NOSE WHEEL LOCKED?

[P!G]

I've just bought this game and set up my input controls (Saitek X52 HOTAS and Saitek pedals).
But every time I start the game, my nose wheel is turned hard left and I can't find any way to remedy the situation.
It's completely unplayable as I"m unable to take off. The plane can only move in a tight left turn.
I don't even want to think how a landing would go...
Has anyone else come up against this problem?
Does anyone have a suggestion (be nice...noob here y'know) on how I could fix it?
Thanks in advance folks.

[damson]

Which aircraft? All of them? Is only the wheel turned, or rudder also? If so is your rudder axis centered? Is it calibarated correctly?

[P!G]

Thanks for the quick reply.
The only aircraft I've tried so far is the P39 (specifically for the tricycle landing gear (I'm not too fond of tail draggers)).
I will try it on other aircraft when I get some time.
The rudder appears to work fine though as I can see it move from side to side.
All the other controls seem to work okay too.
Do I calibrate the stick n pedals from within the game?
Sorry for the basic questions...I'm pretty new to this.

[heartc]

Not too familiar with the P-39 in this game myself, but I'm assuming it doesn't have controllable nose wheel steering like more modern planes and instead uses differential braking for turning on the ground like most taildraggers do, too.

So, try turning the aircraft on the ground by applying differential braking (apply wheel brake on the side you want to turn into). I think the way this works in game is by just applying the brake and then using the rudder, it will release the brake on the opposing side. At least that's how I usually taxi on the ground. You also need to add some RPMs (power) to get airflow accross the rudder for the turn and then decrease them again to not accelerate too much after the turn.

[heartc]

Also, for future reference and when trying the taildraggers: Some have a lockable tailwheel, and some do not (most do). So, you need to unlock the tailwheel for tight turns (steering becomes very sensitive then and you can easily groundloop if you apply too much power) and lock it again for straight taxiing and takeoff / landing.

[Disarray]

The US planes of the era that aren't tail draggers, of which the P-39 is one, typically don't have a locking front wheel. The way to get around this is to simply hold one of the wheel breaks, they are independent, and apply a little power. This will straiten out the front wheel and you are off the races so to speak. On landing you don't need to worry about the front wheel being ♥♥♥♥♥♥ at an odd angle. The air flow should force the wheel strait because it is free casting. Do keep in mind that the front wheel on these kinds of planes are not strong enough to take landing forces in most cases. Because of this you really should land on the back wheels and then gently lower the plane on to the front wheel by allowing the plane to slow down via ground friction. As long as you land close to the start of the runway you should have plenty of space to slow down. Once you get the front wheel down you can apply the breaks and come to a stop or taxi to where you want to be.

For the breaks you have two potential options. I'm not super familiar with the pedals you have but most have toe breaks. If that is the case you can bind your left pedal to the left break and the right pedal to the right break. Then if you want to turn right, hold the right pedal down and vice versa. On planes like the P-39, P-38 and A-20 this is how they are designed to be driven on the ground, with the breaks. If those pedals don't have a toe break action you can bind a master break button. This will apply both breaks evenly until you add rudder movement. Once you turn the rudder it will bias the break force to the left or right wheel proportionally to how much rudder deflection you are giving. This second method is the way you manipulate individual wheel breaks on most of the Soviet planes and all the British planes in the game so you might want to set up your controls to make use of both methods.

[P!G]

Thanks for the replies folks.
I think I have a hardware (and possibly software too) problem.
The stick itself is glitchy and I can only find 32 bit drivers.