VKB-SIM

This is a similar request to that submitted by MJJ Walsh yesterday - but I am even more of a noob .

I have been through the VKB Video library and searched high and low on google for two days but have not been able to find a "beginners guide" to Joysticks and how to approach setting them up.

I have been gaming for nearly 40 years but until now have only used entry level controllers - a few buttons, roll/pitch and yaw and maybe a hat with everything else on keyboard.

The Ultimate obviously has a lot more to offer, more button options, different modes, virtual controllers, keyboard mappings, Analogue vs Digital etc but I just don't know what many of these are or where to start - in many cases I don't even understand the vocabulary?

The videos on the VKB channel seem to focus on which buttons to press to achieve an objective but lack detail and explanation - probably all you need if you are an expert but not good for a beginner.

I need something that starts by explaining:

The different types of button available and what they are best suited for doing. For example:

Can I control Throttle using the Up/Down on a hat switch? Perhaps not a great idea but what is the best way to control Throttle on the Ultimate? - I need to do this until such time as the new Throttle Controller is released.
What does the Brake lever do, what is it used for? It may sound obvious, after all it says "Brake" on it, but I currently use toe brakes on a keyboard - so I am thinking how do I use left/Right/Both brakes with a single lever?
Analogue vs Digital buttons? (Hellllppp!!!!)
etc etc
The various options available (virtual controllers-# button limitations, keyboard mapping, Multi-use Buttons (as seen on the excellent MCGU Mapping Chard by Rtrski) etc):

What are these options for?
Why would I use them?
What are the advantages?

So, to clarify, I am not looking for technical instructions on how to set up the MCGU, although an example binding diagram for IL2 would be very useful , I just want to understand it capabilities, what it can be used for and how best to use it.

I know I am not the only person struggling with this, we have a lot of people in the Air Attack (IL2) community looking to upgrade to premium flight sticks, and it would be good to have a sticky on the forum with relevant information.

Hope someone can help

If you have not already, it would be good to read through the manual viewtopic.php?f=27&t=5559, which introduces each of the possible programming functions, and how to implement them in the configuration utility. Once you are familiar with the programming functions that are possible, you will begin to realize opportunities for where and how they can be applied to IL2.

For example to handle throttle, there is mention on page 35 that "Relative axes" could be useful for things like throttle, mixture or radiator control. The mini-stick on the top of the Ultimate is already configured for relative axes (with its mode switch toggle, by long-pressing the stick 'in' to activate its center-press button, page 106.) if you would like to try this approach. Otherwise, there is also a function called "Axes fixation" (page 82). This can allow an analogue axes to be set through the push of a button. One might consider pushing a button for 100% throttle, and pushing another button for 50% throttle. Better yet, the axes could be controlled by the ministick-- or even the pinky brake lever-- and 'set' when a button is pushed. This would allow for full analogue control of throttle, and when you find a throttle setting you want to remain on, just push a button to set that throttle point and release the lever. Now the lever would read 0 on its position, but the virtual axes would still be set to where it was when the button was pressed. And yes, this is a very complicated situation to setup, but what else is there to do while waiting for TECS?

Apologies if all the below seems really patronizing, but are you basically asking about the whole "philosophy" of control architectures? I think you are but if I'm wrong all this nattering is going to be annoying as heck...

Not sure if this helps, but think of any analog control as having a range, while a digital control has only "on" or "off". An analog ministick, main stick axis, brake lever, etc. will know where it is along the range of travel. Digital won't.

You can use a digital control to change an analog axis position, e.g. when "on" it's adding increments as long as the "on" is held. That's keyboard W-A-S-D movement. But the 'rate' of change is purely controlled by the repeat signal. Possibly some games might program in acceleration the longer the signal is received, much like your mouse's position changing can in Windows. Analog ranges of values can also have curves, alter how much deflection translates to how much 'change' you're desiring, or to what position "along the curve" is reported.

I don't know what control arrangement you've selected for your MCG-U, so will just talk default. Refer to the rightmost diagram here, it's old but accurate for the as-shipped config:

Anything with 'analog' in the name is truly an analog control, physically. The top center hat is an analog control, but (by default) configured in 'relative' mode so moving it to a position is providing a 'delta' to the X or Y (or both) values it outputs, and releasing leaves that final value reported. A light tap of center "zeros" axes back out. In alternate hat mode (long press to swap) the different positions are like digital button presses in a POV: up, up-left, left, left-down, down, down-right, right, right-up. But to the finger you won't "feel" it clicking discretely, so you may or may not like that for actual digital assignments. In the same way any analog axis can "become" a button but it might take the game a little while to recognize (e.g. you have to hit some threshold value or time of the value changing before it says "oh, he pressed it".

