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Author: James Hallows
Last modified 28th Jan 04
Calibrating the Cougar

Introduction

Calibrating the Cougar with all the options available in the Cougar Control Panel (CCP)
seems complicated at first, and not entirely intuitive. The purpose of this discussion
therefore is to show you how to use auto or manual calibration successfully.

Definition: Calibration is simply a way of ensuring that all the Cougar axes can reach the
same maximum and minimum values corresponding to their physical range of travel.

It is achieved by measuring the minimum, centre and maximum values that are
generated for each axis, and scaling the axis readings and presenting them in a range
Windows expects to see.

Before we get going though, an essential warning is in order:

Never use any non-Thrustmaster calibration routine

Windows has its own calibration routine for joysticks in its Game Controllers applet and
you must not use it with the Cougar. It and others will create and store calibration data in
the Windows registry, and this will adversely affect the Cougar’s calibration. Please see
the documentation in the installed (not printed) CCP manual on the HOTASCleanse.exe
application should you think that you have calibration data in the registry affecting the
Cougar.

Second warning: I have the ability to write an awful lot to explain the simplest of
procedures, so don’t be put off by the length of this document. It’s a gift. There’s a
summary at the end but I do recommend that you keep a copy of this in your downstairs
loo and read through it until it all makes sense.

One final point: This document assumes that you are using the latest TM software and
firmware as at 1st February, 2004. This is currently HOTASCougar2.04.exe.

Off we go then.

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Two methods of calibrating the Cougar

Here’s a quick overview before we get our hands dirty. As the title says there are
essentially two different ways to effect a calibration of the Cougar. They are by:

1.) Auto calibration.

2.) Manual calibration.

Unlike most joysticks that store calibration data in Windows, the Cougar uses only
the calibration data inside its memory. It actually has two areas of memory it can use for
calibration data – one for auto calibration data, and the other for manual calibration data.
When you select the Calibration mode on the CCP’s Startup & Calibration tab, you are
effectively switching between these two areas of memory.

Auto calibration is the default setup and is the easiest to understand and use. Calibration
data is re-calculated continuously whenever the firmware reads different extremes of
values from each axis. This data is cleared and effectively re-initialised whenever power
is lost to the Cougar, as well as in a few other situations.

Manual calibration relies on calibration data stored inside the Cougar. This data gets into
the Cougar usually by running through and applying the results of the manual calibration
routine. The calibration data created by the manual calibration routine can be saved to
profiles, and importantly is stored in a calibration.ini file located in your main HOTAS
folder, the significance of which will be discussed later.

When you’re messing around in the CCP calibrating or changing

axis data, I personally recommend that you ensure that the stick is in
Windows mode (Button and Axis Emulation mode is off.)

Let’s get our hands dirty then …..

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1.) Auto calibration

The simplest and default way of calibrating your Cougar. Open up the CCP and make
sure first that the Calibration Mode is set to Auto calibration and then secondly that the
Axis Response is set to Default mode.

Now all you need to do is to move all axes to their maximum positions, holding them
there for a few seconds, and then to their minimum positions and holding them there for a
few seconds. The Cougar will collect all the data it needs for calibration and you are
done. Go flying. The Cougar will continue to update its calibration information as you
use it.

Auto calibration can be used with the Axis Response set to Default mode or User mode.
Default mode is the default axis setup and ordering. User mode reflects any modifications
to the axis settings you’ve applied. Very commonly, the CCP is used to modify axis
settings (see the CCP manual) and then the settings are sent to the Cougar when you
press the Apply button. This will apply the axis settings to the axis data in the stick and
automatically switch the Axis Response to User mode.

You can affect the axes through axis programming statements in your joystick file
even if the CCP says Default mode. Just something to be aware of.

If you want to adjust the centre positions of the axes under auto calibration, then select
the Startup & Calibration tab, and click on the Set Center positions button. Select the
axes you want to change the centre positions for from the next Window, and then follow
the instructions as they appear. The downside of this should you want to do this, is that
you’ll need to do it each time the auto calibration data is re-initialised.

You can if you’re running at a high enough resolution, run Foxy’s Windows joystick
analyser besides the CCP at this point, so you can monitor the effects of your changes.
This is great for checking calibration and axis information as you adjust it.

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Notes
• Auto calibration data is lost every time your Cougar loses power, on firmware
updates, and when switching between Default and User mode. This is by design.
• If when switching from User to Default mode, you find that the axes aren’t reaching
maximum and minimum positions in Default mode, then switch back to User mode
and then straight back to Default mode again. This can occur if you’ve used auto
calibration with deadzones removed from the axes.
• If you start removing deadzones, or fly frantically online when you really do throw
the stick forcefully around, it is possible to generate auto calibration data that is
difficult to go full range with normal stick movement. If you’re in doubt, open up
Foxy’s joystick analyser and see what your stick’s response is up to. If you do find
this, then re-initialise the auto calibration data, or better, use manual calibration.
• The Cougar will always default to auto calibration after updating the firmware.
• You can instruct the CCP to place the Cougar in manual or auto calibration mode
when Windows starts by several means. You can set the Startup Options from the
CCP’s Startup & Calibration tab, or you could use the CCP or Launcher to
automatically download a file containing a USE PROFILE statement with suitable
syntax to switch the calibration mode.
• That’s enough Notes don’t you think?!

