War Thunder: Basic Joystick Setup Tutorial

[@Chirp_Fest]

I appreciate you explaining everything rather than just showing the settings you have

[@xBMF9000x]

You're welcome! Yea I can't stand it when people just show their settings without explaining either because what works for them may not necessarily sork for me.

[@R0dr1g01994]

In 2022 this is still the best set up video

[@QFEguy]

Really helpful, not just in setting up the stick but also in understanding how the settings work. The info on using the hat switch with Relative Control on and then having a button to snap it back to front is killer. I doubt I could have gotten the settings right without your help. I almost gave up on War Thunder because it just seemed too hard, and not just in flying, but in understanding what's going on. I found some info, got a little better at aerial combat, but the matchmaking now has me getting shot down without any kills 9 times out of 10, but I'm hoping that building up crew skills will change that. I haven't given in to just buying them with GE yet. I intend to watch all your War Thunder videos and any others that look interesting to find other games I might like. I'm 72, so I've been dealing with computer games since Pong and then up through DOOM, but I'm just now getting back into it and it's a whole new world.I got a HOTAS 4 as a gift, which I'm currently setting up on a PC - I've used a T16000M joystick and TWCS Throttle for a few weeks previously - so far my impression is the HOTAS 4, although a lot more convenient, does not have enough buttons. The TWCS has a lot of buttons but is generally more clumsy to use, at least it feels that way so far. I don't have enough experience yet to compare the joysticks - do you have any opinions? (I just noticed the HOTAS X seems to be identical to the HOTAS 4, but your HOTAS X button 8 is on the HOTAS 4 throttle, not the joystick). Anyway, I'm hoping I can get the same settings on the HOTAS 4 mapped as you do on the HOTAS X and it will turn out there are enough buttons. I see all your videos are at least 2 years old - if you release any new ones I'll definitely watch them. Thanks.

[@xBMF9000x]

I’m glad that you found the information helpful. To be honest, I haven’t had much time to play the game lately because of some changes taking place in my personal life. Continuing my education be the biggest time consumer. That being said, I do intend to get back into it at some point in the near future. One thing that caught my eye in your comment was that your setup doesn’t have enough buttons. One thing you may like to try is to setup some of the buttons on your throttle assembly as modifier buttons. Doing this can greatly increase the number of commands that you can assign to the HOTAS so that you will never need to take your hands off of the controls. I started doing this with Elite: Dangerous and now I can play that without even having to touch my keyboard.

[@QFEguy]

@@xBMF9000x Hi, thanks for replying. Glad your absence is in such a good cause. Have a million questions but have to pare them down. Didn't want a lot of time to go by before I got back to you. Hope you find time to make more videos soon - I've looked at quite a few on War Thunder and you shine out. I look forward to watching the rest of yours. I'll have to look into Elite Dangerous..

[@QFEguy]

@@xBMF9000x Hi, I've finally gotten to the point where I'm having fun and enjoying the learning experience. I see a lot of people would like to use a joystick but don't because it's too hard. I'd like to make some videos to show them otherwise. I like the way you do your videos - could you share how you go about producing them. Thanks, and thanks for getting me over the hump so I didn't give up on the game. Love the HOTAS 4 btw. So nice to be able to put it in your lap and have complete control right there in your hands.

[@urbanmaddog]

Just found this video and it’s helped me so much thank you 🙏

[@birdstudios4913]

I subbed, I think he puts in so much a good amount of effort and only has 117 subscribers.

[@xBMF9000x]

Thank you so much!

[@williedangerr7934]

Thanks for explaining things like I'm five! Really helped me to tune my controls. Now I'm finally able to down a enemy.

[@xBMF9000x]

Nice!!! Congratz and good luck and good hunting to you!

[@zyrian6671]

Well he went AWOL on the cake dame

[@eliasziad7864]

TERRAIN TERRAIN PULL UP PULL UP!

[@DiversityAnimation]

Hey, great video! really helped. Had a quick question though. Do you change the Pitch Axis Multiplier for every plane or just keep it to 1.1 for all of them?

