Joysticks...

Discussion in 'Technical, security and bug reports' started by Wistrel, Jan 13, 2012.

  1. Wistrel

    Wistrel Kick Ass Elf

    Anyone using them? Anyone want them to be implemented properly?

    I'm using something called joy2key to allow rudimentary joystick control of my helecopter. Makes flying about 10 times more fun I would say. I think JS's would be of most use in space though.

    MA seemed to imply it would happen shortly after space version 1.0 .... but nothing yet though - which is sorta lame really. I expect the guys at Theryon wars will be wanting joysticks - surely?

    Wistrel
     
  2. narfi

    narfi Lost

    joy2key sounds familiar, i think that's what i was playing around with in vu9 with a PlayStation controller. It worked great for setting up hotkeys and the normal direction arrows, but the mouse wasn't very functional.

    narfi
     
  3. Nor Alien

    Nor Alien Wisker Fish

    Joystick joysick joystick.. just has a ring to it doesn't it!! :whistling:

    Yes I would love to see this implemented!! :thumbsup:
     
  4. Real spaceships have both attitude and translation controllers.
     
  5. Wistrel

    Wistrel Kick Ass Elf

    attitude? altitude maybe?

    I've made my own joystick controller for space now anyhow - its ace fun! :D. Its still using joy2key for some of the ground based stuff but thats just cause I've been too lazy to properly finish it off yet.

    Really should get round to making it standalone/configurable really... Maybe then other people could use it

    Wistrel
     
    • Like Like x 2
  6. Nor Alien

    Nor Alien Wisker Fish

    Show us pics!! :yay:
     
  7. Wistrel

    Wistrel Kick Ass Elf

    er.... I know the old internet adage, "pics - or it didn't happen" but actually its a little difficult to screen shot as er... there isn't a lot to see.... um... it talks...? if that's any use? I made a funky computer voice thing to announce which control mode its in ^_^. I can describe what it does though if that is any good?

    I have 2 analogue joysticks, an ancient one that has 2 axis and 2 buttons and a snazzy new usb one (cyborg v1 I think).

    So on the new one, in "space mode", the forward/backward axis tips the ship down and up and you can rotate the stick to rotate the ship left and right. (these are like the normal space mouse controls and are analogue) When you let go, the ship flies straight. Moving the stick left and right controls the roll/rotation of the ship (digital - i tried "faking" analogue but it didn't really work) and there is a throttle that I use to turn on (er can't turn off, just have to move backwards) the "keep moving forward" thing.

    The other old joystick controls (digitally) the move forward, backwards, and slide left and right functionality. It has a trigger button that drops the ship down and another on top that moves the ship up.

    On the new joystick there is also a "hat" stick. This controls the "view": forward looks down, back=look up, left=look left, right= look right. Letting go, restores the view to straight forward. This works in 1st and third person mode view mode. When "looking around" it is still possible to move (frwd, bkwd,left+right slide, up/down) the ship using the old stick (no angular control in other words). This is fun for watching yourself fly over the space stations for example).

    The new stick has 5 buttons on top and a trigger for firing your gun (I don't have a gun >_<). They control:

    - toggle for 1st and third person mode
    - toggle for mouse pointer (trigger then becomes left click) [this is button 7 actually on the stick]
    - keep going forward button
    - free look mode
    - change seats (also turns off engine - kinda fun for "parking" upside down on the side of space stations)
    - change between "atmospheric" and "zero g" control modes. (cue funky, annoying maybe? computer voice ^_^)

    When holding down the "free look" button, the old joystick allows you to look around as if you were naturally turning your head (this disables other controls). Again this works nicely in both 1st and third person mode.

    When in "atmospheric" control mode the new joystick movement basically just maps to WASD for ground based vehicles. You can turn them either by moving it left/right or twisting the stick. If you are say, flying a quadwing (ie maybe you just entered a planets atmosphere and switched control modes) left/right slides you left and right (ie banks the craft) and twisting will rotate you left and right. Using the hat is a bit like just normal mouse camera positioning that we are used to when we use vehicles on planets.