The bottom left is purely analog only, with a press. All other hats are up-down-left-right-center 5-ways. Brake axis is an analog range, as are main stick X and Y.

The flip-up trigger is a bit of a weird one. In electronic terms its purely analog with a range of values, I'm pretty sure. But the physical design of it (the way the detente works that you have to snap out of first to get it moving, and the way it locks in at the far end) make it feel kind of more digital, but with options for button assignments "along" the range between the two lock-in feeling points. By default I think it just has a button pressed when 'up' and nothing pressed when 'down but not squeezed, then another actual digital button that gets clicked if you do squeeze in the down position, but there are others (Safe, arm...) you can turn on in the software along the travelling-up range.

Now install if you haven't already and use VKB Joytest. Take a look at the sliders and how they react as you move the different axes. This both shows you their names, and their senstivities. When you look at VKBDevCfg for the first time, you'll be able to see that not all of them are using the same curve or multipliers. I believe by default the ministick (lower left) was on a 2x while the main axes were linear or something (don't hold me to that exactly, didn't re-check).

Anyway, now think thru your actual in-game functions you want assigned (mapped, bound) to some physical behavior. Things that are strictly "discrete" like a trigger, radio or radar on off, deploy / retract gear (assuming you don't want to emulate "cranking them down" somehow hah), push-to-talk on a microphone.... are better with digital physical feedback. Movements, aiming, etc. better analog. Something like a radio "squelch" control or volume range, analog. I don't play IL2 so have zero experience there, but hopefully you get the gist now. Just ...stupid as it sounds... "find your favorites" I guess. EXPECT it to take several tries to map many, many controls in a way that feels natural to you and makes sense. Think about grouping similar controls in the same hat. Think about things you need to do at the same time NOT both relying on the same finger (e.g. thumb) on different hats. Use mapping cheatsheets and pencil in as you go and erase and re-do if you find in the heat of the moment you're inclining to a different button, or that two functions you needed to toggle almost together were too far apart.

Here's an old cheatsheet I created for the MCG-Pro which matches the Ultimate (physically!) in default shipping config that you can print and write on. The tiny numbers will not match the actual "logical button numbers" for the Ultimate, but this is for writing in your mapped choices and feeling your way around, so you can ignore that or update them if you desire. The 2nd page shows a (much much outdated) example of how I mapped actual functions in Elite Dangerous. https://1drv.ms/p/s!AuHD2NL7qn3wtTOuQgD ... q?e=m6YfJa You can even see where I added some of the "TEMPO" long/short press options to buttons, mentioned next.

Only after you get pretty far along here should you start to look at what else the software can do (in my opinion). For example the "Tempo" option lets you stack two different outputs on the same digital button press, one long, one short. (So the "long" is only triggered after say holding for 300msec or something, so very slightly delayed. But for example if you wanted to fire off chaff and flares you could make one long, one short on the same button. OR - you could assign a macro to the same button that when physically just clicked triggers "logical button press N, then logical button press M". You might like where you've mapped something but want to change its sensitivity, for example if you chose to use the lower-left analog hat to "look around" the cockpit, because when you release it you automatically look just dead forward again, but you want to be able to turn your head faster, so you'd increase the curve or multiplier (either in game, or in the VKBDevcfg software which changes the way the ministick reports analog values for ANY game).

Was I offbase of what sorts of things you were asking, and totally wasting your time with the Wall Of Text(TM)?

How to master it all? Maybe you need to write something more concisely?

I get his confusion though, and think I understand his intent. It can be really daunting. There's so much you could do, either in game, in VKBDevCfg, in something external like Joystick Gremlin or whatever. What's the best approach, the best path?

In the end there's so many choices there really is no "best" maybe. There's alternative ways to get to the same end goal. All you can do is ...start experimenting. Getting off dead start must be like "writer's block" for an author, staring at that first page with a rough idea of what story they want to tell, but not exactly how to get there. I've noticed the latest Elite Dangerous Odyssey release recognizes mapping a keypress (or joystick button press) and a LONG keypress (or joystick press) as different mappings now, so no more need to program a "TEMPO" to generate another logical button (and since the game limits you to logical #32 right now max, that doubles your available count!). Things like that make a difference (since there's no real way to "long press" a TEMPO-generated logical button, and no way to long-press the logical assigned to the original short press if a TEMPO is also present, can't use both on the same physical button you already made into two logicals that way...)

All I can tell the OP is get ready for the experience of levelling up with the tools themselves becoming part of the gaming time sink. It has for me and I barely scratch the surface in the actual software tools (VKBDevCfg).

Thanks for the responses, especially Halz AND rtrski, most helpful.