Introduction

There are many hardcore simmers out there who'll tell you, rightly or wrongly, that the only way to experience true realistic HOTAS is with Thrustmaster (TM) controllers. There's no doubting that they're gorgeous pieces of kit. But a glance at any review or threads in the newsgroups reveals a common theme: these controllers have a steep learning curve when it comes to developing the files needed to get the most out of them.

But the deeper problem is that the software that comes with them uses a DOS interface - which has yet to be ported out to Windows and supported consistently by TM. For the price of these controllers, and in this day and age where non Windows interfaces are few and far between, this seems to be an incredulous situation.

In response to the needs of TM users, several applications have appeared to ease this programming deficit. Of the four main ones, Visual Programming Interface by TM, Winstick by Walt Crudup, EZ Build'98 by Marlo Casabar and Commander 2 by Calana software, only the latter two continue to be supported, with EZBuild being the most recent to have been updated.

Both of these apps provide a truly GUI (Graphical user Interface) approach to programming. That is, although TM controller files are text files, these apps effectively hide the text interface and provide a more Windows friendly graphical interface, as is becoming more common with many Windows apps.

Recently however, a newcomer has entered the scene, namely Fox Two by Dr. James Hallows, which does the exact opposite: it maintains a text based interface throughout, whilst providing GUI support. Although it's only been on the programming scene for a few months now, it now commands a substantial following from the TM simming community. In this preview, we'll take a look at James's approach to TM programming to see where its popularity has risen from. The current version of Fox Two is 1.2a, and is the subject of this initial review.

It's difficult to know where to begin in reviewing this app. The introduction to Fox Two on the Fox Two site leads you into believing that this app is just a text editor. A little look at the file size and the screenshots suggest this must be one of the biggest understatements I've seen on the net. In fact, where most sites usually overhype their products, James goes to great lengths to invite you to use the other apps, even providing links to their sites, to see whether a graphical approach is more suited to your needs than a text based approach.

Furthermore, he even goes out of his way to explain that Fox Two, (or Foxy as he tends to refer to it in his correspondence), isn't just his program. Rather, it is there to be developed from everyone's ideas, so that he can put together an app that everyone wants. What a novel idea to program development; a dynamic process of community coding!

Indeed, there are many parts of his program that several users can point to and say "that was one of my suggestions." What really hits you about this program, aside from its simplicity and user friendliness is this: It's a program that from the outset firmly establishes an impression of experience - a program that's come about from a dedicated and experienced Thrustmaster user who clearly saw that there was a great need for a dedicated text based interface.

You only have to look around the net and newsgroups to see that nearly all advanced users prefer to use Notepad or other text editors to develop their files with. And why is this? Because, as James explains on his site, Thrustmaster files are text files. Plain and simple. Once you understand all the programming terminology, it's much easier to see what a file does and how to develop it to suit your HOTAS needs simply by looking at the whole text file.

Installation of Fox Two was simple and straight forward. A Fox Two program group is created consisting of the main program, Fox2.exe, the Launcher (which I'll talk about later) and two very useful files by TM explaining RAW code programming and Logical programming of the F22 joystick. Thankfully this latter file is the later version of this file - there's an earlier version floating around the net which doesn't cover all the logical functions available.

On running the app for the first time, you're taken to the Preferences window where you're asked to enter what hardware you have, and the locations of your joystick files and the TM C&CC software, which should already be on your system. Beginners are well catered to when setting up Fox Two here, as an explanation of what these directories mean are well covered in the excellent help file that accompanies Fox Two.

As an aside here - one thing that endears you to Fox Two is James's sense of humor. The help file has some very funny comments scattered around. For example: from the topic on File locations ...

"If you can't see your hardware in the drop down lists then you need to do the following. Get real close to your joystick and look for the label that says "Suncom" or "Saitek" or "Microsoft". If it says the first two, then I'm afraid you've got hold of the wrong app - this is for the big boys only. If it says "Microsoft" then please send me some e-mail so that I can share your misfortune with the people on the Fox Two mailing list."

Heheheh! See what I mean? Nasty guy that James!

Click to continue . . .

