@Sokol

yes you are right, its's really complicated, but with the Arduino you have just a simpple DirectX controller at all. No way to program macros, or things like press-release, toggle or different modes. You are completely limited to what the simulation itself assists. In EECH All Mods for example it isn't really much you could change, cause there isn't a way to assign the buttons of your HOTAS in a way you can do it in Falcon BMS in the setup menu for example.

That's why I prefer and always prefered the keyboard emulation way. What is a HOTAS worth, if you couldn't program complex things to it? I don't know many simulations that offer a real good configuration possibility, except Falcon or maybe the MS Flight Sim with FSUIPC. Many of the older ones didn't even give you the possibility to change anything in a contoller setup menu. That's why I still use this old fashioned way.

O.K. you could use software like HID-Macros or AutoHotKey, but this makes things complicated too and you have to run another program in the background which is often actually ignored by the simulation, if you run it in full screen mode.

I use this complex way only for my HOTAS, not for the whole cockpit. The rest of my pit is based on Pokeys56U and 57U cards, which I could run as DirectX or as keyboard emulation. They do not nearly offer the flexibility in programming as the old Thrustmaster gear or the HOTAS Cougar does, but for the switches, knobs, rotaries or encoders in the pit they do their job. I prefer them over the Arduino cards, cause you could also download to them and then use them in any operation system. They are only a bit more expensive than an Arduino Mega but offer much more options for a cockpit as the Megas do.

If you use the eraser hat only as button T10-T14 than it is really not a good solution, but if you want use it as a mouse, to control the cursor on your MFD's, then a collie hat isn't useable. The only other way is to get hands of the throttle and use an additional mouse or trackball for this. That's not the way I want to fly in my pit.

I built a pit to come as close as possible to the real thing and if I make things less complex, why making the whole work of building a pit? For this a simple stick on the desk is enough. That's how I flew many years, but now I want to have the feel of sitting in a fighter jet or a combat helo. The real fighters have true complex functions at their HOTAS and I need a way to simulate this. Yes maybe I'm a little crazy but I'm not the only one . There are people that are much more crazy in case of realism fanaticism. I only want to have the right feeling, they want a exact copy of an airplane. We are all a little crazy with our hobby or not ?

@Kbird

most of the info I found out by myself and has a lot to do with financial things. It simply wasn't possible for me to buy a Cougar at the time they were sold for about 170€ new. Now a good one is sold for 300-500€. As I need more of them to use there electronics with my different selfmade HOTAS, I have to spent about over 1000€ for a USB alternative. That's far beyond what I could invest in my project. So I had to find a way to use the old equipment I had lay around for years or just forget my dream of the past 20 years. Necessity is the mother of invention .