Request for Help with CH HOTAS Configuration

[nodeamus]

I have battled with a badly configured HOTAS system for a while and decided it is time things were set up properly. Can you guys please help with the configuration options?

I am assuming that the decision of which command to assign to which button is a personal preference thing and if I ask 10 people for advice I will get at least 12 different responses! So I have downloaded all the available commands and am slowly working out which ones are important for my preferences. However, any experience of things you may have missed in your initial configuration and had to add at a later date would be helpful.

The supply of buttons is limited and the CH control manger allows me 3 different modes, selectable by cycling one of the buttons on the controller. This seems like a good feature for selecting one mode for fighters, one for bombers and one for vehicles. This would appear to be better than the Aces High "Auto select mode at start of flight" option. There is also the option for a "shift" key to further double the available commands for each button. Is this generally considered beneficial or is it simply a source of confusion as, in the heat of combat, you try desperately to remember what button to press?

CH control manager can be configured to output "/" when button 4 is pressed or Aces High can be configured to interpret button 4 as "/" to select radio 1. I am inclined to do the entire configuration in CH control manager and not change the Aces High configuration. This provides greater flexibility to configure a button to say, send a complete dot command e.g. "/ . d e l a y SPC 0 . 0 5 ENT".

Any preferences for retaining 3 separate devices for joystick, throttle and pedals or should I combine them all into a single mega device?

Complex functions - I have seen suggestions for a single button press for the bail command and also for a combination of buttons for the bail command. Personally by the time it comes to bailing out I have already lost the fight and reaching across to the keyboard to hit the enter key doesn't seem like too much of a hardship (Maybe I am not score conscious enough to need a fast bail command). Are there any other complex functions that I should consider programming?

Is there any general usability advice for stuff that works verses good ideas that don't work well in practise?

Thanks for any help and suggestions.

[Mar]

I don't know where you're getting this "limited supply of buttons" business from honestly. Which CH stick do you have?

There is no need to combine devices for Aces High (you usually do that for games that don't support more than one controller, Aces High does), and there's really no need for different modes either. Fighters and bombers have the same controls, and vehicles are driven with the keyboard and mouse these days. Besides, you make things harder for yourself trying to keep track of what button does what on which mode.

In fact, there's no need to use the CH Control Manager at all for Aces High unless you really want those "complex functions."

Honestly the best way to do it is leave CH Control Manager in "Direct" mode instead of "Mapped" mode and map the controls inside of Aces High. That's the way I did it in AH with the full CH setup (Fighterstick, Pro Throttle, Pro Pedals). Even with the CH Combatstick (which has one button in place of a couple of the 4-way switches that the Fighterstick has) has plenty of buttons for your immediate flight needs.

As far as what control should go on what button, of course that is personal preference besides the obvious primary fire/all fire on the trigger. I might also recommend flaps up and down on the top and bottom of the lower 4-way switch on the Pro Throttle, but even there I personally decided to put flaps up on the TMS (target management switch, the left hat on the top of the stick) simply because I could push that faster than I could push up on that hat on the throttle, so it's all up to you.

The best place to start is, if you haven't already, go to Map Controls inside Aces High and read what EVERY control does. All of them. The better you understand the controls the better off you'll be, period. There are a few controls that might confuse you such as CM Eye, you won't have to worry about them. But if you ever want or need to know what something does, DO NOT hesitate to ask.

Once you've got an understanding, you can decide what you want on what button.

If you really do want or need those "complex functions" though, let me know and I can help you with that. To use them, you'll have to switch CH Control Manager to "Mapped" mode, which assigns custom names to the controllers as the game sees them. So if you start mapping controls in AH while in Direct mode and then switch to Mapped mode, the game will see them as different controllers and you'll have to start over assigning controls to these "new" controllers.

[The Fugitive]

Like MAR said, the only reason you need the CH program to set buttons if you feel you need to have those complex configurations.

AH has multiple modes. Mode one is default air, mode two is vehicles.

On my CH throttle I set the three finger buttons to map zoom in, look up, and map zoom out for both modes. the upper hat switch on the throttle is set as trim up,trim down (elev), view zoom in and out for aircraft (mode 1), but in mode two while the view zoom in and out stays the same the "elev" trim buttons are now fulls speed forward, and full speed reverse.

And that is only a couple of buttons and a hat switch on one controller.

The AH button configuration setup is VERY good and easily changeable. You can do it on the fly, literally 

In my opinion, use the AH setup and forget about the CH manager 

[Drano]

I use the CH manager for my setup. Reason is I have a few macros that get used fairly often. Dot commands for example. I have the center button press on the throttle mini stick as my mode switcher and have different modes there for fighter /bomber /vehicle. I'm used to it. Accounts for most commands I can think of.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[DaddyAce]

.....

In my opinion, use the AH setup and forget about the CH manager

This is all I use.  Every once in a great while I may tweak my setup a bit.  Then I make a little hand-written diagram that I keep handy in case my old brain forgets.....

I also just use the keyboard for a few less critical commands, such as bailing.

[Skuzzy]

You can disable the auto-mode switch in Aces High and map a mode switch command to a button.  Use the same button for mapping to another mode.

For example, map the "Mode 2 Select" command to a button.  Then, while still in the "Map Controllers" menu, select "Mode 2" from the drop down list and then program the same button to "Mode 1 Select".

Now hitting the button will switch to mode 2 and back to mode 1.  You can build a chain to use all 4 modes that way.  You get a host message, when you change modes so you can track which mode you are in.

[popeye]

You get a host message, when you change modes so you can track which mode you are in.

You can also disable the host message.  If you use the Modes to add views and don't want the text buffer filled with mode messages. 

Thank you HTC!   

[Skuzzy]

You can also disable the host message.  If you use the Modes to add views and don't want the text buffer filled with mode messages. 

Thank you HTC!   

You can disable it or route it to another tab in the message window.

[Hajo]

Used CH complete HOTAS forever in AH.  Always mapped in the game.  Never used Control manager.   For instance I use a button for Look Up on my throttle and use my 8-way hat on the Combat Stick.

By mapping two buttons for views I can look 360 degrees around the canopy as well as up in each direction.  Takes about 15 to 20 minutes to map the controllers once you get the hang of it.  Once you are happy with your map, copy the settings in the AHIII directory to a new folder on the desktop. Name the new folder settings  This comes in handy if you have to download the game again in the future.  If you do have to reinstall the game and you don't want to re-map the buttons, just name the settings folder in the AHIII directory to something like settings 1.  Then just copy your desktop folder named settings into the directory. Voila...........mapping done.

[nodeamus]

Thanks for your suggestions.

The suggestion from Mar to "go to Map Controls inside Aces High and read what EVERY control does" is a good call - probably more important than mapping controls to buttons.

Seems there is very good functionality from both AH and CH (thanks Skuzzy for the information on the additional modes available from AH and the feedback messages may help when brainfade causes inappropriate mode selections!).

I am now busy reading up on all the controls and figuring out logical groupings for the hat switches.

[The Fugitive]

this is how mine was set up.

[DaddyAce]

this is how mine was set up.

Ah, l'artiste!   

[FLS]

I have battled with a badly configured HOTAS system for a while and decided it is time things were set up properly. Can you guys please help with the configuration options?

I don't try to map every button. I map what I use all the time, like flaps, WEP, views, auto pilot modes, weapon select, icons, clipboard, dive flaps/brakes, hook, and gear, where they're comfortable and convenient, then I add additional commands like damage display as needed to the less convenient buttons.

[Chalenge]

This may help. Also posted on STEAM. Apologies to Mouse users, as I have no experience with that.

[zack1234]

this is how mine was set up.