How do I set up the Honeycomb Bravo in X-Plane 12?

You can set up the Honeycomb Bravo’s six axes, buttons, gear, flaps and trim directly in X-Plane 12; Honeycomb Configurator is not required for basic input. Use the Configurator, or an X-Plane-compatible Bravo integration/profile, for annunciator LEDs, selector-aware encoder logic and advanced autopilot behaviour that native X-Plane command bindings cannot provide.

Honeycomb Bravo X-Plane 12 setup steps

1. Fit the required lever handles. Choose the piston, turboprop or jet handles before calibration. Changing a handle does not change which physical axis its socket reports.
2. Connect the Bravo before starting X-Plane. Use a direct USB port or a properly powered hub if the quadrant has been disconnecting. Native axes and buttons do not require Honeycomb Configurator.
3. Select the quadrant. Open Settings > Joystick and choose the Honeycomb Bravo from the connected controller tabs or device selector.
4. Calibrate all six lever axes. Start calibration, move every lever repeatedly through its complete physical travel, then follow X-Plane’s prompts. Calibrate unused levers too; this prevents an uncalibrated axis from interfering later.
5. Assign the axes. Use combined controls such as Throttle, Prop and Mixture when one lever should operate all engines. Use numbered controls such as Throttle 1 and Throttle 2 for independent engines. Set unused axes to none.
6. Check the direction. Enable Reverse Axis only when a cockpit lever moves opposite to the hardware. This option reverses the whole axis; it does not configure reverse thrust.
7. Assign buttons and switches. Bind the flap lever, landing-gear lever, trim wheel, autopilot panel and desired toggle switches. Test each one in the cockpit.
8. Save an aircraft profile. Keep piston, turboprop and jet layouts separate so that changing one aircraft does not break another.

If an axis will not reach idle or full travel, complete the full X-Plane 12 controller calibration and duplicate-binding checks before adding response curves.

How do I create and associate Honeycomb Bravo profiles in X-Plane 12?

X-Plane joystick profiles store assignments for all connected controllers, not only the Bravo, and can be associated with individual default or add-on aircraft.

1. Load the target aircraft. Start with the default Cessna 172, Baron B58, Airbus A330 or the add-on for which the layout is intended.
2. Open the joystick settings. Go to Settings > Joystick and find the Active Profile control near the bottom of the window.
3. Create a separate profile. Open the active-profile menu and choose the option to create or save a new profile. The exact label may appear as New Profile or Save As New Profile in different X-Plane 12 builds.
4. Name it clearly. Use a name such as Bravo - C172, Bravo - Twin Piston or Bravo - A330. Avoid editing the general default profile into several incompatible layouts.
5. Configure the Bravo. Select its device tab, calibrate if required, and assign the axes, buttons and switches. X-Plane records assignment changes as they are made; close the settings with Done when finished.
6. Associate it with the aircraft. Return to the Active Profile menu, open Manage Profiles, locate the loaded aircraft in the aircraft-association list and choose the new profile for it. If X-Plane associated the profile automatically when it was created, use this screen to verify that association.
7. Repeat for other aircraft. Treat separately installed add-ons as separate aircraft entries. An association made for the default A330 does not automatically cover an add-on A330 with different commands.

To confirm the active profile, load the aircraft, open Settings > Joystick and read the Active Profile field. The name shown there matters; the fact that the Bravo device tab is selected does not prove that the intended aircraft profile is active.

Honeycomb Configurator and X-Plane 12

The official X-Plane Honeycomb Configurator package is supplied for supported 64-bit Windows and macOS installations of X-Plane 11 and X-Plane 12. Use the package explicitly marked for X-Plane 11/12 and your operating system, not the Microsoft Flight Simulator package. The official Configurator is not a Linux solution, although Linux users can still make native X-Plane assignments when the operating system exposes the Bravo correctly.

Configurator profiles and X-Plane joystick profiles are different things. The X-Plane profile controls native axes and command bindings; the Configurator or integration profile can add annunciator output, conditional actions and selector-dependent autopilot encoder behaviour. Selecting one does not necessarily select the other.

Where should the X-Plane Configurator be installed?

1. Close X-Plane. Remove or temporarily disable older Honeycomb integration copies before installing another one.
2. Point the installer at the X-Plane 12 root folder. This is the directory containing the X-Plane executable, not an X-Plane 11 installation and not the desktop shortcut.
3. Check the plug-in location. The simulator component must end up directly under X-Plane 12/Resources/plugins, commonly in a Honeycomb or AFC_Bridge folder. It must not be buried inside an extra duplicate folder.
4. Keep one integration layer active. Do not run two copies of the bridge, or the official bridge beside another plug-in that drives the same Bravo LEDs and commands. Duplicate integrations can produce double button actions, flashing annunciators or unpredictable states.

The desktop Configurator may be placed in the operating system’s normal applications location, but its X-Plane plug-in component must be inside the correct X-Plane 12 installation. Our explanation of Bravo drivers, integration profiles and annunciator lighting covers the distinction between input support and lighting output.

How do I import or select an X-Plane 12 Bravo profile?

1. Check compatibility first. The profile must match X-Plane, the Bravo, and preferably the exact aircraft and version. A profile for an add-on A330 may reference commands that do not exist in the default X-Plane 12 A330.
2. Open the Configurator’s profile area. Use its profile import command and select the supplied profile file rather than changing its extension or copying it into an unrelated X-Plane preferences folder.
3. Select the imported profile. Make it the chosen Bravo or aircraft profile in the Configurator.
4. Activate or apply it. Configurator releases that provide an Activate or Apply action require that step. If the installed bridge instead exposes profile selection under X-Plane’s Plugins menu, select the profile there and use its reload or apply command.
5. Reload the aircraft. Some aircraft-specific datarefs and commands are created only when that aircraft loads, so reload it or restart X-Plane after activating the integration profile.
6. Select the native profile too. Return to Settings > Joystick and confirm that the intended X-Plane joystick profile is active.