[@xBMF9000x]

+Chirag Rana I honestly don't even touch the multiplier on anything other than throttle axis and view x/y axis. Just tweaking the sensitivity and non linearity settings should give you all you need. In fact these controls work pretty much across the board. The only planes that I've had to make slight adjustments for are the single engine water cooled fighters in the Russian tech tree. Even then, all I do with them is adjust the multiplier down to .9 on the throttle axis. Those planes are notorious for overheating so making this adjustment keeps my engine running at 90% to keep the temperature down unless I hit my WEP keybind.

[@xBMF9000x]

I tend to keep the settings that I discussed in the video as standard for all of the planes in the game unless I run into a plane that needs further specialization. If I run into a scenario like that, then I'll use the same settings as a starting point and then tweak whatever it is that needs adjusting and then export that setup for that particular plane. The only planes that I've had to do this for are the Yaks in the Russian tech tree. I just adjusted the engine output to only go up to 90% thrust instead of the full 100% due to overheating issues. This way I can keep the engine cool and then just use my "WEP" keybind to push the last 10% out of the engine if I really need it. Sorry that it took me so long to respond to you, but I do hope that this helps!

[@onomillsz]

Hey by any chance can you do another one of these for the new consoles and the the thrust master ?

[@xBMF9000x]

Unfortunately I no longer have a HOTAS so I can't really do anything to update this tutorial. I wore my Thrustmaster out to the point where it was pretty much unresponsive so I had to toss it out. That being said, this video is really meant as more of a guideline to help people understand what the different controls do. What I covered here can be applied to any flight stick/HOTAS setup so I would recommend utilizing what was covered here to find the settings that work best for you. I tend to keep my controls fairly sensitive, but that can have some drawbacks such as ripping wings from being overzealous with my inputs. Finding the sweet spot for controls will be different for everyone. Sorry if this isn't the response you were looking for, but hopefully it'll give you a starting point to get yourself up and running.

[@emkplayboy6]

Bro you're a genuis! Ty for this tutorial.

[@xBMF9000x]

You're very welcome! I'm glad that I was able to help! :D

[@micke7261]

Thx very much, great tutorial !

[@xBMF9000x]

I appreciate it! Good luck and happy hunting! :D

[@danielw0007]

in War Thunder Ps4 when I point with a cursor with a T flight hotas 4 joystick on the X button on the screen to get my Daily Reward: Small trophy it.doesn't click my question is what's to needs to be set for options or settings for war thunder to work on my joystick to function the X button to works but on on Ace comeback 7 works perfectly but on War Thunder the button doesn't not work

[@loganrosewood9226]

Hey, idk if ur still active. I am trying to set my WEP to a button and have followed ur instructions, however whenever I choose a button for maximum it shows for a second and then vanishes... not assigning the button. Any help would he great.

[@xBMF9000x]

Honestly I don't really play war thunder anymore so I don't really know what changes the devs have made since I last played. Based on what you're telling me, my assumption would be that your throttle axis is set for relative control. If so, toggle it to no. Aside from that I'm not really sure. Could be a UI glitch.

[@MichaelGames19]

Nice dude, I gotta remap my hotas.. This should help a lot especially with the axis controls

[@xBMF9000x]

+Michael Games Glad to hear it. Hopefully more people will find this useful and make the switch to joystick control! :D

[@happyracing3359]

5:25 this comes down to what you think your self, i think that it's anorying to play with that.

[@xBMF9000x]

True, this is what works for me and it may not be ideal for others, but that wasn't really the purpose of the video. This was to show people who are just getting started with joystick control what settings they should be focusing on, to point out some of the not so obvious options that they can tweak such as nonlinearity or the throttle multiplier, and to show how my setup was to give people who are new to joystick control a bit of a starting point. If someone has something that works better for them then that's great, because I want people to find better ways to do it. In fact, I've modified my own setup a bit since I uploaded this video.