Thus, you can readily see which macros you've used and which you haven't. And its versatility doesn't stop there: clicking on a macro shows the macro definition on the status bar; if the macro file is visible then clicking on the macro in the macro list highlights the macro definition in the macro file; pressing SHIFT and doing the same also highlights the macro in the joystick file. Brilliant. And if you want to insert a macro from the macro list into your joystick file, you can do so quickly by double clicking the macro, or drag and dropping it to where you want it.

There are several ways of using Fox Two to program your files. For complete beginners, there are two excellent wizards that introduce the basic concepts clearly and thoroughly. These go on to introduce two of the GUI components of Fox Two, namely the Composer and Korgy, the virtual keyboard - more on that later.

James has done away with fancy professional names for the various components of his app; instead he has given most of them nicknames which adds to the whole user friendly approach of Fox Two. The beauty of these components is that you don't have to use them. They're not forced upon you - rather they are there to help and assist you should you want to use them.

More experienced users can use Speedy to bang out macro files quickly, and of course, being a text editor, one can just program away with all the power of a text editor. Even this is more powerful than Notepad.

For example, the joystick and macro files have independent Undo/Redo which can hold 30,000 or so edits and remember them all. And advanced users will love the templates section of the Composer, which allows you to insert not only whole file templates to base your files on, but also templates for individual buttons/hats/titles - all of which can be edited/created with the integral template editor.

All in all, FOX Two provides a solid variety of methods for programming, catering for the complete beginner right through to the advanced user. It is truly a very versatile and varied interface.

• The main Composer: provides graphical programming. Images of your controllers allow you to program by clicking on the appropriate button/hat of the controller, and then double clicking on the macro for that position. Slash modifiers and other statements can all be inserted from here, in color, and you can actually create a whole joystick file from the Composer without having to go into the Editor directly.
  
• Several tabs are here to help with RNG, ANT, MOUSE etc. statements that usually require you to go to your manual to see exactly which method is best used for your requirements - and all again well supported in the help file.
  
• The templates tab is very powerful and allows for very rapid file creation.
  
• Lastly, F22 PRO users will appreciate the Logical Programming tab, for doing just that.
  

Next up is Korgy, the Thrustmaster Syntax and RAW Code Generator. Similar to that used in Commander, this allows you to see the RAW codes and correct Thrustmaster syntax associated with each key on the keyboard.

However, the handling of the RAW codes is done very well indeed, as it allows for multiple RAW code generation with slash modifiers while maintaining the correct Thrustmaster syntax. If one of the macro wizards is open, any information on Korgy is automatically transferred to the wizards for more complicated Macro generation - so no more having to remember RAW codes or having to cut and paste them around. It's very slick.

I could go on with the rest of the components - but instead I'll just list them otherwise this review will rapidly turn into a Fox Two manual! Click on any of the links for screenshots of these other components.

One of the features of Commander that enticed everyone to it is its ability to print out your controller layouts graphically. This works well for small files, but complicated true HOTAS files create print outs that are too cluttered and in some cases, with overlapping text, somewhat illegible.

James has taken a different approach with this, and this feature is one that many have been waiting for to round off Fox Two. It is not available in the version we looked at, but should be in the next version. James assures me that this should be finished by the end of August. Here are some screenshots from his site showing the initial layout produced by Foxy (version 1.3) and how you can edit it using the Custom Layout Editor, to produce layouts that you want to have.

Conclusions

I've barely scratched the surface of Fox Two in this intitial review, but as you can see, this is a very powerful and comprehensive Thrustmaster utility. There's a hell of a lot more to it, and in a way, this preview just can't do justice to this program.

I have to say that if you're a Thrustmaster user, and you're not using Fox Two already, then it must be because either you're an ardent fan of Notepad, or you're happier staying with a purely graphical approach. This program is well worth downloading, especially as this version is Freeware, and take the time to learn how to use it.

If you are already a Thrustmaster programmer, you won't look back I can assure you! If TM is listening, they ought to LICENCE and bundle FOX TWO with every stick and throttle they sell. Keep checking out the progress James is making, he regularly updates users through the mailing list, as well as via the Versions.txt file on his site, the Fox Two FAQ and even honestly admitting to and pointing out the Bugs. How can I conclude this review? I don't really need to - go and read the comments other people have sent him on his Comments page - they speak volumes, and they're right. Fox Two is excellent. Download it now from here.

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