Look into the X52 Pro Throttle which can sometimes be found alone and cheap on Ebay. Probably one of the best I have used and that is after owning a Ch Pro Throttle and currently using the Warthog Throttle. Lots of hats and buttons and it can be used alone. Using Xpadder you can map the buttons if you have to.
Already have one. It's what I'm replacing, but keeping as a backup. The problem I'm facing is that some games don't like certain virtual controllers and flip out... Somehow, CH virtual controllers don't do that.
From what I can understand they aren't really virtual controllers.
When you go to mapped mode the current profile is uploaded into the hardware directly, the software is only to create, test and upload the profiles and button presses aren't converted by a software into keyboard strokes but such keyboard strokes are sent directly from the peripheral.
It's actually a remainder of the days when a keyboard passthrough was necessary to use all the buttons, but it comes really handy for having compatibility with a lot of stuff that barely accepts the stick and the first four buttons.
It's actually one of the main reasons I ended up buying the throttle, before fiddling a bit with the software after I bought the stick I sincerely though that the throttle could be used only with more recent games, now I play the first X-wing with a full (well, almost, no pedals) HOTAS and it's as it always was like that.
Look into the X52 Pro Throttle which can sometimes be found alone and cheap on Ebay. Probably one of the best I have used and that is after owning a Ch Pro Throttle and currently using the Warthog Throttle. Lots of hats and buttons and it can be used alone. Using Xpadder you can map the buttons if you have to.
Some games tend to have lots of problems with Xpadder et similia, the CH control manager loads the profile directly into the hardware which tends to solve the problems.
Now if only I could find a way to program the throttle in the DOS Wing Commander games, damn you Chris Roberts and your mania of not putting in speed presets in your DOS space games!