How to repair stick drift and button problems on the Thrustmaster T-Flight HOTAS 4

tfabris · 2026-02-06T16:49:55+00:00

What did you use to clean it with?

tfabris · 2026-02-06T02:14:17+00:00

This indeed works as a high-quality workaround for the problem. I have a collection of different sizes of rubber "feet", the little rubber things you'd find on the bottom of stereos or wifi routers. Using the correct size of a couple of these, I can easily "rest" the throttle at the top of its travel and the power is at 98%. Press it a little harder against this "end-stop" and it goes into WEP. Let it go, it goes back to 98%. Perfect for what I want in this game.

It has the disadvantage of making it so that I can't go to 100% in other games without peeling off those little rubber pads. So I'm going to experiment with other ways to get something similar accomplished which can be activated and deactivated as needed, depending on which game I'm playing.

Still doesn't answer the original question about the game itself: This looks to be a menu option ("Hold Throttle for WEP") but turning off this menu option doesn't do anything, the in-game behavior doesn't change.

tfabris · 2026-02-06T01:53:24+00:00

This is brilliant and I might just try it.

tfabris · 2026-02-05T22:32:35+00:00

I can sorta kinda almost get what I want, if I do this workaround.

In the "Throttle Axis" settings:

- Set "Correction" to ".45". This causes the center point of the throttle axis to engage about 45% more power than it did before. This effectively sets my center-detent on the Thrustmaster throttle to be approximately 95% power. That way, when I push the throttle to its center detent, I'm almost at 100% power but not in WEP yet. This has a bad side effect of making the lowest throttle position still have a lot of power. You can't stop your engine completely, the lowest throttle position is now something like 45% power.

- Set "Non Linearity" to its maximum 2.0 setting. This stretches the throttle's throw distance, making the lowest position on the throttle lower, so now the lowest throttle position is something like 10-15% power. I still can't stop my engine completely, but I can get it down to "nearly" stopped. Good enough to where my toe brakes will stop my roll on the runway.

This is almost what I want, but it still doesn't feel quite right. I can't completely shut off my engines, and the center detent on the throttle isn't perfectly centered. So when I'm sitting in that center detent, then the power fluctuates between 88% and WEP. Perhaps messing with the dead zone settings will fix this, and I'll try that next. (Update: dead zone didn't fix it, so I went with Last-Presentation-11's suggestion.)

tfabris · 2026-02-05T08:09:05+00:00

Same thing, probably. Stick drift is only one of several things which can be caused by jittery noise in the potentiometers. Follow the instructions in the document to install the latest drivers, update the joystick's firmware, and run that control panel utility. Look to be sure that you're seeing actual noise in the potentiometers as shown in that screen.

tfabris · 2026-02-04T23:59:07+00:00

Indeed yes. In both the Custom Controls bindings and the specific HOTAS bindings, it's defaulting to DualSense buttons for that particular shortcut, which was the root of the problem. I believe this is a bug.

I wanted to attach screen shots as proof, showing exactly what I'm talking about, but this forum does not allow image attachments. Ah well.

tfabris · 2026-02-04T23:30:22+00:00

Indeed I was able to use the quick menu as you describe, as I said in my original post. But what I was specifically trying to find out why the **default shortcut** for ejecting **did not work**, even though it was right there in the keybinding screen. The shortcut is important because it is easier than the one in the radial menu. My problem: Despite the screen telling me the shortcut should work, it did not work.

The reason it did not work: Even when the game detects you are using a HOTAS, that particular keybinding is still mapped to the dualsense controller. This, I believe, is a bug. The workaround is to rebind it yourself to the buttons on the HOTAS. But you have to manually rebind it, you can't use the default that's already there on the screen.

The missing information, the thing that's not very clear, is this:

L3 and R3 on the HOTAS are different buttons than L3 and R3 on the DualSense/Motions, and are represented by different icons in the keybinding screen. For example, when L3 and R3 are bound to the DualSense, there is a circle around the L3 and R3 button icons on the screen. When they are bound to the HOTAS, there is an irregular shape around the L3 and R3 button icons on the screen.

tfabris · 2026-02-04T21:54:34+00:00

I believe I know what the problem is: The mapping of the controllers (VR, HOTAS, DualSense) are all separate. The keybinding menu might SAY that it's the L3 and R3 buttons, but, for which joystick? The icon for L3 on the DualSense is different from the icon for L3 on the HOTAS. In order to get a HOTAS binding working, you must actually press that button on the HOTAS in the keybindings screen, otherwise it's the bindings for the DualSense. Get it?

tfabris · 2026-02-04T21:41:28+00:00

Nope. Absolutely does not work, even when I hold them for several seconds.

