hotas

[Wizard]

I'm on the verge of picking up x4 because I absolutely loved x3 and am looking to get a new hotas for the occasion. Specifically, I'm looking at the Thrustmaster 16000m space duo and adding a throttle. Is this setup doable? Can I also add the rudder?

Why I'm on the subject, how many devices does the game recognize? I think in a perfect world I'd like to build myself a setup with the space duo, throttle, rudder and a button box, all with trackir on triple monitors.

I'm hoping my space rig can be as elaborate as my trucking rig for ats/ets2, so any feedback would be most appreciated.

[MaGicBush]

It works fine with my hotas. I have the t.flight hotas 4. They just added trackir support in the new patch. I'm not sure about multiple monitors and rudders, or what a button box is.

Also I play American truck Sim :).

[Big Papa]

I would go for CH combatstick, or fighterstick and CH pro pedals. the stick has a throttle roller, or you can add dedicated throttle. The CH stuff is not as pretty or fancy looking but very well built and control is very precise.

[Wizard]

Originally posted by vanhelsing:

I would go for CH combatstick, or fighterstick and CH pro pedals. the stick has a throttle roller, or you can add dedicated throttle. The CH stuff is not as pretty or fancy looking but very well built and control is very precise.

I looked at the CH products. They seem well made. Really I looked at most of the hotas' on the market. I really like the idea of the 16000m dual sticks with the added throttle. I don't play flight games, so this is just for space sims.

I'm more curious if all these controls mentioned can be plugged in at once and be functional.

[Wizard]

Originally posted by MaGicBush:

I'm not sure what a button box is.

Do a quick google search for "sim button box" and you'll see what I'm talking about. They're popular in racing sims and flight sims, but I can see their possibilities in space sims too.

On that note, is anyone using Voice Attack?

[R.J MacReady]

I'm playing with a thrustmaster warthog hotas. Also, I am playing with a thrustmaster rudder. Using track IR as well. Everything is working perfect. Including all of the axis can be program or mapped.

[jasonbarron]

Sorry for necroing but I didn't want to start a new thread just to ask a couple questions that were relevant to this one.

1-does anyone know if this game efficiently recognizes a Virpil HOTAS and if so, once I program the buttons and inputs does the game do a good job of remembering my setup or do I have to rebind every time I reboot the game?

2-someone above mentioned TrackIR support: is that the case for real with X4???

[Gregorovitch]

@Wizzard:

I have owned both the Thrusmaster 16000 and more recently the X52 Pro so I can give you my insights/2c on this issue:

1. I would say that rudders are total overkill for X4. Completely unnecessary. The main reason to get rudders for X4 would be if you wanted to get the Thrusmaster Warthog unit anyway for other flight sims etc (which by all accounts an excellent product) because it does not have a twist/yaw function, it assumes you will have a rudder unit.

2. The Thrustmaster 16000 unit has two serious flaws.

Firstly the throttle unit runs on "rails". This means that the throttle "sticks" and "jolts" and is very difficult to operate smoothly and accurately. There is a mod that apparently improves this but not totally. This is a PITA.

Secondly the stick unit has a mirror that controls the twist/yaw function that points upwards and collects dust over time. When this happen yaws start happening randomly without any action from you rendering the stick virtually unusable. Worse, because of the ultra-cheap nipple pad implementation of the button switches fixing this (which can in theory be done with a quick swipe of a cotton bud soaked in isopropyle alcohol) is a nightmare from hell requiring a range of tools and vices and the patience of a saint. This is because you have to open the unit and the whole things falls apart when you do and it is very hard to put back together again.

This happened to me after about two years. That's why I bought the X52.

Both the throttle "rail" problem and the "button nipple" problem are the result of engineering compromises to bring the price down. You can easily verify what I'm saying here on Youtube, there are tons of vids about these problems, vids I wish to God now I'd stumbled across before originally buying the Thrustmaster units.

3. The Thrustmaster HOTAS is very long on features and very short on quality engineering. That's why is about 2/3 the price of the X52 Pro. And bear in mind a lot the cost is in retail markup, transportation and storage costs etc so the actual value of the Thrustmaster is going to be 50% or less compared to the X52.

4. The X52 Pro is a much better designed unit and the throttle in particular is a joy to use compared to the Thrusmaster, light years better. It's a much higher quality unit than the Thrusmaster. It has a few less buttons, mini-sticks etc. But that doesn't in practice matter. It's got more than enough for X4 and for my money they are better controls individually.

5. The final kicker is that the default set up for the X52 Egosoft have shipped with X4 is beautifully thought out IMHO. I have had no reason at all to change it since I've had the X52. It works perfectly and more or less intuitively out of the box.