[@truthfulperson8203]

this is a good video i have a question though is it better to play with joystick?, i have one coming tomorrow :)

[@xBMF9000x]

+the truthful critic Honestly, I can't tell you if it's better to use a joystick or a mouse because that all depends on what is most comfortable to you. I prefer the joystick because in most of the sims that I've played in the past, joysticks were required in order to play them so it just feels more natural to me. That being said, as a joystick player I can say that I definitely get a better sense of immersion when using the joystick and I enjoy not having to deal with the instructor chiming in every time that it thinks that I'm making a bone headed maneuver. It basically all boils down to personal preference. I can say this however, if you're not familiar with joystick controls then don't expect to just start pwning anyone and everyone who crosses your path the minute you click the to battle button. It takes practice and patience to get used to joystick control, but it's well worth the effort in my opinion and you'll be a much better pilot for it in the long run.

[@truthfulperson8203]

thanks i will use it then cause i'm in the game mostly for immersion as i absolutely love old planes :)

[@xBMF9000x]

+the truthful critic Glad to hear it! To tell the truth, there are some planes that actually benefit from joystick control rather than mouse aim, so you may find that a plane that you absolutely hated when playing with mouse and keyboard becoming one of your most dangerous planes with the joystick. Best of luck to you! =)

[@stinkyfungus]

+AWOLSpartan and the downside to that is a plane you love in MK could turn into a useless wobbly goblin on joystick. adjusting nonlinearity and dumbing the multiplier down on the rudder axis to .75 seems to tame it some... but there are some planes that I can fly well, but cant hit the broadside of a barn with.

[@xBMF9000x]

Another thing you can try in order to counter the wobble is to lower the sensitivity of both the pitch and yaw axis while keeping the roll high. The wobble is almost entirely caused by the control surfaces on the tail so adjusting the roll sensitivity won't have much of an effect on it. The nonlinearity adjustments are just for fine tuning your aim when your trying to gun someone down. In the end (and I can't stress this enough) it's more important to find what works best for you so don't take the information in my video as the end all be all for your control setup. In fact, I've made a few adjustments to my own layout since making this video. Since making those adjustments I've found that some of the planes that I absolutely hated to fly have actually become more responsive and stable which in turn results in improved performance on my part when flying said planes in RB.

[@user-ks7oj8pe2h]

But I wanna know how do I ‘connect’ my joystick to my pc and get it into war thunder or other games?

[@macrowdz3732]

too hard ngl i liked the video tho, keep it up bro

[@odina3688]

Thank you.:)

[@benpeacock9531]

New to the game, your joystick when flying seems far more stable than mine would that be my Joystick or a setting problem ?

[@xBMF9000x]

Well, even if it is a problem with your stick, that can be fixed in game by applying a dead zone to your stick. I had to apply one to my previous stick and it fixed the problem all together.

[@benpeacock9531]

@@xBMF9000x I just can't seem to get it right I've tried lots off different settings, moving around is ok just aiming is a nightmare.

[@xBMF9000x]

@@benpeacock9531 that's what the nonlinearity settings are for. What nonlinearity does is reduces the sensitivity of your stick while it's near the center position. Now I don't recommend making drastic changes to it right off the bat. Start small and gradually work your way into a comfort zone.

[@benpeacock9531]

@@xBMF9000x Thank you, on what Axis would you recommend to start on?

[@xBMF9000x]

@@benpeacock9531 It doesn't really matter which axis you start with. Just make sure that you take your time on them until you get them to a comfortable setting.

[@zeewolf4302]

Now i can maneuver quite well... but i still can´t aim properly.... it goes too fast, while i adjust the aiming... and miss the target...

[@xBMF9000x]

That's where the nonlinearity settings come into play. I'd recommend going into a test flight and making small adjustments to that setting until you get it to a comfortable level. What nonlinearity does is reduces the sensitivity of the stick when it's near it's center of axis. Hopefully that helps. Sorry for the late response, but I do hope that my explanation of nonlinearity helps to clear things up for you!

[@PREPERMIKE2012]

New to the game I have a question. Changing controls, do the changes apply to all aircraft you fly in War Thunder?

