[GunFodder]

Greetings!

First off, I just want to say how impressed I am with Diaspora. It looks amazing, and I have greatly enjoyed the short time that I have been puttering around in it.

Here's my ridiculous idea: I've been engaged in a series of discussions regarding the ideal control scheme for maneuvering a space fighter with true, 6-Degrees-of-Freedom. I believe that utilizing a set-up similar to many real spaceships (Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle) would be very beneficial:
- Rotational control (traditional 3DoF flightstick) for the main hand.
-Translational control (Using a Novint Falcon simply for proof-of-concept) for the off-hand.
-Car pedals for controlling primary acceleration/deceleration, with the clutch pedal for toggling "glide mode."

Is there any way that a Novint Falcon could be mapped for translation controls? If not, can anyone think of a space game that might offer this?

I can borrow a friend's Novint Falcon just so that I can validate/invalidate the overall concept. The problem is that, of the few space games that actually feature translation control, it's not available as an analog input; rather, it's mapped to keyboard buttons.

Sorry for such a bizarre question, but I really believe that such a set-up could work very well, and it's gotten to the point that going back and forth on forums is akin to beating our heads against our monitors. Someone needs to  actually video record themselves controlling a simulated ship with physical 6DoF controls, or we're just going to keep going around in circles. Plus, I just think that it would be AMAZING to control a Viper or any FS2 ships this way!

Some of the more technical-minded contributors are considering some very creative DIY solutions, such as hacking together different flightsticks, or even scratch-building a 6DoF control yoke. Pretty neat stuff.

Anyway, sorry for the strange question. This community seems to have a fair share of creative and knowledgable problem-solvers, and I'm hoping that someone here might be able to help us.

Thank you for your time.

[FreeSpaceFreak]

Hm, methinks it should be feasible with any decent joystick. The default setup (3-axis stick + throttle) already controls 4 DOF - then if you map the hat switch (which is normally 'look around') to up/down/left/right thrust, there's your 6 DOF control. Should be possible in FSO, AFAIK, provided the ship is set up for 6-DOF control (most only have 4 DOF).

[GunFodder]

Yes, many have suggested simply using hat switch for translational maneuvering. However, in the same manner that having an analog input device is far superior to simple on/off keystrokes for yaw/pitch/roll (i.e., using a flightstick to control your direction instead of the keyboard), I believe that using an analog input device for translation control would yield equally improved maneuvering.

If NASA came to me tomorrow (you know, because we're totally tight like that) and asked me to design the controls for their first star fighter, a dual stick set-up is the first thing I would try; rotational for main hand, and translational for off-hand, with each controller covered with equal degrees of wonderful buttons, toggles, switches and doodads.

I know FS2 isn't set up for analog thruster control, but if this or a similar game could possibly interpret the analog input from a Novint Falcon as simple "on/off" thruster control, then I could demonstrate a proof of concept HOTAS on video.

I know it sounds strange, but to be perfectly honest, this has become a real bug up my keister. I just want to finally try a two-handed rotational/translational control scheme, and see how it feels. If it feels good, I'm sure I can convince the DIYers to try for one of their prototypes.

Fat lot of good my psychology schooling is turnin out to be. I should have studied electronics!

[Dragon]

I've got a 6-DOF all-axis control in KSP using a traditional "jet fighter" type setup. It consists of a 2-axis stick for either pitch and roll or pitch and yaw (toggleable with a side button), a throttle lever with a 2-axis thumbstick for translation and pedals for either roll or yaw (depends on the joystick mode). This also works in FS, Starshatter and Orbiter. It's a very intuitive (especially for a fighter pilot), very smooth control scheme, and it avoids stick twisting (which can cause wrist problems if used for complex maneuvers).

[GunFodder]

Yup, thumbstick control on a variety of devices has been suggested, as well. I guess what I'm looking to replicate is more in line with the controls schemes that have existed on real spacecraft, such as Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle. On these spacecraft, a rotational controller controlled yaw/pitch/roll (yes, it was a "twist stick" for controlling yaw), and there was a vertically mounted "plunger" that controlled movement along the translational axes, like so.



The rotational hand controller:


and the translational hand controller:


These translation controls, however, were digital as opposed to analog. Moving the plunger to the left activated the corresponding thrusters on the right side of the ship, but at a static degree of force; more force required the pilot to hold it in that direction longer. An analog translation controller would allow for all of the same advantages that a 3DoF flightstick has over, say, a Nintendo D-pad. I really think that the difference in the quality of control you would experience would be that stark.

[FreeSpaceFreak]

Hmm, well most joysticks (presumably including yours) have no more than 4 continuous control axes, you'll have to make do with discrete button controls for the rest (I'm pretty sure joysticks are all completely digital nowadays )

Unless you're willing to invest, of course, in which case you may want to check out 3D mice. They have 6 DOF, although I'm not sure they allow continuous speed control on all axes. Either way, AFAIK FSO only has discrete on/off controls for side thrusters, so it would require some code/scripting magic to make 6-DOF continuous control work in-game.

[GunFodder]

Awesome, thanks for the information and the quick replies!