    It might sound a bit of a faff and I guess a lot of people would wonder why I bothered.... mainly cause I hated the "mouse as a joystick" hack MA put in space. Its really a lot of fun though using the 2 sticks to fly around!

    Ideally I'd like to make it available for others to use.... its not really very configurable at the moment though, so wouldn't be any use unless someone had the same joystick setup as me.

    Hope that wasn't too dull to read

    Wistrel
     
  8. Nor Alien

    Nor Alien Wisker Fish

    That sound awesome!! Will have to try this with my joystick. Thank you for the info!! :beerchug:
     
  9. Wistrel

    Wistrel Kick Ass Elf

    What do you have?
     
  10. LOL! Altitude and attitude ;) I think joysticks is a great idea and would certainly be better than mouse control when in space. As it is, I often experience a lot more than altitude and attitude when planet hopping.
     
  11. Nor Alien

    Nor Alien Wisker Fish

    Sorry it took so long to post, my IE9 now doesn't work with EP. lol

    Anyway I have a Saitek ST90 that I have had for some time.. Hopefully it still works under win 7 :wink:
     
  12. Wistrel

    Wistrel Kick Ass Elf

    hmm internet says it doesn't with win7 but then again it would say that about my ancient one too... there are ways ;)

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2012
    • Like Like x 1
  13. Nor Alien

    Nor Alien Wisker Fish

    LOL yeah for old joysticks.. Just think we are saving the planet one joystick at a time!! :wink: I found that win 7 does recognize it, so it is just a matter of setting it up..

    Unfortunately, my $750 vid card decided that it doesn't want to play EU anymore.. Maybe do to my bad returns as of late? :whistling: I have a replacement already but my hand is not working atm either.. :cautious: lol Will have it installed sometime this week. :biggrin:
     
  14. Nice - how did you rig it up? PS2 slot or usb. I've got an old jstick lying around somewhere, so...
     
  15. Wistrel

    Wistrel Kick Ass Elf

    I have an old soundcard in the PC.

    I have a little "pack" I guess of stuff to get old joystick port going on win7
    (note I'm on 32bit don't think there is a chance with 64bit) basically old drivers that work with the gameport and something that reinstates the gamecontroller thing in control panel. Can link I think if you like

    address was:

    http://forums.creative.com/t5/Windo...-07-07-2009/m-p/386462?view=by_date_ascending
    it seems that doesn't work now though... maybe google can help or I can send the file if anyone knows of someplace I can put things online?
    Wistrel
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2012
    • Like Like x 1
  16. So it's connected up to a soundcard, interesting. For some reason I thought that maybe you'd hooked it up to the ps2 mouse port, so thanks for that info and the link. I have Win7 64 bit, but I'll still have a good try at getting a work around
     
  17. Wistrel

    Wistrel Kick Ass Elf

    can you put 32 bit drivers on a 64bit OS? I didn't think that was possible?

    Anyhow someone asked for a pic so I did a controls diagram PECS.jpg

    to be honest, that's not a totally comprehensive explanation of what it does. For example, in zero-g mode, the hat switch jumps back to a forward view when you let go which isn't the case in atmospheric mode. There were a whole bunch of fiddly little problems to work through too, (to do with making sure things didn't go wrong when switching between looking and steering) that I won't go into. Also it isn't finished yet either... still using joy2key for some of the planet based controls.
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2012
    • Like Like x 1
  18. I think you're right, but maybe there are jsticks with 64 bit drivers, so I could get one...
     
  19. Wistrel

    Wistrel Kick Ass Elf

    yeh I think modern stuff should work
    that cyborg stick I have probably works with 64bit. It was about £15
     
  20. K, £15 I can afford. I'll google cyborg stick see where it gets me ;)
     
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