X56 HOTAS Controller

Status: Beta (1.0.0-beta)

Map your Logitech X56 HOTAS to game inputs with clean, reliable behavior.

This app reads your HOTAS at a fixed 1,000 samples per second, filters out ghost inputs, and lets you map any HOTAS button/axis to:

• Virtual Xbox 360 controller (ViGEm)
• Keyboard keys
• Mouse actions

You get live graphs for raw and filtered signals, so you can see exactly what the device is doing and what the filter is producing.

What You Need

• Windows 10 or 11
• Logitech X56 HOTAS plugged in
• Optional (for virtual controller): ViGEmBus driver

Install & Run

Option A — Download (recommended for end users):

• Grab the latest prebuilt hotas_controller.exe from the Releases page and run it.
• The app ships with its required libraries; no separate dependency install.

Option B — Build from source (advanced users):

cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build --config Release --target hotas_controller
./build/Release/hotas_controller.exe

• The build scripts fetch and build dependencies automatically (ImGui, ImPlot, nlohmann/json, etc.).
• ViGEm client is integrated; if the ViGEmBus driver is present, the Virtual Output will show Ready. If not, virtual output is disabled gracefully.

Quick Start

• Plug in the HOTAS and launch the app.
• In Control:
  • Set Window (seconds) for how much history to show.
  • Turn on Filter Mode and pick parameters:
    • Analog Rate Limit: 0–100% per sample (smooths axes)
    • Digital Pulse Max (ms): minimum press length to count (debounce)
  • Choose per‑input filter mode (None/Digital/Analog) for each HOTAS signal.
• Open Mappings:
  • Pick a HOTAS signal (Stick/Throttle, including HAT directions and POV).
  • Choose Action Type: x360, keyboard, or mouse.
  • For axes, set a small Deadband (e.g., 0.05) and Priority (higher wins).
  • Click Add Mapping, then Save Profile to persist.
• Optional: enable Virtual Output to publish a virtual Xbox 360 pad via ViGEm.

How Filtering Works

• Digital (buttons, toggles): requires a press to last at least Digital Pulse Max before it “promotes” and appears; shorter pulses are ignored.
• Analog (axes): limits the maximum change per sample by a percentage of the input’s full range.
  • Axes normalized to −1..1 use a 2.0 full range.
  • Raw analog inputs use their bit‑range (e.g., 0..65535).
• Triggers can be treated as digital or analog separately.

Keyboard & Mouse Mapping

• Keyboard events use scan codes (not just virtual keys) so browsers/games receive a proper code like KeyV.
• Use simple names (e.g., VK_SPACE, A) in the Mappings UI.
• Mouse actions include clicks and movement.

Settings & Profiles

• Click Save Settings to write filter/runtime options to config/filter_settings.cfg.
• Click Save Profile in Mappings to write HOTAS→action pairs to config/mappings.json.
• No auto‑save on exit (you control when to save).

Tips

• If Virtual Output is disabled, install ViGEmBus; the client library is built along with the app.
• Use the per‑signal filter table to apply Digital to noisy buttons and Analog to jittery axes.
• Test keyboard mappings at the W3C Key Event Viewer (the code field should be set).

Known Limits

• Polling is fixed at 1 kHz and independent of UI frame rate.
• History is stored in fixed‑size rings to keep memory bounded.
• Filter modes are mutually exclusive per signal.
• UI stays in three panes (Control | Raw | Filtered).

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Beta Notes (1.0.0-beta)

• First public beta with fixed 1 kHz polling, per-signal filtering, and ViGEm virtual controller integration.
• Version metadata embedded in the executable (File/Product Version: 1.0.0-beta).
• Settings persist to config/filter_settings.cfg; mappings to config/mappings.json.
• Please report issues with device enumeration, filtering behavior, or virtual output readiness.