correct socket in the base?
If you have the baseplate off, I would suggest removing the grip and slackening off the clutches, then carefully remove the springs, so there is nothing impeding the gimbal. Check also that the two grey plates the stick goes through from the top also move freely.
Check that the gimbal moves fully and equally in all directions first, and that there are no notches or anything restricting it. Assuming that is OK, reattach the springs and try again. If you can’t move it from underneath with the springs on, reattach the grip to the gimbal with the three screws and see how that feels. Assuming that is OK, then reattach the cable, making sure it is safely away from the baseplate for when you screw that back on.
Apart from the above, I can’t think of anything that could cause the issue described. Do let me know if it fixes the issue, and if not I would suggest asking on the VKB forum, just in case this has ever happened to another user. Good luck!
I’m setting it up for helicopter, so no springs. The stick is free-moving and stays where I put it, by adjusting the clutch screws. You can see from the pictures that it rests against the base in both forward and back positions. It isn’t being stopped partway to the rear. That is its total movement. Maybe I’m seeing a problem where non exists.
I think you are just misunderstanding what the center position is. If you’d put the springs back on, you’d see it. It returns to such position that the twist adapter sits upright in the middle, but the grip proper has a curved forward bent shape.
It’s all good here too. I guess (as PANTSZER pointed out), the shape of the new stick rendered an optical illusion. In any case, I can’t see any situation where the stick would be placed in either extreme position of the axis. Rotary wing corrections are very small.
Thank you both for your input.
I centered mine to verify (not easy without springs), looks the same. Fortunately the Bell 407 has a cyclic center indicator. This stick is twice the cost of the TCA, but a great step-up to an adjustable controller.
