Connecting a Transmitter

A guide to connect a Transmitter to your PC as a USB HID device to control the flight of the drones.

Does the Game Support my Transmitter?

There are loads of transmitters on the market so DCL cannot list each individual one. These are the characteristics that a transmitter needs in order to be supported:

• Direct connection via a USB cable
  
• Wireless dongle - please check with your transmitter manufacturer to select the correct one
  
• Betaflight passthrough (using Flight Controller and Receiver)

Essentially if the system on which you are playing recognises the transmitter through your system settings as a game controller then it should work!

Calibration

In most cases, stick calibration is not required. However, if in the panel on the left, the inputs you have assigned to throttle, yaw, pitch and roll do not reach -1 and 1, or reach those values too soon, you can run the calibration process to correct it.

• Click the Calibrate Endpoints and Centers button
  
• Make sure that both sticks are centered, with the throttle at mid-point
  
• Click Begin Calibration
  
• Move both sticks to their full extent in both directions, so the game can learn the minimum and maximum values. Do not push the sticks too hard, move them gently until they just touch the limit of the gimbal.
  
• Click Complete Calibration
  
• Check that your sticks can now reach -1 and +1 on all four axes

Input Mapping

CH1 to CH8 are typically used for axis/stick inputs and range from -1 to 1.
CH9 to CH32 are for button/switch inputs and range from 0 to 1.

To get Restart and Recover working, they need to be assigned to a channel that changes from 0 to 1 in the calibration screen (which is typically 0 to +100 in the transmitter). It's easiest to do this by making sure that input is on CH9 or higher, but lower channels can be used as long as the values 0 and 1 can be set.

If your transmitter is running OpenTx and connected via USB, you should set up the inputs in the transmitter's Mixer page for the model you are using. Ideally, map the sticks to CH1 to CH4 and two switches to CH9 and CH10.





For Betaflight passthrough and other devices that provide fewer channels, it should be possible to set up your transmitter to output values that work. For Restart and Recover, ensure that you use and output that ranges from 0 to +100, rather than -100 to +100.

Corrupted Savegames

Obsolete or corrupted savegames could make the transmitter behave strangely

• delete these folders if they exist (it will wipe your local settings like the Rates, but you will not lose your game progress, record times, currency, etc)
  Windows:
  %LOCALAPPDATA%\DCGame
  <SteamLibrary>\steamapps\common\DCL - The Game\DCGame\Saved
  <SteamLibrary>\steamapps\common\DCL - The Game (Early Demo)\DCGame\Saved
  
  Mac:
  /Users/{name}/Library/Application Support/Epic/DCGame/Saved

If you're still having problems please reach out to us https://discord.gg/xtR8jct

Steam

Steam could be interfering with your controller recognition. Go to Steam and under Steam > Settings > Controller > General Controller Settings, make sure Generic Gamepad Configuration Support is switched off.

USB

• Make sure your controller is switched on and connected to your system before starting the game.
  
• If you're using a USB cable, make sure it's good for passing data, some USB cables are wired to pass power only.
  
• Try changing the USB port your cable or dongle is connected to
  
• Make sure your system is receiving input from your transmitter (check in control panel / set up USB game controllers if your device is detected and works)

Drivers

Make sure the transmitter is switched on
Insert the USB Cable into the transmitter and into the PC.

You will be prompted to choose between "USB Joystick" and "USB Storage". Please choose USB joystick (in this example simply click on the small joystick in the bottom right)



In Windows, go to the Device Manager (best way: click on the start icon and start typing device manager, you will see it appear in the available options)

Look for a "libusb-win32 devices"



Expand the list "libusb-win32 devices" (with the downward arrow on the left) and select
"BETTER_USB_HS"

Right click on this and select "Properties"



In the driver tab, select "update driver"



Select "Browse my computer for driver software"



Select "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer"



Select "USB input Device" and then select "Next"



Finally, click on close.

[shnarh]

Hi!
I have two Steam accounts on the same computer.
One account sees the transmitter and everything works fine.
The other account didn't have any problems with the connection until yesterday, but after another recalibration it stopped seeing the radio as a device.
Reinstalling the game and rebooting the computer did not help.
Also, reinstalling to a different location didn't help either.

What could it be and what should I try? Thank you.

PS please note: other account is absolute fine with the same system settings

[lmcummings99]

I use the same controller in several other Steam games and Sims

[lmcummings99]

My Tarnis X9D will not connect. It sees it in Controller settings but will not keep any control inputs. Each time I set them it clears them out.

[rimeowl]

this drove me mad

guys it seems all "data" USB cables are not created equal.

The X-lite usb lead combo I have been using without any issues on velocodrome, lift off, uncrashed, DRL and the rest.... would not work on DCL???!?!? controller just not showing up. (it shows up everywhere else in PC , in Steam , in other FPV sims but not DCL.

It is a new USB cable definitely data capable, but I sort of accidentally swapped it out for an older cable and wah du know it worked!!!

so if you have tried everything here and still not showing up try a few different data cables.

[rimeowl]

Still no joy with xlite. worked last time I tried DCL and works on every other FPV sim and I have them all. also used to work on PS4 now dosent. ye have fecked up something in an update. I have tried all this above and nothing works.

[talkerman]

I have just bought DCL game on Steam and I can not use it with my Taranis QX7. I use it on my Laptop. I use the same QX7 on other games such as DRL or Liftoof, but DCL is not recognizing it. What can I do to fix this problem? I have tried the suggetions on this page but it's still the same situation for me. Any advice, please?

[Serpent90]

This game is having trouble with the Spektrum Interlink DX transmitter. When my throttle is at zero - no matter what I do to calibrate it - the game always registers it at 30% power or even 50%. I've reset it dozens of times and the same problem still persists. I really hate to compare you guys to the competition, but right now DRL is doing things much better with their sim. Please fix this issue. I'd love to play. But there's no excuse for being at 30% throttle when I'm clearly not touching it.

[phirefli]

Sorry about the lengthy comment but please read my lowest comment first.

[phirefli]

I also calibrated the Tx in game, but my right stick would not stop "jittering" ever so slightly and when I do get into freestyle mode it's either full throttle or no throttle, no matter how much I move the left stick. Sometimes I pull the left stick down and it goes full throttle, I go back up and it goes full throttle. Sometimes it just does a backflip right from the launch pad, without me touching anything. The only inverted box I have checked is the pitch, and that just goes straight back with no input, if I can get it off the launchpad with out a backflip. Like I said this is a new Tx that's been sitting in a box on a shelf for over a year and it worked pretty well in DRL.
Please help. Any suggestions will be welcomed. I really want to play this sim.

[phirefli]

Hello, I have a brand new out of the box Taranis X9D I bought awhile ago. I finally got the flying bug again so I thought I'd give it a go. Yesterday I bought DRL racing and used the Tx 2 times today with that software. I decided it was pushing my computer too hard and that I wasn't happy with the overall feel of that sim. I did some research and came across DCL. It looked good so I bought it. It does not work with my X9D. I made sure the "Generic Gamepad Config Support" box was unchecked and made sure that under the "game properties under general settings, there is a case named "Steam Input Per-game settings" You need to put it "Forced OFF". (not my words but another tip I found on the game page.