Firebird 2 User’s Guide
Chapter 7 – Troubleshooting
Calibration—Fact & Fable
Joystick calibration is often misunderstood. The electromechanical calibration
of a joystick aligns the joystick’s mechanical center with the electrical center of
its potentiometers. With good quality, and electrically matched pots, this is a
one-time process that will not change for the life of that joystick or its compo-
nents. For this reason, Firebird 2 does not require external calibration adjust-
ment (through screws or other methods).
The calibration process performed at the start of many games generally
indicates that it is a “joystick calibration.” This poor wording leads game
players to believe that the joystick is being calibrated to the game when, in
fact, it is the software that is calibrated to the joystick. This process determines
the electrical center of the joystick and adjusts the software’s joystick readings
accordingly.
