I got a flight stick working with Starfield – this is what happened

Starfield takes Bethesda’s role playing exo-skeleton and wraps it around the depths of space. I always knew that fighting against corrupt intergalactic corporations and space pirates would be fun, but wouldn’t it be better if you could use immersive flight sticks to control your space ship? Bethesda didn’t seem to think so and the game shipped without support for flight controllers. I tried to fix that.

Realistically, it’s likely that the development team spent hours pouring over the possibility of adding flight controller support for Starfield and it’s possible that there was just no feasible way. Had the game been entirely played from the pilot’s seat in the cockpit – it might have been a more likely feature. However, attempting to integrate the game’s earthly character movements to a flight controller just wouldn’t have worked.

I knew this before approaching the possibility of using a flight stick for Starfield, though I couldn’t help think what if.

First, I tried plugging our Turtle Beach VelocityOne flight controller in, and just hoping that the game would register it as a game controller. There were no signs of life, which was disappointing.

There’s no native way to use a flight stick with Starfield, but on PC it does have controller support. This got me thinking. When I was a little younger, I attempted to make my own game controller out of an ATmega32u4 microcontroller, some breadboard, and a few tactile switches. It was poorly soldered, ugly, inconvenient, and was better suited as a book-stop than a game controller – but it worked. The principles were easy – build a device that would read key-presses, and then develop software that would emulate those key-presses as a game controller. While building a custom flight stick and coding a bespoke controller interface seemed like a lot simply to scratch an itch – it did make me think that there’s surely a way to emulate a flight stick as a game controller.

A few Google searches later, I came across x360ce, and old bit of software that emulates a flight stick as an Xbox controller. A speedy download later, and a little bit of fiddling with drivers, profiles and calibrating the sticks – I’d found a way to map the flight sticks inputs to that of an Xbox 360 controller.

It was janky and awkward, even configuring the VelocityOne’s inputs to that of a controller was enough proof as to why Bethesda chose to forego flight stick support in Starfield, but I’d found a way to get Starfield working with a flight controller.

To tell the truth, my first experience using it in-game was not flying a space ship through space, but in fighting against pirates just after the player first encounters The Artefact. Moving around in third-person mode on-foot was not an optimal experience, but it was extremely funny. Not long after you clean these pirates off the face of the planet, you’re thrust into space for the first time and get to fly your ship for the first time.

There was a glimmer of hope as the flight controller’s ergonomics began to lend themselves to Starfield’s space travel – but it came crashing down pretty quick at the first signs of combat. Tracking enemies using the VelocityOne’s yoke handle wasn’t optimal, especially as the right stick’s movement was mapped to an eight-way D-Pad with the tactility you’d have expected from a GameCube controller.

Once you had at least been able to center crosshairs over the fast-moving enemy, you could lock on using the A-button, the only issue is that this located in the middle of the yoke, making it pretty unconventional to reach. The same goes for firing missiles, also mapped to the Y button on the middle. Of course, you could optimise your controller profile to assign these buttons to triggers on the handles instead.

The VelocityOne’s best contribution to this test was in its actual space travel. Pushing and pulling the controller to activate propulsion and thrusters, while steering on a controller with a dynamic steering range. But – it wasn’t sustainable. Having to switch between using the flight controller for space travel, and jumping over to my keyboard and mouse for pedestrian movement was a bit of a buzz kill, but it was possible.

This has shown us that using a flight controller with Starfield is possible, though it’s going to need a little tinkering and optimisation before you commit to it.

How to use a flight stick with Starfield

Starfield doesn’t have native support for flight sticks or joysticks. However, you can use a flight stick during space flight by using controller remapping programs such as x360ce. Space flight only makes up a small proportion of the primarily FPS game, so it’s not the end of the world if you can’t use your flight stick for Starfield. The game itself appears to be more geared towards an arcade space feel rather than realistic flight simulation anyway.

Once you have downloaded the software, you simply need to install drivers and map the controller inputs to the correct corresponding controller output.

Does Starfield support HOTAS?

Like the status of flight stick support for Starfield, it’s the same story for HOTAS. Despite the enthusiasm for all-out escapism in Starfield, Bethesda doesn’t seem to have given Starfield native support for HOTAS setups. However, we’ll update this page as soon as we hear otherwise. After all, Starfield is proving to be a “modder’s paradise”, so it’s likely we could see support in the future. If escapsim if you’re thing, the next best thing could be a nice looking monitor specially picked to suit Starfield.

Should you use a flight stick with Starfield?

Starfield’s lack of native flight stick support will give you a lot to think about. There’s no simple way to switch between your flight stick and normal game controller, so you’re going to be fiddling quite a lot when you change game states. This happens a lot in Starfield, especially as there’s over 1000 planets for you to explore.

However, flying in space with a controller geared towards immersion and realism was undeniably fun. Once you leap over any road-blocks in the way – we’d recommend everyone give it a try if it’s an option for you. If it’s not – you might consider picking up a flight stick so you can give it a try.

What is the best flight stick for Starfield?

We used a universal flight control unit which integrated a yoke handle and levers to a hub. However, there’s probably a more bespoke type of controller that’s better suited to Starfield’s mechanics. A HOTAS flight stick, for example, would fly high when used to control Starfield’s space movement.

The dream purchase is the Thrustmaster Hotas Warthog. It’s one of the best PC joysticks you can buy, altthough your wallet will take a bit of a dent. But when we say it’s the best, we do mean it. For anything cheaper, you’ll want to consider the Logitech G X56 HOTAS RGB.

There’s a chance Bethesda could add in native flight stick or HOTAS support in the future, so make sure you check back here for more recommendations if that time comes.