Bouncing rudder making this not worth while - any solution?

[Blondini]

Fine control of the rudder in this is eluding me. I'm using a Mad Catz F.L.Y. 5 (the same as a Saitek Fly 5 I think) which has a twist rudder. As soon as there is any rudder engagement the gun sight just bounces wildly around and then rebounds like a yoyo when released, even slowly. I can't hit a thing and am about to give up. I have played around with the sensitivity settings and dead zones and trimmed the life out of the planes (Hurricanes so far), but have never come close to having the kind of control I see in vids posted online. Is there a solution to this?

[Toprudder]

Rudder pedals are the only way to go for flight sims.

[Javamensch]

Remember that these were aircraft calculated to fly using math on slide rules (In the best case) and a 'theory' of aerodynamics only initially started 30 years prior with a 'lets see what happens if we add/do this..' concept. The only time you will notice a yawless flight is at high end of the speed spectrum for the aircraft with rudders being actuated via cables and pulleys via input by pilots foot. There was no (or just primitive) autopilot or motor assisted actuation until later on. And the G forces would highly affect the ability of the pilot to maintain a stable, even pressure on the rudder pedals. If its possible to have a rock steady path, I haven't seen one yet with any aircraft. Notice that when you are almost empty and have only one gun on one side shooting, it pulls back the side with the remaining ammo.

[AlenC]

Originally posted by Blondini:

Fine control of the rudder in this is eluding me. I'm using a Mad Catz F.L.Y. 5 (the same as a Saitek Fly 5 I think) which has a twist rudder. As soon as there is any rudder engagement the gun sight just bounces wildly around and then rebounds like a yoyo when released, even slowly. I can't hit a thing and am about to give up. I have played around with the sensitivity settings and dead zones and trimmed the life out of the planes (Hurricanes so far), but have never come close to having the kind of control I see in vids posted online. Is there a solution to this?

Of course it shouldn't behave like this. From the way you describe it, it sounds like you are applying full rudder. Either you are twisting the stick too much, the game is too sensitive to input (check axis settings) or joystick simply doesn't have enough resolution for rudder axis. Can you visualize somewhere joystick's rudder axis output?

[76561198056880973]

go into controls/axis and select rudder. Twist your joystick and watch the green bar, see if it moves smoothly. You can also check in windows/devices/joystick properties and calibrate it.

[Toprudder]

Looked at a YouTube video on your stick. Doubt you'll be happy with it long term for this sim. I found that twist rudder in combat flight sims causes unwanted motion in pitch and roll axes when I applied twist for rudder. That is why you can't line up sights on your target. Add to that that fighters in Blitz do unrealistic evasive maneuvers to avoid your gunsight making your job even more difficult. Many players use separate throttle, stick and rudder controllers with special sensors that increase controller resolution. It's no accident that transmitters for radio control aircraft typically have two sticks instead of one. One stick controlling rudder and throttle, other controlling pitch and roll. So in knife edge flight altitude is maintained by varying throttle and rudder deflection on one stick while wings are kept vertical with aileron on the other. Precision aerobatics require separation of rudder control from other axes.

[DavePro]

TR, I see your point, but with my old Logitech I find that applying appropriate twist-stick rudder during, say, a slow roll at low level works OK. Although I wouldn't mind pedals - maybe some day I'll make some. OP, have you tried the Post 4 recommendation?

[PhoenixCNE]

If this is an older stick the pots inside can often become worn or dirty and have spiking outputs. As said before this should be able to be seen if you watch the output bars for smooth movement in game or in windows joystick setup.

[Blondini]

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply, it's given me a bunch of stuff to consider. Just to address directly everyone's responses:

TR - yeah i thought (am thinking) about the pedals, but wanted to try CoD out at a cheap price first (and to get some OG BoB action in) before committing to "all the gears" and BoS;
NS - I understand, and that's exactly what appeals about these aircraft, I didn't expect an on rails response, but trust me if WWII pilots had these sort of issues BoB would have been a relatively bloodless affair;
AC - good suggestion, I used third person view and could see the rudder working *as intended* (i.e. it's not either full on or off), but almost like its working too quickly (possibly for me);
JT - yep I was across that, but am now having a much harder look noting that it *looks* like its working as intended, but my results differ;
TR - I found one and it raised some good points - including about its built in dead zone. As above, I'm still inclined to pursue this stick in the meantime though because I don't want to end up with another (maybe more, it sounds like...) peripheral in case i decide that I'm a Sims guy rather than a Sim guy;
DP - your post is quite telling as it speaks to what I see online - other people can do slow rolls, I end up boinging around like I'm flying in a bouncy castle.

Instinctively, I think it's an issue around dampening down the joystick response curves more than is possible in game and the solution may be manipulating them outside the game - i.e. with third party software like maybe JS Curves or a Saitek utility (if one exists?). If anyone has any suggestions as to any that are current best practice I'd be happy to have them.

Again, thanks to everyone for helping out, it's greatly appreciated.