Author Topic: Rudder sticking and Saitek x52 (Read 607 times)

Agent360 · « **on:** October 20, 2006, 07:23:33 PM »

Hello friends,

Total FNG here. Played online for the fist time last night. Had a blast getting shot down and going into uncontrolled spins lolol

A player named "Hyrax" was just great at helping get voice set up and some joysitck calibration issues.

I have a profile in place. Found it here on the forums.

Here is my question.

In the P51D on the dash there are red bars that indicate the position of the flight controls

It is the rudder that is giving me problems.

My stick has a twist axis which is mapped to the rudder.

This does move the rudder but when I pull left or right rudder the flight control does not recenter. It leaves the rudder left or right in the positon at which I moved it to. To be clear it is not the joystick I am refering to. It is the rudder on the plane we are talking about. They joystick is working fine. When I let go of the twist the joystick recenters its self correctly.

But the rudder on the plane does not. It stays stuck at the point where I moved it to. So to get the rudder back to center requires me to twist the opposite direction unitl is centered again.

Isnt the rudder supposed to re center after you let go?

Instinctivly I am pulling rudder left and right as needed to make maneuvers but every time I do this it sticks there and causes me to fly out of control.

Isnt the aero dynamic forces supposed to push the rudder back to center unless you keep the rudder pulled?

I know the keyboard commands have left, right and center commands (A, S, D)

Do you have to have a mapped key to get the rudder re centered?

The other cockpits in other planes dont have this indicator so I can only assume the same thing is happening there too.

It is frustrating have to pull the rudder left in a turn and while in the turn twist the opposite direction for a whole second or two to get it back to center. And the rudder is so slow to respond. It move like one notch a second. So if you have full left rudder and need to make a turn in the opposite direction it takes a good 3 seconds or more to get it back to full right.

Thanks for the help in advance

Agent360

ridley1 · « **Reply #1 on:** October 21, 2006, 06:26:51 AM »

those red lines for rudder, elevator and airleron in your dash are the trim indicators.

The Fugitive · « **Reply #2 on:** October 21, 2006, 08:55:40 AM »

Ridley is right, those red lines on the dash are for "trim" setting of each control. Rudder trim default is "J" and "L" on the keyboard I believe. The only reason you'll see those move, is because you have "combat trim" on and the plane is automatically trimming the plane for you.

To check your rudder control on your twisty stick, goto options/controls/map controller. On that page of the clipboard, highlight your stick in the "Select control" box in the top right, "click" the "advance" box, then highlight the "Z rotation" I think its called. With the advanced box checked it will open another flip out page and show you the scaling and a raw view of your control. twisting your stick should show a line running up and down in the blue boxes.

At rest the line should be in the middle, twisting one way runs the line up, the other down. If your stick returns to "center" physically, the lines should center too. If they don't, click the calibrat axis button and calibrater your rudder.

Good luck!

Agent360 · « **Reply #3 on:** October 21, 2006, 08:30:48 PM »

LOL, now it makes sense

I downloaded a profile and didnt really know what all the keys did.

I went back to the profile editor and found that the Z axis whas banded and mapped to the rudder trim....no wonder i could not use rudders and kept crashing.

I was trimming it all the way and so did not really have any rudder control

So say im in the P51D and we have enging tork to deal with. I should probaly take off and trim the rudder to get a strait flight path. Now if I do this the rudder should remain trimmed until I change that. So when using the rudder on the sitck with a little right trim when I let go of the rudder pull it should return to the trimmed position....correct?

But if combat trim is off I wil have to trim manually. Right?

About combat trim. Ok so when flying this trims for you so you have more control and dont have to trim while dogfighting. Right?

Does that only effect the rudder or all the control surfaces?

Thanks guys. I am really starting get excited now. I got my buddy an account too and now I am passing all this on to him so you guys are helping two people...LOL

Great groop of players here. So much different than some of the ground pounder games where everyone seems like they are 12 years old and act that way. LOL

The Fugitive · « **Reply #4 on:** October 21, 2006, 08:57:13 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Agent360

So say im in the P51D and we have enging tork to deal with. I should probaly take off and trim the rudder to get a strait flight path. Now if I do this the rudder should remain trimmed until I change that. So when using the rudder on the sitck with a little right trim when I let go of the rudder pull it should return to the trimmed position....correct?

Correct, however you don't really need to trim the rudder for take-off. Apllying rudder and holding it as you roll out down the runway is good enough.... with a steady hand any way

But if combat trim is off I wil have to trim manually. Right?

again correct. A "trick" to trim quick is to flip to combat trim then back out. This will trim the plane for the speed and attitude you are at when you flip over.

About combat trim. Ok so when flying this trims for you so you have more control and dont have to trim while dogfighting. Right?

Correct, from what I've heard "most" people use combat trim. However, in a P38 if you go strait up to rope someone, with the two engines the plane is conotrollable into very low speeds. Flopping over at the top of a loop at 65 knots is easy, but with combat trim try to trim the plane at that speed and attitude, I've gotten them "stuck" in the air, so be carefull

Does that only effect the rudder or all the control surfaces?

Combat trim effect all controls

Welcome to Aces High, just remember one thing...

HAVE FUN !

ridley1 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 22, 2006, 06:46:51 AM »

Hey agent....

You've figured by now it's sa steep learning curve.
Anyway...z-axis is throttle, z-rotation is rudder when mapping.

I have the x52, and map the analog inputs (rotaries and view hats) through the AH game, and everything else I run through the SST profiler as keybard commands. But that's my personal preference.

I use auto-takeoff,(most of the time) just because I'm lazy, and it allows me to take off in the general direction I want to go on auto-pilot and allows me to grab a beer while I wait to get to the fight. If I manually takeoff, I don't bother with trim...just bring throttle up gradually and increase stick inputs.

Combat trim constantly adjusts your trim on all surfaces, and manually trimming does take practice. With some planes, combat trim is good in a dogfight....with others, it's a little bit if a hinderance. If I leave Ctrim on in a mossie when Ihave to throw it around....I always gointo an uncontrollable spin.

Agent360 · « **Reply #6 on:** October 22, 2006, 11:08:07 AM »

Thanks for all your help guys

I think I have the flight controls figured out now. Now I just have to figure out how catch a bogie. THey seem to have no problem catching me LOL

DamnedRen · « **Reply #7 on:** October 22, 2006, 11:47:56 AM »

Welcome to AH2.

90% of all kills happen by enemy planes with whom the "attackee" has lost sight of. AH2 offers you the ability to program your views. This programming allows you to "look around your seat back headrest" just as you could if you were in the real plane. That are alot of adjustments that can be made to enhance your experience of the game.

You might want to drop by the Training Arena (TA) and spend a few minutes with a Trainer to ensure you have everything setup from the git go. That way you begin with a clean setup instead of having to make corrections later on.