Have you taken your stick apart lately?

[Turbot]

What is inside your stick?  What is it that needs dampening, deabands, and why in hell do I need worry about sliders?

If you have a microsoft stick, forget all of the above questions, they do not apply to you.   Why?  Because you dont have a nasty damn bugger in your system called a POT.   A potentiometer (AKA a 'pot') is a modified form of a resistor.  It is one  (cheap to make) way to make a JS.  Another (cheap to own) way to make a JS is to use LED's, no wear no tear - just you see me or you don't digital input.   I have an original Presision Pro I guess has to be about 7 years old and the only reason I retired it at all is I wanted  FFB.

OK so who cares?  Well if you have an optical stick, you don't give a damn about deadbands or any such - but AH defaults for this.  I only realised all this tonight myself.

So, microsoft (or anyone else optical) try this for all axis:

Deadband = 0  (why?  by design you stick has NO deadbands)

Damper=0 (This one is up to you, but why a contorl delay?)

Sliders (all of em up top)  100%  (This means if you move your stick something happens -  I think this is a good feature)

If you don't have an optical stick, ignore all of this - you are in POT hell and that's just the limit of that technology.  But for the rest of ya, Hey if you don't like it, don't blame me or your hardware.  Your stick was built for this.  

A test: In set-up screen you will see the bar graph doesnt move a hair.  Can you guess why?  Because your stick isn't spiking.   To adjust for spiking when you have none is a disadvantage -  if that is cool for you that is a personal decision

[Innominate]

For the most part deadbands, damping, and the scaling sliders have nothing to do with the type of sensor used.   They're there to deal with things such as joystick springs which dont center exactly, or just the "feel" of the stick.

If your stick is spiking, the stick is broken.

If the stick doesnt center exactly(very few do, especially after several thousand hours of usage)  deadband will save you.  If you see the graph moving while you have your hands off the stick, a deadband is needed.

The scaling sliders are all about the feel of the stick.  with them all at 100, the stick has a linear motion, 50% movement of the stick = 50% control force.  However, the default slider settings allow for a curve, instead of linear controls.  Small movements can be precise, increasing as you move the stick further.  These curves usually work better when you need to make a lot of small precise adjustments.

The sensors used by the stick dont really matter as long as they're working properly.  Stick settings are mostly about dealing with the mechanics(Springs and such) of the stick, and the "feel" you want to get out of it.

[JB66]

Hello,
 Here is a link for people with microsoft joysticks that need repair, If you are willing to do it yourself.
Everything seems pretty straightfoward.

http://www.cc.utah.edu/~dlg7/sidewinder/repair.html


JB66

[Mathman]

You can keep your MS Twisty thing.  I will keep my Cougar.  There, we are both happy.

[Ghosth]

You are correct Mathman, we are both happy.

[AKIron]

For the most part I'm happy with my Cougar. Some however have had problems with the pots. Here's a link to an interesting mod.

http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthread.php?threadid=29411&perpage=40&pagenumber=1