15 replies to this topic

[NTrippy]

Hey guys. I just signed up today and am looking forward to becoming an official MechWarrior. But before I begin to learn the game in depth, I want to know what peripherals to use. The reason I ask this now is because I don't usually use my extra peripherals because I get used to most games with the mouse and keyboard. Since I'm new anyway, this is a good opportunity to learn a game with some other gear. However, I don't know if what I have is worth setting up and using. For example, I don't know if my stick has enough buttons or if my gameboard can be effective. If someone could tell me if my peripherals will make the cut and can be advantageous or at least an equivalent alternative to the regular m/kb setup, and then recommend bindings to start with, I'd be very grateful. Thanks in advance! Here this gear in question:

The first peripheral is my Logitech G13 Gameboard. It has 22 standard keys, three thumb-buttons, and an analog thumb-stick (clicking the stick is the third thumb-button). All keys can only emulate keyboard keys, and cannot be mapped as an "additional" set (E.g. if [W] is "move forward" on my keyboard, the G13 "move forward" command will also be input as a [W]. Remapping required rebinding the keyboard, then binding the G13 keys to match).

Next is my Saitek ST290 Pro joystick. It has a throttle lever, an eight-axis digital hat-switch, and six buttons as depicted here (button 01 is the trigger on the opposite side):

Edited by Apsyc, 18 May 2016 - 05:01 PM.

[Ingga Raokai]

MWO + Tom&Jerry. That is all.

Other than that, for fun only. But really, just go with Tom&Jerry.

Edited by Ingga Raokai, 18 May 2016 - 05:03 PM.

[NTrippy]

Ingga Raokai, on 18 May 2016 - 05:02 PM, said:

MWO + Tom&Jerry. That is all.

Other than that, for fun only. But really, just go with Tom&Jerry.

Tom&Jerry? Sorry, I've never heard that particular bit of patois.

Edit: Reference to this thread as a gag on the newbie?

Edited by Apsyc, 18 May 2016 - 05:22 PM.

[Ingga Raokai]

Oh, i meant Keyboard Mouse, I guess Tom&Jerry reference is only between me and my friends, hehe.

[NTrippy]

Ingga Raokai, on 18 May 2016 - 05:23 PM, said:

Oh, i meant Keyboard Mouse, I guess Tom&Jerry reference is only between me and my friends, hehe.

Lol I figured that's what you meant but I wanted to be sure. Thanks for the tip and for saving me from wasting my time lol.

[TercieI]

Mouse and keyboard/gamepad (Nostromo, Orb Weaver, G13, etc) is about the only setup competitive players use. A very, very, very few use joystick and mouse, using joystick for movement, not fire.

[loopala]

as the odd man out i use HOTAS (saltak x52 pro) and a mouse and a keyboard (rarely use keyboard).

the trick for me is to use the mouse left handed. the mouse controls my torso and arms, hence my aiming. the joystick controls my feet and weapon firing, zoom and many other things that my hats and such can be programed for. my left mouse button centers my legs to torso. so look were i want to go, click and i go head that way. right mouse JJs. Throttle is well my throttle, slap it around with my left hand or forearm. been looking at Joysticks with a throttle or a mouse with a throttle and getting rid of the throttle all together.

very old vid of LRMishing in a catapult using this setup

[Gibson Ibanez]

Logitech mouse and keyboard here. Welcome to MWO!

[SilentFenris]

+1 for left handed mouse (actually a logitech trackball) for torso/arms and right hand saitek joystick for turning feet (and extra buttons).

[The Basilisk]

Using the right mouse can help you a lot in this game. Some additional Buttons for your prefered funktions you want to keep handy.
Otherwise.....yea there are those who use Joystiks, Gamepads and what not but either out of nostalgia, Immersion or because they look for a chalange.

[p4r4g0n]

Logitech G13 and Corsair M65 for the on-the-fly dpi switching capability.

DPI switching capability is useful if you tend to use different mechs of different classes during a single gaming session.

All 22 Logitech G13 buttons and 4 mouse buttons (as well as mouse wheel scroll up and scroll down) have been assigned and still not enough so some keyboard buttons are still required.

[S 0 L E N Y A]

I live and die by my G13.
I was about to pick up a mechanical board but figured I would try the G13 for a laugh. Took a couple days to get it really dialed in for MWO but I LOVE it.

[Koniving]

Apsyc, on 18 May 2016 - 05:25 PM, said:

Lol I figured that's what you meant but I wanted to be sure. Thanks for the tip and for saving me from wasting my time lol.

In essence, the game lacks analog function for all but throttle; it is a serious point of contention because the people who have peripherals are also people who have money to spend and thus it would be a great idea and source of income if PGI got their gear into making that work. Unfortunately the developer is somewhere between 50 and 80 strong which... is actually incredibly weak. Especially since a fair chunk of them are outsourced to provide things and that's it (not steady jobs and steady streams of projects to do). (Aiming should in theory be analog since it is meant to work with a mouse, but a mouse is a zero-order controller).

Beyond this the controls do work.

I'd advise you to pick one peripheral or the other, however, as you are doomed to the mouse if you want want to have precision. (The case may be different for you because my peripherals are really cheap, sub-50$. If your joystick has zero-order controls, you'll be set. Most joysticks have first-order.

If possible, a joystick that has built-in look-spring functionality would be able to get around the issues with MWO, but haven't seen one. (Look-spring is when you release the joystick, the aiming reticules return to a neutral position of dead-center, and in this particular case the mech itself centers torso to legs at the same time, same concept of a tank turret returning to a neutral forward position when you release the controller).

Edited by Koniving, 19 May 2016 - 04:07 AM.

[TercieI]

Boogie138, on 19 May 2016 - 12:31 AM, said:

I live and die by my G13.
I was about to pick up a mechanical board but figured I would try the G13 for a laugh. Took a couple days to get it really dialed in for MWO but I LOVE it.

I wanted to, bought one to "upgrade" my Nostromo, but it fit my hand all wrong, I ended up buying a friend's Nostromo as a backup Nostromo just in case. Point being: if you want a game pad, try to get hands on before buying. Feel matters.

[S 0 L E N Y A]

TercieI, on 19 May 2016 - 05:06 AM, said:

I wanted to, bought one to "upgrade" my Nostromo, but it fit my hand all wrong, I ended up buying a friend's Nostromo as a backup Nostromo just in case. Point being: if you want a game pad, try to get hands on before buying. Feel matters.

Absolutely.
Ergonomics are completely subjective.
I know quite a few folk that cant run a g13 for more than 20 minutes without getting all sorts of cramping problems. The ergos on the nostromo, g13, orb weaver et al. are all fairly different

[TercieI]

Boogie138, on 19 May 2016 - 05:54 AM, said:

Absolutely.
Ergonomics are completely subjective.
I know quite a few folk that cant run a g13 for more than 20 minutes without getting all sorts of cramping problems. The ergos on the nostromo, g13, orb weaver et al. are all fairly different

Yep. Too low a rise for my big paws and I didn't like the thumb stick. Happily I bought it on an Amazon DotD for half price and one of my teammates now has it and loves it, so no major loss.