Troubleshooting: Connecting, Calibrating and "ARM" issues

This will be a brief guide discussing some connection possibilities and troubleshooting various errors that many users are experiencing in the current Alpha phase, specifically with connecting your transmitter, calibration, and resolving issues with not being able to "Arm" your air craft when ready for flight.

Getting Started

This game (Currently in Alpha stage) is already capable and running rather flawlessly with several Plug-And-Play options, including gamepad controllers like the XBOX 360, or even PS3 or PS4 controller using MotioninJoy software.

If that's suitable for your desires in getting a feel for this game, please proceed accordingly. It is a lot of fun using these devices.

For those at home with a flight transmitter, however, you are likely going to want the experience of flying the craft without the throttle input automatically centering itself. Gaming controllers are designed to spring the left joystick back to neutral position, which is not ideal for precision flying when it comes to throttle and yaw controls.

Time to get setup with your own device - and that is certainly encouraged!

Connecting Options

There are vast options for the many types of input devices you may have at home - so many different transmitting devices, in fact, that it would be impossible to include built-in support for them all. The good news is that while there are many different types of controlling devices, there are few types of data transmission that are needed to get control of the game.

There are essentially two options for connecing an input device to your computer - either USB or through the audio input/output (such as a built-in Mic/Stereo input). Using a USB cable is most ideal, as it offers the highest resolution for input signal, is normally plug-and-play as your computer will update drivers accordingly once it is plugged in, and normally no third-party software is needed. The latter option will require more setup time, but is a great alternative if you do not have a USB device.

The most simple connection type will be to connect your device using an aftermarket USB cable. Your transmitter can produce a data signal through its Trainer port and send this signal to the computer via the USB connection. Each type of transmitter, unfortunately, has a different output port - Futaba mostly uses a 5 or 6 pin DIN cable, Hitec uses 6 pin DIN, Walkera and E-Sky use their own miniature DIN output version that is similar or the same as an S-Video port, and Spektrum/JR/others use a 3.5mm audio jack for output. This is not an all-inclusive list, as even different models within brands have different connectors. Check to see what type you have and you'll be prepared to get started.

There are a lot of options for USB sim cables - I won't include links to them all, but a common cable that people are using is available from HobbyKing currently linked at:
CABLE[www.hobbyking.com]

This is a great cable if you don't have one, or if you have multiple types of Transmitters that have differing Trainer ports (and I personally own this cable, and 3-4 others and it functions as well or better than the more expensive alternatives).

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If you want to bypass the use of a USB cable, it is also possible to connect using a Stereo/Mono audio cable.

The most popular method has commonly and historically been the use of SmartPropo software. Their website[www.smartpropoplus.com] has very detailed instructions for using this method, so I will not recreate the wheel here.

Another user has already created a fantastic description of the process on the Discussions forum HERE
I don't know how to link directly to it, but it's the discussion by Syntax_BE called "Tuto]Using a Spektrum transmitter without USB dongle"

Some words of experience:
-You have to have an audio jack that supports input. You may have a Mic port and a separate Audio port, or you may have a laptop that combines them into an input/output for use of a headset that has a built-in mic.

-Using PPM/PCM signals only offer 25 steps of motion - which is decent, but not as responsive as a USB input device cable

-The biggest hurdle here is that not all cables are created equal. Most audio cables you have lying around your house are stereo cables, meaning they have 3 wires connecting the audio signal instead of 2. The tip of the input jack is for the LEFT signal, the sleeve behind it is for the RIGHT signal, and the rear sleeve is for the GROUND signal.


The reason this is an issue, is that Transmitters only require 2 channels for data transmission, and are therefore programmed to only use Mono signaling. Depending on your computer and your audio sound card, using a stereo cable MIGHT work, but there has been common debate about the signal strength, being disconnected, or not working at all. Some people report you can pull the stereo jack out about 1mm from the computer and Transmitter so that only 1 signal is touching. I cannot recommend this option as you may short the signal and it's not worth your computer or transmitter possiblly being damage.

If you don't have a USB cable, and you have a MONO cable or some quick soldering skills (or you can just cut the extra signal wire) - go ahead and visit SmartPropoPlus' website and get started. It will take about 5 minutes to get setup.

Attn: Phoenix RC users

An Unfortunate Note: When I read that people were trying to use Phoenix RC's simulator cable (the standard issue cable that comes with their simulation software, which has the black box attached to the wire) and were having issues, I decided I would try mine out to see if I could offer advice to resolve the issue. Much to no avail ( just like with B.M.I. simulator, RC Desk Pilot, FMS, RF7 and all the other sims) - it just doesn't work. The black box was put there on purpose in order to add encryption to the signal so that only Phoenix can detect it, and so far I don't know any work arounds. Whether this is for protecting their software, or just a marketing ploy, there have been many forum posts online where people have reached out directly to Phoenix regarding connection issues to other simulators, or lost/misplaced cables, and the response from Phoenix has been - sorry, you can only use our cables with our software and if you lose the cable, you have to buy the package again.

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I digress...

Plugging in and Calibrating

Once you have your input device selected, the cable you need for your device and computer, it's time to get plugged in and get flying!

