Thrustmaster Resource Center

After releasing their FCS and FCS Pro flightsticks the fols at Thrustmaster came up with a special throttle, the WCS (Weapon Control System). There have been made 3 version. The WCS Mark I, which was non-programmable. The WCS Mark II type one, which was programmable, but only limited. And finally the WCS Mark II type two, which is fully programmable. The Mark II type one can be upgraded to the type two version by switching the chip which holds the microcode btw...

One of the best things of the WCS is that it can be used with almost any standard 2 or 4 button joystick. If the stick also has a hat, it might become a bit more tricky... Thr Thrustmaster hat type uses one analogue channel on the gameport, and with 4 resistors it can mimick 4 different output levels that make for the 4 hat positions. However they chose the Y2 channel for this, which is also used for the throttle. Now here's how they solved it : you either prgram the hat or the throttle digital, and the other device remains analogue. Say you have a game that doesn't support analogue throttle, but DOES support a standard hat switch (usually called FCS stick in the options menu) Select FCS and you're set! The throttle will output the keystrokes to emulate keyboard throttle.

More on programming the F-16 TQS in the programming section. Here's an image with all the button and hat names (print it out and keep it handy when editing files!)

For more information on the technical side, check out the WCS hardware tweaks section. Can't get the parts you need? Check out the parts section for suggested alternatives.

All information on these pages are Copyright © 1999-2001 by Jan-Albert van Ree except where noted. None of the information may be republished in ANY format, unless explicit written permission has been obtained. The Thrustmaster name and logo are Copyright © of Guillemot