Joystick HAT switch setup

User Support Hub Hardware & Peripherals
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hey Folks,

I have an old school MS Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 with no default mapping (It’s a MS Joystick, but no luck. Thanks MS!).

I got all the AXIS and buttons configured, but can not get the HAT switch on the top to operate like using mouse with right mouse click… i.e. pan in the direction that I press the HAT switch… like it does in X-Plane 11.

Do the joysticks that have a HAT switch (and a default configuration) operate like that? or do they just view left, right up down to fixed positions?

if your Joystick HAT does do the panning behavior , could you please have a look in your config and let me know what you have the various directions of the hat switch configured to?

Thanks!

Gil.

P.S. is this the slowest editor every on this forum?!?

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I also have a older joystick (Saitek Cyborg Evo Force) which it didn’t recognize (and even caused the sim to crash on launch until I installed the drivers!). But with the driver installed it works fine and I got all configured even the HAT switch. You cannot use the “lockable” versions of the mappings, you have to use the other ones, eg. “Cockpit look left”.

2 Likes
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Can someone please explain to me - step by step - how to map the hat.
And how to map the stick twisting??
And (its been years since I flew MS flsim 2004), what all the buttons on my sidewinder did??

would be really happy for an answer
brgds Kim

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Go to Options > Controls > then select your joystick just below the “Controls” heading.
Under Filter change to All. Find the section called Flight control surfaces, then in the subcategories you find the “Ailerons axis”, “Elevator axis” and “Rudder axis” - and click out in the first dark grey box and follow the instructions to assign them to your joystick.

UPDATE! Sorry, it was the hat switch you asked about! Those are under Camera > Cockpit camera > Cockpit look down/left/right/etc.

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[small plane pilot] After multiple iterations of tweaking my hat switch settings, my preferred option ended up setting custom views (use mouse to set view, then ctrl+alt+[0…9]) and setting the hat switch to ‘cockpit custom view 1’ etc.

This has the advantage I can set a completely custom (e.g.) ‘left’ view where I also translate left slightly and alter the zoom (slightly) and tilt down a little compared to the forward view so I get the best view out the left window (in reality I will shift my head to the left as well as looking left).

My flight stick (Gladiator II) has a ‘shift’ button on the grip so I can program the hat ‘left’ = look left a bit, ‘shift left’ = look left a lot.

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Thx a lot. I will give at a try. Not able to until tomorrow though.

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How does this work for external plane views ? I’d love to program my external views to have smooth “spot view” from fsx where my pov hat switch allows me to control (the drone) revolving around the plane … really miss that feature and not sure yet what to look for when mapping for this. Any help appreciated.

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Same here. Want a free view with the hat switch, no shortcuts. Seems like its not possible…

We need something like:
Button X - Move view 5° to left
Button Y - Move view 5° to top
etc.

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Have to correct myself, its possible:

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Hi, could you post the profile file?
Everywhere I read, this old stick seems unusable, but today windows 11 update downloaded the drivers, and the original software seems working fine.