Controls: routing and pedals

The Controls page shows what the simulator receives from your yoke, stick and pedals. FFB-Bridge Pro can route a force-feedback yoke or stick, and Brunner rudder pedals, so that autopilot and trim follow move the control without the simulator reading that motion as your input. Simulator bindings are covered in Controls: bindings and simulator profiles.

Figure 1. The Controls page with a yoke and rudder pedals not yet set up: the status card with its pills and the Set up pedals prompt, the Rudder pedals card, the route card and Your devices.

What Controls does

Without routing, your devices go to the simulator as they are, and the simulator binds them directly. With routing, the simulator reads a virtual FFB-Bridge device instead, such as FFB-Bridge Pro Yoke, and FFB-Bridge holds the physical device. The virtual device has the same axes, buttons and hats as the physical one.

Input-only devices, such as a throttle quadrant, go to the simulator directly and need nothing on this page.

The page supports two simulators: MSFS 2024 and X-Plane 12. Choose one under Simulator profiles at the top of the page. The choice is remembered and does not depend on which simulator is running.

Supported devices and platforms

The page works with the force-feedback devices Pro supports: MOZA AY210, AY90, AB6 and AB9 bases with their handles and grips, the Brunner FFB-G stick, the SideWinder Force Feedback 2 and the Brunner FFB-G Rudder pedals. The hardware page lists supported devices and their limits.

System	MSFS 2024	X-Plane 12	What routing uses
Windows 11 (64-bit)	Yes	Yes	The Control Router and Input Owner drivers from the Pro installer. The simulator can stay open while you start routing.
Linux (64-bit)	Yes, with MSFS running in Proton	Yes	The device is taken over and a virtual device is created. Start routing before you launch the simulator.
macOS 13 or later, Apple Silicon	No	Yes	The device is taken over and a virtual device is created.

The Windows installer adds the drivers. See Drivers and third-party software. On macOS, X-Plane reads a Brunner stick correctly only when the stick is routed. Until it is, its row in Your devices reads route for X-Plane.

The Brunner FFB-G stick and rudder pedals run on their own native connection. They need no USB mode switch and no Brunner application while you fly.

The page at a glance

The status card at the top states what the simulator receives, for example “MSFS 2024 reads FFB-Bridge Pro Yoke.” Pills show Forces armed or Forces off, Routed or Direct, and Pedals ready or Pedals not set up. The buttons are Arm, Disarm and Stop routing. When something needs attention, a highlighted line names it and offers its action, such as Set up pedals, Bind pedals or Open the binding sheet.
The Rudder pedals card appears when force-feedback pedals are connected.
The route card is titled Route the yoke through FFB-Bridge, or Route the stick through FFB-Bridge for a stick. Its pill reads Direct, and the title changes to Yoke routed through FFB-Bridge and the pill to Routed once routing runs. Before routing it has Route through FFB-Bridge and Check yoke (Check stick for a stick). While routed it has Check in the game, Binding sheet, Stop routing and Copy simulator assignments.
Your devices lists every connected device and what the simulator sees for it.

With no force-feedback device connected, the page shows No force-feedback device connected and an Open Hardware button.

Route the yoke or stick

Click Route through FFB-Bridge on the route card. A guide with four steps opens: What changes, Start, Bind and Check.

What changes. The guide says which virtual device the simulator will read and what that means for you. Bindings you made for the physical device stop applying. Bind once to the virtual device. Axes, buttons and hats keep their numbers. If a permission is missing, the guide says so and offers Set up permissions. Click Start routing.
Start. FFB-Bridge creates the virtual device and takes the physical one over. The guide moves on by itself.
Bind. In MSFS 2024 this step is the binding sheet. In X-Plane 12 it explains how to select the device and assign its controls. Both are described in Controls: bindings and simulator profiles.
Check. Move the yoke or stick and watch the simulator. The guide shows live bars for pitch and roll and three tick boxes: Pitch moves the elevator, Roll moves the ailerons and, in X-Plane 12, Buttons respond (on MSFS 2024, The buttons do what I bound). Click Finish when all three are ticked.

Figure 2. The route guide at its first step, What changes, with the four steps along the top and the Start routing button.

On MSFS 2024, the Check step measures pitch and roll against the control positions MSFS reports. A measured axis shows MSFS reads it and its box ticks by itself. If the simulator is not sending fresh data, or the aircraft owns its control input, nothing is measured and the tick boxes are yours to tick.

A guide never arms your forces. While a guide is open, Arm is refused.

After routing starts

The simulator reads the virtual device. The physical device is hidden from it and held by FFB-Bridge.
Stop routing hands the device back at any time, on the route card or in the status card.
FFB-Bridge restores a saved route when the app starts. Quitting the app keeps your routing choice for the next start. Stop routing cancels it.
If the app stopped in the middle of a route, the page says Your controls are waiting for restoration. FFB-Bridge puts the devices back before it starts a route again.

Autopilot and trim follow

On MSFS 2024, a routed yoke or stick shows a box called Autopilot and trim follow. The slider sets how far the control follows the autopilot and the trim datum. It edits the follow strength of the profile you are flying. The badge beside the title shows Off or the percentage, and the percentage at the right end of the slider is the current qualified limit.

Move the slider to Off to stop the control following the autopilot.
Hold the yoke or stick to override the follow at any time.

On X-Plane 12, follow reaches the simulator directly, routed or not. Routing gives X-Plane a stable device name, so a later hardware swap needs no rebinding.

Rudder pedals

The Rudder pedals card sets up Brunner FFB-G Rudder pedals. Pedal forces run beside the yoke or stick in the same flight. They follow the aircraft class and airspeed, and they start with Arm.

