Pro Throttle POV Hat rotated???

[Fiasco]

Windows 2000
CH Fighterstick
CH Pro Throttle
CH Pro Pedals
(all USB)
CH Control Manager V3.0

I have had this problem ever since I got my USB pro throttle some time ago.

the POV Hat on the pro throttle is rotated 90 degrees to the right. So, if in the CHCTRLMNGR software I set the POV hat on the pro throttle as DIRECTX MODE (ON) and USE AS POV (ON) if I push the HAT UP I get HAT LEFT. If I push HAT LEFT I get HAT DOWN, HAT DOWN is HAT RIGHT.

If I turn off USE AS POV and the control manager software then shows the arrow circle for the hat. If I then push the hat switch in any direction it is correct. If I push the hat up, the top arrow lights up and the software says POV UP.

Is this a defect in all pro throttles? This has been driving me nuts ever since I got this thing. I called back when I bought this and talked to tech support and they told me it would be fixed in a later revision but that was some time ago.

Does anyone elses throttle POV hat do this?

[MichaelCHProd]

All of the HAT's on the front of the Pro Throttle are 90 degrees off clockwise. This is a "design feature" implemented by the engineers here, it was a hotly debated item during design. Those of us who use them the most feel that up should be up and down should be down. Instead the engineers felt that muscle memory for end users was such that they would be used to pushing forward with their thumb as the up position. As you can see they got their way. The current version of the Control Manage changes the HAT setup back to what is more logical. but it only changes it when it is programmed. When the POV is seen in Direct X as a POV then the hardware comes through and is seen as the "rotated" POV. The work around is to program the eight directions to the view commands of your game.

[JNOV]

Figured it had to be engineers! My left thumb just won't believe me when I tell it that right is really up! :D

[Fiasco]

How difficult would it be to open the throttle and rotate the hat switch hardware 90 degrees?

I can't believe they did that on purpose! I have been going through such a hassle for the last couple years programming around it.

[MichaelCHProd]

:( Our hats are not just sitting in the holes. The POV, Castle Hat, Winged Hat, and the mini joystick are all a sub assembly and soldered onto a PCB board in the grip. You can't just turn a hat because you would need to change the board layout and the way it reports to the main PCB that has the USB chip on it. Sorry, it was not my decision to make. :(

[Fiasco]

On the older gameport Pro Throttle the hat in the same position was up = up left = left ect wasn't it?

I had the original gameport/keyboard emulating verion of the CH Fighterstick, Pro Throttle, and Pro Pedals.

It's a damn shame that the engineers didn't consult previous owners (I registered my equipment when I bought it) about this decision on the newer USB models.

[Bob Church]

I could look at adding a checkbox to rotate the POV signals on the Pro Throttle in Mapped Mode. Would that help? I don't think I can do it in Direct Mode but I can certainly do it in Mapped Mode and you could always create a "straight-through" direct map that set the rotation that way. As Michael said, you can do it now if you switch to character views, but if you have to use POV and not keys, there's no way to make it move. With the other hats you can move the buttons around or send characters so it's really not a problem and you can always swap axes on the ministick, but the POV isn't quite so programmable.

- Bob

The StickWorks
http://www.stickworks.com

[MichaelCHProd]

Sounds like a good idea Bob, I will put in on your "To Do" List. :)