14 replies to this topic

[Requital]

Greetings,

I am not new to the Mechwarrior/Battletech universe, and while I waited with baited breath for this game to come out, as soon as I found out that it really lacked good joystick support, I stopped waiting.

I have waded through many posts since 2012, hoping to find one that showed joysticks were "fixed" to the point where they could be competative like they were in MW4, but I have never found such a post in the last few years.

My question is, I have a messed up wrist and shoulder from a accident in my youth, so that limits my options of using a mouse and keyboard significantly. During MW4, I played competatively in the NBT4 gaming league under the call sign of §pades and did halfway decent as a pilot with a joystick, but everything I have read says that playing with a stick in MWO will not end well.

So, is there a certain joystick available that will work and at least allow you to be somewhat competative, or is MWO still 100% mouse only? Should I just give up on checking the forums every so often in the hopes that joysticks will be less useless?

Thank you for your time,

Requital (§pades)

[Lan]

Hey,

Sorry to hear about your difficulties, I have a friend who broke a vertebrae (?) in the neck and ended up in a wheelchair. Paralyzed below the waist, no feelings in arms and no finger control. He has since had surgery to restore grip ability and is now able to do things, with some adaptation. I've helped him with some adaptations and maybe I can humbly contribute an idea or two for you.

The game is not and will never be competetive with a pure joystick setup unfortunately, the Devs have stated that the primary focus is not on joystick controls. It is much more exact and precise to use a mouse.

However, many people play the game using a combination of joystick and mouse. The stick is used for WASD motion and twisting legorientation, they use the mouse to aim with and fire. Some even use USB foot pedals. I have seen disabled players in other games utilise a foot joystick even.

Depending on your ability to use your shoulder and arm, maybe you could adapt a glove to hold onto a stick and do WASD movement? And use a mouse with multiple buttons for the neccessary controls with your other arm?

I hope you find my suggestions useful, best of luck to you.

[Requital]

The issue is actually with repeated fine movements of my hand, due to nerve damage it causes massive swelling and makes my hand go numb, so I really only use a mouse for a few minutes a day when checking my email.

Due to that, I don't use that arm and hand much. Someday I may have surgery, but so far, I have not found a specialist that can identify exactly what is going on other than major ulner and carpal nerve damage, and none are willing to say that surgery will fix the issue.

So technically, I would need to be able to have a setup similar to MW4, where only the throttle would need to be adjusted by that hand, which did not require the same repetative and meticulous motions that movement or mouse aiming requires.

From what I have seen, the aiming is seperate from the mech's torso in MWO, and requires the precision of a mouse, leading me to believe that I am pretty much screwed.

[Lan]

Aiming is separate from movement yes. I too would have liked a continuation of earlier sim controls but alas not.

Forgive me for asking but do you have full use of your other arm? If that is the case, you could still use a mouse but solve the movement and leg twist by foot pedals?

There are also some interesting things mentioned in this thread on one armed controls setup too: http://mwomercs.com/...ls-with-1-hand/

Hope someone else have more ideas aswell.

[kneuen]

As a joystick player, I can tell you, joysticks are certainly viable with MWO. While you will never be able to have the exact control of mouse control (especially against players who use the gaming mice with pixel adjustments), you can certainly be competitive. Sniping will definitely not be particularly affective, but you can play and hit targets just fine with fine tuning.

I began playing this game with the Logitech 3D pro. You can adjust sensitivity using MWO itself and there are plenty of mouse emulators that will supposedly make the joystick work at the same level as a mouse. I don't have any experience with those as I was able to find a middle ground of performance that made me affective. I recommend that joystick simply because it has x, y and z axis control in the stick itself, allowing you to torso twist with one hand, while controlling your legs and vertical movement with that hand. That joystick has a throttle control and 11 buttons so it can make an extraordinary system for a relatively low price. In my experience, it is not very durable though. I broke 3 of them playing this game in 4 months.

Since then, I purchased a Saitek x52 that has improved my performance dramatically for sniping purposes. It's definitely more durable and has its own software to allow you to adjust sensitivities and define macros/keystrokes for each button. There are a total of 32 buttons on the throttle control as well as the joystick itself. It has a mode shift that allows you to turn those 32 buttons into a total of 96 buttons if you really wanted. It is a very expensive joystick, but also very durable. Saitek is not very well known for its driver support though. It performs best on USB 2.0 ports (which are becoming more and more rare) and driver set up for Windows 10 can be painful, so say the least. That being said, the throttle for your left hand does have a thumb stick mouse control. By adjusting the sensitivities, you can make the fine tune adjustments needed for sniping effectively.

It does take a certain amount of adjustment to find the exact sensitivities for your play style, of course, but it is entirely possible to be an affective mech warrior with a joystick. Just like with the mouse/keyboard, you have to find the settings that work best for you. While I am sure there are a few players that play with the mouse at 100% sensitivity, I get motion sick watching it. That's what the adjustments are for. Don't let anyone tell you that this game cannot be played with a joystick. It's all about play style and adjustments.

[Ozzy Stormlight]

http://mwomercs.com/...k-users/unread/
check out this thread on joystick / mouse emulation..
i haven't tried it as i am VERY comfortable w/ my throttle / mouse setup ( I use the throttle of an old x45)

hope this helps you. Good luck

Edited by Stormlight, 10 December 2015 - 05:44 AM.

[Wildstreak]

I played MW2 with a joystick and did well.
I tried a joystick in MWO, the big problem I found is when trying to torso twist, the in game response was very slow compared to a mouse, nothing else really.
I read a topic once where someone described why Mouse is better than Joystick, he also described and showed pictures of how he modified a joystick so it moved more like a mouse while being a joystick. Sorry, not tech enough to use the right terms for describing it, something about mice being a 'zero-order' controller and joysticks were not but you could, with the right materials, efforts and funds, make a stick one.

Edited by Wildstreak, 10 December 2015 - 07:09 AM.

[Napoleon_Blownapart]

I use a thrustmaster t16000m hall effect joystick which is cheap but senses a more accurate position of the stick than some switch activating joysticks.
http://www.thrustmas...roducts/t16000m

[Karamarka]

Joystick is only viable for controlling the legs. Not the torso

Excellent Uses for Joystick/Pedals:

Forward/Reversing
Turning Legs Left/Right

Terrible uses for Joystick:

Aiming
Torso Left/Right

Some people even say that Joystick for moving is better then WASD on the keyboard because it's like a real throttle instead of 100% / 0% acceleration.

But remember, MOUSE is required to be good at this game. Mouse in dominant hand and Joystick in offhand.

Edited by Karamarka, 10 December 2015 - 09:42 PM.

[loopala]

x52pro HOTAS here. also use my mouse with my LEFT hand. moving my left hand between mouse and throttle as needed. i am right handed but learned to mouse left handed (buttons still set for right hand) while doing cad and spread sheets. mouse with left and type with right.

ok back to the stick. i use my right on the stick for left/right 5 weapon buttons targeting and other stuff. left mouse is JJs right mouse is center legs to torso. click and your legs point were you are looking. torso up/down/left/right on mouse. i do use a few buttons on the throttle for center leg/torso heat/night vision. when moving or attempting fine movement it is HOTAS when brawling sniping, well any aiming it is mouse. also will run the throttle with my left forearm while mouseing if need be.

this vid is of a very intense fight in a CLPT using the above setup

also, if you notice, i had very good lance mates.

Edited by loopala, 10 December 2015 - 10:33 PM.

[Coolant]

I haven't used a joystick (use a controller), however, a buddy in my unit bought a new one that was manufactured recently and it worked right out of the box. However, I have heard of several people that have had difficult time with ancient joysticks. If the joystick you are using was made this year, I would say it should work fine.

[Requital]

well, doesn't sound too promising, but I am thinking of installing the game and seeing how well with programming software I can get my logitech 3d to work. I used to play with balistics in mw4, generally mediums with AC10s, so I am not a big long range sniper fan.

Hopefully I can get it to work well enough to not get anhiliated on pubby games...I don't expect to be able to be a top gun in NBT matches with this games lack of joystick support.

Should anyone have any more ideas, please let me know! again, while I know mice are great and the dual mouse and stick combo does it for everyone, it just isn't an option for me.

[Ozzy Stormlight]

Requital, on 14 December 2015 - 01:27 AM, said:

well, doesn't sound too promising, but I am thinking of installing the game and seeing how well with programming software I can get my logitech 3d to work. I used to play with balistics in mw4, generally mediums with AC10s, so I am not a big long range sniper fan.

Hopefully I can get it to work well enough to not get anhiliated on pubby games...I don't expect to be able to be a top gun in NBT matches with this games lack of joystick support.

Should anyone have any more ideas, please let me know! again, while I know mice are great and the dual mouse and stick combo does it for everyone, it just isn't an option for me.

i used a 3dpro for mw4 also. i first started this game with it. then after i broke/repaired it several times, i dragged out the old x45.
With some settings tweeking, you can be proficient in MWO with the 3d . just takes some patience learning the quirks of moving in this game engine with it.

[Requital]

Sorry to necro this thread, but has joystick support improved in the last couple years? All the threads relating to joysticks appear to be quite old, and I was wondering if they had changed anything recently.

Thank you!

[SmokeGuar]

No changes. Was promised better, but nothing has happened.

Joy is for non-comp matches. How well you do against average mouse users depends lot about yourself, this game is more than just aiming components 1000+ meters away.

And really, get rid of that recruit blue/green.

Edited by SmokeGuar, 27 December 2017 - 04:54 PM.