The NX radios from Spektrum are the latest from the Spektrum brand.
These transmitters can be setup to work as a standard Windows game
controller. The NX10 here 10 channels. The joystick output from the
transmitter has 8 axes. In the steps all of these axes are used below.
The instructions (with some expected modification) can also be used to
setup an NX8 and NX6 channel transmitters.
As described below, Joystick Gremlin is used to create a
remapping. Joystick Gremlin forwards your control inputs to vJoy which
is what you will select as your USB interface in FS One 2022e.
If you have already installed vJoy, installed Joystick Gremlin, and made
a virtual joystick, then skip the block below and start with
making a model in memory on your transmitter.
Install vJoy
This makes a virtual joystick for FS One (or for anything else).
Unplug all USB gamepads, joysticks, TacCon, and other “R/C” controllers.
Download and run vJoySetup.exe.
This downloads from github.
You set up vJoy (image below) one time. This completes your vJoy Device setup.
vJoyConf configuring a virtual joystick with 8 axes, 0 buttons, and 0 hat switches.
This is vJoy Device #1 indicated by the light green tab labeled “1”.#
Remaining Instructions
The remainder of these instructions include using Joystick Gremlin
to remap your controller inputs to vJoy.
Turn ON your Spektrum NX10, and create a new ‘Acro’ (airplane) model in
memory. For wing/aircraft type, use the defaults for “normal” wing
and tail so that ailerons, elevator, and rudder are each driven by one
servo (one channel which will be one axis).
Name your model in memory something like “FSONE USB JOYSTICK”. It will
create a model with these functioning controls seen in the monitor. The
ordering below is how they appear on the transmitter monitor screen.
The vJoy axis numbers are the final outcome after remapping.
Spektrum NX10
Control Inputs
Monitor
FS One Function
vJoy Axis
mapping
Sticks
THR
Throttle
5
Sticks
AIL
Ailerons
8
Sticks
ELE
Elevator
7
Sticks
RUD
Rudder
6
2-Pos Switch (“A”)
GER
Gear
4
3-Pos Switch (“D”)
AX1
Reset-To-Home / Reset-In-Place
2
3-Pos Switch (“B”)
AX2
Flight Modes
1
Knob (“R KNOB”)
AX3
Flaps
3
Do not create any mixes, expo, dual rates, etc. You will use the
programming (“Computer Radio”) inside FS One.
Put the model into USB joystick mode. Go into System Settings | USB
Setting, and scroll down to Inhibit (USB is not turned on). Scroll
to click on Inhibit, and then scroll to select Game Controller to
turn on USB joystick mode. Return Back to the main screen, and the
main screen will say Simulator Model - RF Off in red at the bottom.
Keep your transmitter ON, and use a micro USB cable (USB 2.0 Micro B) to hook your
transmitter up to your computer. Confirm your connection. In the Windows Game Controller
gadget, it will appear as the Spektrum radio.
With your transmitter ON, “FSONE USB JOYSTICK” model selected, and
in USB game controller mode,
plug the Spektrum NX10 into the PC using your micro USB cable.
JG’s top row has tabs for USB controllers, your keyboard, and the vJoyDevice#1 that you created. Generally, the USB controllers are the
inputs to the output that is the virtual joystick vJoyDevice#1
which is used by FS One. The keyboard appears, but it will not
be used here. Other USB controllers will appear if you have others
plugged into your computer. Disconnect any extraneous USB controllers
for this setup.
Instead of manually doing all the steps on the rest of this page, you
may instead take a shortcut.
Right click to download and save the JG Profile (file) spektrum-nx10.xml to your computer.
Note that this file will be valid on if you used the default model
created in the Spektrum NX10 (per table above).
From JG’s menu, choose File->LoadProfile and choose that file.
When you open it, JG may ask you “The profile has been modified. Do you want to save your
changes?” You can click “discard”, and what you were doing
prior will not be saved.
Now from the JG menu, click on Actions , then SwapDevices . In the popup, click on the Spektrum Radio, and it will ask:
“Please press the desired …”. Just move, say, the elevator stick
(anything responsive) on the Spektrum NX10. The prompt will close.
Then click X to close the
Swap Devices popup. Now move a joystick around and the
remapping functions in the downloaded Profile will appear on the right side panel.
It is suggested that you step through remapping instructions below
(follow along)
to understand how the remapping works. Also,
you will see how the Spektrum NX10 inputs
are used by FS One (via vJoy axes). A table is also given
below to show the remapping.
Save the Profile. It will save to the location where
you loaded it. But if you select File->SaveProfileAs (recommended),
then it will save it to your local files location (Owner/joystick gremlin) or a location you choose.
