Using VPC SharKa-50 Control Panel 3 as throttle

[franjo]

Currently I’m trying to have my flight sim set at my 8020 rig

 

im using a honeycomb bravo but obviously this thing is huge. I’m wondering if anyone is using this control panel as a throttle. The 4 axis on it would be perfect. 
 

I know I can configure the switches correctly in the virpil software for them to work in IL2

https://virpil-controls.eu/vpc-sharka-50-control-panel.html

Anyone have any thoughts or experiences with it?

 

thanks devs for such a dope game. 

[Hook_Echo]

That's what I have. It works really well. There's a switch for shifting between left and right engines which is helpful for twin engines. That needs some reprogramming to work right. It think I reprogrammed the other three position switches as well. The axis lever curves cannot be adjusted with the virpil software. I've spent hours to no avail. If you try to make a curve it will spit out random outputs. I use joystick gremlin and vjoy to set up the throttle curves for each plane in the game and that works really well. I would like there to be more controls of the lights. There's only I think four buttons that can be lit up differently when activated. So, my gripes are mainly with the software. As a piece of hardware it is what I wanted, and I think what you want as well.

I recently bought one of the vkb triple throttles, so I now have 7 levers total. The Virpil levers feel better and the dampening is better/more adjustable. The handles are also way better. I ended up modifying the VKB so I could use my extra Virpil handles with it. The VKB feels like a toy. This thing is legit. At the prices for each this is all to be expected. At some point I will get a CM3 Throttle to go with it, or hopefully the VKB TECS throttle if they ever actually release it. Until then, I'm content with the Sharka 50 panel.

[Monkeey]

On 9/26/2022 at 6:15 PM, Hook_Echo said:

That's what I have. It works really well. There's a switch for shifting between left and right engines which is helpful for twin engines. That needs some reprogramming to work right. It think I reprogrammed the other three position switches as well. The axis lever curves cannot be adjusted with the virpil software. I've spent hours to no avail. If you try to make a curve it will spit out random outputs. I use joystick gremlin and vjoy to set up the throttle curves for each plane in the game and that works really well.

Any chance you could share with us how you reprogrammed the switches and how you used joystick gremlin and vjoy for the curves? Thanks!

[Hook_Echo]

@Monkeey I'll start with the Virpil software. In the buttons menu... On the switches you want them set to toggle on. Every time you switch to that position it will press a button for you and hold it on.

 

For the 3 way switch that is labeled LH ENG and RH ENG, I have them set to toggle on which selects either the right or left engine. Then I created two virtual buttons. In the list of buttons, pick a blank line at the bottom of the list (I used 46 and 47), then set them like this...

 

Your switch now presses button 46 when you toggle the switch off (back to center). I have this set to the control for select both engines, so when you flip the switch to RH it selects the RH engine and then when you flip it back to the center position it selects both engines again. Set both of your virtual buttons to select both engines.

 

The color of the lights is set in the LED menu.

 

What the lighted buttons do is set in the buttons menu.

 

I have buttons 1 and 6 set to toggle. I have gear up and down buttons here. When I push either button the gear down light will get brighter or it could be a different color. Toggle isn't the best, but I couldn't find a better work around here. If I start on the ground I either hit the gear down before I start the mission, or hit it once the mission loads and it will light up.

 

Now press and it lights up brighter... in the next post

 

[Hook_Echo]

brighter...

 

I have my flaps lights set to ON. When pressing the button it lights up while the button is pressed. This is pretty easy, the button is set to the same button as the light.

 

I have the master arm switch, set to toggle as usual, but the master arm switch lights up my bomb button (B8 on the panel). The master arm switch opens the bomb bay or arms bomb fuses on fighters, and then the bomb button changes to orange. Pressing the bomb button releases the bombs...

 

See here for that last one, the second line, button 12 is the master arm switch. It triggers B05 On-board #05, that is the light setting. Clicking the B05 lets you set the color. B05 is determined from the LED menu, which aren't labeled well so you have to experiment over there to figure out which is which.

 

 

[Hook_Echo]

Ok now vjoy and joystick gremlin. I would recommend youtube for a tutorial on how to get them set up initially. The basic principle is vjoy is a virtual joystick. It is a joystick in windows that you can map any functions you want to. This is what the game recognizes as a joystick. Joystick Gremlin is what you use to tell vjoy what to read and output. You can set macros, joy to virtual joy, keys to joy, or joy to mouse, tons of options.

 

To map new curves you select the tab for the device you want to change, Sharka 50 in my example. Select the axis you want to change the curve on, then the remap drop down to response curve, and click add.

 

Change cubic spline to cubic bezier spline and move the little squares around to adjust the curve. This takes experimenting to get right.

 

Then below the chart there select remap, add, and a new line shows up. This is where you select vJoy Device 1 and set the axis to the vjoy axis you want to use. What this is doing is reading the inputs from your lever or joy axis, adding the curve properties and then outputting it via the vjoy device.

 

In the game options you'll have to remap the axes so they no longer use the physical joystick outputs, but instead read the outputs from vjoy. This part sucks because both will be sending a signal at the same time. The game doesn't know what to choose, so you need to turn on input repeater in the tools menu of gremlin. What this does is when you move the lever, it will repeatedly output vjoy. You move the lever first, then select in the game controls the mapping you want and it will pick up the virtual movement. If you can't get the controls to take in the options menu remap a button or keyboard press to move a virtual axis and that works better. Don't forget to turn off repeater after you get the controls mapped. There is a game controller icon in gremlin, when it is green it outputs your stuff. If you make a change to you curves or anything you need to click the controller icon off and back on to get it to read your changes. I make and save a profile for the planes I fly most. If you have questions ask, I'll try to help. Youtube is your friend for learning gremlin. It seems really complicated until you get the hang of it and experiment.

 

Also, input viewer in the tools menu is nice to see what your buttons and axes are and if your setup is working converting to vjoy. Good luck

 

 

[Monkeey]

@Hook_Echo, thank you SO much. It's very clear and super helpful, I deeply appreciate the time and effort put into this tutorial!

[Centauro_12]

Greetings,

 

I am new to Sturmovik and have a Virpil throttle box (CM2).  I am struggling with setting up the axes for throttle, RPM, mixture, water / oil radiator.  The software does not seem to recognize any of the axes when I try the sequence to start the engine in the LaGG-3 aircraft.  If I set up one of the 2 main throttles on the box as 1 axis for the aircraft throttle, both the throttle lever and the RPM lever move in the game and are not independent, why?  Assigning the other throttle on the CM2 box as axis 2 for the RPM, for example, still does not make the two levers in the game independent (they need to be independent levers).  Setting up the water or oil radiator lever as an additional axis does nothing to the game... that lever in the game will not even move.  This is where I am stuck, probably doing something wrong or perhaps not understanding how much latitude the game offers during the start-up sequence.  But then I have the same issues during flight if I want to control the three axes independently.  I hope this makes sense.  I love the game and I am sure there's something I need to change in the Virpil throttle box configuration but do not know what, or how?