When Ace Combat first came out in 2019 i was very disappointed by the fact that it did not support proper HOTAS controls, like any decent flight game on PC. After a couple of month the backlash from the PC gaming community forced Bandai Namco to add support for any Input device. Even multiple devices.
In this article, I will guide you through the setup process.
Joystick setup
Ace Combat 7 has support for most Thrustmaster controllers, and if you have a T.Flight HOSTAS 4 or similar the game will run flawlessly with it. If you have any other Thrustmaster products, you can also use them, but you will have to make manual changes in a configuration file. Supported Thrustmaster controllers are:
T.Flight Hotas range:
- T.Flight Hotas X
- T.Flight Hotas 4
- T.Flight Hotas One
- T.Flight Hotas 4 Ace Combat 7 Skies Unknown Edition
- T.Flight Hotas One Ace Combat 7 Skies Unknown Edition
T.16000M range:
- T.16000M
- T.16000M FCS
- T.16000M FCS Hotas
- T.16000M FCS Flight Pack
- T.Flight Rudder Pedals
- TWCS Throttle
HOTAS Warthog range:
- HOTAS Warthog
- HOTAS Warthog Flight Stick
- HOTAS Warthog Dual Throttles
- Thrustmaster Pendular Rudder
If you have joysticks from other vendors/brands, such as Virpil of VKB the best option is to use Joystick Gremlin, to setup a profile specific for Ace Combat 7, where you combine devices into a single vJoy device.
Joystick setup:
Follow this guide to combine all your physical joystick devices into a single virtual joystick for Ace Combat 7.
Joystick config
Where to find it, and how it works
First, you must generate the config file for your joystick. Start the game with your desired joysticks connected or with a single vJoy device active. Then exit out of the game and navigate to:
notepad C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment\ACE COMBAT 7\Config\input.iniReplace <username> with your own username. The file will contain
[JoystickSetting]
EnableJoystick=True
EnableDeviceJoystick=True
EnableDeviceFlight=True
EnableDevice1stPerson=True
[JoystickMappingFormat]
HelpComment=" ObjectFormat"
HelpComment=" X, Y, Z, Rx, Ry, Rz, Slider[1-2], POV_[U, D, L, R][1-4], Button[1-32]"
HelpComment=
HelpComment=" ValueFormat"
HelpComment=" Object, Object:[P, N, R, C]...[P, N, R, C]"
HelpComment=" P:PositiveValue / N:NegativeValue / R:ReverseSign / C:ConvertRange(+1.0~-1.0 -> 0.0~1.0)"
HelpComment=
HelpComment=" MappingFormat"
HelpComment=" Value, Value1 [&, !, +, >, <] Value2"
HelpComment=" &:IfValue2!=0 / !:IfValue2==0 / +:AddValue / >:SelectLarger / <:SelectSmaller"
HelpComment=
HelpComment=" Example"
HelpComment=" Flight_Pitch=Y:R ! Button10"
HelpComment=" Flight_HatSwitchRight=POV_R1"
[Joystick-BEAD1234-0000-0000-0000-504944564944]
ProductName=vJoy Device
Flight_Gun=Button1
Flight_Missile=Button2
Flight_Target=Button3
Flight_Weapon=Button4
Flight_Radar=Button5
Flight_Flare=Button6
Flight_View=Button7
Flight_AccelerationDeceleration=Button24
Flight_AutoPilot=Button8
Flight_Pause=Button9
Flight_HatSwitchUp=Button10
Flight_HatSwitchDown=Button11
Flight_HatSwitchLeft=Button12
Flight_HatSwitchRight=Button13
Flight_Pitch=Y
Flight_Roll=X
Flight_Yaw=Z
Flight_Throttle=Slider1
Flight_CameraPitch=Ry
Flight_CameraYaw=Rx
UI_B=Button4
UI_A=Button14
UI_X=Button2
UI_Y=Button15
UI_LB=Button24
UI_RB=Button25
UI_LT=
UI_RT=
UI_LeftStickPress=Button15
UI_RightStickPress=Button16
UI_DPadUp=Button20
UI_DPadDown=Button21
UI_DPadLeft=Button22
UI_DPadRight=Button23
UI_LeftStickUp=Button26
UI_LeftStickDown=Button27
UI_LeftStickLeft=Button28
UI_LeftStickRight=Button29
UI_RightStickUp=Button10
UI_RightStickDown=Button11
UI_RightStickLeft=Button12
UI_RightStickRight=Button13
UI_Menu=Button9If you had Thrustmaster joysticks connected each device will be listed. You can have multiple joysticks with the same key bind.
In your input.ini file, there will be nothing after the "=" symbol. Enter the correct button- and axis bind based on your Joystick Gremlin profile, or Thrustmaster sticks.
The config file has two modes, Flight and UI mode. Keybindings on the Flight mode (Flight_*) will only apply when you are controlling the plane in-game. The UI mode (UI_*) will only apply when navigating menus.
Save the changes to your file, and make sure your Joystick Gremline profile is running before trying the keybindings in Ace Combat 7.
Graphic config
For some strange reason, Bandai Namco decided to not include proper graphics settings for their PC release. To crank up the graphical fidelity add the following lined to the Engine.ini file.
notepad C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment\ACE COMBAT 7\Config\Engine.ini...
[/script/engine.renderersettings]
r.ViewDistanceScale=10
r.SkeletalMeshLODBias=-2
r.StaticMeshLODDistanceScale=0.1
r.Streaming.HLODStrategy=2
r.PostProcessAAQuality=6
r.DefaultFeature.AntiAliasing=2
r.TemporalAACurrentFrameWeight=0.2
r.TemporalACCatmullRom=1
r.TemporalAAPauseCorrect=1
r.TemporalAASamples=4
r.TemporalAASharpen=0.6
r.TemporalAADynamicSharpen=0.1