STARFIELD GUIDE: Use a Joystick / HOTAS for space flight! Complete walkthrough

It isn't perfect but this will get you flying that spacecraft with more natural controls. This works for game controllers as well.
Here is the free software used in this video:
joytokey.net/en/

[@daigriffiths399]

Thank you!! I'd tried a few tutorials using x360ce but all had failed. This one worked first time. I have an x52 Pro setup; I've assigned the rudder pedals to roll and the turret hat to in-cockpit menu navigation. The POV is the obvious choice but the turret hat's castlations feel more natural for that job. Thank you again 😊

[@TheBerlin1993]

Thanks for this. I cant play space games without my hotas.

[@SandyCheeks1896]

I can. But I spent all this money on them so I won’t 😂

[@ahmzzino533]

Thank you for this. Very helpful 🙏

[@u2bemark]

thanks.. First time in 20+ years I went to a flightstick.. this will help

[@florentgrognet4016]

Really easy tutorial and yet the game feels so much better already, thanks 🙃

[@MommaFox343]

I cant wait to see this tutorial get more love and attention and fully fine tuned/ made seamless. I can see this and future mods in the future turn starfield into basically what star citizen promised but didnt deliver. Like seriously this does have the potential to become a master piece/ loved as much as Skyrim. Especially when you compare it to how much of a mess Skyrim was. Just like how Skyrim and halo reach, and many other games that people said would crash and burn because of the major issues, bugs, lack of features. They went from disasters to iconic master pieces. I believe and can see starfield going through the same thing. But i can also see the modders expediting the process to fix it alot faster tho imo.

[@tyrayco]

Life made easy, thank you.

[@eoconnor2000]

I had the same problem with the manual recentering. I actually use universal controller remapper. Down to Earth Astronomy has a good video on how to use this - How to use a HOTAS with Starfield- it maps the xbox controller to the hotas. Comparing the two I found ucr much more responsive.

[@Blood1Bucket]

Hell yeah dude. Thanks!

[@TheSaffaf29]

You Deserve more Subs man!

[@braydenmcfarland8500]

Thanks for this!

[@MrCyb3rus]

You did for get to map most important thing... the vertical and horizontal trusters for you ship... by controling this truster you can avoid incoming damage from the enemy. Also there is no boost asigment

[@kelnavea8041]

how can the controller auto center? when idle

[@lillen141]

Dont think it can.

[@BartmansBits]

I’m finding a solution to this now. It is possible to script a macro to center the mouse and then map that to a button but is not ideal. The preferred solution would be for the mouse to spring back to center just like the joystick does.

[@Pec3t]

yeah, it is my only issue with this solution. You have to center manually.

[@renedealvarado]

Another solution is to use a controller emulator ( such as x360ce ) and map the stick/throttle to that instead of mouse/keyboard. this method will address the issue i have seen in the comments about centering the targeting reticle, as a joystick (gamepad or flightstick) naturally go to center anyways. the only thing I noticed with x360ce is that the software crashed a couple times on me, but once its running i don't have problems in-game

[@ReneReimers-r3y]

Thanks for this 🙂

[@claytonchris1984]

Thanks for the workaround, need to find a way to get it to auto centre when the stick does. Can't believe they left Hotas out of the game

[@michaelpointon6970]

Have you figured out a way yet?

[@kribiekribille3481]

Very nice workaround and it would be perfect when there was a way to make the mous cursor/crosshair stationary in the center of the screen

[@lillen141]

Just dobt use the mouse 😂😂😂. Pretty easy.

[@kribiekribille3481]

while using the stick, you move the crosshair. pay attention pls @@lillen141

[@warly_sol]

wonderful ty!

