I have been a plane simulator fan for many years now. I am a user of FSX Steam, FSW, Aerofly FS and, last but not least, my favourite X-Plane 11. For flying, I sometimes use Thrustmaster T-Flight HOTAS X and, most of all, Saitek/Logitech equipment.
I was so enthusiastic about the new Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 that I decided to buy it the first day it came out. It was stunning and I was so happy with it. „State-of- the-art simulator and a new era of sim flying,” I thought. Everything was great until I tried to switch on my Saitek/Logitech panels:
Logitech G Pro Flight Radio Panel
Logitech G Pro Flight Switch Panel
Logitech G Pro Flight Multi Panel
Logitech G Pro Flight Instrument Panel
To my disappointment and dismay, none of them works.
I started looking for the solution on various forums and it turned out that the Simulator does not support the equipment!
It also turned out that I am one of the many, many disappointed and frustrated simmers. At the present moment, I will certainly discourage my fellow simmers from buying Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 as it is more a pretty toy game than a simulator and I will get back to X-Plane 11, as it is so user friendly.
I do hope that the people responsible for this issue will do something about it, because I would really like to take advantage of all the wonderful features of the new Microsoft Flight Simulator.
I am still trying to get it to recognise the Cessna Trim Wheel. But surely after another patch or two they will add support for the popular Saitek/Logitech products?
In anticipation of MSFS 2020, I also purchased the switch panel and the multi panel. Also purchased the CH Eclipse Yoke. I had owned the CH Fighterstick and Pro Throttle already. I also replaced my CH pedals with the prettier Thrustmaster pedals. My Warthog Hotas setup is back-ordered.
To my amazement…NONE of my CH hardware is supported in the sim? None of my new Saitek panels are working either? Who dropped the ball on that one? Didn’t vendors know about MSFS’s coming?
Vendors must also realize MSFS set a new standard in graphics. Why are they slow to jump into the water? And really…There will be little reason to be going back to simulated ground detail once you have seen the version put out there by MS.
I guess if I didn’t happen to have a T-Flight Hotas X sitting around, I wouldn’t even be flying right now, eh?
My i9-7980 with 64 Gb RAM, and a 2080 Super, and the sim loaded on a 2 Tb M.2…All dressed-up and no place to go, eh?
The sim is looking beautiful and am getting acceptable frames with a bunch of ULTRA graphics in 4K.
Sure would be nice if I could be using ALL the expensive hardware I own!!
tumbiT, as for you Cessna trim wheel, this fixed it for me. (As long as simulator sees the trim wheel)
Go to the trim wheel in the control setup and select the ‘Elevator Trim +100/-100’ then assign the axis ‘Joystick L’ (or somethign like that) it may come up with a warning but ignore it. Don’t assign any of the other options that have + or - in the name.
This was not the case in the closed beta, so they changed which axis worked the elevator trim for the production version.
I got the Saitek Pro Flight Instrument panel to work and it killed the sim. So slow it was barely usable and was immediately uninstalled. My Honeycomb Alpha yoke, Thrustmaster Rudder Pedals and 2 Saitek Throttle quadrants work perfectly. I really don’t miss my Multi Panel, BIP Panel, Radio, Trim wheel and Switch panels. They were handy but not essential.
Can’t wait for my pre-ordered Honeycomb Bravo to arrive
Love the sim as I only fly low and slow. It’s great for bush flying and low level VFR which is my interest. Tube liners are a waste of time. Where is the skill in watching a screen while the auto pilot flies it for you.
Add me to the list of users whose Saitek equipment isn’t working in FS2020 (radio panel). GoFlight hardware doesn’t work either. Hopefully those manufacturers will have new drivers out soon!
Yes, I know that SPAD.Next might be a solution, but for the time being it is an FPS killer. On the other hand, why should you pay for additional software? X-Plane 11 lets you configure these devices for free with Logitech user-friendly programming software and they work perfectly on my computer.
The Trim Wheel is now behaving itself nicely although it is still a bit too sensitive for my liking. I know we can adjust the sensitivity but I think it needs to be linear, and adjusting sensitivity on MSFS changes the linearity. But I have only tried it on the Cessna 150 so far. Let’s see how it goes on something a bit heavier…
Ideally, there would be an option in the Sensitivity settings to toggle “linearity” so we could adjust sensitivity while keeping it linear.
I used to own a C150 many years ago, so I have those memories to guide me in a quest for realism. And I seem to recall the wheel in the aircraft needed more movement than in the sim. That allowed trim to be very precisely set.
In FSX/FS2004/etc/etc… I used to increase the stability settings in aircraft.cfg (for just about all aircraft) to make them less “jumpy” and to reflect the inertia in the aircraft. So The aircraft is a little slower to respond to ANY control movement, including the trim. Then the aircraft in the sim more closely reflects the real thing.
Anyway Plum, thanks again for your helpful advice.
I have the Saitek Yoke/throttle quadrant system and the rudder pedals. The rudder pedals work great, even the toe brakes work on the Cessnas, but the other functions only partially work or don’t work at all. The x and y axis seems to work OK, but the throttle works on the Flight Designs CTLS but not on the C-172. Flaps and trim don’t work on anything I’ve tried. Trying to set the flaps manually with a mouse pointer is really hard to get the right setting - like 10 deg for TO etc.
None of my CH controllers work. My Fighterstick and Pro Throttle need to be programmed, key by key, axis by axis. A Pain…and is wonky when done. Un-usable.
My NEW CH Eclipse Yoke is not even seen by the Sim.
If I didn’t happen to have a Thrustmaster TFlight HOTAS laying around, I wouldn’t even be flying right now.
Is CH still a viable company? The CH Control Manager software looks the same as it did when I first started using it…what, eight years ago? And good luck with trying to reach their tech support.
I ordered a Thrustmaster Warthog setup. Giving up on CH. After so many years of enjoying their controllers…it comes to this. Apparently, they don’t care. Now…looking forward to my new hardware.
I had the Radio panel working for a while after installing SPAD.neXt trial version. The Radio was working fine and adjusting things inside the sim and the Radio hardware display worked. Now it’s all gone dark and doesn’t work. SPAD shows the buttons and dials are working but the LED display is blank.
I can’t even get these ■■■■ things working in FSX or XPLANE. I can only assume the quality of their driver isn’t up to scratch and does not like a Windows 64-bit system. How does Saitek and Logitech create good joysticks and HOTAS rigs and yet fail so terribly with all this Flight Pro stuff. There’s nothing Pro about it so far
i know your post is aug 2020 and you may have fixed it but just in case you havent.
what you describe with buttons/knobs working but no led display is a known issue
you just need to youtube blank saitek display.
win10 limits power to usb devices and turns them off if not used.
make sure you follow the instructions carefully and your panels will light up.
same fix works for goflight panels too.
note
if you move the panel to another usb port you will need to redo the fix for that device
Radio panel will go dark after 5 minutes of flying;
Multi Panel flaps work, but pitch trim doesn’t work;
Control panel gear switch sometimes work, some times doesn’t; all other buttons just kind of hit or miss …
As these are commonly used flight sim equipments, why not just support them natively?