[@xBMF9000x]

+Rational Reality American Yes, but if you'd prefer to have a different control scheme depending on what difficulty you're playing, what type of plane you're flying, or to compensate for the shortcomings of certain planes (looking at you Yak's with you're overheating BS) then you can save different control settings by clicking on the save button at the bottom of the control setup window. This will save your settings to a file in your war thunder folder that you can revert back to whenever you need to. As I said before, I make use of this whenever I'm flying Yak's to compensate for the shortcomings of their engines. To quickly change to one of these saved control schemes, just click on the import button also located at the bottom of the controls window. This will bring up the folder where these control schemes are saved and allow you to choose the one you want to apply. Just make sure that you name each control scheme appropriately so you can easily pick out the one you want to use.

[@PREPERMIKE2012]

+AWOLSpartan Im not at that level for sure. Maybe after some more game play. Thanks

[@xBMF9000x]

***** You're welcome! Good luck and have fun! :)

[@rafaelcarvalho7727]

How can i set the Hotas X rudder buttons to work in this game? Thanks in advance?

[@xBMF9000x]

It's done through the rudder axis option in the controls menu. You should be able to set it up to auto detect the rudder axis when you use it.

[@mossaic13]

How the hell was your plane so steady with those settings? I have my sensitivity at 0 and 0.7 multiplier. Anything higher it wobbles and bounces, like its having a seizure, no matter how gentle I move controls.

[@xBMF9000x]

that can be adjusted with the nonlinearity setting in the control axis window. Think of nonlinearity as kind of a semi dead zone for your joystick. It lessens the sensitivity near the center of the axis without cutting it off completely, but doesn't affect the axis beyond a certain point. If adjusting the nonlinearity doesn't help, then you may want to try setting up a proper dead zone on your stick. Now this doesn't necessarily "fix" the problem so much as it tames it. Some planes are going to wobble no matter what you do because of various in game issues such as incomplete flight models and such, but it should at least make things a little easier.

[@mossaic13]

Nice. Thanks for taking some time for suggestions. But I played around with sensitivity for 8 hours. Its now down to manageable state, but everything is very very low. Maybe my crews are tooo new? New to War Thunder myself, with British planes up to Spitfire mk 2b.

[@xBMF9000x]

No problem at all! I hope you enjoy the spits! the 2b is my personal favorite out of the entire British tech tree!

[@QFEguy]

I found that I could improve stability by focusing more on using the rudder (yaw) for lateral movement. I try to concentrate on using just pitch and yaw as much as possible to adjust the x/y position where my nose is pointing on the coordinate system in the sky. It's kind of surreal when you can start using both simultaneously instead of adjusting y, then x, and so on. Then you can start using roll (gently) to adjust your attitude and the rudder to slide across and adjust where your nose is pointing. It really seems to decrease the bouncing up and down compared to when you try to get onto another plane using primarily pitch and roll. I have rudder pedals which I love, because it's one additional element of coordination to help keep my brain active at 72, but the control on the HOTAS throttle works well if you prefer that or don't want to get pedals. Don't really like the 'rotation' rudder on the joystick and supposedly it wears out quickly. Not for nothing - I'm fairly new to War Thunder - I find I don't get shot down so quickly if I focus on using radar to keep the enemy gaggle in front of me, and then target the ones on the edge that I can get to without putting any enemies on my tail. If one does get behind me I scoot out as quickly as possible and get them in front of me again. Also having a button for Look back helps.

[@2xkingz]

hi please help me I have the MAD CATZ f.L.Y 5 , what do I do

[@xBMF9000x]

To tell you the truth, i'm not really familiar with that particular type of joystick, but the same basic parameters that I went over in the video should still apply. The biggest issue is going to be finding a sensitivity setting that works for you specifically. So take the information that I gave in the video with a pinch of salt because I'm basically just sharing my setup and what works for me. That being said, I recommend using whatever setup that you think is most comfortable. Try to keep only combat related and flight performance keybinds on the joystick and throttle and then use your keyboard for all of the lesser used keybinds such as landing gear, view controls, scoreboard, map, etc. Not sure if this was very helpful, but it should at the very least give you a starting point when setting up your joystick.

[@2711Virus]

can you please upload your joystick conf you can export the file

[@xBMF9000x]

I'll see what I can do. I haven't had much time to play War Thunder lately so this video is likely a bit out-dated. When I can manage to make some time to get back into it I'll get the file uploaded.

[@twoguyspluscamera]

@@xBMF9000x Send to me too, please!

