[Iain Baker]

Hi all!

Since 1999 I have mainly used a mouse control for fine movements, as my ‘el cheapo Thrustmaster HOTAS isn’t precise enough.
When a performing a hard turn via mouse I have to keep moving the mouse, lift it up off the pad, move it again, lift it off, move it again etc etc.

It can make keeping a hard-turning ship in my sights difficult as it will out turn me when I have to lift the mouse off the mat.  Using a stick allows me to keep pace with the target, but it is not precise enough it hit it. 

I seem to remember seeing a post from someone who referenced this irritating quirk, so I’m guessing this is a common issue.
If so, has anyone found a fix for it, or at least a way to lessen it? Any advice greatly appreciated.

Alternatively, is there an auto-aim feature / cheat that will allow you to hit a target so long as it is near enough your crosshairs – like with console FPS games. This would solve the Thrustmaster’s precision problem.

Hope I am making sense. I’m writing this past midnight when I should be in bed 😉

Many thanks in advance.

[General Battuta]

There's a 'joymouse' script which lets you fly with your mouse as if it were a joystick. Deviating from center will cause a constant turn, rather than requiring you to constantly move the mouse.

[z64555]

Auto-aim is a feature in the engine, used by several mods.  It cannot be enabled in vanilla FreeSpace without some significant changes to the .tbl's.

Controls is an interesting discussion that pops up from time to time.  Joysticks, as you've noticed, are good for making maneuvers but often  lack the ability to do precise targeting without significant training on the user's part.

Mice and other pointing devices have the opposite problem, being able to precisely point and aim at an intended targeted but not so great for doing continuous turns.

I personally use a trackball (Logitech M570) which is something of a middle ground, I can flip the ball around a few times to do larger turns and have enough precision to do aiming.

[Firesteel]

I personally use a trackball (Logitech M570) which is something of a middle ground, I can flip the ball around a few times to do larger turns and have enough precision to do aiming.

Trackball FTW!

That was actually what I learned the game on many moons ago, so if you want that middle ground, I can vouch for them. Another option is the keyboard clit on some laptops.

[Iain Baker]

There's a 'joymouse' script which lets you fly with your mouse as if it were a joystick. Deviating from center will cause a constant turn, rather than requiring you to constantly move the mouse.

Thanks for the heads up :-)

I tried using 'MouseToJoystick', but it just caused FS to crash when loading. Oh well,  back to the drawing board. Do you know of any other programs that are more FS friendly - or a way to FS to work with MouseToJoystic?

Cheers :-)

[Iain Baker]

I personally use a trackball (Logitech M570) which is something of a middle ground, I can flip the ball around a few times to do larger turns and have enough precision to do aiming.

Trackball FTW!

That was actually what I learned the game on many moons ago, so if you want that middle ground, I can vouch for them. Another option is the keyboard clit on some laptops.

I would use the keyboard clit, but I can never find it 

[deathspeed]

I would use the keyboard clit, but I can never find it 

That's what she said!

[DefCynodont119]

I actually fly with just the mouse and keyboard, best solution I found is to use the keyboard (numberpad) for the long turns.

I also completely change the control layout tho, and I don't think everyone's keen on re-learning Freespace's controls just for one problem.


Then again, it should be easy enough to just change the numberpad for turning.

hope this helps.

[deathspeed]

You can use both joystick and mouse at the same time (or at least I can; i just tried to be sure).  Use the joystick for the majority of flying and fighting, but if you need extra precision such as taking out a specific subsystem or a distant target, use the mouse.

It's not really a matter of your joystick not being precise enough; it's human physiology.  Joysticks are controlled by gross movements of your upper and forearm,  while the mouse is is controlled by finer muscles of your wrist and fingers.  I've always preferred the immersion of using a joystick, and have practiced with a Sidewinder Force Feedback and Force Feedback 2 for nearly 20 years, but I'm sure most mouse+keyboard players would mop the floor with me in multiplayer.

You might try turning down joystick sensitivity in the game settings.  When flying a Viper in Diaspora I have sensitivity turned all the way down.

You may also want to check out joystick response curves.  While I've never tried these, there may be something that makes the input more variable - less game motion close to center, but more motion further away from center.  There is a link in this thread: https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=91694.0

Finally, if you are into modding your hardware, you can add an extension to your stick, which has the effect of decreasing game input for the same amount of hand motion. 

[Iain Baker]

You can use both joystick and mouse at the same time (or at least I can; i just tried to be sure).  Use the joystick for the majority of flying and fighting, but if you need extra precision such as taking out a specific subsystem or a distant target, use the mouse.


I do this already. A sort of 'HOTASAMAK' set up (Hands-On-throttle-And-Stick-And-Mouse-And-Keys) ;-)


You may also want to check out joystick response curves.  While I've never tried these, there may be something that makes the input more variable - less game motion close to center, but more motion further away from center.  There is a link in this thread: https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=91694.0

I was thinking about those. I have Joystick curves installed, but WXLauncher didn't seam to recognise it. Perhaps Knossos will fare better ;-)