[RESOLVED] Gunfighter Mk.III - MCG Pro EN /w twist - Button '#12' no longer working after a mere 3 month of use

[Althar93]

Hello all,

I bought a the Gunfighter Mk.III - MCG Pro EN /w twist a few months ago (March to be exact, so I have only had the stick for 3 months) and one of my buttons has spontaneously stopped working, specifically the thumb/trimmer 4-position switch but only for the aft-position; I believe this button is #12, all other directions including the press on that switch work just fine.

I am pretty gentle on the stick & it was working fine earlier today and has now stopped responding this evening, in game but also in the VKB joytester and dev config application which leads me to believe this is a hardware failure. The button action itself still feels the same & I still get the 'click' when moving the switch aft, it just doesn't get picked up. I've checked every other switch/button/axis and everything else works fine, just this one button #12, which makes it even more frustrating.

Is this likely to be something I can attempt to fix myself by opening the stick and tweaking a wire / replacing a component or is this likely to require a replacement of the stick itself?

Thanks in advance,

[fallout9]

Press the Default button and recalibrate. What's the name of that specific hat switch btw?

[Althar93]

I have created a support ticket for VKB to see but in the meantime, if anyone has had the same (or similar issue) and can let me know what the outcome of this was, I would be greatful.

Thanks!

[Althar93]

Press the Default button and recalibrate. What's the name of that specific hat switch btw?

The hat switch is the thumb 4-way hat which I believe maps to buttons #9-#13 : https://flightsimcontrols.com/wp-conten ... ions-3.jpg (in the screenshot it is the 4-way hat that you would press with your thumb, next to the 'RESET' label).

In my case, the forwards, left, right & press actions work & are correctly registered by the VKB joytester software, config software & in-game ; the aft-button (i.e. #12) is not however,

[Althar93]

I have pressed the 'Default button' and recalibrated as advised but button #12 is still not being picked up, everything else is working fine.

[fallout9]

Please post a screenshot with Profile/Buttons/Logical layer.

[Althar93]

As requested, here is a screenshot of my Profile/Buttons/Logical Layer page : https://pasteboard.co/K7B6pf1G.png

[Althar93]

I had another go in the VKB device config & can confirm there is something wrong with the 4-way thumb hat. If I very lightly nudge it towards the FWD/LEFT position, both Buttons #10 & #13 are detected as pressed. If I nudge the 4-way hat around very gently (feather touch, with the weight of my thumb alone) I can occasionally (albeit rarely) get #12 to register, although ONLY at the same time as #13. In effect, I can get #12 to fire by nudging/activating the switch in the BACK/LEFT position (which you cannot normally do with the plastic thumb tip, but can do once removed.

With normal clean presses on the switch I can get #9, #10, #11 & #13 to fire normally but there does appear to be a fault with #12 registering ; whether this is something as simple as pushing the cable back in for the PCB I do not know. I have not attempted to open up the grip as I am unaware if this will void the warranty ; what I can say is that the switch action feels clean in all four directions + press, just that it doesn't seem to be registering separate inputs correctly.

[fallout9]

There's no issue with opening the grip, please go ahead and investigate by all means.

[Althar93]

Thanks for the thumbs up, I will open the grip up this evening & will report back once I've had a look.

Judging by the pictures I found online of the internals, it does look like the 4-way thumb hat is a separate unit that is fairly to remove and swap out, provided with the replacement part.

[fallout9]

That's right, that specific HAT switch is an independent part easy to replace if necessary. But it would be worth it to open up the grip and check on it because it's most probably an imperfect contact; those switches are not failing very often.

Also you're using an older version of the native software, please update to latest stable.

[Althar93]

I must say I am amazed at how tidy the internals are & getting this thing apart and back together must have taken 10 minutes tops, no faffing about trying to line things up or worrying I was about to break anything. What I ended up doing was unpluging & plugging the cable back in & then loosening the white plastic bracket that holds the 4-way thumb hat, nudging the part around slightly & centering the white arrow-shaped notch back onto the plastic before putting the white bracket back & tightening it.

I've just put the grip back & run a battery of tests in the VKB Device Config application & all switches now work fine, the strange overlap I was getting with #10 & #13 no longer happen & button #12 is now consistently registered .

Thanks a lot for the help !

[fallout9]

That is great news, congrats on fixing it and thank you for updating the thread!