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2.) Manual calibration

In this section I’ll explain how to perform a manual calibration, how to store that data,
and how to use manual calibration reliably.

Performing a manual calibration

Only calibrate your controllers directly from the CCP’s Startup & Calibration tab.
Foxy’s Calibrate controllers menu and the similar menu in the joystick analyser should
not be used. There’s a bug in the CCP with the way it handles the calibration routine
when called from an external program.

Right – nice and simple:

1.) Ensure your Cougar in Windows mode (big red button should be visible). You may
want to ensure that the Cougar is in auto calibration mode and that you’ve moved your
axes around. In theory it shouldn’t make any difference because the calibration routine
looks at raw axis data from the stick, and not what is presented to Windows. However I
have seen people posting on the forums (usually those with hall sensors) saying that
setting the centre positions helped them overcome manual calibration error messages. Not
something I’ve encountered.

2.) Press the Manual Calibration button.

3.) The calibration routine window pops up. Make sure all your axes are centred as
requested and then run through each stage of the calibration routine. You should look at
the Raw values area down the bottom left to judge when you’ve moved the axes to their
maximum or minimum values.

On the screen capture below I’ve indicated which axis directions result in the lowest
value being displayed in the Raw values area, and therefore for all the other axis
directions, you’re after the highest values. In fact to be honest it doesn’t matter too much
which way round you do this, as the CCP will sort it out if you do it the wrong way.

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Anyway it’s a simple matter of rattling through this all and getting to step 20.

The CCP should correctly detect the number of axes present, and disable those not
present when running through the calibration routine. So the above screen capture
represents a Cougar with single axis rudders attached.

A common question asked is “which way is clockwise when rotating the ANT and RNG
rotaries?” By convention, looking at the knob from a “face on” direction dictates the
rotation direction.

At stage 20, hit the Apply button. A window pops up asking you whether you want to
“save the new settings to the device.” Or in other words, do you want that calibration data
to be downloaded to the stick, and then the stick placed in manual calibration mode so
that it’s using that data now and not auto calibration data? Well, yes we do, otherwise I’m
sitting here typing this for nothing!

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When you press the “Yes” button, you’ll be returned to the CCP:

You can see now that the Calibration mode has been changed to Manual calibration, and
that the Axis Response has also changed to User mode. You cannot select the Default
mode axis response when in manual calibration mode (after all, default mode is with auto
calibration) so it is greyed out. At this stage, and unbeknown to you, the CCP has created
a file in your HOTAS folder called calibration.ini. I’m going to come back to that …

Now – important point. Now is the time to create different profiles if you want
them to contain good manual calibration data. Let’s quickly revise our understanding
of what a profile is:

The contents of a Profile: One of the main features of the CCP is that it can be used to
change the way your axes behave. Axes can have response curves applied to them, can
have deadzones added or removed, can be reversed, disabled, etc. etc. The CCP can send
this axis information to be stored inside the Cougar (when you press the Apply button).
The CCP can also combine this data with calibration data, and save the whole lot in files
called Profiles (*.tmc), which can be downloaded to the Cougar.

Important point then: A profile contains axis information and calibration data

So why am I stressing that you should create your profiles straight after a manual
calibration? Well, there’s a bug in the CCP. Profiles created, or loaded and edited at any
other time will contain corrupt calibration data that is next to useless to you. This bug is
currently under investigation.

What I tend to do is to save a profile first called “Manual calibration.tmc” which is

essentially the Default settings with my manual calibration data. Then I create different
profiles with whatever axes deadzones, swapped axes, reversed axes, I need for different
games, and save them individually with the game’s name. I don’t do anything else, but
bang out my profiles. Yes, it’s inconvenient to do this now, but it becomes very quick
when you get used to manual calibration and profile creating.

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Right. Now you’re manually calibrated and you can go off flying. But if you want to
understand now how to use manual calibration reliably, then stay with me.

The calibration.ini file

Now, the whole aim of that calibration routine is to generate calibration data that can be
saved in profiles, and as well, to create a file in your HOTAS folder called
calibration.ini. So, this file contains your calibration data you generated. Let’s first of all
look at the contents of this ini file, and then we’ll look at how the CCP uses it.