[@goregoatgoregoat]

great tutorial, i'm pretty new to hotas just got recently for elite dangerous (using a logi x52). for the throttle, stick 2 up and down to W and S, have you found any way to make it feel more like a throttle? like how it is in ED basically where the position of your physical throttle translates to the speed in game. of course until there's a mod or full bethesda support i don't think it's possible to make it match exactly... but maybe you've found a way to make it smoother? it's certainly easy for me to throttle up all the way for a constant W, and throttle down for a constant S, but trying to hit that sweet spot for fast turns is tough. hope i'm explaining myself well enough, let me know if you have any ideas! and thank you for the video - will certainly be taking advantage of this program for other games as well

[@Xadoras]

The controls customizing for starfield is very disappointing. As a almost Elite Fighter in E:D, I would love to have throttle on the mousewheel, so I can staight bind WASD for thrust up/down/left/right

[@leapswithoutlooking]

I can't get control the ship yaw and pitch well enough to dogfight. There is no analog input actually with joy2key.

[@federicomax8676]

gracias por tu ayuda

[@michaelbirkettmauizaui2337]

Does Starfield work with with things like TrackIR?

[@joshhoff3168]

What's a good hotas for someone who has never used one?

[@u2bemark]

10:00 Question: what is the 1/10 in auto comun for stick2 up and stick2 down (also, I expected to see stick2 up to be W, not N)

[@BartmansBits]

Good catch, the recording was a different attempt when I was having issues with binding W. I could not get it to work for some odd reason so I bound to N instead then changed it in game. The 1/10 was for auto repeat that I have been experimenting with. I was trying different settings to simulate hitting W or S several times rather than once. Still a work in progress!

[@PonyUWA]

My "D" and "S" keys don't work, neither does Left Alt. Logitech X52 plus JoytoKey

[@davidcarr2308]

my z axis isnt working :( ive tried so many of these

[@RedBeardTsailor]

i cant figure out how to set up the throttle

[@anthonykovac7471]

Hey mate, I have the Airbus Thrustmaster Joystick and I followed the mapping, which seams to work because my mouse cursor moves on windows. But when I try it in Starfield, it's unresponsive... any ideas?

[@michaelreyes9828]

I am having the same issue too, and I have been unable to find a solution. I using the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro. JoyToKey is running in Windows. I can mouse around with my flight-stick, and even mouse click with the trigger. However, when in Starfield I have no response from the flight-stick.

[@michaelreyes9828]

I resolved the issue in my case. The solution is to also assign JoyToKey (JTK) to run as administrator in the JTK properties. Select the JTK shortcut; right click; select properties; select advance; select run as administrator; (apply) and (ok). You will be asked if you want JTK to be allowed to make changes; just reply with ok. This solution worked for me. I also have JTK set to associate with the application Starflied, but I do not think that had anything to do with the issue or the resolution. I just did not change it back, because it works now, and if it is not broke don't fix it.

[@lumpik1313]

Mam L. X52 HOTAS a udělal jsem podle tebe a nejde vůbec nic proč nevím můžeš poradit

[@bugsy159ify]

my problem great for just 1 joystick but cant add both joystick and a throttle. either one or the other :(

[@BartmansBits]

You can add a joystick and a throttle. I used the X56 HOTAS with this method and had no issues

[@davidcarr2308]

not working in starfield, works on desktop though

[@zacharypump5910]

What about strafing ?

[@BartmansBits]

Whatever your strafing controls are set to in game, you should be able to bind a button or axis on your HOTAS to that in joytomouse

[@zacharypump5910]

@@BartmansBits I'm guessing you don't use it much. unfortunately in SF you have to hold down a button (or spacebar on KB M) which then puts the ship into "thrusters mode", which disables your ability to roll and throttle back/forth and uses those same keys to stafe Up Down, Left Right. On hotas you would normally bind those axis independently to a thumb stick, but Starfield has made that effectively impossible. I suspect the only way to make it feel natural is with a proper mod.

[@lioraja9951]

too fastidious .... but still thanks for the video

[@mrchillgreen]

space combat is so lacking and dumbed down that this isn´t even worth the hazzle.

[@kellyobrien1387]

You have that Mouse up/down backwards!!! With a Stick you PULL BACK to go UP and push FORWARD to go DOWN! If ANYONE has flown a plane, THAT is reality. or you crash!! Of course this is the SENSIBLE setting for having the Y-Inverted for REALISTIC Movement! 😜

[@BartmansBits]

Completely a personal preference. As an avid simmer I am well aware of the proper flight control configuration. It’s easy enough for people to invert controls in the menu.