Combine Warthog stick and Cougar throttle
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I’m sorry I was off-topic.
Edit: Actually, I think I should elaborate a bit.
First, if I wasted your time (or anyone else’s) with my post, I really am sorry. To do something like that wasn’t my intention.
I think this thread has shown that there are at least two ways to use a Cougar throttle and a Warthog stick. My post, along with my blog entries about how I’ve done it, are an attempt to say, in effect: “If anyone as clueless as me can get a [Cougar throttle + Warthog stick] combination working, then I think that proves it’s possible.”
To summarize that method briefly: Get a used Cougar throttle and stick. Plug the stick into a USB port on your computer. The throttle plugs into the base of the stick. Leave the stick on the floor, and put the throttle on your desk or in a simpit. Also get a Warthog stick (without throttle). Plug that into another USB port on your computer. Use the Cougar Control Panel program (CCP) as shown in my blog entries. Now you have a Cougar throttle working along with a Warthog stick. Also, using only the “Setup” menu in BMS, and with no need for additional programs like Foxy or Target, you can get essentially all of the hats and switches on your throttle and stick to do what they do in the real F-16.
A brief digression, but I really do have a point here, and am not trying to go off-topic: I should probably elaborate on what I meant by “clueless” in a previous paragraph. I meant simply that I don’t have any background in computer programming or electronics. There are a lot of modern hobbies where it would be really helpful to have a background in things like electrical engineering and/or computer science. One of my other hobbies is like that - astrophotography. Having an “EECS” degree would be really helpful there, but I’ve blundered along without one and gotten a few pictures of deep-sky objects regardless.
Flight sim strikes me as another such hobby, especially when it comes to the peripherals like throttles and joysticks. I am “clueless” in that I find things like keyfiles, profiles, key bindings, Target, and such things confusing and intimidating. However - and this is part of what I was trying to communicate in my previous post - even someone who gets confused as easily as I do can still use a Cougar throttle and a Warthog stick.
The reason I talked about “bit depth” is because I was trying to add to what other people had pointed out - namely, that you can remove the Cougar stick from your setup completely, if you use a kind of adapter called a TUSBA, sold by a guy in Spain. I bought one, and I think it probably works fine, but I haven’t been able to figure out the software to get it work yet. (There’s that confusion and intimidation in the face of hardware and software again.) Although all of that stuff about powers of two, and bit depth may have seemed irrelevant - and I can see why it would - I was attempting to explain WHY a person would want to use a TUSBA.
Just to pause and step back for a second here… The crude method for using a full Cougar HOTAS and a Warthog stick, which I described above, does work. But the TUSBA method is a little more elegant, because it eliminates the need for a Cougar stick.
And - getting back to the point of my bit-depth story - there is probably a good reason why people use the TUSBA instead of a Cougar stick. To the best of my knowledge, it will give you a finer, more precise degree of control over the throttle in the sim.
I wanted to try and explain how the TUSBA does this. I thought I knew, and I decided to give a try at an explanation. If I’m wrong, people will correct me, and we’ll all learn more about how these systems work. If I’m right, then you (and others) will know why a TUSBA is a better way to use a [Cougar + Warthog combination] than the way I currently do it.
I’ve very sorry if I seemed to be going off on an irrelevant tangent. I just wanted to try and explain the reason why the TUSBA method is probably better than the “crude” method, even though I haven’t gotten the TUSBA method to work yet. I didn’t mean to give the appearance of going off on an irrelevant tangent, I just wanted to try and use an analogy to explain the point.
I hope you do get a Cougar throttle and Warthog stick to work together. I managed to, and it has been a lot of fun for me. I am taking forever to learn the sim, I mostly just practice ramp starts and landings, and do dogfights against the AI, but it’s the most fun I’ve ever had with a computer I think having “F-16 realistic” controls adds to the enjoyment, at least for me, and I hope you get the same enjoyment.
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Your answer is quite clear now, thx Mylonite470.
In short, 2 solutions:
1. Quick and dirty, plug in both sticks + Cougar throttle, use BMS Setup to program buttons/hats. I believe you use Cougar stick as a Tusba here
2. Apply a Tusba adaptor, but the software is complex. Btw … ‘the guy in Spain’ is a company ;-).I preferably go for option 2. And with the support of RealSimulator or this Forum, it must be possible to get the Tusba software to work.
My only question left: are flight-ready profiles for this combi available on this Forum?? Like Gastone’s WH profile.
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@Vordy87th:
Mylonite470, Is it possible to combine a Warthog stick and a Cougar throttle?? I have no idea how your comments can help to answer this question.
I pulled my TUSBA out and gave it a go. Everything works fine, Realsim set it up so you don’t lose any functionality. You don’t need any third party software. That being said you do have to install the latest firmware for the TUSBA, which isn’t to tricky.
1. Just download the RS tools software from their website and install it. http://realsimulator.com/html/downloads.html
2. Make sure the TUSBA is unplugged.
3. next run the DCC V1.05 software, this software installs the firmware.
3. Click on the TUSBA tab, and click the load button on the top. By default this should point to location of the firmware. If it does not, go to Users->Your Name->AppData->Roaming->Realsimulator Data->TUSBA.
4. select the .tusba file and hit open
5. Now plug in the TUSBA the install will now say device detected and install the firmware.
6. Now launch the RS HID tool.
The HID tool is where you calibrate the throttle. It can be a little confusing. The easiest way to get it set up is to click on the button on the left of the picture with the red and white border that says Pairing TUSBA and Throttle. This button will calibrate the device. You can also set deadzones for the radar cursor or, and calibrate the various knobs individually if you want too. Just click on the buttons with the orange and yellow stripes. There’s even more you can do there, but I suggest reading the manual.7. Now you need to setup BMS, I’ve made a profile and Devicesorting.txt. You will have to edit the device sorting and replace the CH pedals with your pedals, if you’re running something else.
The profile and devicesorting.txt go in the BMS->Users->Config
Download the profile here
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/o7gcj7o6sz4wly9/AAAQWjtPsz6xaM5GyeqmfoL0a?dl=08. Load the Profile in game in the settings menu and go into the advanced tab and set up all the axis.
Just a word to the wise, this profile uses the same shifting scheme as Morphine’s. So things like change waypoints up and down work with DMS up + pinky buttons still. Just something to look out for.
It should work if you follow these steps. The only issue I ran into was related to windows 10. I plugged the TUSBA in before I installed the firmware, and windows wouldn’t let the updater or the hid program properly configure the device, so I had to uninstall device through the devices and printers control panel. Win 10 security is kind of messed up because it won’t let all apps re-write registry entries. This is part of the reason why TARGET can be finicky, Windows is using old reg entries to configure the joystick.
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Many thx Gastone, very helpfull !!