40 replies to this topic

[The Herald of Darkness]

I've found that I absolutely hate using a joystick twist axis for controlling mech torso twist.

I prefer to use a second joystick for that. The problem is that in the games I've played to date, I can only do this by using a stick to emulate keyboard presses. This results in a jerky digital input.

What I'd really like is for this game to have a control options menu that detects EVERY control device attached to the PC, and asks you to simply perform whatever action you want to control each mech function.

It's always the best solution to picking controls. Can you do it?

i.e. Click the words "torso twist", then move the axis on my second stick to record it as the control.

Two sticks is better than one. PPjoy doesn't seem to work on Windows 7 64 bit, so I can't use that to achieve this.

Also, since each stick has its own throttle, there needs to be a way to decide which one you wish to use. Or possibly to use another axis instead. Like pushing forward to go forward/accerate, and back to go back.

Edited by The Herald of Darkness, 03 November 2011 - 05:31 AM.

[P34C3 M4K3R]

I never really had a problem with twisting the Stick to rotate my mech. Yes, it was a bit awkward at first but then I practiced enough to make my actions more liberal so i would not have a combination of twists and turns unless wanting too. You could just use the Saitek X52 Flight Control System and use the ***** on the trust to control your twists. hope that help ^^

[The Herald of Darkness]

Alas, what I have is a Saitek Cyborg Evo (which is irritatingly stiff so not great for precise aiming, but works great for steering the mech) and a Logitech WingMan Extreme, which is pretty **** awesome apart from the twist is broken.

It seems to have edited out what you suggested using. What did you type? I can't think what it would have read as a swear word...

Is customisable controls really too much to ask though? Surely it must be possible. Just make it so the game can read inputs from more than one device, and let you use any of them in the controls setup menu. I mean, it works with a joystick and keyboard and mouse, right?

[Lorebot]

I have the Saitek X45 (the grandfather of the X52) from like a decade ago now and it still works wonderfully and I really can't wait to use it for MWO.

Herald, he was probably talking about the rudder controls on the throttle half of the joystick combo. (in case the crazy editing blocks that it's the r u d d e r)

Personally I never used the rudder or the twist functions of my joysticks to control the torso twist, I always swapped it with my legs direction. That way my joystick would completely control my torso which usually made aiming easier because your torso often moves faster than your legs. And it made my throttle w/rudder completely control my movement. So right hand for torso, left hand for legs. It made a lot of sense to me at the time I thought of it and it still does today. I haven't played a Mechwarrior game in ages, but I remember there being a hotkey to link/unlink your legs direction from the torso and out of combat i'd just link it so I could drive normally and in combat I'd unlink for more precise aiming and movement control. Give it a try sometime, you may like it

Edited by Lorebot, 09 November 2011 - 05:38 PM.

[PewPew]

I'll bet you big money that this isn't going to happen. Maybe 1/1000 players is going to have two joysticks. Why waste time developing it?

[Lorebot]

because in most good sim setups you have to use more than one joystick unless you pick up a combo setup like Saitek's X45/52 series setup that counts multiple joysticks as 1 device.

I have a couple really good joysticks that I never use because the Joystick is 1 device, the throttle is another, the rudder pedals are a 3rd and most games only let you use 1 device at a time. So instead of trying to hack the game to let me use all 3 of my really expensive joysticks together as they're intended I just use my Saitek X45 because it's recognized as 1 device even though it's 2 separate joysticks.

It's not hard to code for multiple input sources, joy1/joy2/joy3 etc... Directx joystick control is really advanced and almost nothing makes full use of it.

[Redburn]

As far as sticks go, I really do hope minimal HOTAS support is included. I remember playing on the extremely limited Microsoft Sidewinder - ugh! I'd hope X45/X52 would be the minimum capability requirement.

[Tsula]

Rudder peddles for x axis , slam both down for jump jets. Use main stick for turning and pitch. Use throttle control for more weapons and well forward and back ward move ment

Edited by tsula, 09 November 2011 - 06:46 PM.

