General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Tmac7 on June 19, 2025, 06:11:43 AM
Title: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: Tmac7 on June 19, 2025, 06:11:43 AM
Good Morning,
I am planning to return to Aces High, I played between 2007-2014 so its been some time. I am looking for recommendations for a stock built PC for under 1300$ to use in conjunction with my HAM Radio stuff. I was known as Tmac73 prior and flew with a couple Squads. I wont be as active because well, I was 12 years old when I started playing and gave it up finally when I was in the Marines, so I'm glad its still around.
I'm researching now via google reviews and recommendations, but I wanted to hear it from the guys playing this game because it will be the only game I use for that PC. Also suggestions for a new headset, joystick setup for under 300$ for that combo nothing crazy fancy. I did more tank driving and bomber runs than fighters.
Here are some options I found and liked reviews on:
Logitech X56 setup: https://a.co/d/f6gJYYb
And
Aurora Max Gaming Tower PC Bundle: https://a.co/d/ipbjekH
<S>,
Tmac7
Title: Re: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: The Fugitive on June 19, 2025, 07:29:46 AM
Yup, that should be more than enough. Aces high hasnt been upgraded in a bit so it doesnt push computers hard at all. If your thinking about VR you might want to bump it up a bit and VR (Virtual Reality) in Aces High is amazing!
Welcome back !!!
btw, Im in MA too, central MA just south of Worcester, you?
Title: Re: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: Tmac7 on June 19, 2025, 07:55:32 AM
Yup, that should be more than enough. Aces high hasnt been upgraded in a bit so it doesnt push computers hard at all. If your thinking about VR you might want to bump it up a bit and VR (Virtual Reality) in Aces High is amazing!
Welcome back !!!
btw, Im in MA too, central MA just south of Worcester, you?
Awesome! Thank you for the feed back, I haven’t messed with VR just yet with anything but sounds like it would immerse you fully! Sounds sweet.
I’m actually out of MA now as of 2016, up in the hillsborough county area of New Hampshire 👌
Title: Re: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: Eagler on June 19, 2025, 08:26:00 AM
Welcome back!
Eagler
Title: Re: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: AKIron on June 19, 2025, 08:55:30 AM
I have an X56 but didn't care for it much and moved to a Warthog. Then I went Virpil and am happy. Virpil now makes a lower cost stick. Looks like they have a throttle module you can add to it for $20.
Title: Re: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: AKIron on June 19, 2025, 12:44:05 PM
If you go with X56 consider this mod. I made one myself and it worked better than the default. The centering for the X56 stick is a plastic dish like disc with a spring pushing it into a cavity. The edges of the disc extend beyond the edge of the hole and the result is centering. It tends to be a tiny bit "sticky" when slightly moving from the center. My gimbal also had a little play in it. The throttle tended to be sticky also. I had this when I was first learning air refueling in the F-14 and it was annoying.
Title: Re: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: AKIron on June 19, 2025, 12:51:58 PM
I suspect any stickiness in stick centering is going to negatively affect fine aiming for those long range shots. The Warthog stick has stiff springs. Not sticky but a good deal of force needed to move the stick. I added an extension and that made precise control much easier. I don't need the extension for the Virpil but what the heck.
I have an X56 but didn't care for it much and moved to a Warthog. Then I went Virpil and am happy. Virpil now makes a lower cost stick. Looks like they have a throttle module you can add to it for $20.
Good to know, I did get the X56, i accidentally switched a group mode on the forums and couldn’t see feedback until just now seeing that setting I had set oops! But if I have any initial issues I do have time to return this setup but thank you for the links and Info
Title: Re: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: Tmac7 on June 23, 2025, 02:29:40 AM
I suspect any stickiness in stick centering is going to negatively affect fine aiming for those long range shots. The Warthog stick has stiff springs. Not sticky but a good deal of force needed to move the stick. I added an extension and that made precise control much easier. I don't need the extension for the Virpil but what the heck.
I did get the x56 and noticed it’s bulky so I’m going to modify my desk to make the rig flush but I’ll take a look at all that I did notice it’s springy it has 3 adjuster sizes but that mod might be helpful. I do a lot of tanks or did when I play with long range shots so that will effect it for sure
Title: Re: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: Tmac7 on June 23, 2025, 02:31:34 AM
Oh yeah! Less than 1250 people in my town and only about 75% full time residents. Took a couple years to get used to driving 30-35 minutes for bare minimums haha. Good to be back!
<S>
Title: Re: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: AKIron on June 23, 2025, 06:52:42 AM
I did get the x56 and noticed it’s bulky so I’m going to modify my desk to make the rig flush but I’ll take a look at all that I did notice it’s springy it has 3 adjuster sizes but that mod might be helpful. I do a lot of tanks or did when I play with long range shots so that will effect it for sure
Lot of bad reviews on that particular for sale mod. If you decide to go that route and don't have a 3d printer find one for sale with good reviews. Try it as is for a while first. You may not find the slight "stickiness" too annoying. I first noticed it when trying to make very small attitude adjustments.
