HOTAS Thrustmaster T.A.R.G.E.T. question

[leftharted]

Hi! Recently got the thrustmaster T16000m HOTAS and rudder pedals to play E.D. in VR. I have zero scripting/coding experience (and don’t really want to ‘have’ to learn it..) but have since gotten used to the visual GUI TARGET software for my needs. I am starting to like it a bit, and have gotten the hang of setting deadzones/curves/buttons to my liking…. However, I am plagued by the dreaded 8 axis of movement restriction…. Ive managed to get the actual throttle and Stick axis to my liking, but having issue with the pedals… (specifically the toe brakes; as I was able to recycle/use the yaw function just fine…) I ran out of usable axis because I used 2 axis on the finger pointer ‘mouse’ on the throttle for up/down/left/right thrust, and prefer to keep it this way for the analog control… I want 1 pedal to be forward thrust input (maybe with afterburners at 90-100%); and the other to be reverse; and preferably retain some form of analog control; without needing to reuse or change my current profile setup.

Ive read that I could simply remove the pedals from TARGET, and plug them in as a standalone device… which would ultimately work, accept for how Elite Dangerous keybinds function… ultimately it would work for my Yaw, but the toe brakes would mimic digital control, and not analog like I want…. (Because I keep the analog forward/reverse thrust tied to the Throttle, so Elite will then only let me make the pedal inputs mimic digital input) this is the same reason im reluctant to forgo the use of TARGET, and use another third party software… it wouldn’t eliminate my issue, because of how ED’s binds work.

My question, is how to mimic a ghetto analog control with the toe pedals; and thereby able to keep the pedal tied into TARGET software? I read through the user manual, and I THINK I understand how to do this, but given my RL schedule it might be a few days before I can really figure this out myself; and I hope I can find a likeminded and/or smarter nerd on this forum to help me through this prior to fumbling through it myself.

I believe I have to keep the pedals as “NONE” for axis, but then program the pedals in the ‘event’ window using a AXMAP2? Then im assuming I would need to bind the throttle increments in Elite Dangerous (ED allows you to bind 10% intervals of forward/reverse thrust) to whatever, (I have unused numpad keys for this, if it will work) and set percentage ‘zone’ events. An Example: numpad 1-9 are bound to 10% increments of thrust, can I use AXMAP2 to set numpad1 to trigger at 5-10%, numpad2 to trigger at 15-20%, numpad 3 to trigger at 25-30%; and so on? Thereby mimicking some form of analog control?? If this works, then in theory I could also bind afterburners to the top 90-100% of my forward pedal, too?

Thank You for responses in advance! I appreciate the effort, regardless of outcome!

[Xmerwynd]

Go to the Frontier forum for Elite Dangerous and post your question in the "PC" & "Player Tools & API" sections. Here's a invite link to a Discord forum where you may find another guru " https://discord.gg/BVJ5ka " . Your best bet is the Frontier forums. I recall a few posts in the Tools about some complicated Target programming. On the Tool & API forum there is a prolific poster who is well versed in the Target GUI and the scripting language. He uses a Warthog and pedals, I'm sure he'll answer your post as he is on the forum daily. I think he's an Aussie.Sorry that I cannot answer your question but the Frontier Forum or Discord members will will

[Xmerwynd]

Just a thought, I have the same set up T-16000M FCS with rudder pedals. I haven't mapped the pedals . I used the initial T-16000 M drop down binding and reconfigured it to my control preferences. The game bindings screen shows Joy1 (the trigger button) and Joy1 (orange button below the throttle POV hats). I do not see why it would not see the pedal inputs similiarly. I don't use TARGET at all. I set my joy response curves with Joystick Gremlin( I still suck at gun fighting but that's another story for another time., You can also use Vjoy. I may try to utilise TARGET but for now I'll avoid the frustration as J Gremlin is easier to use and does the nearly the same things as TARGET. Additionally, I use Voice Attack with HCS Voice Packs.

[leftharted]

Originally posted by Xmerwynd:

Just a thought, I have the same set up T-16000M FCS with rudder pedals. I haven't mapped the pedals . I used the initial T-16000 M drop down binding and reconfigured it to my control preferences. The game bindings screen shows Joy1 (the trigger button) and Joy1 (orange button below the throttle POV hats). I do not see why it would not see the pedal inputs similiarly. I don't use TARGET at all. I set my joy response curves with Joystick Gremlin( I still suck at gun fighting but that's another story for another time., You can also use Vjoy. I may try to utilise TARGET but for now I'll avoid the frustration as J Gremlin is easier to use and does the nearly the same things as TARGET. Additionally, I use Voice Attack with HCS Voice Packs.

I'll likley be posting on the main forums as soon as I link my steam account. Rather, I realized that I need to request the steam key via steams software, and am currently at work; so wont be able to ping Frontier forums until I get that squared away; but TYVM for pointing me to the appropriate sub-forum. I'll start there.

Otherwise, I've considered and googled a fair bit on the other third party joystick software options, and they wouldn't quite resolve my 'wants'... mostly because of how Elite handles keybinds.

I already have analog thrust mapped to my throttle, and the individual directional binds are digital input only... so as long as I use the throttle, I cant get analog forward/reverse thrust via any program or input... sure, if I use the pedals standalone (*or controlled via third party program) I can bind forward/reverse to the pedals, but it would be digital input only; IE: 100% thrust or none at all.

I'm hoping that my theory above would mimic some form of analog control, and also allow me to bind afterburners to maximum input... and this is only plausible because Elite allows us to bind specific buttons to 10% forward/reverse increments. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work for any other thrust vector, either; because elite doesnt have the incremental binds for any other directions.