[Gorthaur]

id love 2 joystick support. but what they need to do is fix the mouse/joystick thing. when you use mouse and joystick your twist axis should be disabled so it doesn't interfere with your mouse aim. *cough* mechwarrior 4 *cough*

[CyBerkut]

There are plenty of recent air combat sims that recognize multiple game controllers, so there is no good reason why they should fail to include that in MWO. It isn't just joysticks (or packaged HOTAS offerings like the Saitek X52) either. There are stand alone throttles (CH Products) and rudder controllers. TrackIR gets seen by the Operating System as another controller. There is at least one commercial package (Logitech G940) that is seen as 3 separate controller devices.

[Captain Fabulous]

I plan on getting the X52 for precisely this purpose.

[Lorebot]

I'd much rather have multi device support than depend on my X45/52. Saitek's programming software has gone downhill since I purchased my X45, in the recent version you can't define buttons as DirectX buttons, they need to be linked to a keyboard command and I dislike that. I used to be able to define like 120 DirectX buttons and use those to map my configs for stuff like Descent: Freespace, the older Mechwarrior games, and Falcon 4.0. In the newest version I can't do that so I basically have to build a freakin spreadsheet to keep track of what button is what key (or worse, combination of keys) on my keyboard and that drives me crazy.

I'd much rather see they give us multi device support so I can dust off my $800 joystick/throttle/pedal set and hook them up for something other than Falcon 4.0 or MS Flight Simulator.

[Redburn]

Speaking of "other" controller support...

What about the ability to integrate touchscreen support, similar to say ... DCS A-10C and SCS Helios ... Where we can design and implement 'virtual' cockpits that can send keyboard commands to the interface instead of via the keyboard and joystick/HOTAS. My simpit could then take on a whole new use instead of when I just want to fly.....

EDIT - Woundn't be great to retask Comms, or weapon groups on the fly? What about C3 integration and control? The possibilities are endless "IF" we are given a large canvas of control options and configuration options.

Edited by Redburn, 12 November 2011 - 05:24 AM.

[GreyGriffin]

Slightly OT, but if this game supports TrackIR, I am totally buying it just for this.

[Kumakichi]

I'd guess that it would support HOTAS. MW2, MW3 and MW4 all did.

[I R O N]

Please for the love of gawd allow me to use my sidewinder pro 2! If you guys are going to be using cryengine don't make me 'cry' like I did when I saw the horrid controls on MWLL.

[Uncl Munkeh]

Why not open dev some game controls for MW?

[Sabbathiel]

Heck why dont they just ask RAZER to build a MWO duel gaming stick it could be used for other game. even shooters. I would buy one... Razer i get 5%...hehehe

[Gemini]

OK, having programmed joystick code from scracth before more than once, let me clarify something for everyone:

Programming for ALL variations of DirectX-compatable joysticks on a PC is EASIER than programming for the keyboard!

Yes, seriously.

The only thing that will stop highly-customizable joystick support from making it into MWO is lousy coding, ignorance or a lack of time, and considering I can write a fully featured joystick handler in under 3 hours I'm pretty sure the MWO dev team can handle this. :P

Programming for multiple joysticks is nothing more than a matter of storing and reading all joystick states in an array, rather than having the user selecting only one stick and only doing I/O with that one, and when you configure controls you not only store which joystick axis/button to use for something, but which joystick ID it belongs to. So long as we can convince the dev team to do that, then the OPs desire of using two joysticks is easy stuff. ;)

I should also point out, this type of coding would allow people to use independent joystick-type devices together that don't normally interact. Such as having a mis-matched set of rudder pedals, throttle and joystick, all working together, since they would normally each register as separate joystick devices.

Edited by Gemini, 20 November 2011 - 10:03 PM.

[HardDrive]

Redburn, on 12 November 2011 - 05:00 AM, said:

Speaking of "other" controller support...

What about the ability to integrate touchscreen support, similar to say ... DCS A-10C and SCS Helios ... Where we can design and implement 'virtual' cockpits that can send keyboard commands to the interface instead of via the keyboard and joystick/HOTAS. My simpit could then take on a whole new use instead of when I just want to fly.....

EDIT - Woundn't be great to retask Comms, or weapon groups on the fly? What about C3 integration and control? The possibilities are endless "IF" we are given a large canvas of control options and configuration options.

I am VERY down with this and I would like to see it too, Because if this game is even half as good as I am hoping I will be building a sim pit just for it!!!!!!!