[@SparQz]

I tried playing this game but I can't actually hit the ememy.... It's wobbly as hell

[@xBMF9000x]

Kenny Wolfe to be honest, I haven’t played the game in awhile mostly due to a bit of craziness going on in my personal life. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if the game and the various flight models have gone through a number of changes since the last time I played. Usually tweaking the nonlinearity or setting a dead zone on your flight stick will make the wobble more manageable. It won’t get rid of it completely, but it should help to tame it a bit.

[@QFEguy]

I almost gave up on the game because it just seemed too hard with a joystick, and I didn't really want to play otherwise. But in the last few weeks I've definitely gotten better and it's now a lot of fun. I'm convinced the secret to using the joystick is to become adept at using the rudder. A good way to practice is to point your nose at some object and try to stay on it just using pitch and yaw as you approach, either on a test flight or in the beginning of a mission when the enemy is far away. Then when you are dog-fighting, try to remember to use the rudder when you want to adjust your aim horizontally - it's hard to remember at first, but eventually using the mix of yaw and roll becomes more natural. And other than that, it's amazing how much stability comes with practice, even at 72. Muscle memory, I think, speeds your reactions and allows you to make micro adjustments you're not even aware of. It's almost surreal. I hope you stick with it. It's so cool to work around behind and above somebody and start pouring in the rounds. I think the standard settings are fine, but here are the settings I ended up with: • Pitch ○ Sensitivity 100 - I don't think setting this lower helps in the long run because you end up overcompensating trying to make up for the delay ○ Dead Zone .01 - Probably zero would be ok ○ Nonlinearity 1 - Standard and lowest possible setting. My objection to higher settings is same as sensitivity - you can't give up granularity without paying a price ○ Multiplier 1 - You can set this lower to get a smoother response, but you limit the range of the control. I tried it and didn't like it ○ Correction 0 - Usually only for an inaccurate joystick • Roll ○ Sensitivity 100 ○ Dead Zone .025 - This is set high so I'm less likely to start a roll when I'm just trying to change pitch ○ Nonlinearity 1.1 - Not sure why I set this to 1.1 - probably for the same reason ○ Multiplier 1 ○ Correction 0 • Yaw ○ Sensitivity 100 ○ Dead Zone .01 - Works well with pedals,, probably zero would be fine ○ Nonlinearity 1 ○ Multiplier 1 Correction 0 I think if you play with the settings trying to make response smoother you'll find that it costs you as you become more experienced and gain finer control

[@GrandTheftBalow]

@@QFEguy just started trying to use the joystick too, how are you finding it now?

[@QFEguy]

@@GrandTheftBalow Great. I'm much better than I ever thought I could be - and I'm almost 73. Definitely requires learning to use the rudder - and imo you need pedals. Stick with the same planes for a long time. I went back to using USA reserve planes and kept flying them until I had built enough experience time to qualify as 'ACE' (also requires crew level of 25). It's worth the skills you gain by grinding with the same planes until you get really good. The reflexes and subtle muscle memory you gradually gain are amazing. You gain them gradually, but it's like they come together so you make quantum leaps in skill. Also using the throttle effectively is essential to both trying to 'drive' the aiming reticle through the lead aim point, and hanging on the enemy's tail. I have all the sensitivity and non-linearity settings at default - anything else just causes distortions in response. Set your joystick resistance to zero if if has a setting . Anything higher causes you to use more force than necessary and thereby over-correct. It has more penetrating power and I actually started getting more hits because I wasn't trying to aim and see where the tracers go - which is misleading anyway. I'll respond with more later when I'm not at work if I think of anything else. Can't tell you how happy it makes me that I may have inspired someone else to stick with it to find out how much fun flying with a joystick is.

[@QFEguy]

Kenny, my last reply was 10 months ago. In my experience the wobbliness will decrease as you learn to use the rudder more effectively. When you turn with the stick you introduce roll. You need to use the rudder to counteract that. Typically I will use the rudder to start a turn an then roll into it so the thrust is directed in the way you want to go. Not a very good explanation but the best I can do. See my response to GrandTheftBalow on this thread. Hope you stick with it. So much fun.