Extra tidbits: I use voiceattack too. ;) and it's been a GODSEND for playing in VR.!! and extremely capable. I've even figured out the docking/pip macros from some handy youtubers. Plus I found an R2D2 sound board that I've tied into my profile; super fun imagining I have an R2 droid to bark orders at. Heh.

How are you liking HCS voicepacks? I've considered them, and they seem fun; but I'm concerned that I'd really only be buying them for the chit-chat, because I've already kinda tailored voiceattack to cover my needs otherwise. Does the chit-chat get old, or repetitive?

[Xmerwynd]

HCS DIscord Forum link: https://discord.gg/w4SQ8zD. I have seven of the packs only for the immersion fantasy of having; Data answering the helm commands, Worf on tactical, Captain Kirk on Operations, Councilor Troi Engineering, and ASTRA as science office. At 70 my reflexes and eyes are not as sharp as they used to be in my younger days. Its great to target my opponent, as say " lock on shields" and Worf says" target acquired" then as the shields drop "lock on power plant" and hear "target acquired" During combat Power to Shields gives 4-1-1 or Attack Protocoul Alpha. Set course to Ram Ta .... ASTRA is the one to get bar none the others provide immersion but ASTRA ONLY - Upon arrival to the system of your chosen engineer, your Ai will inform you which planet or moon you should head to automatically - Including the coordinates of the engineer’s location on the surface, as well as the name of the base the engineer resides
on. You can also request this information by asking the following:
Where do I meet (Engineer name) e.g. “Where do I meet Felicity Farseer

I could upload the PDF with voice pack commands but they just touch the surface for altogether the Singularity profile has over 2500 lines, the voice packs provide audio but ASTRA provides functions and extra content with stellar, galactic, and scientific reports today. If you join Discord HCS Forum, send me a message and I'll upload a PDF manual that will give you many but not all of the commands, I wrote a profile but had difficulty with conditional and nested commands, so I surrendered. This is the HCS online store link: https://www.hcsvoicepacks.com/collections/voice-packs/products/astra

Fly high, fast and dangerously
The Ancient Mariner

[Bubba Fett]

I also use the tm 16000 but don't have rudder pedals. (and I play in VR)
Perhaps I'm being dense here, but I don't understand why you need throttle control other than the analog throttle. If you use boost, you get full boost speed no matter what your throttle is set to. And I've never really had a use for reverse throttle in combat, but since my throttle is set up to forward only and I've got a button to switch it to reverse mode, if I wanted to slow down quick, I could just use that. (but I'm not really sure that it would slow you faster than just cutting the throttle)
It's cool that you have an extra couple of inputs to use, but I don't really see what you gain by having presets for your throttle positions rather than just sliding your throttle lever to where you want it. You still have to wait for the ship to accellerate or decelerate to your chosen speed and the time it takes to do that is dependant on your thrusters, not how fast you set the throttle lever.

[leftharted]

Originally posted by Bubba Fett:

I also use the tm 16000 but don't have rudder pedals. (and I play in VR)
Perhaps I'm being dense here, but I don't understand why you need throttle control other than the analog throttle. If you use boost, you get full boost speed no matter what your throttle is set to. And I've never really had a use for reverse throttle in combat, but since my throttle is set up to forward only and I've got a button to switch it to reverse mode, if I wanted to slow down quick, I could just use that. (but I'm not really sure that it would slow you faster than just cutting the throttle)
It's cool that you have an extra couple of inputs to use, but I don't really see what you gain by having presets for your throttle positions rather than just sliding your throttle lever to where you want it. You still have to wait for the ship to accellerate or decelerate to your chosen speed and the time it takes to do that is dependant on your thrusters, not how fast you set the throttle lever.

Cuz I'll be much more agile with FA off using bursts of ghetto analog thrust from pedal usage. The setup I implied would be advantageous to my flying style since it would revert thrust back to zero when I lift up the pedal.

The why isnt important, the question is if, and how ;)

[Bubba Fett]

I don't fly with flight assist off so that usage hadn't occured to me. I can see how it might be useful if you can figure out how to make it work.

[leftharted]

IT WORKS!

albeit, I need to do a bit more tinkering for it to function the way I want exactly, but I was able to do a quick test last night that proved the concept.

Basically, thrustmaster TARGET allows you to bind key presses as specific percentages of 'press' from a pedal. So you can trigger key presses at specified intervals 0-100%, which with careful understanding of key binding can mimic a form of analog control.

I left the axis as NONE, and bound several zones using the AXMAP2 parameter. I bound:

0% thrust at 10% press
25% thrust at 25% press
50 at 50
75 at 75
100 at 90
Then afterburner at 95-100

And, it WORKED! I still had full throttle control via my HOTAS, but when I engage the pedal the 0% command "sleeps" the throttle until its moved again, and my throttle was matching the quarters of engagement of the pedal; with after burners activating when I put pedal to metal (plastic).

that being said, having it control "throttle" and not directional "thrust" was not helping with FA Off flight; so I need to rethink my usage of inputs... but at least I've confirmed the theory; and can now easily set my afterburners/supercruise/whatever to trigger only on a full press, or half press, etc.

I'm excited to get it working the way I want it now that its opened up some possibilities.

PSA: T.A.R.G.E.T. software (specifically the GUI, considering I cant script) is quite capable if you take the time to understand it!

[Xmerwynd]

Bravo for you and your persistence,