P38 Trimming problems?

[NotOnlyforDCS]

Hi,

 

Im pretty new (got Battle of Stalingrad, Battle of Bodenplatte, and the P39 addon all yesterday) and did a few missions of the scritped campaign in the p38 just to get familiar with the airframe and with the game in general. (Coming from DCS World)

 

However no matter what I try I can't bind my joystick hat buttons to elevator trim. It simply doesnt work...I mean I bind them in the settings correctly, but it doesn't affect the plane in the game. 

My joystick is the MSFFB2. 

BInding elevator trim to an axis works perfectly. 

 

Anyone else have problems with trimming this aircraft? (I've only tried the P38, maybe it's a general problem?)

Thanks in advance for any help. 

[norsetto]

2 hours ago, NotOnlyforDCS said:

Hi,

 

Im pretty new (got Battle of Stalingrad, Battle of Bodenplatte, and the P39 addon all yesterday) and did a few missions of the scritped campaign in the p38 just to get familiar with the airframe and with the game in general. (Coming from DCS World)

 

However no matter what I try I can't bind my joystick hat buttons to elevator trim. It simply doesnt work...I mean I bind them in the settings correctly, but it doesn't affect the plane in the game. 

My joystick is the MSFFB2. 

BInding elevator trim to an axis works perfectly. 

 

Anyone else have problems with trimming this aircraft? (I've only tried the P38, maybe it's a general problem?)

Thanks in advance for any help. 

For some strange reason, I think you have to bind the button for trim also on the elevator trim axis. I mean, in my case I have:

 

Elevator trim axis                 joy2_pov0_0/joy2_pov0_180

Elevator trim switch: up      joy2_pov0_180

Elevator trim switch: down joy2_pov0_0

 

At least, this is what works for me...

[NotOnlyforDCS]

Ok, will give it a go and see if it works. Thanks!

[RedKestrel]

@norsetto has the right setup, use that and you are good to go. The reason you have to do this is the changes to trim the game did a while back to let people bind trim to an axis instead of just buttons.

The way trim works now is that there is an elevator trim axis, and an elevator trim button. Planes that only had buttons IRL to adjust trim need to have buttons assigned to trim in the sim. Planes that had an axis (like a dial or something) can have that trim control assigned to an axis on your controls OR an up/down button.

Most of us only have buttons for trimming, not many people have the extra axis. So for trim, map one button for trim up, one button for trim down, and THEN map the same buttons to the trim axis. Then either test it out by checking the tech chat in-game or 

 

Some German planes (109s all have it, I think) have stabilizer adjustment where the entire tail moves instead of a trimmer - so just assign your elevator trim controls also to the stabilizer adjustment if you are flying those planes.

You will have duplicate controls but once setup they will all do the same thing and the control set up will be 'plane agnostic'. 

[NotOnlyforDCS]

Thats very helpful thank you RedKestrel.

29 minutes ago, RedKestrel said:

@norsetto has the right setup, use that and you are good to go. The reason you have to do this is the changes to trim the game did a while back to let people bind trim to an axis instead of just buttons.

The way trim works now is that there is an elevator trim axis, and an elevator trim button. Planes that only had buttons IRL to adjust trim need to have buttons assigned to trim in the sim. Planes that had an axis (like a dial or something) can have that trim control assigned to an axis on your controls OR an up/down button.

Most of us only have buttons for trimming, not many people have the extra axis. So for trim, map one button for trim up, one button for trim down, and THEN map the same buttons to the trim axis. Then either test it out by checking the tech chat in-game or 

 

Some German planes (109s all have it, I think) have stabilizer adjustment where the entire tail moves instead of a trimmer - so just assign your elevator trim controls also to the stabilizer adjustment if you are flying those planes.

You will have duplicate controls but once setup they will all do the same thing and the control set up will be 'plane agnostic'. 

 

As an aside since I've got you here Im using a Warthog Throttle Quadrant, and engine management is a big part of the sim at least with "realistic" settings. What should I bind my axes to? 

I think I got 4 axes on the quadrant. So my idea is:

1) Throttle

2) RPM

3) ?

4) ?

 

Got two free axes, what's the best thing to use them for?

[RedKestrel]

3 minutes ago, NotOnlyforDCS said:

Thats very helpful thank you RedKestrel.

 

As an aside since I've got you here Im using a Warthog Throttle Quadrant, and engine management is a big part of the sim at least with "realistic" settings. What should I bind my axes to? 

I think I got 4 axes on the quadrant. So my idea is:

1) Throttle

2) RPM

3) ?

4) ?

 

Got two free axes, what's the best thing to use them for?

My recommendation: 4 Axes setup is Throttle, RPM, Mixture, and (if you are flying the P-47) Turbocharger. If you aren't flying the P-47, you end up with an axis that does nothing, unfortunately. This is how I have my axes set up. Inlet/Outlet cowls set to a hat switch. Water Radiator and Oil Radiator also on a hat switch. Water radiator can be set to the same button as one of the cowl flaps keybinds since radial engines planes with cowl flaps don't have water radiators. 

If you aren't flying the P-47, you end up with an axis that does nothing. You can also link the turbo to the throttle in-game and fly without adjusting the turbo at all, except at high alts where you overspeed it - then you could just unlink and use a button to adjust. Most combat in the GB series takes place at 15000 feet or lower so you're unlikely to get to a point where you overspeed the turbocharger, so an axis might be overkill. I fly the P-47 a lot though, so my controls are basically optimized for that plane. 

 

Alternatively, you could bind the two free axes to water radiator and oil radiator - really useful on the birds that have fully manual oil and water rads like the yaks and the P-39, and with tech chat off no way to tell what they're set to. And then just have mixture on a hat switch. 

I mean ideally one would have like 10 axes to work with. And a moving cockipit. And wings. And a canopy. And a tail.
I mean, ideally I would just own a P-47.

[=FEW=fernando11]

35 minutes ago, NotOnlyforDCS said:

Thats very helpful thank you RedKestrel.

 

As an aside since I've got you here Im using a Warthog Throttle Quadrant, and engine management is a big part of the sim at least with "realistic" settings. What should I bind my axes to? 

I think I got 4 axes on the quadrant. So my idea is:

1) Throttle

2) RPM

3) ?

4) ?

 

Got two free axes, what's the best thing to use them for?

 I would set 3 and 4 to water and oil rads.

You can also dupilcate water and inlet cowl shutters in the same axis. I'm prety sure there is no plane with both.

 

Even so, be aware that some planes have oil or water on "buttons" instead of axis. Like the 110 and Spitfire, where you can only open them on steps, and  not gradualy.

Edited August 21, 2020 by =FEW=fernando11

[NotOnlyforDCS]

Ok, Im flying the P38 for now. The P47 is definitely on my next of the allies TO DO list once I get to grips with the p39, and of the german planes Im probably gonna go with the 109 variants first. 

 

Is mixture really that important? I mean you set it for start up, take-off and standard flight? Do you fiddle with it during flight or maneuvering? 

Edited August 21, 2020 by NotOnlyforDCS

[cardboard_killer]

52 minutes ago, NotOnlyforDCS said:

Is mixture really that important? I mean you set it for start up, take-off and standard flight? Do you fiddle with it during flight or maneuvering? 

 

Depends on the plane. If you fly Yaks for example, you have full mixture control. Setting the mixture too high leads to a strong easy to spot vap trail.  However, it doesn't do much for performance to have it too high, while too low is very bad for performance. Most of the allied and axis planes have auto-rich settings, so you won't need to worry much at all about mixture except if you on a long flight and need to minimize fuel consumption.