Replacing Joystick

[Cmdr River Tam]

I have been using a combination of a CH Throttle and Thrustmaster T.1600M, which are both set up in my custom 3.0 binds file. Recently, the T.1600M has begun to malfunction, and I purchased a VKB Sim Gladiator NXT R joystick to replace it.

I was hoping to remap just the joystick portion of my controls to this new stick, however when it's plugged in (and it is working, I have tested it), the control options in Elite no longer have Custom in the preset dropdown. When I unplug the Gladiator and plug the Thrustmaster back in, the Custom option becomes available.

I'm really hoping there's a way to fix this without having to remap everything for both the throttle and joystick. I suspect the bindings file is looking for the Thrustmaster and since it is not plugged in, cannot load the custom bindings. I don't see the Gladiator in the list of joystick/controllers in the customizer, is it not a supported device? It would be great if I could just edit the xml file and substitute the T600M with the Gladiator, but not sure what I would call the Gladiator in the xml tags.

Is there any workaround other than having to remap everything?

Thanks for your help with this,

Tom Tucker

[Gangrel]

Not all 3rd party devices will have a specific control scheme assigned for them. What you will be seeing in the dropdown list are the devices (if named) or generic devices.

You are correct in that Elite Dangerous only shows control schemes for devices that are plugged in, and they ALL have to be plugged in (especially for multi device control schemes), so if you had a control scheme that was X56 (throttle and stick), keyboard and mouse and Gamepad, then *ALL* of those have to be plugged in and turned on for the game to show the control scheme

(Which makes sense when you think about it... because otherwise you *could* be in a situation where for whatever reason, you cannot do anything because your main device is not plugged in).

On top of that, it will only let you have one "custom" control scheme. By this, I mean the name "custom" as a control scheme, as this is the "generic" name given to any *stock control scheme* that you then make changes to.

ie: You start off with an X56 control scheme, you make changes. ED changes this now to "Custom".

You then swap joysticks (at a later date), and instead use a T16000 as the HOTAS, selecting the device from the dropdown.

You then make changes to this "Stock control scheme". Elite *will write over* your existing Custom control scheme with the *NEW* device mappings (as it would be).

Now, you can back up existing "custom" control schemes and rename them (this requires some file editing for the renaming).

*PERSONALLY* I would not just "quickly edit" the .binds file, trying to swap naming, because (more than likely) there will be some button mapping differences (ie what is button 2 on a HOTAS stick, *COULD* be button 8 on another HOTAS.

Yes, it can take longer to get a new custom control scheme set up BUT there is a bit of a faster method:

1. Select the main control schemes you want to use in game (ie x52, xbox etc etc). Horizons is a single control scheme, Odyssey is 4 sections
2. Make an edit to each one so the top box now says 'custom' for all of them. Customise as necessary (or all 4 sections in Odyssey) as you see fit as long as you've made a change in each one. This merges all your choices. Close the game.
3. Go to the keybind creator in the singularity Odyssey profile.
4. Select the handy new 'custom' option bottom right then click create
5. Answer the next question with a yes, and it will automatically select ALL 4 sections and out your shiny new HCS Custom file in all 4. (check manually if you want)
6. Fire up the game.
The way it is implemented, if you have different files for each section, it confuses the keybind reader as unfortunately, all files contain ALL binds, not just the ones for that section.

You may have to restart VA / swap VA profiles for the changes to be picked up.