FS Force

After the Setup program is complete, use the shortcut on your desktop to start the Profile Manager. The first time you run it, you will be guided through a set of simple steps to test the capabilities of your joystick. This is necessary so that FS Force can make the most efficient use of your hardware.

Once you have completed the wizard, you will go to the main screen of Profile Manager.

Here you will see is a listing of all aircraft found in your system. A default profile will be assigned to aircraft that are recognized (FSX default aircraft), others will be left blank. You can assign profiles by double-clicking on the line containing the aircraft. If an aircraft does not have a profile assigned to it, and you select it in FSX for a flight, it will ask you at that time what profile you want to use. There will also be an option to permanently assign that profile to that aircraft.

FS Force is actually comprised of two programs : a .DLL that gets loaded by FSX, and an .EXE that runs outside of FSX in the System Tray. Both programs need to be running for FS Force to work.

Make sure that both Launch Options are set to Auto Launch (or Prompt if you prefer). This means that FSX will automatically start FS Force. Both the Setup program and Profile Manager change launch settings by making entries in EXE.XML and DLL.XML. Both these files can be found under Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\Microsoft\FSX.

You can also specify if you want to use the Trim Indicator, which is a small window that appears briefly each time you make a trim change.

If you select to use the trim indicator, FS Force will install a gauge into each aircraft in your system. The entries will be made in Panel.cfg, which can be found in the Panel folder of each aircraft.

You can now close Profile Manager and start up FSX. The first time FSX tries to start FS Force you will see two security warnings, one for the .EXE and one for the .DLL.

Click the Run button. After the security warning, you will see another dialog box, asking if you want to trust FSForce.exe in the future. Click Yes.

Before starting a flight, make sure the default force feedback settings in FSX have been disabled. This is normally done by the Setup program, but you should verify it just the same. You will find it under Settings > Controls > Forces. The reason this is important is because under DirectX, conflicts will occur if both FSX and FS Force try to program force feedback effects at the same time.

You have now completed the necessary steps to configure FS Force and FSX, and are now ready to start a flight using your favourite aircraft. If you happen to pick an aircraft that does not have a profile assigned to it, a dialog box will come up asking you which profile you want to use.

Trim Command Assignments

FS Force assumes you will be using buttons 3 and 4 on your joystick for trim commands, as well as NumPad 1 and 7 on your keyboard. If you would like to use other buttons or keys, this section will tell you how to customize FS Force to your preferences.

Joystick Trim Commands

If you would like to use buttons other than 3 and 4, you need to add special commands to the [General] section of the FSForce.cfg file. The general form is as follows :

Where <dir> is either Up or Down, x is the joystick number, and y is the button number. Note that both joysticks and buttons are numbered starting at zero.

The following example assumes you would like to use buttons 6 and 7 for your trim commands

If you want to use the hat switch, also called the Point of View (POV) switch, use the following format :

Where <dir> is either Up or Down, x is the joystick number, y is the POV number, and z is the direction in degrees x 100. The valid values for z are 0 (ahead), 4500 (forward right), 9000 (right), 13500 (rear right), 18000 (rear), 22500 (rear left), 27000 (left), and 31500 (forward left).

The following example assumes you would like to use the forward and back buttons of your hat switch:

Some joysticks appear to have two hat switches, but the second hat switch is actually configured as additional buttons, in which case you would use the "button" format of the command as described above.

Keyboard Trim Commands

If you would like to use keys other than NumPad 1 and 7, add entries to the [General] section like this :

Where <key> is any combination of keys from the keyboard. Letters and numbers are typed as themselves. Special keys can also be used. Click here to see them.

These are all the special keys

Scroll_Lock	Esc	Num_6	F3	F11	VK_ADD	VK_LBRACKET
Backspace	Space	Num_7	F4	F12	VK_SEPARATOR	VK_BACKSLASH
Tab	Num_0	Num_8	F5	VK_HELP	VK_SUBTRACT	VK_RBRACKET
Enter	Num_1	Num_9	F6	VK_LWIN	VK_DECIMAL	Pause
Shift	Num_2	Sys_Req	F7	VK_RWIN	VK_DIVIDE
Ctrl	Num_3	Num_Del	F8	VK_APPS	VK_LMENU
Alt	Num_4	F1	F9	VK_SLEEP	VK_RMENU
Caps_Lock	Num_5	F2	F10	VK_MULTIPLY	VK_QUOTE

Multiple Joysticks

If you have multiple force feedback joysticks connected to your system you can specify which one you would like FS Force to control. Simply add an entry to the [General] section of FSForce.cfg similar to the following :

Note : the joystick name entered must be an exact match of what appears in Control Panel / Game Controllers.

Trim Wheel

If you have a trim wheel, you'll need to add the following entry to the .cfg file so that FS Force will recongnize it :

<num> refers to the joystick number minus 1. Look in Game Controllers or in FSX under Controls to see which "joystick" your trim wheel is recognized as.

<axis> can be one of : Slider, XAxis, YAxis, ZAxis, RxAxis, RyAxis, or RzAxis . Again, look under Controls in FSX to see how FSX recognized it. If FSX recognizes your trim wheel as a "throttle", then it is considered a Slider, otherwise it is one the Axis values.

Logitech G940

If you have the Logitech G940, use the following table to map the trim buttons on the joystick/throttle to the necessary <axis> values:

Example : TrimWheel=Joystick:0:RzAxis [This sets Trim 1 on the joystick as the trim wheel]

Example : TrimWheel=Joystick:1:ZAxis [This sets R1 on the throttle as the trim wheel]