Title: Re: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: Tmac7 on June 23, 2025, 06:57:53 AM
Lot of bad reviews on that particular for sale mod. If you decide to go that route and don't have a 3d printer find one for sale with good reviews. Try it as is for a while first. You may not find the slight "stickiness" too annoying. I first noticed it when trying to make very small attitude adjustments.
Yeah I saw those I ended up getting the mounting brackets for now and going to try those springs it came with I used to have an older Version of logitec and they would last about 1.5-2 years if I kept dust and what not out and clean. But if I have any movement issues I’ll check that mod out for sure! At the time I was only 12 working but of course a much more limited budget so can’t wait to see actual good FPS and handling now
Title: Re: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: AKIron on June 23, 2025, 10:11:21 AM
It's been years now but it seems I tried a plastic friendly lubricant and it helped with the sticking some.
Title: Re: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: AKIron on June 23, 2025, 10:14:26 AM
You may want to try vJoy and Joystick Gremlin. Both are free. They will let you do things like split the twisty axis into two axes. Then you can use the joystick single axis for your rudder and the two vjoy axes for left and right wheel brakes.
Title: Re: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: Tmac7 on June 23, 2025, 10:23:39 AM
You may want to try vJoy and Joystick Gremlin. Both are free. They will let you do things like split the twisty axis into two axes. Then you can use the joystick single axis for your rudder and the two vjoy axes for left and right wheel brakes.
Thank you for the suggestions that sounds like all that will definitely help. I did skip the rudders for now and going to use the wrist twist motion for now. Most of my time spent was tanks and bombing missions with sporadic fighter sorties but the squad I was in at the time had it setup with specific people doing certain things for base take overs haha so now it’ll be nice to just mess around with everything the game has
Title: Re: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: AKIron on June 23, 2025, 10:37:50 AM
vJoy adds additional virtual joysticks. None of those buttons or axes do anything until you add a program like Joystick Gremlin. Joystick Gremlin can then be configured to use a real joystick output and send it to a vjoy controller. In the example of the twisty stick I mentioned The stick twist output is one axis. With it split by Joystick Gremlin and mapped to vjoy you would have the one axis of the real stick and two axes of vjoy. Twist the stick and the output from both change at the same time. Not a perfect solution but works well enough typically.
Title: Re: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: AKIron on June 23, 2025, 10:51:16 AM
To give you a better idea of the flexibility this sort of arrangement gives you could also add a button or axis setting such that the vjoy axis output does nothing unless a button or axis threshold is reached. Maybe you want to work the rudder without working the wheelbrakes. You could make the wheelbrake axis dependent on whether a button is pressed or isn't pressed.
Title: Re: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: AKpizzle on June 30, 2025, 12:37:27 PM
I am planning to return to Aces High, I played between 2007-2014 so its been some time. I am looking for recommendations for a stock built PC for under 1300$ to use in conjunction with my HAM Radio stuff. I was known as Tmac73 prior and flew with a couple Squads. I wont be as active because well, I was 12 years old when I started playing and gave it up finally when I was in the Marines, so I'm glad its still around.
I'm researching now via google reviews and recommendations, but I wanted to hear it from the guys playing this game because it will be the only game I use for that PC. Also suggestions for a new headset, joystick setup for under 300$ for that combo nothing crazy fancy. I did more tank driving and bomber runs than fighters.
Here are some options I found and liked reviews on:
Logitech X56 setup: https://a.co/d/f6gJYYb
And
Aurora Max Gaming Tower PC Bundle: https://a.co/d/ipbjekH
I have a Virpil throttle (and warthog and x56) but that left hand stick as throttle looks tempting. I have room on my desk for two.
Title: Re: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: SIK1 on June 30, 2025, 03:42:15 PM
I'm using a left hand js as a throttle in piston powered aircraft, I use the throttle quadrant as the rpm, and mixture, with the flaps handle as my turbo/blower in DCS P-47, and F4U. I also moved my trigger from the right hand js to the left hand js eliminating any chance of unintentional stick movement when firing the guns.
I'm using a warbrd d base, z extension, 75mm extension, and Constellation Alpha grip. The only downside for me is that it is a fairly long throw from idle to full power, but nothing I couldn't get use to.
:cheers:
Title: Re: Recommended Stock Gamer PC
Post by: AKIron on June 30, 2025, 05:21:31 PM
I'm using a left hand js as a throttle in piston powered aircraft, I use the throttle quadrant as the rpm, and mixture, with the flaps handle as my turbo/blower in DCS P-47, and F4U. I also moved my trigger from the right hand js to the left hand js eliminating any chance of unintentional stick movement when firing the guns.
I'm using a warbrd d base, z extension, 75mm extension, and Constellation Alpha grip. The only downside for me is that it is a fairly long throw from idle to full power, but nothing I couldn't get use to.