Here’s what my calibration.ini file contains (I’ve added the axis names) after calibrating
my Cougar with single axis rudders attached:

[Calibration]
0=39878,29718,19596 Joystick X axis
1=21068,31496,41502 Joystick Y axis
2=41536,30720,21344 Microstick X
3=42496,32800,21280 Microstick Y
4=11008,32768,53344 Throttle
5=11008,33184,53408 Antenna
6=11008,32064,53536 Range
7=56512,45600,29664 Rudder
8=0,32768,0 These last two
9=0,32768,0 are toebrake axes

Apart from the [Calibration] line, there are 10 lines, one for each axis. The format for
each line is:

Axis number = minimum, centre, maximum positions

It doesn’t matter by the way that for some axes the values seem to increase, and for
others, decrease as you read from left to right. So that’s all that the file contains. So what?

The significance of the calibration data in the calibration.ini file is that whenever you
press the Apply button in the CCP, the data is read in from the ini file and downloaded to
the manual calibration memory in the Cougar. So if you want to make adjustments to axis
data in the CCP, and use the stick in manual calibration mode, then you’d better make
sure you have a good calibration.ini file present in your HOTAS folder. Otherwise if you
press that Apply button without that ini file present, you send next to useless calibration
data to the stick. This will result in the stick axes showing incomplete axis range.

Note that the ini file is deleted if you flash update your Cougar’s firmware. So what some
people do is to write protect their calibration.ini file. One last but important point – the
calibration.ini file is currently ignored with USE PROFILE statements …. which we’re
coming on to now.

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Using manual calibration stored in a profile

First of all, let me say straight away that you cannot load up a profile in the CCP,
download it to your Cougar and use the calibration data it contains. If you have a
calibration.ini file present in your HOTAS folder, then its calibration data will be sent to
the stick instead. And if you don’t have that ini file, then you’ll get useless calibration
data sent to the stick. You can of course apply the axis data saved in a profile from the
CCP, just not its calibration data.

To use the calibration data in the profile with manual calibration, you must download the
profile to the stick. There are three ways to do this:

1.) From Foxy’s Reset options – Download menu.

2.) Via a joystick file containing a USE PROFILE statement.
3.) Via the startup options in the CCP.

1.) Foxy’s Reset options

a) Select Foxy’s Download menu and choose the Reset options item.

b) In the window that pops up, select the profile that contains the calibration and axis
settings you want to use by default and select the Use manual calibration data option.
Then press the OK button.
c) From the Download menu, select “Apply manual calibration.tmc now.” That’s it.

2.) Via a joystick file containing a USE PROFILE statement.

1.) Open up Foxy’s Composer and navigate to the USE PROFILE tab:

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2.) Select the profile to use from the list, select CUSTOM ( = manual calibration mode)
and press the Insert button. This will create the correct USE PROFILE statement in your
joystick file.
3.) Then just download the joystick file. Done.

Note that a USE PROFILE profile name (CUSTOM) statement ignores the calibration.ini
file and uses the manual calibration data in the profile.

3.) Via the startup options in the CCP.

If you want your Cougar to default to starting up in manual calibration mode, then all you
need to do is to set the Startup options in the CCP accordingly.

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You don’t need to select the Load the following profile section if you already have good
calibration data in your stick. That data won’t be lost on power down and you can
therefore just select your startup options so as to select Manual calibration as opposed to
the default Auto calibrate option. I tend to put the profile into my startup options – it just
gives me that extra confidence that my stick is refreshed each time I load up Windows.

Note that I personally recommend that if you want to use startup options, always select
Emulation Off, unless you understand the Cougar well.

Don’t forget to hit the Save button to save these startup settings! Remember as well that
startup options only apply when Windows starts up. If you disconnect your Cougar, it
won’t default to manual calibration mode when you reconnect it.

So that’s pretty much all you need to know in order to use auto calibration and
manual calibration successfully

There are certain bits I’ve left out, like grabbing the auto calibration data and using that
as your manual calibration data. But there’s enough here to ensure calibration woes are a
thing of the past for you.

Let’s summarise ….

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The Summary

• There are two forms of calibration for the Cougar: Auto and manual calibration.

• Auto calibration mode relies on you moving your axes to maximum and minimum
positions each time you power up your Cougar. You can use the CCP or
programming statements to change axis settings, and this is independent of your
auto calibration data.

• Manual calibration relies on you running through the manual calibration routine,
which you should do only directly from the CCP, not any of Foxy’s apps. The
data this generates is saved in a calibration.ini file, and you should also directly
after running through the routine, save any profiles you want to use in your
joystick files.

• Pressing the Apply button in the CCP when sending axis information to the
Cougar also sends the manual calibration data from the calibration.ini file to the
stick.

• Manual calibration data successfully saved in a profile can be sent to the stick
from Foxy, via a USE PROFILE statement, or via the CCP’s Startup options.

• Bug: Anytime you open up a profile with good calibration data in it and re-save it,
whether edited or not, destroys the calibration data in it.

• Bug: Pressing the Apply button in the CCP with manual calibration mode, when
there isn’t a calibration.ini file in the HOTAS folder, results in a stick that won’t
go full range.

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