• First step:

With your transmitter unplugged and in the off position, plug input cable into your computer.
Now plug the output end of the cable into the transmitter trainer port. Depending on the manufacturer of your transmitter, it may now turn itself on - which is fine. Your computer should now start downloading any necessary drivers that will be necessary for your operating system to start decrypting the signal and to identify this as a joystick input device. You should see a process starting/finish - sometimes it'll be only a few seconds - while it detects and sets up the connection.

• Second step:

You may be ready to go! Depending on your connection type, controller, and operating system - everything may be ready without further troubleshooting.

Depending on your operating system, you can now go into your input devices by navigating through the Control Panel or Device Manager screens, or by searching if you're not sure, and you should be able to locate the new input device.

At this time, go ahead and start Liftoff !

• Third step: Calbrate

Upon starting LIftoff, you will (at least as of now in the Alpha Stage) be automatically prompted to setup and calibrate your input.

If you are using a game pad such as a wired xbox or PS3/4 controller, it may be ready to go already. If not, move the sticks and see if the channels are moving based on your input. If they are not, select the appropriate pre-configured options until you are being detected.

If you try the presets and still don't see your input working, go to the section above and select "Calibrate." Follow the prompts to identify which sticks should associate with which channels and finish the calibration process.

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For users that I read were having issues with calibration and arming errors -

The short answer: Just keep recalibrating. I tried 3 different connections just to play around with different transmitters and cables, and two of my three cables were plug-and-play - they were working right away and I didn't have to do anything!

For my cheap USB dongle, it wouldn't detect using the presets, it wouldn't detect using the auto-calibrate menus and so I used manual calibration. It would pickup the signals..the there was almost no range of motion/travel for the input channels and was very hit or miss. It certainly wouldn't have flown a craft.

I exited the software, found my device in Device Manager, went into Properties and to Advanced Settings and made sure everything was to "Default" for the drivers as they would have inherently downloaded. This reset all of the channels back to their original positions.

I reopened the software, and tried again. Still wouldn't detect automatically or with the auto-calibration menus. Back to manual calibration - It worked! But...it wouldn't input Yaw, the channels were all over the place, and throttle and aileron were reversed. I tried again - centered all sticks, moved the sticks in the direction as guided and after 5 or 6 times, eventually it detected Yaw and eventually aileron was correct. Best as it is going to get - but throttle was still reversed and putting out a bouncy Throttle signal.

Finishing Touches and Failure to ARM correction

At this point, you should be connected. If you're ready to go - then go fly and stop reading this guide!

If you're like me, and had Aileron, Throttle, or other channels responding opposite of your input - To fix issues with your channels being reversed is straight-forward enough:
(You do not have to exit the software)
-If you have an older model transmitter with manual toggle switches, locate the channel of the input and flip the switch to its opposite position
-With most of the newer computer transmitters, Go into the Transmitter settings menu, go into Setup Menu screen, find the 'Reverse' options and flip the throttle channel (or the Yaw or the Aileron, etc). Depending on your transmitter, it will just be a 0 or a 1 that changes, or it may say ' N ' if it's not reversed and ' R ' if it is reversed, or other confirmation. Once completed, move the sticks and check the channels in the game. All set? Good.

To fix the error where the craft would not arm:
-Repeat the above steps by going into your Tx settings menu, only this time find/go to 'Sub Trim" settings (the name varies for Tx) and put the throttle to -10 (negative 10) sub trim. This should be a good starting point to see if your throttle channel is hitting a low enough threshold to Arm the craft. You can start with smaller increments and move up until it arms. The goal is to get the throttle position to "0" on the screen..

Get Flying!

Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. Most of this is self-explanatory, but we all run into problems from time to time and it always helps to have a Go To without having to waste your time stumbling until you figure it out.

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I'll likely create a PID and Curve guide once I finish messing around with them in-game to see how they react compared to in the real world.

[76561199806488889]

I am trying to figure out how to change the controller settings but I dont understand what all the settings mean (expo gain, and all that other stuff I cant even remember all the other settings to try to describe). So I tried to get some support from this place and cant figure that out either. In discussions I tried searching controller sensitivity settings and found a bunch of crap about all kinds of other stuff that had nothing to do with controller settings. Half of the stuff being discussed on this web site makes absolutely no sense to me you people might as well be speaking greek. What happened to beginner's welcome. I want a friggen refund.

[awh0423]

Мне жаль, что это не сработало для вас. Это старый путеводитель несколько лет назад.

[awh0423]

Я рад, что это помогло. Это старое руководство.

[aksis2006]

На betafpv пультах, ни первом ни втором не смог сделать настройку через USB кабель. Просто не работает.

[waigant_o]

Большое Спасибо за предлагаемое решение подключения передатчиков без USB разъема

[thapapawan]

Could not arm the drone when lowering down the stick after latest update.

[mohead22]

i am trying to connect a dji fpv remote controller 2
it connects but all the buttons dont work and the controls are supper sensitive

[dkito55]

cant get it to download more than 50% then go's back two begining

[FenixFPV]

hi i got to connect my tx16s but cant collaborate to fix the sticks rate to fix the rolls happening to fast at present it rolls by less than a few centermeters on controller

[grn1z1978]

thanks for posting