Gladiator MK II Deadzone issue and more

[Canela]

Hello fellow enthusiasts!

Recently I decided to invest into this hobby and so I ordered a Gladiator MK II VKB flight stick. Now, please bear in mind I am completely new and so I lack any kind of knowledge on the matter.
I got my flight stick today and decided to plug it in and try it out on a couple of games I had.
Elite: Dangerous was first - I went to the tutorial, my ship would just yaw constantly and I couldn't figure out what was wrong.
I booted up Arma 3 - yaw didn't work at all, and on the Axis Y (Pitch) there was constant input, even with the (roughly 4%) default deadzone setting of anywhere from 2 to 10 as seen here. None of the other axis had any issues, only Y gives a constant slight input and doesn't fully go back to 0.

My question is, is the stick I got faulty or is it normal to have slight deviations where the stick doesn't go back to 0,0,0 for all of it's axes?

My second question is, how come can I not just plug and play with the stick? For example, I tried to pilot a heli or a jet in arma 3 but no matter what button I pressed on the stick, I couldn't force my vehicle to open fire. And when I go to the customize controller option, I can't find any way to map my binds.

Thanks in advance!

[fallout9]

Hi Canela,

Your device is very precise and it will definitely stick to its center, but it has to get calibrated before using it. To do that you have 2 options: 1. use its configurator following the guide here: https://youtu.be/8Ht8yMsdlCQ (just make sure you follow the steps exactly, no skips) or 2. do a quick calibration.

For the second option you have to disconnect your device, then re-connect it to the USB port and within 10 seconds from re-connection you have to press both Eject and Flaps buttons at the same time. In that moment the LED will start flashing fast. Move all the axes (X,Y, twist, throttle) through their whole range, end to end and when all are done press the trigger and the Gladiator will restart saving the calibration.
You could go for either option (first one is a bit more complicated though), but do not try to calibrate the joystick with Windows tools (joy.cpl) as it will mess it up.

About using it in games - here you'll have to bind the controls before using your device in games. Different games - different set-ups, you'll have to get in there and manually bind all the controls you need.

[Canela]

Hey fallout9,
Just for transparency I will mention that I made a post on the HOTAS subreddit.
I did both what the official guide recommends as well as what you suggested. It still doesn't perfectly reset to the default value of 32767. I have a question, however, because I have noticed there is a difference when calibrating the stick - you can force press the stick in Axis X and Y to each absolute limit and when you finalize the calibration and you casually press X and Y axes, it doesn't go all the way to it's maximum values which is understandable. My question is, should I force it to it's maximum limit by hard pressing the stick to each end or should I press it to an end without using too much force?

[fallout9]

No, you should guide the grip to the end of the axis' range back and forth; no need to force it. Do it on X axis, let it rest in the center; do it for Y axis, let it rest; twist left and right, let it rest; push the throttle back and forth; press End calibration.
If you, for example, during calibration are pushing the grip on only 1/3 of the range of an axis, at the end of calibration the real axis (the one recognized in testers and games) will be only 1/3 of the physical axis.
It is very important to take your hand off the grip when you're hitting End Calibration. Also important - don't pay attention to the numbers during calibration, just make sure you're covering all the axes through their whole range.

[atlau]

Curious - how much of a deadzone/centering is acceptable after calibration? My stick in the pitch/roll axis feels sloppy and does not return to exact center. The twist on the other hand goes to perfect center. Is that normal?

[fallout9]

Not normal. But to see exactly what's going on please open the VKBDevCfg, click on the device that's given you issues (it's just under the titlebar), press on the Profile tab, then on the Axes tab. Make sure both Logical Axes and Physical Axes tabs are active. Take a screenshot and post it here.

[atlau]

how do I get both logical and physical axes?

[fallout9]

Look at the bottom, there are some tabs there: press on the Profile tab.After this you'll gain access to other tabs - press on the one called 'Axes' and screenshot it.

[atlau]

Hopefully this is the right one. I'll be honest I have no idea what it means.

[fallout9]

Let's start by updating the software and firmware, yours look pretty old and the firmware seems even older than the configurator.
- download the configurator (https://vkbcontrollers.com/wp-content/u ... .90.93.zip), bootloader (https://vkbcontrollers.com/wp-content/u ... -v1_18.zip) and the firmware package (https://vkbcontrollers.com/wp-content/u ... 1_98_1.zip). Put all 3 archives in their own folder and unzip them.
- the configurator and the bootloader archives contain only 1 file; the firmware package contains lots of files - you have to get from there the file called _Gladiator_v1_98_1.vkb and move it in the same folder with the configurator and bootloader.
- open VKBDevCfg and close it after it loads so it could create the file called zconfig.ini in the same directory. Open up that file and add Test Misc Enabled=1 under [Common] and User=Developer under [User]. Save it and close the file.
- open VKBDevCfg and click on your device name, then navigate to the Tools tab and press Bootloader. The VKBDevCfg will automatically close and the Bootloader will pop up. Press on the ... button and navigate to the folder where the file _Gladiator_v1_98_1.vkb is stored and double click on it, then press the Flash It button in the Bootloader. The updating will begin shortly and when done the Bootloader will close and the VKBDevCfg will open automatically (or if it won't just open it manually).
- in VKBDevCfg click on the name of your device and hit the Default button to reset your device, then click on Test tab, then Axes1 tab. Click on the Tools tab and hit the Start Calibr. button. Move your stick all along the X and Y axes slowly, a few times back and forth, end to end, without pushing it hard to the edge. Then twist is end to end. Then run the throttle back and forth. When done press the End Calibr. button.

This video will help you visually; it has been made for other device, but it follows the same principle of preparing the files, flashing and calibrating:
https://youtu.be/8Ht8yMsdlCQ

[atlau]

Well I just followed all the steps and now the joystick isn't responding at all... will try going through them all again.... same result but then tried some random other options and its at least working again... anyway here is the updated screenshot.

[fallout9]

If it wasn't working then you missed some steps and there are no 'random other options' to make it work if it's not properly installed )) From the screenshot looks fine, even the throttle looks calibrated now.
How's that axis that was giving you problems now?

[atlau]

I think I had to "get profile" or something and then run some of the steps to get it to register any inputs.

There is still some slop in the deadzone but it does appear better overall.

Now I just gotta figure out if I can get used to the grip twist and the overall tightness on the twist axis.

Thanks for the help.

[atlau]

Quick additional.question... when returning the stick to the center position, how close to the 32767 value? Pitch/roll occasionally returns to 33900 or 31500. On the other hand the twist goes back perfectly

[fallout9]

If it's properly calibrated the Gladiator should get a perfect center return on all axes. I see that you reported your grip being 'sloppy' a while ago so I would suggest opening it up to see what's going on with the internals, maybe a wire is getting caught up in the springs and impedes the free movement of the cams. This video is for upgrading the Gladiator, but you could use the first part where everything comes off so you could compare it with your device: https://youtu.be/x_LXh5LTJL4