Calibration

Calibration

The Control Manager uses its own specialized calibration screen. It is activated when you click the "Test/Calibration" on the Tool Bar or when you select one of the Control Manager-related devices in the Windows Game Controllers Applet and click the "Properties" button. The calibration screen will appear for the actual devices if the Control Manager is currently in Direct Mode and those devices can be calibrated and tested. If the Control Manager is in Mapped Mode, then the calibration screen will only show Control Manager Devices for testing. Control Manager Devices are never actually calibrated.

It normally makes no difference whether you calibrate from the GUI or from the Windows Game Controllers applet, but there are a couple of exception. First, if there are multiple devices of the same type, two Yoke USBs for example. In that case, you need to calibrate from the GUI since it is not possible to tell which of the devices is to be calibrated when the Windows Game Controllers Applet Calibration is used.

Windows XP and New Controllers

In Windows XP if you plug in a new device after the Control Manager is installed, it will initially be registered as a standard "HID-compliant game controller". The driver has to be updated before the Control Manager will be able to see the new device. To do the update, simply calibrate the device initially from within the Control Manager GUI rather than from the Game Controllers applet. Calibration from within the GUI causes the Control Manager to scan the system for any new CH devices and to update them so they appear in the device list. If you plug in a new controller after you've done an XP install, be sure to calibrate it initially from the GUI.

Calibration Within the Control Manager

To start the calibration from the Control Manager, click the Calibration Button on the Tool Bar. If you really want to calibrate your devices, make sure that the Control Manager is in Direct Mode. Otherwise, only testing will be allowed.

The Calibration Button looks like this:

When you click this button, you'll be taken to a dialog that lets you lists the detected controllers so you can select the one you want to test or calibrate. If the Control Manager is in Direct Mode, the actual devices will be listed. If the Control Manager is in Mapped Mode, then a list of the "Control Manager Devices" that the currently active map has created will appear. The dialog looks like this:

Highlight the controller you wish to test or calibrate and click "Okay". This will bring up the Controller Test Screen:

The test screen has several areas. Across is the "Axis" the top are displays for the axes and POV which show their current position. Below those and occupying most of the lower part of the screen is the "Buttons" section which shows the current state of whatever buttons the device has. To the right is the "Raw Data" section. This shows the unscaled values that the controller is generating.

Axis Cursors

The Axis Displays actually have two separate cursors, one yellow and one light blue. The yellow cursor tracks the movement of the controller itself, the handle on a joystick for example. The blue cursor tracks the data that Windows actually sees after it has been passed through any settings for Deadzone, Gain, Sensitivity, etc. that may have been applied either through the Axis Settings tab (see below) if the Control Manager is in Direct Mode or through settings made in the Axis Dialogs if the Control Manager is is Mapped Mode. When the Sensitivity is set to 100% and the Gain is set to linear, the two cursors track each other exactly. When the parameters are adjusted otherwise, the difference can be seen. For example:

The blue cursor shows that the value that Windows will see as a result of the settings currently in effect is only about half the value that the control itself is producing. This might be a reduction in Sensitivity or a response curve that's flatter near center. The various parameters that can be set are described below and in sections on Axis Dialogs.

Doing the Calibration

To begin the calibration procedure, click the "Calibrate" button at the bottom of the screen. You will only be able to do this if the Control Manager is in Direct Mode. The "Buttons" display will disappear and the screen will look like this:

Follow the yellow prompts to complete the calibration. When you click the button, the next prompt will be displayed. When calibration has been completed, a message in green will come up telling you that things went properly. Click "Apply" or "Cancel" depending on whether you want to save the calibration or not. In either case you'll be returned to the Test Screen.

Axis Settings

At the top of the test screen are two selection tabs, one is labeled "Test/Calibration" and is the default. The other tab is labeled "Controller Settings". Again, this is only available if the Control Manager is in Direct Mode. Selecting that tab brings up a second screen that looks like this:

This screen is used to set several parameters for whatever axes the controller has. Though the layout is slightly different, this is the same set of parameters that can be set in using the Axis Dialogs when creating a map. The difference is that the settings made here are applied to the controller when the Control Manager is running in Direct Mode while those set in the Axis Dialogs are only active when running in Mapped Mode. Each setting is explained below.

Centered Checkbox

If this box is checked, then the axis is treated as one that has a natural centered position, such as the joystick handle itself. If the box is unchecked, then the axis is treated as if it does not have such a center position. A throttle wheel would be typical of this sort of axis. The box will be set automatically to match what the axis actually provides and does not normally need to be changed.

The main difference between a "Centered" and a "Non-Centered" axis here is that Centered axes are treated as having a central deadzone and can have a response curve assigned to them. Non-Centered axes do not have a central deadzone and always responds linearly.

There are circumstances when changing this characteristic is useful. If a game were to provide a throttle action where center was "OFF", pushing the throttle forward caused forward motion, and pulling the axis back caused reverse motion, for example, then setting the axis as "Centered" would allow you to set a wide deadzone in the center of the throttle range allowing you to find the "OFF" position more easily.