What if Honeycomb Configurator does not detect the quadrant?

Test the Bravo at the operating-system and X-Plane levels before reinstalling the Configurator. If neither sees any axes or buttons, the fault is below the profile layer: reconnect both ends of the USB cable, try a direct port, remove an unpowered hub and restart with the Bravo already connected.

If X-Plane sees the axes but the Configurator reports no device or produces no lights, the USB input path is working. Check that the matching operating-system package was installed, that its bridge appears in X-Plane’s plug-in menu, and that only one copy exists under Resources/plugins. On macOS, approve any requested application or plug-in security permissions.

Finally, inspect Log.txt in the X-Plane 12 root directory after closing the simulator. Search for the Honeycomb or AFC_Bridge entry and look for a failed plug-in load, missing dependency, security rejection or incorrect path.

Which Bravo lever assignments should I use?

Use a combined axis when one physical lever should operate every engine; use numbered axes when each engine must remain independent.

Do not assign both Throttle and Throttle 1/Throttle 2 for the same aircraft. Competing combined and numbered assignments are a frequent cause of jumping levers or engines moving together. See our independent multi-engine throttle setup for more complex engine layouts.

How should I bind the gear, flaps, reversers and autopilot?

• Landing gear: bind the upper contact to the native gear-up command and the lower contact to gear down. Do not bind both positions to a generic gear toggle.
• Flap lever: assign the two momentary directions to flaps up one notch and flaps down one notch. Aircraft with non-standard flap logic may provide custom commands.
• Trim wheel: the Bravo trim wheel normally sends repeated button inputs rather than a true analogue axis. Bind its directions to pitch trim up and pitch trim down.
• Toggle switches: use separate on and off commands where available. A latching hardware switch assigned to a toggle command can fall out of step with the cockpit.
• Reverser paddles: use the reverse-thrust method supported by the aircraft: hold reverse, toggle reverse, separate engine-reverse commands or a defined beta/reverse range. Reverse Axis is not a reverse-thrust setting.
• Autopilot buttons: start with X-Plane’s native AP master, heading, navigation, approach, altitude and vertical-speed commands. The IAS button may mean airspeed hold or flight-level change depending on the aircraft.

The Bravo’s REV autopilot button means reverse-course or back-course guidance, not engine reverse thrust.

The IAS/CRS/HDG/VS/ALT selector and increase/decrease knob need selector-aware logic. A direct native binding can make the knob change one value, such as heading, but it does not automatically switch the knob’s command pair as the selector moves. That behaviour requires a compatible Bravo integration, Configurator profile or aircraft-supplied implementation.

Native X-Plane commands or add-on-specific commands?

If X-Plane’s assignment indicator responds but an add-on cockpit control does not move, repeated calibration will not fix it. Test the equivalent native control in a default aircraft, then use the add-on’s exposed commands or its matching Bravo profile.

How can I validate the setup with default X-Plane 12 aircraft?

• Default Cessna 172: assign combined Throttle and Mixture, leaving the other lever axes unused. Confirm idle-to-full travel, mixture cut-off-to-rich, flap increments, both trim directions and any basic autopilot bindings fitted to the selected C172 variant.
• Default Baron B58: assign Throttle 1/2, Prop 1/2 and Mixture 1/2. Move each lever separately and confirm that only the matching cockpit lever and engine respond.
• Default Airbus A330: as an alternative multi-engine test, verify Throttle 1 and Throttle 2 independently before adding speedbrake, flaps, reversers or advanced autopilot integration.

Passing these tests shows that USB detection, calibration and native bindings work. Failure limited to one add-on points to that aircraft’s commands, datarefs or profile rather than the Bravo hardware.

Honeycomb Bravo not working: what if nothing happens?

Diagnose a non-working Bravo in this order; changing profiles before proving that the operating system receives input usually wastes time.

1. Confirm USB and operating-system input. Use the operating system’s controller or USB device utility to check that the Bravo is listed and that axes or buttons respond. Reconnect the cable, try a direct USB port and remove unpowered hubs if there is no input. Annunciator lights are not a valid input test.
2. Confirm X-Plane device detection. Connect the quadrant before launching X-Plane, then open Settings > Joystick. If the Bravo is absent, close the simulator, reconnect it and start again. A Configurator profile cannot repair a device that X-Plane does not detect.
3. Calibrate all six axes. Move every lever through its complete range. Remove response curves until the raw endpoints work and set genuinely unused axes to none.
4. Remove duplicate bindings. Inspect every yoke, throttle, pedal set and gamepad. Two devices assigned to the same throttle can make the cockpit lever jump, return to idle or ignore the Bravo.
5. Verify the active aircraft profile. Read the Active Profile field rather than assuming X-Plane loaded the intended layout. Check its aircraft association under Manage Profiles.
6. Check plug-ins and the log. If the problem affects lights, conditional actions or advanced autopilot behaviour, disable duplicate integrations and inspect Log.txt for Honeycomb bridge errors.
7. Test a default aircraft. Try the C172 for combined axes and the Baron B58 or default A330 for numbered throttles. If those work, investigate the add-on’s custom commands and supplied profile.

If the quadrant still does nothing, our device-by-device X-Plane input fault checks cover missing controllers, competing assignments and cases where the virtual lever moves but the aircraft does not respond.