Author Topic: Logitech Wingman Joystick Help Please (Read 755 times)

MJHerman · « **on:** August 26, 2003, 11:49:53 AM »

I recently bought a Logitech Wingman 3D joystick with force feedback.

When I pulled it out of the box I noticed that the stick had an awful lot of "play" to it, i.e., it doesn't seem to center itself very well when released, almost as if the centering springs are not strong enough. The result last night is that the stick is very "jumpy" when I try and restore flight to straight and level (force feedback options were turned off when flying). Has anyone else had this problem, or are your sticks "stiffer" (so to speak

).

The other thing I couldn't seem to do was to get the AH setup to recognize the hat on the joystick for view purposes. Any suggestions?

Any help would be appreciated before I bring the joystick back to the store and scream at them that it appears to be a dud joystick for flightsim purposes if it won't center itself properly.

Thanks in advance.

Pooh21 · « **Reply #1 on:** August 26, 2003, 12:25:19 PM »

Maybe its broke.
I had on of them I was diving down on an Ar234 in my 262 pulled level to come in from his 3, there was a "snap" and the stick wouldnt return to center. Had to hand center it. After I killed the 234 and landed, disconnected it and tore it open. on the base there is a little 8mm in diameter and about 2cm tall plastic piece that is part of the base. Its holds the stick assembly. No way to repair it either aside from a whole new base piece

MJHerman · « **Reply #2 on:** August 26, 2003, 12:29:29 PM »

Thanks for the response. Mine won't "auto center" at all, right out of the box...

Back to the store we go...together with the unavoidable debate, I'm sure, between me and the clerk as to whether or not it was broke (or at least unusuable) right out of the box.

But yours was auto centering originally, out of the box, right? The same way that all joysticks (at least in my experience prior to this one) do? Regardless of force feedback enabled?

Thanks again.

Soda · « **Reply #3 on:** August 26, 2003, 12:36:47 PM »

You might want to put a thread in the hardware forum and see if it solicits any responses on this. I know I have a MS forcefeedback stick and it took a little bit of configuration before it centered. I had to install the software and then crank up the centering force to get it where I want. Once that is done, and once it was plugged in (separate power supply for it) then it's been nicely centered. You had to have the forcefeedback enabled or it simply slops around.

At least that's with my stick, not sure about the Logitech ones.

MJHerman · « **Reply #4 on:** August 26, 2003, 12:40:47 PM »

Thanks. I'll take a look at the config/calibration settings and see if that works. I wasn't using force feedback last night (although it was plugged in) because my 14 month old sleeps in the room where the computer is....and the wife gets ticked if I wake him up while playing AH. The force feedback was working when I installed the stick, but maybe disabling it disables the auto center (i.e., the motors are shut off if FFB is disabled even though the stick has power).

Anyway, the saga continues.

Pooh21 · « **Reply #5 on:** August 26, 2003, 01:37:19 PM »

Yeah out of the box it autocentered. Having the throttle keep its calibration was another story.

Soda · « **Reply #6 on:** August 26, 2003, 02:15:24 PM »

In AH I know you can adjust the forcefeedback levels too, so if you don't want it to shake like crazy you can simply dial it down in the game. I have mine mostly dialed down and only my stall shake enabled (and a tiny bit of gun shake). That way you don't get all the noise from the shaking.

Halo · « **Reply #7 on:** August 26, 2003, 07:53:47 PM »

Tried force feedback -- couldn't stand it. Very happy with a nonforcefeedback Logitech Wingman Extreme.

NHattila · « **Reply #8 on:** August 28, 2003, 01:00:44 PM »

i had one of those sticks once, total POS in my opinion. none of them auto center, just the way they are designed. if you have yuor reciept i would recommend taking it back and trading it for another.

WhiteHawk · « **Reply #9 on:** September 01, 2003, 07:51:32 AM »

its crap. I had one to, it hangs from sided to side, it drifts, take it back. I could never get mine to work.

WhiteHawk · « **Reply #10 on:** September 01, 2003, 07:52:28 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Pooh21
Yeah out of the box it autocentered. Having the throttle keep its calibration was another story.

Its crap. Take it back, hurry.

MJHerman · « **Reply #11 on:** September 03, 2003, 04:01:33 PM »

Already brought the POS back. The guys at the shop weren't surprised at the "quality" of the stick and mentioned that they have had a lot of complaints.

ccvi · « **Reply #12 on:** September 03, 2003, 04:52:44 PM »

The stick does not center itself by design. For non-force feedback games you can enable "centering" in the joystick's setup. It then centers by the engines that create the other forces.

In force-feedback games (like flight sims) the game decides how strong the stick's centering forces (or forces to somewhere else) should be. "centering" by the driver should be turned off.

In case of the logitech strike force the stick does not seem to frequently recieve the updates, e.g. the same force is applied for a long time till the next update is recieved. This is expecially true for the roll-axis, elevator was ok IIRC.

Sitting OTR at 0 mph you should not feel any forces. With increasing speed they should become larger. Using a logitech strike force you'll feel no forces on the roll axis for some time, till it updates. That force will again be applied for a long time, even if you go back to 0 mph.

It might be the same with the Wingman Extreme, not only the StrikeForce. The stick can create forces in all directions (try the demo in the setup), just the requested force from AH doesn't seem to get through.

I think I've posted this more than once or twice. They should add a warning to system requirements "logitech force feedback sticks not supported".

MJHerman · « **Reply #13 on:** September 03, 2003, 05:00:18 PM »

That makes sense, but wasn't the case with mine, even when FFB was enabled and configured, etc. Right out of the box the stick was very, very loose, and even after proper configuration and setup it still didn't work properly (both AH and FS2002). Anyway, got my money back so no harm, no foul.