Anyone gone from gamepad to a HOTAS ?

ShiWarrior

ShiWarrior

ShiWarrior

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Much of a difference ?


Just wondering if its much difference going to a cheap HOTAS for space games


Not interested in flight simulator, I'm playing Elite in VR , 3 hours straight every evening at the moment, got chatting to a fuel rat who asked me if I had a HOTAS, which he also uses.

Cheers
 
Actually for Newtonian flight model 6 degrees of freedom space sims HOSAS is overall better with more analog control axis than HOTAS.
 
For ED, I went to HOTAS pretty much straight away which made a huge difference, I felt. I can't remember if I had a gamepad on my PC at the time or if I just started out in ED with the keyboard and mouse controls, though.

A while later (after not playing for a bit, then getting back into it) I upgraded to dual VKB Gunfighter HOSAS which again I felt made a difference to being able to control the ships better. Then with Odyssey, I had to add the keyboard and mouse back in for the on-foot mode.

I've never played in VR, but I would imagine that a gamepad simply doesn't have enough buttons - there's a huge number of controls with ED. A HOTAS or HOSAS would possibly enable you to be able to control everything without taking your hands off the controller(s).

As @EsaT posted, a HOSAS is a more natural way to play space games, and ED is great using two sticks as it does have the full 6 directional controls.

Lots of people do play it with HOTAS, though. I suppose it might depend on whether you think you might want to play flight sims in the future too.

I would say, if you go for either HOTAS or HOSAS you make sure the stick(s) have a twist axis - that makes a big difference for the basic directional controls.
 
ShiWarrior said:
if i was to just get a hotas for example, Thrustmaster the best one(s) to get ?
Click to expand...
Thrustmaster or one of the custom flight-sim setups are probably "the best"... but only because they're the most expensive and often designed for demanding flight sims.
I have used the TM Warthog and would liken it to driving a car without power steering. They do a cheaper T16,000M HOTAS, with the option for pedals as well, which is probably the absolute best of the low ends, these days. This is likely your best bet if you just want to test the water with something reasonably good.

It's also worth noting that many (most?) HOTASes are copied from real life flight controls, which are designed to sit in cockpit positions, rather than resting on a computer desktop. This may result in some awkwardness.
However, they're usually better than the cheaper standalone joysticks.

I went for a mid-range set-up, purely for playing Elite, but it was so good I have since ended up with a few other games that also use it.
 
ShiWarrior said:
if i was to just get a hotas for example, Thrustmaster the best one(s) to get ?
Click to expand...
Depends on budget.

For small budget T16000 is definitely top choise at least for left hand:
Because of it's button design being completely symmetrical for use in either left or right hand, it has little direct buttons in stick itself.
So might want something more featured for right hand.
Though if budget is limited, T16000 is the only more affordable one with contactless magnetic sensors (at least for X+Y) instead of "WW1 era" potentiometers.

Scarcity of controls has lead to modding of T16000:


In higher up price class old brands have been stomped over by Virpil and VKB, who offer highly featured sticks for both hands.
Already Thrustmaster copying real world plane controllers limits features below Virpil/VKB, who offers things like analog mini-sticks and possible mousewheel rotary encoders.
 
looking around, if i was to go ahead, id most likely buy the T16000 with throttle
but there is always the option of buying the T16000 on its own and adding either the throttle or another T16000 at a later date as they are the same price separately

£140 for the stick and throttle isnt too bad
 
I'm fond of my Thrustmaster. It served my purpose well and was not overly expensive. I have not found the need to use it for a while and it gathers dust but I dip in and out of gaming. Right now, the last game I played was Crysis remastered. Not used the stick since playing Star Wars Squadrons in VR. It was weird because I really was wowed by that game at first then just stopped playing. I might dust it off soon.
 
other option

LOGITECH G PRO FLIGHT X-56 RHINO H.O.T.A.S. ADVANCED FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM


little bit more in £ but the Warthog is out of reach
 
The T-Flight Hotas X or One version is nice, have a look at reviews. Despite it being an obviously lower grade product I much preferred it to the T.16000, the ergonomics of the T-Flight are way better in my opinion. For ED the T-Flight is all you need, you use the buttons on the throttle as shift buttons to multiply your button count. The throttle also has a center indent which is really helpful for ED as you can bang it to 0 really quick and easy.
 
I manage with just a joystick and keyboard in ED, mainly because I can't bare to part with my MS FF2. The keyboard is used in WASD mode for throttle control, with W/S speed up/down, and A/D for 50%/25% throttle, and shift+W 75% throttle. Directional thrusters are on the joystick hat. I find I have enough throttle control with this and am able to use the keyboard to map the myriad other functions you need. I use a normal Xbox controller for SRV. If you are using VR then this is probably not going to work, but thought I'd just add what I do anyway.
 
A couple of other tips for you, @ShiWarrior , if/when you decide to switch to a HOTAS.

If you choose to customise the bindings, then make sure you back them up. Details here:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threa...-free-backed-up-binds-look-no-further.554451/

Key thing to keep in mind with ED's key bindings is if you forget to plug in the same device(s) before starting the game, it can "lose" the custom bindings. If you immediately quit and plug in the devices, the custom bindings will be restored when you restart.

The other one is this site

https://edrefcard.info/

Creates a nice custom reference picture from a bindings file to help you remember where you set everything. Not a lot of use while in VR, but might be helpful anyway.
 
HOTAS for sure.
For vaguely sensible money, the VKB NXT, or even cheaper (but not as good) is the older version as made by the Chinese as copies, which are available for around £75.

IMO the current “best” consumer level HOTAS are the Virpil setups.
 
Actually, I've just seen that CH Products kit is still for sale at various outlets, although the prices are going ever upward these days.
Many will of course decry the older potentiometer based kit, but CH stuff is reknowned for being well built, long lasting and easily repaired or modded by anyone with just the most basic of electronic/soldering skills.
 
VersionMonkey said:
A couple of other tips for you, @ShiWarrior , if/when you decide to switch to a HOTAS.

If you choose to customise the bindings, then make sure you back them up. Details here:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threa...-free-backed-up-binds-look-no-further.554451/

Key thing to keep in mind with ED's key bindings is if you forget to plug in the same device(s) before starting the game, it can "lose" the custom bindings. If you immediately quit and plug in the devices, the custom bindings will be restored when you restart.

The other one is this site

https://edrefcard.info/

Creates a nice custom reference picture from a bindings file to help you remember where you set everything. Not a lot of use while in VR, but might be helpful anyway.
Click to expand...

Thanks

I'll add it to my Bookmarks


If I understand it correctly, the warthog does not have a z axis ? What exactly is it on a joystick ? I've googled it, but it's not in plain English, plenty of x Box controllers but not joysticks

Do you need it/want it ?
 
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