When you finish this guide, return back to the last part of
Getting Started: Part I
to continue your setup and run FS One.
Note
When loading in a new Profile, it is a known that Joystick Gremlin
will discard the Action Description names, e.g. “Ailerons”, and so
on. The names are not necessary. But you can follow along below and
add back in the names and save your Profile.
Tip
To use the controller, follow these steps:
In Joystick Gremlin, click the gamepad icon to change it from black to green so that Joystick Gremlin
is Activated. Use JG’s
Tools->InputViewer to confirm that your inputs are going to the vJoy Device joystick
as you expect.
When running FS One, select the vJoy Device virtual joystick that you created.
Do not select the Spektrum Radio.
Before running FS One, it is recommended that you run the Windows Game Controller gadget
to see that vJoy Device is indeed active, responding to your controller inputs.
Each section below remaps a single control to one axis for FS One, starting with Ailerons.
First, you move a control to select an input.
It will gray highlight on the left side of JG’s main window.
Then you will define where that control is mapped using the right side of JG main window.
Then you can test each axis mapping with the JG-viewer window to see that it is correct.
If you are using the downloaded setup above, you do not need to carryout these steps below.
To create your remapping to the standard axes order for FS One,
these steps are performed in JG’s main window.
To start, the JG gamepad icon should be black (not green).
If it is green, click on it.
In JG’s main window, click on the tab: SpektrumRadio .
The left side of the window lists the Spektrum’s axes and buttons.
The last moved axis or button will be highlighted gray.
The right side shows what each axis and button does (what will define the remapping).
This right side is initially blank.
The left side’s labels for the axes (e.g., X Axis, and so on) are
the Windows terminology for joystick axes and buttons and not meaningful to FS One.
Yet, the left side names will be used in the instructions here.
Map the Aileron Stick to vJoy Axis 8
First you may need to move the sticks around to ‘wake-up’ the main
JG window. It can go into a “sleep” mode.
Again, the last moved axis or button should highlight gray as you move each control input.
Move the aileron stick (conventionally, for Mode 2, the right stick, horizontally).
In JG, the left side’s highlight jumps to XRotation .
On the right side, into Action Description type “Ailerons”.
On the right side, next to the first dropdown (it will have Remap selected), click Add .
Inside the gray Remap box, change the lower dropdown from XAxis to Dial (vJoy Axis 8).
Below the Remap box, change the dropdown Remap to ResponseCurve . Click Add .
Within the Response Curve box, click on Invert to reverse the axis.
See image below. Click to enlarge.
Test your mapping:
At top left, click the JG gamepad icon (“Activate”) to change it from black to green.
Move the aileron stick.
Now JG-viewer’s vJoy Axis 8 reacts to that movement.
Your first axis remapping is complete.
Click the JG gamepad icon to make it black again.
Click to make it green to review your mapping at any time.
This screen shot below also shows results of the remaining instructions. Click for full size image.
Map the Elevator Stick to vJoy Axis 7
Move the elevator stick. The left side’s highlight jumps to YRotation .
On the right side, into Action Description type “Elevator”.
On the right side, next to Remap , click Add .
Inside the gray Remap box, change the lower dropdown to Slider (vJoy Axis 7).
Below the Remap box, change the dropdown Remap to ResponseCurve . Click Add .
Within the Response Curve box, click on Invert to reverse the axis.
Map the Rudder Stick to vJoy Axis 6
Move the rudder stick. The left side’s highlight jumps to XAxis .
On the right side, into Action Description type “Rudder”.
On the right side, next to Remap, click Add .
Inside the gray Remap box, change the lower dropdown to ZRotation (vJoy Axis 6).
Map the Throttle Stick to vJoy Axis 5
Move the throttle stick. The left side’s highlight jumps to YAxis .
On the right side, into Action Description type “Throttle”.
On the right side, next to Remap , click Add .
Inside the gray Remap box, change the lower dropdown to YRotation (vJoy Axis 5).
Below the Remap box, change the dropdown Remap to ResponseCurve . Click Add .
Within the Response Curve box, click on Invert to reverse the axis.
Controls Move Axes and Can Trigger Buttons
Note that with the Spektrum NX10 (probably other Spektrum NX transmitters too),
moving the controls (sticks, switches, knob) can move not
only an axis, but they can also trigger button presses, which are seen in
the JG-viewer window. When configuring the mapping, be sure to have gray
highlight on appropriate left side axis label (and not a button
label). You can manually click on the left side to highlight an
axis, but you can also highlight it by moving the Spektrum control
to a location where the highlight is on the left
side axis label (and not a left side button label).
