Saitek X52 Flight System Joystick MWLL Compatibility

[mikeycantoon]

Hi all,
This is my first post on this forum, I've been playing for a couple of weeks now, and I'm looking for a good joystick.  First off, the game is incredible.  I haven't played a mechwarrior game in 10yrs and this mod feels like mechwarrior, I'm so happy, great job on the mod guys, I'm trying to get my friends who loved mechwarrior into it.  I remember when I bought my first joystick when I started playing mechwarrior 2, it was a Microsoft Sidewinder, I got it for the handle twist/torso twist capability.  I was hooked, only played all Mechwarrior games with a joystick, and even though I was born and raised on first person shooters with a keyboard and mouse, I've found I can hold steady on a target with a joystick while turning and torso twisting but can't with a mouse and keyboard.  Pressing a button to turn is just too much, can't beat the smoothness of a joystick for that. 

Anyway, I was looking to get a new joystick as the one I had used for mechwarrior 4 has since been lost.  I was looking at the Saitek X52 Flight system, I've always wanted to try a dual-stick setup like this for mechwarrior.  Does anybody have this, maybe any tips on getting it to work with beta .52, is it a piece of crap, thoughts?  This one just looks really nice for the price and the reviews seem good, but If I can't get it to work for MWLL which is why I want it then I'll get something else.  Thanks guys!

[Mitchpate]

I love my X-52 and everyone I know who used it in previous mech games loved it as well.  I don't use mine for MWLL (yet) but it's supposed to work just fine.

[mikeycantoon]

That is very good to hear.  I can't wait, been wanting a setup like that for a while.  I got a friend of mine who became a pilot a few years back, he's got an incredible setup for MS flight simulator.  He used to play the hell out of some mechwarrior as well.  We'll be going to Quakecon this year, I'm going to show him MWLL and hopefully get him hooked too.  With a setup like his, dual-sticks, pedals, he'll have a blast.

[(TLL)CapperDeluxe]

The only problem I hear with the Saitek setup is they don't have an application that combines multiple joystick IDs into a single one, like CH and Thrustmaster have.  So you have to be very crafty to be able to get multiple set up I guess, maybe utilizing Joy2Key among other things.  I'm not sure if multiple joystick IDs will be implemented in MWLL but I'll certainly make the case to get that at some point in the future.

[Mitchpate]

The only problem I hear with the Saitek setup is they don't have an application that combines multiple joystick IDs into a single one, like CH and Thrustmaster have.

Uhm, yeah they do.  Windows detects it as a single stick and the saitek input program can completely bypass the need for any in-game button configuration.

[=KoS= Tripod]

As this is the one I'm planning on getting (was gonna gt the F.L.Y. 5 but I got enough for this one now) that's some good news

[Hartsblade}12th VR{]

As this is the one I'm planning on getting (was gonna gt the F.L.Y. 5 but I got enough for this one now) that's some good news

Just a quick note.  Saitek, Cyborg and Eclipse are all owned by Mad Catz and I'm pretty sure they all use the same Saitek software for setup.  I use the F.L.Y 5 (Cyborg X) and the software is the Saitek Smart Technology version 7.0.2.7

[Mitchpate]

Just a quick note.  Saitek, Cyborg and Eclipse are all owned by Mad Catz and I'm pretty sure they all use the same Saitek software for setup.  I use the F.L.Y 5 (Cyborg X) and the software is the Saitek Smart Technology version 7.0.2.7

The Cyborg brand was actually a sub-brand within Saitek that sold lower-end joysticks and other things like mice and headsets.  The entire product line is fully compatible with the Saitek profiler, even their mice.  Eclipse branded products are not in any way affiliated with Saitek, other than having the same parent company, and AFAIK are not supported by Saitek software.

Note: No offense intended towards the Cyborg series of joysticks, that's just how Saitek split their product lines.  The Cyborg was the low-end and mid-range and the Pro Series was their high-end.  I used a Saitek Cyborg Evo for years and it was great, well, until the trigger fell off

[Hartsblade}12th VR{]

Just a quick note.  Saitek, Cyborg and Eclipse are all owned by Mad Catz and I'm pretty sure they all use the same Saitek software for setup.  I use the F.L.Y 5 (Cyborg X) and the software is the Saitek Smart Technology version 7.0.2.7

The Cyborg brand was actually a sub-brand within Saitek that sold lower-end joysticks and other things like mice and headsets.  The entire product line is fully compatible with the Saitek profiler, even their mice.  Eclipse branded products are not in any way affiliated with Saitek, other than having the same parent company, and AFAIK are not supported by Saitek software.

Note: No offense intended towards the Cyborg series of joysticks, that's just how Saitek split their product lines.  The Cyborg was the low-end and mid-range and the Pro Series was their high-end.  I used a Saitek Cyborg Evo for years and it was great, well, until the trigger fell off

Yup...the only reason I opted for the Cyborg was to save a few bucks.  So far so good, now I'm tempted to pick up a 2nd to see if I can get double joysticks working.

[(TLL)CapperDeluxe]

The only problem I hear with the Saitek setup is they don't have an application that combines multiple joystick IDs into a single one, like CH and Thrustmaster have.

Uhm, yeah they do.  Windows detects it as a single stick and the saitek input program can completely bypass the need for any in-game button configuration.

i recall someone on this forum saying that if you have the pedals the program doesn't let you combine them... but perhaps said person just didn't know how

[mikeycantoon]

Thanks for all the replies!  I wish I was getting the system sooner so I can see what it's going to take to get it going.  Once I do get the stick I will post how to get it working if it doesn't just work out of the box for others.  I don't think it's going to be too much trouble.  The only thing I'm kinda wondering now is if it's worth spending another 50$ to get the Pro version of this.

[Mitchpate]

i recall someone on this forum saying that if you have the pedals the program doesn't let you combine them... but perhaps said person just didn't know how

Pedals are a completely seperate beast and whether or not they work in tandem with a seperate joystick all depends on how compatible the game engine is with multiple joysticks.  The Saitek profiler does let you map on mulitple joysticks at once but if the game doesn't map the axis from it there's nothing saitek can do to overcome that.

The only thing I'm kinda wondering now is if it's worth spending another 50$ to get the Pro version of this.

It really depends on price.  How much are they?

[SkyLine]

I absolutely LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE my Saitek X52. I've owned it for years and I still adore this thing. Just know, it can be time consuming to set up and tweak to your preferences, especially with MW:LL's joke of a sensitivity set up. If they ever get controls in-game it will be a lot easier, but Saitek's software is really powerful for anything that doesn't work in the game's controls.

As for non MW:LL, I set up much faster for MW4, X3, and FSX.

[Mitchpate]

it can be time consuming to set up and tweak to your preferences

This is the only complaint I can think of.  The profile does take a while to set up for game but once you've set up a couple games it gets much quicker to do and like Skyline said the saitek profiler is a very powerful program.  Most games require zero in-game button configuration.

[mikeycantoon]

Skyline and Mitchpate, you guys mind if I hit send you a msg if I run into trouble once I get it?  I'm pretty tech savy, I've been a computer tech for years, but I am not familiar with manually setting up a joystick outside of an in-game setup.