So the TL;DR of this is I would do yourself a favour and fork out the 50% extra for the X52 Pro. IMHO it is the perfect device to play X4 with (and I would guess judging by the thought Egosoft have put into their default control mapping for it they think so too). It will IMHO improve you experience of the game significantly. Personally I was staggered at how much better than the Thrustmaster the X52 was.

[Daddy Shark]

There's only three default setups for HOTAS in this game. the 1600 is one of them. x52 and warthog are the others.

[Ketraar]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1582243973

There is a profile in teh steam guides. Made some slight adjustments for myself but works good.

MFG

Ketraar

[jasonbarron]

Thanks for the info, guys

How's the flight and combat with a HOTAS compared to the keyboard and mouse?

[Daddy Shark]

It's not bad. It's not DCS-level of simulation or anything but it's fun. You can toggle flight assists on/off so you can do some tricky stuff once you have the basics down.

[jasonbarron]

Awesome. I haven't played it much in a couple years and am thinking of diving back in. It looks like it's changed a lot since I last tried it

[Arquebus X]

I have the T.16000M and I'll echo everything @Gregorovich said. It's a good stick but it has problems of design.

The throttle sticking doesn't matter too much given the way I play X4 (I'm usually either at full throttle or zero throttle and I don't have the game set to allow reverse with the throttle). But the twist axis issue is a major annoyance. I ended up having to move that control axis (for me, it was yaw) onto the throttle's paddles. But then the paddles started acting up in the same way.

I'm going to switch to an X52 as soon as I get the chance.

As for flight and combat with HOTAS vs KBM: I can't speak to that, as I've never ever ever played the X games with KBM. Immersion is more important to me than accuracy. And the game is quite playable with HOTAS even though theoretically I could be more accurate with KBM in a firefight. So I think it depends on what kind of fun you like to have. If you're into maximizing your effectiveness, KBM is probably best (and is probably best for every space sim out there - even "elite" Star Citizen players use a mouse, despite the general claim that SC is going for full simulation). But if you're into the feel of spaceflight, KBM can't beat the HOTAS.

[Wizard]

Originally posted by Gregorovitch:

@Wizzard:

I have owned both the Thrusmaster 16000 and more recently the X52 Pro so I can give you my insights/2c on this issue:

1. I would say that rudders are total overkill for X4. Completely unnecessary. The main reason to get rudders for X4 would be if you wanted to get the Thrusmaster Warthog unit anyway for other flight sims etc (which by all accounts an excellent product) because it does not have a twist/yaw function, it assumes you will have a rudder unit.

2. The Thrustmaster 16000 unit has two serious flaws.

Firstly the throttle unit runs on "rails". This means that the throttle "sticks" and "jolts" and is very difficult to operate smoothly and accurately. There is a mod that apparently improves this but not totally. This is a PITA.

Secondly the stick unit has a mirror that controls the twist/yaw function that points upwards and collects dust over time. When this happen yaws start happening randomly without any action from you rendering the stick virtually unusable. Worse, because of the ultra-cheap nipple pad implementation of the button switches fixing this (which can in theory be done with a quick swipe of a cotton bud soaked in isopropyle alcohol) is a nightmare from hell requiring a range of tools and vices and the patience of a saint. This is because you have to open the unit and the whole things falls apart when you do and it is very hard to put back together again.

This happened to me after about two years. That's why I bought the X52.

Both the throttle "rail" problem and the "button nipple" problem are the result of engineering compromises to bring the price down. You can easily verify what I'm saying here on Youtube, there are tons of vids about these problems, vids I wish to God now I'd stumbled across before originally buying the Thrustmaster units.

3. The Thrustmaster HOTAS is very long on features and very short on quality engineering. That's why is about 2/3 the price of the X52 Pro. And bear in mind a lot the cost is in retail markup, transportation and storage costs etc so the actual value of the Thrustmaster is going to be 50% or less compared to the X52.

4. The X52 Pro is a much better designed unit and the throttle in particular is a joy to use compared to the Thrusmaster, light years better. It's a much higher quality unit than the Thrusmaster. It has a few less buttons, mini-sticks etc. But that doesn't in practice matter. It's got more than enough for X4 and for my money they are better controls individually.

5. The final kicker is that the default set up for the X52 Egosoft have shipped with X4 is beautifully thought out IMHO. I have had no reason at all to change it since I've had the X52. It works perfectly and more or less intuitively out of the box.

So the TL;DR of this is I would do yourself a favour and fork out the 50% extra for the X52 Pro. IMHO it is the perfect device to play X4 with (and I would guess judging by the thought Egosoft have put into their default control mapping for it they think so too). It will IMHO improve you experience of the game significantly. Personally I was staggered at how much better than the Thrustmaster the X52 was.

Well, this OP's over 2 years old, but whatever. I ended up not going with either. I went with VKB and couldn't be happier.

[jasonbarron]

Wizard, you playing X4 with that sweet sweet VKB setup?