Reversed

The "Revered" checkbox reverses the direction for the axis as Windows sees it. If the axis normally provides its maximum value when the control is fully back and its minimum value when the control is fully forward, for example, then checking the Reversed box will result in the minimum value being achieved at the full back position and the maximum value being achieved when the control is fully forward.

Gain and Response Settings

Below the Axis Settings is the section for "Gain and Response Settings". These control how the axis that Windows sees behaves relative to the actual control position. How these affect the response is dependent on whether the "Centered" box is checked.

The most prominent item in this section is the "Gain Panel". It's the small graphical box to the left of the dialog and is only active when the axis is marked as "Centered". The yellow line represents the way that the Windows axis responds to the control position. There are 11 curves that may be selected, the default it "linear" response and is indicated by the yellow line goes directly from the lower left to the upper right corner.

The other possible curves are selected using the two Up/Down buttons to the right of the graphical display. Clicking the upper buttons will result in the yellow curve changing to be more vertical near the center and more horizontal near the end points. This results in the control responding more quickly near center, i.e. the Windows axis will move more quickly than the control itself resulting in a more sensitive response near center. Each click of the Up button results in a curve with a steeper response near centers.

Clicking the down button has the opposite effect. The curve become more horizontal near center and steeper at that endpoints. This results in finer control of the axis near center and faster response out near the endpoints. As with the Up button, each click results in a flatter center section and steeper end sections to the curve.

Sensitivity

The "Sensitivity" box is active for both Centered and Non-Centered axes. It basically controls how much the Control Manager Device axis will move when the control is moved through its full range. It can be set from 0% to 100%.

For Centered axes, the control essentially scales both ends back toward center, i.e. if it's set to 80% the Control Manager Device axis will come to 80% of what Windows considers full travel when the control itself is moved through its full range.

For Non-Centered axes it works much the same, but the scaling is taken from one end only. Setting the throttle wheel to 80%, for example, causes the Control Manager Device axis to move from its minimum value to 80% of its maximum value as the wheel is moved through its full range.

In some Non-Centered cases, it's necessary that the axis be scaled from the other end, i.e. you need it to go from 20% to 100% rather than from 0% to 80%. To accomplish this, the Non-Centered scaling can be set to a negative value. A setting of -80% will give the 20%-100% case where a setting of 80% gives the 0% to 80% case.

Deadzone

Deadzone is only applied to Centered axes and defines the area around the calibrated center position where the axis is to be considered as being at its center point. This allows the center to be stable even if there is a little play at the center position or where the calibrated center is off by a small amount. A setting of 2% or so is generally enough, but higher values may be necessary or desired depending on how the control is to be used.

Calibrating from the Game Controllers Applet

Calibration from the Game Controllers applet is essentially the same with the exceptions noted at the beginning of this section. If you're in Direct Mode and don't have any duplicate devices, there really is no difference except that you'll select the controller you want to calibrate in the Game Controllers Applet rather than the popup dialog that the Control Manager GUI gives you.

As noted previously, you can only calibrate in Windows if you're in Direct Mode. If you're in Mapped Mode, you can test but you have no Axis Settings tab and you'll only be able to test the Control Manager Device. The screen will look like this in that case:

which only shows the output from the Control Manager Devices.

Throttle Quadrant Calibration

Because of its unique characteristics, the calibration applet is somewhat different for the Throttle Quadrant than it is for the other devices. The main Test/Calibration screen looks like this:

The obvious difference here is that the X/Y display present for the other devices is missing. Rather, there are just six normal axis displays, one for each of the levers on the Throttle Quadrant. Otherwise the dialog is essentially the same as the standard dialogs.

The calibration procedure itself is slightly different, too. While it's still a matter of simply following the on-screen prompts, the calibration is done to all six axes at the same time, making it essentially just a three-step process. Pull all six levers all the way back and click a button, push all six forward to their detents and click a button, then push all six all the way forward and click a button. This is much faster than individual calibration and much less prone to cause errors.

Throttle Quadrant Settings

When you run the Test/Calibration applet for the Throttle Quadrant, you will notice that there is a "Throttle Settings" tab at the top of the dialog as opposed to the "Axis Settings" tab that appears for other devices. If you select the tab, the screen will look like this:

Just as with the other devices, this page defines the characteristics for the axis when used in Direct Mode. There are settings for "Min Value", "Max Value", "Detent Value", and "Deadzone", as well as an "Invert Data" checkbox. These settings have the same function as the "Min Val", "Max Val", "Det Val", and "Deadzone" values and the "Invert" checkbox that are available in the Axis Dialogs used to set the axis parameters when the device is used in Mapped Mode. Please refer to the section on the DX Axis Parameters for the Throttle Quadrant for a more detailed description of these settings and how they are used.