Map the Gear Switch to vJoy Axis 4
Move the top left 2-position switch labeled “A”. The left side’s highlight jumps to Dial .
(If it is not highlighted, see prior note: “Controls Move Axes and Can Trigger Buttons”.)
On the right side, into Action Description type “Gear”.
On the right side, next to Remap , click Add .
Inside the gray Remap box, change the lower dropdown to XRotation (vJoy Axis 4).
Below the Remap box, change the dropdown Remap to ResponseCurve . Click Add .
Within the Response Curve box, click on Invert to reverse the axis.
When the gear switch is pulled forward (toward you), the gear will retract.
Map the Flap Knob to vJoy Axis 3
Move the flap knob. The left side’s highlight jumps to Slider .
On the right side, into Action Description type “Flaps”.
On the right side, next to Remap , click Add .
Inside the gray Remap box, change the lower dropdown to ZAxis (vJoy Axis 3).
When the flap knob is turned fully CCW, the flaps will be retracted.
Map the Reset Switch to vJoy Axis 2
Move the front left 3-position switch labeled “D”. The left side’s highlight jumps to ZAxis .
On the right side, into Action Description type “Reset”.
On the right side, next to Remap , click Add .
Inside the gray Remap box, change the lower dropdown to YAxis (vJoy Axis 2).
Below the Remap box, change the dropdown Remap to ResponseCurve . Click Add .
Within the Response Curve box, click on Invert to reverse the axis.
When the reset switch is up/middle/down, the model will reset-in-place/fly/reset-to-home, respectively.
Map the Flight Modes Switch to vJoy Axis 1
Move the top left 3-position switch labeled “B”. The left side’s highlight jumps to ZRotation .
On the right side, into Action Description type “Flight Modes”.
On the right side, next to Remap , click Add .
Inside the gray Remap box, change the lower dropdown to XAxis (vJoy Axis 1).
When the flight mode switch is pulled forward (toward you), it will be
the “low” rates flight mode (and pushed away, “high” rates).
However,
the specific descriptor when running FS One does depend on the
airplane in FS one.
Save Your Work
From the menu, File->SaveProfileAs and give it a name, e.g. My-Spektrum-NX10.xml .
After you have saved it once, you can File->SaveProfile at any time, of course.
Activate and Test
When the JG gamepad icon is green, the JG-viewer window should
show all vJoy axes reacting to your Spektrum controls defined above.
Alternative Approaches and Additional Information
The selected Spektrum switches (A, B, D) used in this setup are the
default ones assigned by your Spektrum radio when creating a new
model in memory. The switch assignments could be changed using the
programming in your Spektrum radio. If you make changes, be sure to
keep the same mixes of switch types: one 2-position switch (for gear)
and two 3-position switches (for reset and flight modes).
Another approach that can entirely bypass using Joystick Gremlin + vJoy is to use “Channel Assign” in your Spektrum radio. The
channels can be remapped in the radio so that they are ordered in the
standard axes order (see FS One blue axes slider graphic to
see order required by FS One). There is one substantial
disadvantage to taking this approach. It is that when the channels
are reordered in the Spektrum radio so that it works directly with FS One, the primary controls are put into the higher channel slots for: GER, AX1,
AX2, and AX3. By design (i.e. Spektrum firmware), these slots generate undesirable low resolution output
on the USB joystick output from the transmitter. In other words,
your primary controls (gimbals) go into FS One with low
resolution (256 counts). By using JG as recommended, you keep the primary
controls on the first four USB joystick axis and thereby keep the high
resolution (2048 counts).
With an Spektrum Wired Trainer Adapter cable (SPMA3091), the NX10 can
output a standard PPM signal that can be picked up by any standard R/C
flight simulator USB interface. There is little advantage to taking
this approach because still, JG + vJoy is still used to put the axis in
the standard axes order.
Finally, the NX10 can be made to work with the Spektrum Wireless
Simulator USB Dongle (SPMWS2000). The wireless USB interface can
then be remapped following along the lines above (different mapping
however). You make the bind to the wireless adapter, it reports as
a USB joystick device that you remap to a vJoy Device #1, and
then in FS One select the vJoy device.
Finally, your Spektrum transmitter inputs mapped to vJoy should match the standard axes order
below which also shows the axis directions (via showing the result of
full stick, knob, and switch throws in the specific directions).
The mapping order, generally, was discussed here.
In this diagram, the “Axis 1” for vJoy is “1. Flight Modes” (“FM”) for FS One, etc.
When you finish this guide, return back to the last part of Getting Started: Part I to continue your
setup and run FS One.
Click image to enlarge.
Standard axes order in FS One with sliders at full deflections for the controls indicated.
