After a few seconds, you will be placed in the tower of the game.

In the tower you be looking out over an airfield. There is a chalk board with information about the field you are located at, and if you look at the clipboard map, you will see a small airplane.

This airplane is where you are located in the Aces High world.

The voice box in the upper right corner shows who you may talk to and can be moved by clicking on the solid blue bar and dragging it.

In the lower left corner of the tower is the radio text panel. This is where text messages in the game will be shown. Pressing the ~ key will expand this panel, and pressing ~ again will reduce it. It can also be moved by holding down the left mouse button and dragging it.

Select the Options option.

We will start from the clipboard with you located in the tower.

Do exactly what it says. Move all your wheels, rudders, and joystick through their full range of motion.

Release all the sticks back to their default positions and then press the OK button.

After you press the OK button, the panel will clear and you will see the terrain map reloaded on the clipboard. Your joystick should now be calibrated in the game.

Now, let's talk about the map controllers screen and all the various options shown.

Select Controller:
The Map Controllers selection will present you with a screen similar to the one below. In the upper right corner is the Select Controller drop down list. If you have more than one stick connected, press the drop down arrow to view and select the stick you wish to configure.

If you check the "Auto select mode at start of flight", the game will switch between "Mode 1 (Planes)" and "Mode 2 (Vehicles/Boats)" automatically. You will see a text message in the radio text box indicating which mode your joystick will be using.

Default Map, Copy Mode 1, Calibrate Axis:
To the immediate top left are three buttons.

The Default Map loads and configures a basic set of command mappings. This button will only set the primary stick commands.  Any other sticks will require manual configuring.

The Copy Mode 1 button allows you to copy a command set from one mode to the currently selected mode (other than 1).

The Calibrate Axis allows you to calibrate a specific axis, wheel, slider, dial, or rudder input.

Auto select mode at start of flight:
Checking this option causes the game to switch your joystick input command mode from Mode 1 (when flying) to Mode 2 (when in a vehicle) automatically at the start of a sortie.
For this to work properly, you must map commands in both Modes 1 and 2.

Modify:
The Modify button is used to change/assign a command to an input. You can also double-click, using your left mouse button, on the input and it will bring up the commands/functions you can assign to it.

Controller Input:
This is the list of input items available to program. These labels are presented exactly as the joystick gives them to the game and may not match what is physically labeled on the joystick.

Mode # Function:
The Mode # Function lists (replace # with the appropriate number based on which mode you are working with) the commands associated with each input.

OK:
The OK button is used to exit and save the changes you have made.

Ok, so all this is neat, but how do you map a function or command to the various joystick inputs? Good question!

Select the command or function (Analog Inputs) from the list, then press the OK button.

When you return to the Map Controllers panel, the new command is shown next to the input you selected to map.

Pretty neat, huh?

Note, in many cases the actual name of the stick input does not correlate to what you may think it should. In this example the "Slider" is for the throttle, but it could easily be a "Z-Axis" or "Z-Rotation" input as well.

To determine what axis may be assigned to the throttle, simply move the throttle to its extremes, repeatedly, and watch the number in parentheses change. The numbers are the raw input from the stick.

It is then a simple matter of assigning "Throttle 1" (from the mapping window under Analog Inputs) to the selected input of the joystick.

Your Login ID must be between 6 and 15 characters, letters and numbers only. Your login ID is only used for account verification purposes and is not ever visible to anyone else. It is anything you want it to be.

Your password will be sent to the email address you submit with your account information. Please note, if you use Yahoo's email service, your password can take up to a week to be delivered and then it will be placed in your SPAM folder. If you use mchsi or sbcglobal email services, you will not be able to receive email from us due to thos services blocking all email from us. However, your password will also be presented the moment you submit the account data.

If this is the first time you have ever played Aces High, you will get a two week free trial period to try it out.

At the end of the two week trial, the game will ask if you wish to subscribe.
It cannot be stressed enough the information provided here must be accurate.

The last item is a Coupon Number. If you do not have one, simply leave this blank.

Once you have completed all the fields, press the OK button to submit the information.

If all went well, you will receive your password, along with our terms of service, via the email address you submitted in a few minutes. At the same time, your password will be presented on the screen after you press the OK button.

If, for some reason, you do not get your password in the email, please send an email to our This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and be sure to include your login ID, and we will get that password to you.

Start the game so we can get you into the cockpit!

For this exercise, choose the P51D if it is not already selected, then press the <Esc> key to move the clipboard out of the way.

Once you have completed the selection, bring the clipboard back up by pressing the <Esc> key again.

The box is labeled START FLIGHT. The buttons in the box represent the runway and direction you will take-off from. Not all fields have runways in all directions, so only the available runways are shown.

The H in the center of the box lets you roll the plane from the hangar onto the runway, while the buttons around the H allow you to go directly to a runway.

Select one of the buttons around the H and press it.

Press E to start your engine, if it has not already started.

• In the planes, advance the throttle by using the throttle keys - and = or your joystick throttle wheel.
• In vehicles and boats, shift into gear with the Q and W keys, then use your joystick to move forward.
• Steer the plane with the rudder controls or rudder pedals. Key A is left, key D is right and key S is center.
• After take off, press key G to raise the airplane landing gear.
• Key X is autopilot, key Shift-X is autopilot angle, and key Alt-X is autopilot climb.
• To exit the plane, vehicle or boat, click on the Tower button on the clipboard, or type in the ".ef" dot command to end flight from the radio control bar.

Once you get the basics of taking off and landing, you might wish to schedule some one-on-one flight training time with one of the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You may also wish to visit the trainers WEB page for additional information. The trainers are here to assist you in learning the basics of air combat, which will lead to more fun for you.

We encourage you to take some time to get the feel for the aircraft and the commands used in the game. For more details about all these features, you can go to our help section of the documentation and thank you for flying Aces High!