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You haven't finished the basic controls yet
As something of an expert on fixing issues with MWO's controls (2 input apps I wrote for MWO, Fire Control and UJR, get used 5000+ times a month) and having written numerous scripts to help people fix annoyances with the MWO interface, I feel pretty well placed to come up with a list of things that really need to be provided by PGI rather than coded by enthusiasts such as myself. Please, take a look at the following:
Mouse Wheel
You broke binding anything to mouse wheel over a year ago and it is still not fixed.
Zoom
Zoom is a usability nightmare, especially for newbs. An annoying toggle system plus advanced zoom that if you activate it while in zoom 3, when you close it pops you back out to zoom 1.
FIX IT! There should be THREE zoom bindings at minimum:
Zoom in - hit this at zoom 3 and nothing should happen, unless you have adv zoom module.
Zoom out - hit this at zoom 1 and nothing should happen.
Zoom toggle - the current system for people who want a 1-button solution.
Default binding should be wheel up for zoom in, wheel down for zoom out.
Arm Lock Toggle
Arm lock toggle is not a toggle but a momentary. Make it a proper toggle.
Arm Lock causes inconsistent mouse behavior
With arm lock off, if you move the mouse quicker than your mech can twist, the viewport (head look) moves to where you would have twisted to, then the torso catches up to where the viewport is looking.
With arm lock on, instead of twisting the view, it "throws away" this extra movement.
Until you understand what is going on, this can be confusing and will also interfere with your ability to improve aim through muscle memory.
Also, how will this work with absolute input? Surely keeping things as they are would break absolute stick mode? If the user is also using TrackIR, how will this work?
Surely you will need a re-design here...
Chain fire
Does not work as expected.
Ignore the reasons why, but lets say I put 2AC2 in group 1 in chain fire mode.
Lets use the old figure of 500ms for the fire rate of the AC2, so halved because we have 2: 250ms.
If I hold the fire button, shots come out at 500ms, not 250ms.
If I click (manually, or using a macro) at 250ms, it does not fire at 250ms.
The only way to fire them at 250ms is to use two weapon groups - either 1 in each weapon group, or both weapons in both groups and chainfire on.
Conversely, UACs seem to default to double shot mode. When fire is held with a UAC, it should single shot. To double shot, you should need to double-tap...
TAG Toggle / UAC Toggle
I think you need to introduce a "weapon toggle" system - a simple method would be <shift button> + <weapon group button> = toggle. So for a group containing UACs, toggling it would turn on/off double shot, for a TAG it would toggle it on/off.
Stick stuff
Absolute input
as mentioned above.
Interruption of controls
Make sure that when you open the map etc, that stick controls do not stop working / the mech does not stop.
Last time I checked, this was the case.
Non-central throttle mid-point
Throttles are generally modelled on plane controls, and these are unlikely to have detents ("Notches" - places where the throttle stops) in the middle of the range. Usually they are around the 33% mark, and often one near the top too (For "afterburner").
Consider some way to tie in to this - you do not need 50% of your throttle for forwards, 50% for back, the lower third or so for reverse mode would be plenty.
The upper "afterburner" detent would also be good for MASC.
Head look changes
With the coming implementation of TrackIR, I guess this is in the works anyway.
In order to do that "right", you will need to un-couple head look from the arms (ie when you head look around, arms do not follow like the do when you hold CTRL currently).
Allow the user to also bind head look to an axis (in either absolute or relative mode) OR Hat (POV) switch OR keyboard/button.
Relative mode / keyboard / POV / button for people without head trackers, so the can use a digital input (POV, Button, key) or analog thumbstick to look around.
Absolute mode would be for TrackIR emulation. Naturalpoint are getting pretty rampant about people using their API for 3rd party trackers and unless you wish to either leave some of your users out in the cold, or wind up naturalpoint (By doing the "pretend to be IL2 trick" and removing the call to the encryption function), you have to use the encrypted API.
By allowing head look to be controlled by an absolute axis, pretty much any head tracking system (homebrew / kinect / FaceTrackNoIR / real TrackIR) should work with it by emulating a joystick.
Make sure multiple control schemes work together
For example - torso twist controlled by stick, but arms (fine aim) controlled by mouse.
Multi-Stage Triggers
Some sticks have dual stage triggers. These would be nice to be able to use with, for example, UACs - first stage is single shot, second stage is double shot. Implementing my proposed "weapon toggle" system should allow this.
[Edited to add "weapon toggle" suggestion, multi-stage triggger, UAC modes]
Edited by evilC, 18 April 2014 - 07:27 AM.