The pill on the card shows where you are: Not set up, Binding open (prepared, binding still to do), Not routed (set up, not yet routed) or Routed. The buttons change with it.

Button	What it does
Set up pedals or Continue setup	Shown until the pedals are set up. Opens the pedal guide at the first step that is not done.
Route pedals	Shown once the pedals are set up and not yet routed. Starts routing for the pedals. On MSFS 2024 and X-Plane 12 the simulator reads the pedals only while they are routed, so route them before flying.
Check pedals	Shows the pedal axes live. It reads only and sends nothing.
Binding sheet	Shown once the pedals are set up. Opens the pedal guide at the Bind step.
Set up again	Shown once the pedals are set up. Opens the guide at the first step not done. The step tabs let you go back to Prepare and Brakes.

Figure 3. The pedal guide at the Brakes step on MSFS 2024: press each toe brake fully, then release.

The pedal guide has these steps. Brakes appears on MSFS 2024 only.

Prepare. Click Prepare. FFB-Bridge opens the pedals' own force profile. It takes about a second and writes nothing to the pedals until you arm. Disarm, simulator exit and quitting FFB-Bridge restore the pedals' own force profile. Disarm before you prepare.
Brakes. Press each toe brake fully, then release. The Brunner toe brakes report only part of their travel. FFB-Bridge measures each brake and rescales the measured range to full travel for MSFS 2024. The pedals are only read and no force is sent. Continue becomes available once both brakes have moved.
Bind. The guide lists the rudder axis and the two brake axes with the names the simulator shows for them. If the pedals are not routed yet, the button reads Start routing; click it first. In MSFS 2024, open Settings → Controls, select the FFB-Bridge pedal device, create a profile and assign the three axes. Leave the other axes unassigned, then click I've bound it in MSFS. In X-Plane 12, click Write X-Plane assignments to put the assignments into a new X-Plane profile. X-Plane must be closed for the write. If X-Plane has not listed the virtual controller yet, keep routing, start X-Plane once, close it and write again. You can choose I'll bind it in X-Plane instead, assign the axes in Settings → Joystick, and calibrate full left, full right and centre.
Done. While armed, FFB-Bridge sets the stiffness of the pedals' own force profile from airspeed. Arm when the aircraft is loaded.

The pedals keep their own axes: rudder on Z, left brake on Rx and right brake on Ry. They reach the simulator as their own device, FFB-Bridge Pro Rudder, unless you choose to show all devices as one.

Figure 4. The Rudder pedals card with the pedals set up but not yet routed: the Not routed pill and the Route pedals button.

Your devices

Each row shows the device, its role and what the simulator sees for it. For a MOZA base, the buttons beside the name pick the handle or grip that is fitted, so the picture and the binding sheet match your hardware.

Control	What it does
Check	Reads the device and shows its axes and buttons live. It changes nothing and sends nothing.
Use instead	Appears on a second force device that could fly the aircraft. It lets you choose which force device is the primary one.
Show all routed devices to the simulator as one device, FFB-Bridge Pro Combined	Off by default, so each routed device has its own name, such as FFB-Bridge Pro Yoke or FFB-Bridge Pro Rudder. A change applies the next time a device is routed.

On MSFS 2024, SPAD.neXt and Axis and Ohs see the same names. Pick the FFB-Bridge device there and leave the physical one alone.

Figure 5. Your devices: the primary force device with its handle buttons, the pedals, a second force device with Use instead, two input-only devices and the option to show routed devices as one device.

Arm after routing

Routing never arms your forces. Click Arm in the status card, or use the arm button at the top of the window, when you are ready. Disarm turns the forces off. Pro arms by itself only if you turned on auto-arm under Settings → Session, and then only through the normal readiness and safety checks.

Pedal forces start only when the pedals have a force source. Pro prepares it once the pedals are set up and routed and the aircraft is known.

Linux and the physical device

On Linux, start routing before you launch the simulator. If MSFS still lists the physical yoke while it is routed, quit the simulator, check that Your devices shows the device as yoke hidden and held, and launch MSFS again. If it still lists the physical device, send a report from Report an Issue.

Known limitation

An intermittent Safety Stop during routed autopilot is under investigation. If the arm button shows SAFETY STOP while the autopilot is engaged on a routed device, check the cause, arm again and send a report. Some hardware and simulator combinations need broader physical testing.

Problems

Problem	What to do
The page says No force-feedback device connected	Connect a supported device. If it is still not found, click Open Hardware.
Routing did not start	Read the line on the page or in the guide. Click Set up permissions if the guide offers it. On Linux, also check that the device permission rule is installed under Support → Health checks.
Arm is refused after routing	Close any open guide first, because a guide blocks Arm while it is open. Read the message under the arm button for any other reason.
The simulator still shows the physical device	Check that the status card shows the Routed pill. On Linux, quit the simulator, start routing and launch the simulator again.
The pedals do nothing in the simulator	On MSFS 2024 and X-Plane 12 the pedals reach the simulator only while routed. Click Route pedals, then check that the pill reads Routed.
The pedals show Not set up	Disarm, click Set up pedals and follow the guide from Prepare. If the guide says the pedals are not available as a force device, reconnect them and try again.
A device was unplugged	Reconnect it. Pro matches a device by its USB identity, so its settings follow it between ports. Click Check to confirm that the simulator sees it.
Your controls are waiting for restoration	Wait a moment. FFB-Bridge is putting the physical devices back. If the message stays, click Stop routing and start again.
SAFETY STOP during routed autopilot	See Known limitation above. Arm again after you check the cause, and send a report.