This guide will show you how to configure your Hobby King 2.4Ghz 6Ch Tx & Rx V2 - Mode 2 transmitter as the input to your flight simulator. I'm using the excellent and free RC Desk Pilot with the FT Old Fogey model to practice flying my Smash Drone.

Note that I'm using PPJoy which requires disabling driver signing, which isn't ideal. Supposedly vJoy works with T6sim, but I couldn't get it working.

  • Download RC Desk Pilot

  • Grab the Flite Test models for RC Desk Pilot. We'll want the FT Old Fogey, which has very similar flight characteristics to the Smash Drone. Unzip them into the Aircraft folder in Documents -> RC Desk Pilot.

  • Identify and download the proper driver for your trainer cable, as detailed in the t6config documentation.

    • In Windows 8.1, right-click Start -> pick Device Manager
    • Expand the Ports (COM & LTP) line
    • You should see an SILabs CP210 or Prolific USB to serial device. Note the COM PORT # it is on. Mine is on COM PORT 3.
    • Driver Downloads:

  • Download ppjoysetup-0-8-4-6.exe. We'll use this to create a virtual joystick that the simulator understands, reading in the data sent by T6Sim.

  • Turn Windows 8 Driver signing off. This is called Test Mode. Here's a guide with pictures from sparkfun or follow these steps:

    • Open the start menu and search for "pc settings" pick update and recovery then recovery.
    • Under advanced startup pick restart now
    • Pick disable driver signature enforcement
    • Once you've restarted move onto installing PPJoy

  • Install PPJoy. You should see a popup like this at some point, install anyway:

  • Setup a virtual joystick. Pick a 6 channel virtual joystick with 2 buttons. Images from the T6Sim zip:

  • Download T6sim_v1.07.zip, this is what interfaces your radio transmitter with your computer via the trainer cable connection. Alternate Link, same sha1 hash. Unzip it to your desktop.

    • Copy the T6sim executable from T6sim_v1.07 -> T6sim_v1.07 to your desktop. This should put a nice yellow smiley face on your desktop.
    • Connect you USB cable to PC and radio.
    • If you have re-programmed your radio to anything besides the default, you may need to set it back to the original settings to get the simulator to control the plane in a sane way. You could do this with the t6config program t6install.zip or an alternative like turborix.dmg for mac.
    • Run T6Sim, it's the smiley face icon on your desktop.
    • Pick the correct COM port, you found in the device manager when looking for the right driver.
    • Turn on the radio, T6Sim should say connected. Note: you can take out the batteries and plug the radio into a 12v power supply to save some batteries.
    • The sliders in T6Sim should respond to movement of the radio controls.

  • I had to reboot at this point, otherwise T6sim wouldn't send the control data to the PPJoy controller.

  • Calibrate your virtual joystick by opening the start menu and searching for "usb game," and pick "Setup USB Game Controllers"

  • Pick the controller, hit properties, then under the settings tab, pick calibrate. Follow the calibration steps

  • Launch RC Desk Pilot and hit start sim

  • Hit ESC and go to controls. Pick the right controller if it isn't already selected and move your sticks. Make sure all the controls are assigned to the right channels and you're ready to fly!