Author Topic: Can't stand the way FS2 handles joystick...  (Read 2590 times)

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Offline AOClaus

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Can't stand the way FS2 handles joystick...
Am I the only one that can't stand the way FS2 handles the joystick? It feels too loose, too floaty for me. No matter how I adjust the sensitivity or deadzone I just can't get it to feel right. The way games in the X-Wing series handle a joystick is spot on, I point and shoot. In Freespace I almost always overshoot. Is there ANY way I can change the way FS2 handles acceleration during a turn? I think my problem is that FS2 starts to accelerate my turn sooner than I expect, what I want is a larger area in which to move the stick and maintain a LOW turning speed.

 

Offline IceFire

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Re: Can't stand the way FS2 handles joystick...
Never heard of anyone complain about how the joystick feels.  Does your stick come with profile software...might be worth tweaking there. I've played the game on a MS Precision and Precision 2 sticks as well as a Saitek X-52...never had any problems.  The X-52 is a pretty sensitive stick with a decent throw so I had to increase the deadzone a bit.
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Re: Can't stand the way FS2 handles joystick...
Am I the only one that can't stand the way FS2 handles the joystick? It feels too loose, too floaty for me. No matter how I adjust the sensitivity or deadzone I just can't get it to feel right. The way games in the X-Wing series handle a joystick is spot on, I point and shoot. In Freespace I almost always overshoot. Is there ANY way I can change the way FS2 handles acceleration during a turn? I think my problem is that FS2 starts to accelerate my turn sooner than I expect, what I want is a larger area in which to move the stick and maintain a LOW turning speed.

It's just the realism of freespace. Personally i think the x-wing series has a seriously unrealistic view in terms of flight dynamics, because your able too stop and turn instantly with little if any acceleration or deceleration. The actual mechanics in space (or in flying anything, for that matter) require a second or two (depending on the turning speed of the craft) to change direction for steering, this is caused by the inertia of the craft, I think. I noticed this too when i first started playing, but you'll get used to it eventually. Personally, i find it easier to aim with this realism now.
Fun while it lasted.

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Offline Herra Tohtori

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Re: Can't stand the way FS2 handles joystick...
It's just the realism of freespace. Personally i think the x-wing series has a seriously unrealistic view in terms of flight dynamics, because your able too stop and turn instantly with little if any acceleration or deceleration. The actual mechanics in space (or in flying anything, for that matter) require a second or two (depending on the turning speed of the craft) to change direction for steering, this is caused by the inertia of the craft, I think. I noticed this too when i first started playing, but you'll get used to it eventually. Personally, i find it easier to aim with this realism now.

Nah, it's not that. It's no use to talk about realism and FS2 flight dynamics in the same sentence anyway...

It's the fact that the sensitivity curve of the stick is pretty much linear and by default non-adjustable, which means that the area near the deadzone - required for important small corrections - is difficult to use. It's very possibly to use with a lot of practice and a good joystick with small deadzone.

Adjusting the sensitivity and deadzone on the controls settings has little to no effect on the actual sensitivity curve of the stick; rather the so called "sensitivity" just adds filtering to the signal, which masks the small rapid changes in the signal and makes the controls more sluggish - granted, easier to not overshoot, but also more difficult to use accurately. Deadzone should be adjusted to as small as possible so that when you take your hand off the stick, the ship doesn't veer off direction; sensitivity should be set to as high as possible to get the control signal to the game as fast as possible IMHO - then just get used to making corrections small enough.

Some sticks have in-built non-linear response curve, which means that an arbitrary move of the stick near the center area results in smaller feedback than similar movement of the handle near the edges, which should result in better control regarding the small corrections needed for aiming. AFAIK, Saitek X52 is one of these sticks - can anyone who have this kind of controller confirm this? :nervous:

If you have a profiler that can change the signal response curve that the driver sends to DirectX, you should be able to set up a non-linear axis control for at least pitch and yaw... and roll if you like.
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Offline feltoar

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Re: Can't stand the way FS2 handles joystick...
Interesting, cause I have the same thing going with mine and I like it that way. Cant help you and judging by Herras post no one might be able to.

 

Offline AOClaus

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Re: Can't stand the way FS2 handles joystick...
Unfortunately my current stick doesn't have a sensitivity scale adjustment option and I think you're absolutely right about that being the reason I'm having trouble. I'm too cheap/poor atm to buy any sort of serious stick especially since I don't play many PC games these days. I used to use a Thrustmaster F16 FLCS but that doesn't work when you don't have a game port, or a keyboard input port (since the only way to even use--let alone program--many of the buttons is by using a special program that sends the button settings to the stick, loads them into the stick's memory, and then sends the button commands as keystrokes). It's unfortunate because I really enjoyed Freespace 1 and 2 back in the day. Thanks for all your input.

P.S. Speaking of realism, if you want a slightly more realistic--though admitedly not perfect--example of what space combat might be like check out http://ifh.firstones.com/. It's a B5 based game being built from scratch and it's free. Right now it's only a short demo campaign but still very good.
« Last Edit: March 06, 2008, 01:50:02 am by AOClaus »

 

Offline Herra Tohtori

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Re: Can't stand the way FS2 handles joystick...
Interesting, cause I have the same thing going with mine and I like it that way. Cant help you and judging by Herras post no one might be able to.


...until at some point (3.6.7) the pilot code is changed so that it will be easier to change stuff like control input system and other stuff.

BTW could you elaborate what exactly do you mean by "same thing"? Do you have a joystick that has a linear sensitivity curve and you like it, or do you have one with non-linear feedback and you like that? I presume the former, but I can't be sure...


Hm, I wonder if there is any kind of utility/program/registry editor thant can change the axis sensitivity curves of the default DirectX control interface, or even better, of individual joysticks. By common sense it shouldn't be at all impossible, but I don't just know if anyone has implemented any kind of solution for it.
There are three things that last forever: Abort, Retry, Fail - and the greatest of these is Fail.

 

Offline Zacam

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Re: Can't stand the way FS2 handles joystick...
DXTweak 2

It's a wingman joy app, but it has worked great for every joystick I have ever used and allowed me to maximize my effectiveness with my X-52 especially.

You can also try DX Deadzone if you want.
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