Gladiator MK II Deadzone issue and more

[joeyjojojunior]

Do you have a MKII, fallout9? If this is the non-pro we are talking about, then mine has the sloppy center also, and when I asked around after getting it, other owners said theirs is the same. The joystick itself is very precise, but there's a lot of play at the center, which required me to put a pretty hefty deadzone to get it to center perfectly.

[fallout9]

Yes, I’m talking about Gladiator MKII. I’ve seen a few and none was showing any of the issues you’re listing. If this would be a general issue I’m sure we’d see more reports about it.
Also, if the Gladiator has problems with the KG12 returning to center, what about the people who made the upgrade to MCG or SCG grips? Those are heavier than the original grip and there’s close to 0 reports about play at center.

[joeyjojojunior]

Did you actually check with the tester though? It's not off by much, but enough to throw you off in certain situations, e.g. FA-Off in Elite. I wouldn't even call it a flaw since it gives more precision in the center this way, and you can always fix it with a deadzone.

[fallout9]

Here's how mine returns to center with a MCG Pro grip (which is definitely heavier than KG12) and a deadzone of 0.6:
https://youtu.be/PdKKKptvihE
And mine got through a lot of beating in his life so it's far from being new and shiny.

[heman86]

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

hi,

by perfect you mean it should always return exactly to 32767? because mine sometimes is a few numbers off.

[fallout9]

Heman86 - this discussion is about the Gladiator. You have a GunFighter MKIII base though, here's what you need to do in your case:

That's the middle of the axis. If you're like a few units higher or less you should be fine, but if your ship/plane drifts in game you have the following options:
- loosen dry clutches until it returns to middle;
- add stronger springs to force a firm return;
- change to hard centering cams;
- add to your deadzone by 0.1 units until the return is firm.

[hon0]

Aren't we talking about the Gladiator MKII? If so only your last suggestion is applicable. I guess we could also remove some of the default grease which is high viscosity to provide some dampening. Or clear it* all and apply something less viscous.

[fallout9]

Yes we are, but Heman has a GunFighter MKIII base so my reply was addressed to him.
(I modified my post to represent it better.)

[heman86]

ok, thanks. its just off by very few numbers so its not a big problem.

[Nico87]

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.
- in VKBDevCfg click on the name of your device, then click on the 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 the twist is end to end. Then run the throttle back and forth. When done press the End Calibr. button.

Hi,

I just had the same issue with dead zones and calibration as the OP, so I went through this simple procedure.
Seems that the firmware is updated but none of the axes is working. They are totally unresponsive. I went through the procedure many times, no joy.
I must admit that I'm really confused. The documentation is not clear at all and a lot of stuff is called with the same name. BlackBox (black case), orange BlackBox. I don't understand.
What should I do?

EDIT: When the Bootloader finishes writing the firmware, it resets the device and as a last line of the log it writes Error Write Data: 0 (before it closes and it starts the VKB Device Config).

EDIT:

I managed to get back the axis. I had to play a little with another firmware. This is what I did.
My device is a Gladiator MK.II (non-pro). Simply updating the firmware using the non-pro version killed my axis.
So I tried to install the firmware for the pro version. Some axis started to work (X and Y, no Yaw).
Then, frustrated, I tried to get back to the non-pro firmware and magically it started working flawlessly and I'm now able to set the dead zones.
I don't know if this strange procedure is the right one. Maybe the ones that better know the matter have a deeper knowledge of the issue.

Thanks

[fallout9]

Hi Nico,
Good to hear that you got your joystick working. The only thing to have it properly running is to flash the correct firmware. In your case there's only 1 firmware that works: _Gladiator_v1_xx_x.vkb. You might be able to flash other firmware versions, but they won't work as they're designed for other products. Even if the firmware has the Gladiator in its file name, but it's followed by a 'SCG', 'MCG', 'Pro' etc, it won't work on your device. Also the firmware versions with Black Box in their name are for different products, the GunFighter bases.
As and advice, the Gladiator MKII is a very precise instrument and you don't have to increase the dead zone too much; I would say the default 0.5 is good for most of the flight sims on the market and the stick will re-center perfectly for that setup. If you;ll go over 1.0 deadzone you'll end up with a large hole without input around the center.
Have fun flying!

[Nico87]

Weel, I had to set 6, 4, and 2 in the Dz Lo field for axis X, Y, and Rot X respectively. I left 0.5 in the Dz Hi.
With these values, it seems to work properly. I don't know if those are usual values or not

[fallout9]

Nooo, that's way too high, let's fix this! Please post a screenshot with the red circled tabs active, like this:

[Nico87]

Thanks for your help fallout9.
This is my current setting at the moment.

Whit these settings, I actually have no dead zone. What I mean is that I get a positive response as soon as I move the joystick in any direction.
If I go lower, the values are sometimes not stable and it's hard to set a stable centering.

I made a short video of how much play the joystick has around its center. Maybe there's a loose bolt? I'm used to an old MS SideWinder Precision Pro 2 that was much worse than this.

[fallout9]

Your settings seems fine. But even with that play in the middle a deadzone of 1.5, max 2.0 would cover any micro movements in my opinion, if that's what you're after.
Here's my graphic (taken with https://vkbcontrollers.com/wp-content/u ... Tester.zip) with a deadzone of 1.0 on both X and Y axes: