4 replies to this topic

[Elfcat]

I couldn't. I just couldn't deal psychologically with the keyboard-and-mouse method. I needed to have a stick and a throttle of some sort.

So my first attempt was with a Speedlink Shadow Hawk stick, mainly because Fry's had one and I like to support the local chain in the Bay Area, especially during these fraught pandemic times.

The Shadow Hawk has a throttle slider. It's a little metal blade which slides around the stick's base. It doesn't have a zero dip in the middle, it seemed most logical to go half-range with one of the stick's buttons for a reverse toggle. Unfortunately it operated itself in reverse to the sensible direction, so I had to re-reverse it with Joystick Gremlin.

I tried to use the Shadow Hawk's stick twist axis for steering, but it is hella confusing to be using the same instrument for both steering and torso twist, too easy to do both simultaneously when that's not the intent. I went back to keyboard for steering, but wasn't very satisfied.

So I started looking for options. It's a challenge to comparison shop by mail order, which is why I'm sharing this for other noobz.

I went on NewEgg and ordered a cheap iKkegol foot switch thing, because someone on here claimed that steering is not really analog and so A-D on the keyboard is as good as anything. More on that inaccuracy later.

These cheap foot switches were dinky and clinky. Not enough weight to them, slid around a lot. So I set up an RMA for those, and scratched my head thinking of other possibilities. I even got almost to the verge of trying a steering wheel, which I'm glad I didn't.

Instead I went all-in by way of eBay for a used pair of CH Pro Pedals from a guy in Oregon. Down to California they came, and they lasted less than an hour. My gaming setup is on the other side of a wall from my main bedroom, and though it is pretty nicely sound proof, it wasn't enough to blunt the Pro Pedals' clumsy clanking every time they crossed the centerline. They did have a nice heavy base so they didn't slide around, but the twist axis on the pedals was too much functionality for the objective, much like trying to steer with the twist axis on the stick. Back in the box it went to return up to Oregon.

So I was resigned for a while to A-D steering and the Shadow Hawk stick. The Shadow Hawk has a nice button arrangement, with an index and a pinky trigger, which I had assigned to Firetics (MUX-speak for Weapon Group) 1 and 6. And there was a group of four buttons in a cross arrangement mid-stalk below the hat and the big red button (Alpha of course). The hat I decided to use for only the cardinal directions: center torso on up, center legs on down, a zoom toggle to the left, and target lock on the right. The four cross buttons became Firetics 2-5.

I chugged along with this.... until I went into one drop, pushed the throttle slider blade... and stood still. I alt-tabbed out to check on Joystick Gremlin and saw the raw input was shot, the slider had flat worn out within less than a month of premium time usage.

In this state of desperation, I began trolling for posts on throttles with rudder rockers. There didn't seem like many options outside of Thrustmaster's wares, many of which are pretty expensive. But finally some new hits arrived on NewEgg for HOTAS One rigs for $80 and HOTAS X rigs for $100. HOTAS X has fewer buttons but an internal mapping utility. HOTAS One lacks the internal mapping but has a few more buttons.

I went for the HOTAS One, and I really like this here rig.

While it doesn't have the cross of four buttons mid-stalk like the Shadow Hawk, the HOTAS One has several great things. For one, a separate full-function hand throttle, which doesn't CLANK like the Pro Pedals at the zero-dip. For another, while there's no pinky trigger, there is a knuckle trigger to the side of the index trigger, which I initally assigned to Weapon Group 2 but later decided to assign to "R is for MuRdeR", aka the Target Lock. Weapon Group 2 is now the right direction of the hat. Also, the rudder rocker on the throttle is golden: it is true analog, providina range of turning speeds not provided by the keyboard. And also, because that is how I choose to steer, unlike the Shadow Hawk, the HOTAS One has a lateral screw in the base which locks down and disables the twisting capability.

So now I have three Weapon Group buttons on the stick, and the latter three, 4-6, on the trio of buttons on the throttle, those being mainly for longer range weaponry. The two buttons on the front of the throttle are Toggle Max Zoom and Push to Talk. The left button of the stck hat, formery Toggle Zoom, is now Toggle Advanced Zoom.

How to square accurate aim with the stick was something I wrestled with. At 25% X-axis sensitivity the full torso twist speed is still there, but for fine aim it's still impossibly jumpy. I tried response curves in Gremlin but it didn't help much.

