Hello to all
HOTAS-builders,
as some of you already know (Sokol, Kbird, Taz etc.) I'm building a homepit. The problem with my selfbuilt
HOTAS was always to get it compatible with more than only one simulator. Specially some of my older sims I still want to use, cause I love them. My electronics get more and more a real nightmare
, cause I'm already using old components of the gameport era (FLCS/TQS/WCS2) which I combined to "Frankenstein-
HOTAS-Boards" with partial USB support (only for the main flight controls).
With older simulations or sometimes also with not so good configurable simulators, you have the problem to get controls configured for inputs which are using axis (potentiometers). In this case it's a real advantage to use a software which is able to program the axis (eg. antenna knobs or something else) to act like you would press simple keys at your keyboard. Sadly only a few, mostly real expensive,
HOTAS have a software which allows you to configurate keyboard emulation to your gear.
UCR ( Universal Controller Remapper) can do such things. At the moment its already in a very early state, but in future it could be the poor mens TARGET software. It's also very interesting for people which built their own
HOTAS with the use of MMJoy2 or something else. This way you could control functions in your sim which aren't configurable with simple DirectX input, cause the ingame settings do not allow to bind a button or an axis to it. Some things the TM stuff could do are still missing, but I have contacted the author about implementing some few extra features. I hope he will hear my prayers
.
I focused at the "antenna dial" programming (the way it was possible for the old TQS = eg. 1, 2, 3, 4.... .... 4,3,2,1 or + + + + ....
....- - - - and so on) cause I thought its one of the most significant features to have. The " 1, 2, 3-thing is already possible to program, but only for 10 ranges. It's called "axis range to buttons". You could easily modify the AHK-file, so that you could have more ranges.
I also asked to have a feature for mapping defined joystick axes to the mouse cursor. This way you could built a microstick (gamepad thumb stick or PSP mini joystick) for using it with MFD input. I know many people hate the old erazer hat at the TQS, but I really loved it. I never owned a Cougar, so I couldn't tell if the microstick is much better, but I think so. I will use mini joysticks similar to the one the old Sony PSP uses. They are easier to fit to the housing of a throttle quadrant.
I hope UCR will get the missing features in the future, so that I could throw my "Frankenstein-boards" away
. If you only play more modern sims like Falcon BMS, MSFS or IL-2 there is no need for the keyboard emulation orgy, but if you love stuff from the 90's like the Jane's series its really good to have the possibility to bind keystrokes to your controls.
As UCR is the successor of the well known UJR (Universal Joystick Remapper)it has also the features this software had given you (merge axis, split axis, virtual joystick etc.)
P.S: If some of you familiar with coding and the way Autohotkey works, it would be nice to add some work to UCR. The software uses a plugin system and you could make own user-files. As I'm a really great noob in coding, it would also nice to share your progress with me
and the rest of the community