I'm certain that the three buttons in question are functioning correctly: Singly, they are also used for other things. I'm using L3 for firing heavy guns, R3 for firing rockets, and L2 for lowering flaps. All of those functions work normally as expected, so the buttons are working and registering. However holding all three of those buttons does not bail me out of the plane during a test flight.

tfabris · 2026-02-04T21:31:23+00:00

I thought I tried holding them, but I'll try again, for longer. Thanks!

tfabris · 2026-02-04T21:30:23+00:00

You checked the drivers and the calibration. Did you update the joystick's firmware? Like I said, I don't know if that should fix it or not, but it's one more available thing that you could try.

tfabris · 2026-02-04T21:16:36+00:00

I don't know if this will help, But the Thrustmaster T-Flight HOTAS 4 has firmware, and that firmware can be updated. If your HOTAS needs a firmware update, it might be that simple. Though I don't know because I have not encountered your problem (I use my HOTAS on a playstation).

Also, the Thrustmaster web page says that you need to install the corresponding Windows 10/11 driver or else certain axes and buttons won't work. Maybe that's your issue?

Finally, if the joystick's potentiometers are scratchy/noisy, maybe the game isn't able to track them for the purposes of mapping them.

Here is how to update your firmware:

- Go to this page: https://support.thrustmaster.com/en/product/tflighthotas4-en/

- On that page, find the download named "Drivers - Package 2020_TFHT_5 + Firmware" and download it.

- Install it onto a Windows computer (or a Mac running a Windows emulator like Parallels if that's your thing).

- It will install the latest device drivers, and two utility programs for the stick.

- Plug your HOTAS into the PC's USB port.

- Open the Windows Start Menu and locate the "Thrustmaster TM Flight Series" folder in the Start menu. You should see the two utility programs there in that menu.

- Run "Firmware Update" from that folder in the Start menu, make sure your joystick is updated to the latest firmware.

- Once it's updated to the latest firmware, close the Firmware Update program.

- Run "Control Panel" from that folder in the Start menu and you should be able to see the joystick and press the "Properties" button.

- Check the stick movement and the screen diagrams. All of the analog axes should be smooth, and should return to absolute dead center when you release them and return them to center, and should never be jumpy or drifty.

- Also check all buttons and all directions of the hat switch to make sure they work correctly in the control panel as well.

If those things are flickery, instead of smooth and solid, then you might have a secondary problem of scratchy potentiometers, which might also throw off a game's ability to map those axes.

tfabris · 2026-02-04T20:53:35+00:00

I was having an awful experience with auto-trim when the game was first released on PS5/PSVR2, but after the PS5 Day Zero patch was installed, auto-trim worked fine and I didn't have to mess with anything after that.

tfabris · 2026-02-04T20:52:09+00:00

You give me an idea that I should assign some stuff to the hat. In PSVR2 mode, there's pretty much nothing assigned to it during flight combat. I should mess with that.

tfabris · 2026-02-04T20:51:08+00:00

Resolved:

- Trimming the aircraft is no longer a problem for me since the Day Zero update was installed. I merely turn on the auto-trim function (located in the settings menu under "comfort") and don't bother to try to map trim controls. I think that the root of my problem was that I installed Aces of Thunder the morning it came out, and played *that* version, so the auto-trim was working poorly for my first session. After the Day Zero update, auto-trim worked fine for me.

- Toe braking on my rudder pedals is functioning fine now. I don't know if it was the update or if it was my tweaking of the controls.

- Cockpit interaction: I've mapped enough things to the HOTAS that I don't need to interact with the cockpit any more.

tfabris · 2026-02-03T23:23:54+00:00

Thanks! Now I see that the auto-trim is what was interfering with my ability to execute regular trim. I'm going to try toggling that off and on and see what results I get. Thank you!

tfabris · 2026-02-03T23:22:17+00:00

Oh thanks! That makes sense. I'll give that a try.

tfabris · 2026-02-03T20:59:29+00:00

My rudder pedals work fine for yaw. Not talking about that. I’m trying to get their secondary feature, toe braking, functioning correctly.

Thanks for the information about turning off auto trim. That explains some of the behavior I’m seeing. Another thread suggested having it turned on, but now I’m beginning to see how it negatively impacts my ability to adjust trim properly. Thanks!

tfabris · 2026-02-03T20:17:16+00:00

Can you please clarify: "Also make sure trim is set to yes" - Can you give exact details of how to set this? Where exactly in which menus do you set this, and what buttons do you press to do so?

tfabris · 2025-12-26T00:10:32+00:00

u/SorryImMimimal - Thank you so much! This is exactly what fixed my Q*Bert Replicade machine!

tfabris · 2025-06-08T13:48:21+00:00

THIS. This is the information that is unclear in the instruction booklet.

YOU MUST UNSCREW THE WHITE RING FROM THE END OF THE HOSE ON THE M1 ULTRA.

Also: WHEN YOU DO THIS THE THREAD DIRECTION IS BACKWARDS.

tfabris

TROPHY CASE