Then I thought I had a clever use for Gremlin: since the Numpad keys are essentially obviated by a proper throttle, I decided to use Gremlin to map the Numpad keys to slow mouse speeds in the eight directions around the Numpad 5 ke, which at the center would toggle Max or Advanced Zoom, with /, *, -, +, Enter and . as Weapons Group keys.

A few trips out like this, however, convinced me the better path was the inverse of this: take the X and Y axis sensitivities to .05 for the stick, and map the Numpad keys to fast mouse speeds so that a keypress would pitch or yaw the torso at full speed for gross fast side or upward or downward snaps, to be corrected in finer point with the stick.

This final arrangement is actually getting me some kills and KMDDs which were previously elusive.

I fleetingly flirted with the idea of a touchpad for fine mouse motion, a tool which seems more natural in a mech than a regular mouse which in RL would be flying all over the cabin and getting snagged on **** when you finally find it to put it back on the cockpit mousepad (???) Glad I chose against this as well, though it could serve as an alternative to the Numpad key torso mapping.

I hope my product review is of utility to fellow players.

[General Solo]

Personally I didn't bother seting up the ole HOATAS and head tracking
Not enough in game support and too much effort
Few games handle HOTAS well

Elite and Aerofly are good games for HOTAS, worked like a charm
Star citzen is good too, but so deep it took me a day to do, but now its dreamy.

MWO and MW5 mouse and keyboard is the way to go imo.

Edited by OZHomerOZ, 06 September 2020 - 07:46 AM.

[loopala]

as a long time HOTAS player i pulled my hair out on this game. what i finally work with is saitek X52 Pro. now i have run this HOTAS setup on MW3, MW4 and LL but MWO drove me nuts. at the moment i am running a stick mouse setup. as a cad user i have myself, a right handed person, trained to mouse with my left hand, while keyboarding with my right. so i use the stick just for buttons and turning. the mouse is buttons and torso. my mouse is a logitech G300s 9 button mouse. i use the right mouse button for JJs and the left mouse button for center legs to torso. kind of a look point and click way of moving around. it works for me and lets me pull off some pretty fancy moves while using all 6 weapon groups. it's down and dirty. i have never been very good at touch typing and my fat fingers never got a feel for a keyboard.

[Jastreb17]

I use an old Logitech Attack 3 joystick for torso control and a Saitek Pro Flight rudder pedals for the legs. As predominantly a flight sim player, not a FPS player, I much prefer the joystick for immersion (and not having to buy a gaming mouse I would use for nothing else). The rudder pedals are not clunky at all, and I can absolutely modulate the turning speed. At first I was running into things and falling off bridges left and right, but with enough practice it has become almost second nature. I found a good way to practice was running the gauntlet in the Academy. The pedals actually have another axis (pushing down the toes) , that I wish I could use for something in MWO (wouldn't it be cool to have analog jump jet controls?)

The joystick has a 11 buttons, which I think is enough for the essentials: 4 weapons groups and the R button, jump jets, arm lock, zoom, cool shot, artillery and center legs to torso . It has a throttle, which is absolutely essential, and which I use for both directions (it's on a little rotary knob). If it ever breaks I will be pretty sad, and might need to invest in a separate throttle, but 6 months in, so far so good. I wish I had one more button to map for UAV - maybe I'll remap the center legs button, since I'm good enough with the pedals now I hardly ever use it.

I know people will say MWO plays better with mouse, but I'm enjoying my experience with the joystick. My long range accuracy isn't stellar when zoomed, but at mid-ranges don't have many problems, and I find it easy to follow moving targets. I did have to turn the sensitivity down to get reasonable accuracy, so I'm giving up torso twist speed. I think if I could adjust the gain on the X axis, so that I get max sensitivity at full deflection and low sensitivity on center, I will be golden.

[CFC Conky]

Flight simmer here as well. I use MFG Crosswind pedals for steering and CH Pro Throttle for a button bay (I've tried using a Nostromo N52 gaming pad; it's works but I still prefer the CH throttle setup). I don't use the analog throttle function because it's a bit clumsy around the point where you go into reverse. For torso movement I use a Logitech MX90 Ergo trackball.

I can't program everything on that gear so I still use the keyboard for a few functions like consumables and ECM switching.

Good hunting,
CFC Conky

Edited by CFC Conky, 03 October 2020 - 10:17 AM.