Is (thumbstick) axis shaping possible with Cougar TQS + TUSBA R2 + AL?
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I’ve recently started learning the Maverick training mission, and perhaps the hardest part - even in the CAVOK version, with trees turned off - is using the thumbstick on my Cougar TQS to designate the ZSUs and the bridge pylons on the TGP and/or the Maverick WPN page. My TGP cursor is a little more responsive than I’d like it to be. When boresighting on the ship out in the East Sea, it’s easier, because the ship is farther away. But closer in, when near weapon release, the cursor is more responsive than I’d like it to be. I wish I could do some “axis shaping”, so that it has a non-linear response, with the cursor moving more slowly if the thumbstick is near center, and moving more quickly if the thumbstick is farther from center.
I should hasten to add that this isn’t any kind of complaint about the training mission. As is pointed out in the BMS-Training manual, there’s no reason why a training mission should be easy. And I’m sure that in real life, perhaps the hardest thing for a Viper driver is to “go Zen” during those few seconds when one can target the ZSUs, and use the tiny little muscles in their left thumb to get that TGP cursor or Mav cursor smoothly onto the target. This is just plain hard, and it will probably take a lot of practice. Nothing unfair about that.
But I still keep thinking about the thumbstick’s response. Now, I’m quite happy with my setup so far. I was able to put my Cougar SSC in the closet, and use the TUSBA to interface the throttle directly to the computer with USB. (I use a Warthog stick.) I get 12-bit resolution on the TQS, which is definitely a benefit. The TUSBA software makes it easy to set up and adjust deadzones for my TQS’s thumbstick, and that prevents cursor drift. That alone is well worth the price of admission. And if I can’t “axis shape”, it’s not the end of the world.
I also love the Alternative Launcher. It finally gave me shifted functions, and that’s been great.
Does anyone know if there’s a way to leverage some additional piece of software, or is this not possible until/unless the TUSBA software someday implements axis shaping? For example, is it worth digging into the Cougar Calibration Program, or Foxy, or T.A.R.G.E.T., or does the use of the TUSBA software preclude the use of any of those sorts of things?
Not a complaint or a “must-have”, just curious. For now, I’m trying to train my left thumb and my mind to move that thumbstick in the coolest, calmest way possible. Sometimes I freeze the sim when the Shilkas come into view on the TGP, and practice the TGP / AGM65 HOTAS functions, and practice locking up and handing off targets. Other times, I try to do it all in real-time. It’s all fun, either way!
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Look at post 5 here https://www.benchmarksims.org/forum/showthread.php?37895-Help-Slew-control-on-the-throttle&highlight=Cursor+speed add it to your cfg file. Helped my TGP immensely… I’m using 60/40 expo v saturation
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If you use the TUSBA you can forget T.A.R.G.E.T, Foxy, and/or the CCP completely. All of the brains of the Cougar are on the PCB inside the stick, and the TUSBA replaces that and eliminates the stick and it’s PCB. The PCB in the throttle is just a dumb switch interface board, and that’s what makes it so easy to augment/modify.
You may be able to do some tweeking by what I call “the dance” using the Windows Control Panel and alternating between that and the TUSBA software, but I only use that for a throttle that has a really wonky Cursor micro-stick. The TUSBA really is the easiest way to be able to use your TQS with a Warthog stick - I’ve done this three ways on the way to getting one - 1) use a full up Cougar and just park the stick on the floor; 2) convert a TQS using a Bodner board (works well and also makes the TQS Mac/PC compatible, but is the most difficult to do); 3) get a TUSBA.
I only did the first two because the TUSBA hadn’t been invented when I did them.
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Thanks heaps, Stevie and Quasi-Stellar, those are all good pieces of info.
I’m glad I got the TUSBA, I agree that it’s the easiest way to use a Cougar TQS with a Warthog stick. I am thankful that my microstick still works, too. I know it probably won’t work forever, but for now it only requires a small deadzone in the TUSBA’s RS_HID_DEV program.
Quasi-Stellar: Thank you so much for that suggestion! :bowd: I put those lines in my .cfg file, and I can tell the difference already! That really does seem to accomplish some “axis shaping”! :woohoo:
If I just remember not to deflect the microstick very much, the TGP cursor moves nice and slowly. It looks like it’ll be considerably easier to smoothly place the cursor onto a target before locking it up.
Now there’s better “mood training feedback” If I get too excited :flame: , it moves too fast. Get calmer, and it moves the way I want :biggrin1: Cool!
… Also, I have to admit that after I wrote the first post in this thread, I did some more RTFM’ing in the -34, and came to a better understanding of the modes for slewing the TGP cursor and locking targets - Slave, Point Track, and Area Track. I was always slewing the SPI in Slave, I now realize. Using TMS-Right or hold-TMS-Up to put it in Area Track, and then a TMS-UP to get a Point Track, also seems to help.
Thanks heaps!
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Even so I’m using another HOTAS I have used Cursor X Y Saturation and Exponentional curve setting from the day it was introduced with U1. In combination with Area Track especially TGP in 4.0x narrow or TV mode it was a live changer
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