10 replies to this topic

[Burned_Follower]

I've been playing around with cheap pedals that i can find over the last several months and learned the hard way that you get what you pay for. I'm trying to find a set of pedals specifally for "turning my mech"

Example: Left foot for "turn mech left" and Right foot for "turn mech right".

Plz correct me if i'm wrong but I believe that's the cannon way of using pedals. I'm going to keep the three pedals I have for misc "button press functions".

So here's my question: Who here is currently using pedals for turning your mech? What are you using? Is your rudder pedal kit working great?

I'm currently looking at THIS SET and THIS SET but i want to check here first before throwing money at more pedals.

Edited by XxDRxDEATHxX, 05 July 2013 - 10:58 AM.

[Postumus]

Not for torso twist, for leg movement. Torso twist is just your upper body, and will not alter the direction the mech is moving in. If you want a full sim setup, you have pedals for leg turns, right hand joystick for torso twist and pitch plus weapons, and left hand throttle.

That said, joystick is inferior to mouse or hydra for controlling a mech. That is because almost all of the movements that you make in this game are short, precise adjustments to your reticle position. Joysticks are great at continuous movement, but they suck for tracking with a reticle (crosshairs). However, joysticks make for a fun experience, as long as everyone is using one. Thats why some Living Legends servers had a gamepads/joysticks only rule.

[RoboPatton]

I was thinking of getting a ps3 motion controller for one hand and the mouse for the other. Kind of like the pedals idea now tho. Precise aiming in a turn is hard with a key, that has no pressure sensitivity.

[Loc Nar]

Quote

That is because almost all of the movements that you make in this game are short, precise adjustments to your reticle position. Joysticks are great at continuous movement, but they suck for tracking with a reticle (crosshairs). However, joysticks make for a fun experience, as long as everyone is using one.

Or to put it in the correct terminolgoy, the reason is becasue reticule aim in MWO is coded in zero-order, like any other shooter or the cursor in your browser. As such, a normal first-order controller like a normal joystick (or xbox controller...) is objectively disadvantaged in a zero-order environment.

zero-order: directly manipulates target/cursor position, single action req (also called direct inputs)
first-order: manipulates target/cursor velocity, two actions req

There are zero-order joysticks, but unless you make one you likely will not have one. Check out the stick I built for MWO that is mounted in my mechpit to see an example. It's very fun, it works quite well , and is not a mere a nod to immersion at the expense of performance.

Here's the article I wrote on the subject, called Controls Demystified(?)


For easy effective solution, a stick in the your left hand for movement/buttons and a mouse in your right hand for aiming/firing works quite well. A dedicated throttle is better. Pedals a plus but not necessary.

Edited by Loc Nar, 05 July 2013 - 02:50 PM.

[CyBerkut]

XxDRxDEATHxX, on 05 July 2013 - 10:57 AM, said:

I've been playing around with cheap pedals that i can find over the last several months and learned the hard way that you get what you pay for. I'm trying to find a set of pedals specifally for "turning my mech"

Example: Left foot for "turn mech left" and Right foot for "turn mech right".

Plz correct me if i'm wrong but I believe that's the cannon way of using pedals. I'm going to keep the three pedals I have for misc "button press functions".

So here's my question: Who here is currently using pedals for turning your mech? What are you using? Is your rudder pedal kit working great?

I'm currently looking at THIS SET and THIS SET but i want to check here first before throwing money at more pedals.

I use the Saitek Combat Rudder pedals for leg turning. Internally, they are the same as the lower cost Saitek Rudder pedals in your second link. The difference is the cosmetics of the foot pedals, and how you use your feet with them. With the lower cost ones, your feet sit in the pedal and you pretty much control leg turning (rudder axis) by moving your entire lower leg forward and backward. With the Combat Rudder pedals, your heels rest on the floor (or the base extension cover they include) and you can move the pedals by just resting the balls of your feet upon the pedal bar and rotating your ankles. I think that lends itself to finer control, but to each their own.

It works for me. (I'll note that I chose to reverse my axis, but you can stick with the canon way, which is also the convention for aircraft rudder control). I currently do not have either toe brake axis assigned to do anything in MWO.

[Loc Nar]

+1 on the Combat Pro pedals... they work great and they're metal. Did I mention they're metal?

[Orybazy07]

Just tried to use my Saitek pedals for leg twist, aviation style - press right to go right. Works fine but takes some time to adjust. Good is, with pedal steering, you have your one hand to operate throttle and switches. Feels more like piloting the Mech not just like playing FPS.
Tried to use joystick for torso movement but was no near quick and accurate as mouse is.

[F lan Ker]

S!

Using CH ProPedals for turning the Mech, throttle..well for throttle and some other functions and mouse for aiming. I used joystick before, but as there is no really good support for it I had to revert to mouse. Feels dumb but what can one do Pedals are nice though and throttle too.

[Lukoi Banacek]

I use a g13 keypad (logitech) with a thumb stick + mouse for all of my movements and it works well so far, but I keep thinking there'd be some fun way to incorporate pedals into the game. Perhaps purely for throttle? For fine movement, even just leg movement, I think the thumbstick will always beat them, but there's gotta be something I'd think.

[-Natural Selection-]

I have been using the g13 and trackball for the last 5 years. Best think I ever got for gaming. Joystick on thumb works perfect for movement on any game.Along with plenty of buttons on finger for any functions (along with multiple modes if you run out) And the trackball works well and very acurate. No running out of mousepad and moving hand constantly. Rolling it around is very fluid for looking.

Edited by Dozier, 05 August 2013 - 10:53 PM.

[F lan Ker]

S!

After PGI fixed pedal input for turning the pedals have been a hoot to use. Smooth and no jerkiness as can be seen on players on keyboard when spectating. No offense, but pedals just beat keyboard hands down if you need precise control Now if they could make the joystick a truly viable option for controlling them Mech I would be happy.