Any one play with a joystick?

[strenface]

Being that I am primarily a flight-simmer, this seemed only natural, so I programmed my joystick and throttle quadrant to the appropriate keys and axes and I will say that for me it improves the game tremendously.

For example, I mapped three throttle levers into 4 band axes:

1[surface] 2[maintain depth] 3[unprogrammed] 4[dive]

1[attack periscope] 2[raise periscope incrementally] 3[unprogrammed] 4[down]

same with observational periscope

The 3rd band is always unporgrammed so there is a neutral position that wont give any orders!

The reason why I did this was because I hook my comp up to my TV so its nice to not need the keyboard. Also, I found using the keyboard/mouse combo unwieldy with respect to aiming the deck gun. I therefore set the X and Y axis on the joystick to mouse movements, and the main trigger as fire. Now I have fine control over the gun that was hard to accomplish with the keyboard alone by tweeking the joystick sensitivity.

Just an idea I thought I'd throw out!

[Hylander_1314]

Cool idea, but I just can't bring myself to use my Saitek Evo for controlling the boat!

I'll save it for BoB II, and Over Flanders Fields. Which I haven't flown either of those in a long long time actually.

Just like cruisin' around the Pacific in my person V-Yacht!

[Daniel Prates]

Strange, using the joystick to control the ship. But everyone should play the way he sees fit.

I can easily understand using the Joystick to control the scope. The rudder axis being to turn the scope around, and the buttons to activate stadimeter, to lock, to fire, etc... it would feel better than using cursors.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Daniel Prates

Strange, using the joystick to control the ship.

I can see it in a modern sub game, since the helmsman actually uses an aircraft-style wheel to control everything. A World War 2 sub? The helmsman controls the rudder and two separate planesmen control the dive planes, so you're correct - it just doesn't feel right. In either case the captain never drives the sub - he just gives the orders.

[Fish40]

If anything, I'd like to be able to use my Track IR with this sim. That may be an interesting development

[strenface]

Yes I should clarify that I mainly use the actual yoke of the joystick as a substitute for the the mouse axes. This is really only for when I am controlling the deck gun in magnified view, with the main trigger being fire, and Y axes controlling range. Thus I have very fine control over the gun's aim. My joystick has something like 30 odd buttons, so those are assigned to all the keyboard shortcuts I use.

Actual sub control is only with buttons...no axes, so it's almost the same as the keyboard except I have every control I need on the joystick. So when I'm not using the gun, my hand reverts to the mouse, and I use my left hand to hit the buttons on the throttle quadrant (that has most of the buttons mapped)

The main reason I did this in the first place was to map the time compression buttons so I didn't have to constantly hover my hand awkwardly over the numpad. Changing compression settings constantly with the mouse is tedious due to the slight lag!

Oh and for locktarget! I can click in magnified view, and use the yoke to finely pan the scope, while using the secondary trigger to lock... useful when they are far away and constantly "unlock." Or for when they are near the boundary of visibility with fog, and every second counts on sighting.

It's also nice to be able to hit emergency dive, battlestations, silent running, and raise/lower radar in a pinch. And to open the chronometer every time it is taken off screen (changing stations, lowering TC....)

[Sailor Steve]

Thanks for the clarification. That's actually pretty cool.

[clayp]

Originally Posted by strenface

Yes I should clarify that I mainly use the actual yoke of the joystick as a substitute for the the mouse axes. This is really only for when I am controlling the deck gun in magnified view, with the main trigger being fire, and Y axes controlling range. Thus I have very fine control over the gun's aim. My joystick has something like 30 odd buttons, so those are assigned to all the keyboard shortcuts I use.

Actual sub control is only with buttons...no axes, so it's almost the same as the keyboard except I have every control I need on the joystick. So when I'm not using the gun, my hand reverts to the mouse, and I use my left hand to hit the buttons on the throttle quadrant (that has most of the buttons mapped)

The main reason I did this in the first place was to map the time compression buttons so I didn't have to constantly hover my hand awkwardly over the numpad. Changing compression settings constantly with the mouse is tedious due to the slight lag!

Oh and for locktarget! I can click in magnified view, and use the yoke to finely pan the scope, while using the secondary trigger to lock... useful when they are far away and constantly "unlock." Or for when they are near the boundary of visibility with fog, and every second counts on sighting.

It's also nice to be able to hit emergency dive, battlestations, silent running, and raise/lower radar in a pinch. And to open the chronometer every time it is taken off screen (changing stations, lowering TC....)

Can you set this uo as a mod?

[USS Drum]

Playing with a joystick, that only sounds right for the ipod silent hunter.

[strenface]

If controlling the rotation and elevation of the deck gun with a joystick, using the rotary dials for fine precision, firing with a trigger, raising the periscopes and setting sub depth with a throttle quadrant, having a speed setting assigned to 10 different rocker switches, using toggle switches to raise/lower radar, and have my blow ballast button behind a safety flip cover (inspired by my accidental pushing on the keyboard....blowing my cover) sounds like an Apple move, I am curious what you think doing the above tasks with a plastic key with a letter on it is comparable to...

Definitely more realistic and less "dumbed down" to command my virtual sub with the same interface I use to write e-mails and search for porn, than an interface designed to virtualize and translate specific motion.

"Blow ballast Captain!?!?! But we are undetected and in perfect position to fire torpedo tube 1 and will be hunted and sunk by that destroyer 400 yards to port! Besides!! We are at periscope depth! Surely your finger must have hit the "E" key, which is only a centimeter away from the "W" key to select tube."

"Er yes, my mistake....Damn standard US-101-key alphanumeric keyboard placing such a critical stealth blower directly next to the select tubes key."

Sorry but I have strong feelings against the Apple philosophy so I had to respond with sarcasm!

Oh and a mod?? talking to the wrong guy... I just used the programming software supplied with the hardware to designate keystrokes

[mak3231]

Imo controlling a sub with a joystick doesn't feel natural. I prefer my keyboard

[strenface]

Whatever floats your boat (sorry, couldn't resist ).

But yes to each his own. I do agree that linking rudder to any sort of axes would be very odd, and take away from the sense that, as previously mentioned, a caption gave orders and did not "drive" the sub.

This is one subtlety that actually appealed to me about the sim. It really helps to create the sense of commanding a large vessel. Compared to the impulse control of a speedboat, this is a rare feature to games and sims in general, and makes control far more practical when not looking directly ahead on the conning tower.

I'm new myself but welcome to the forums!
Edit: n/m it looks like you joined a while ago, despite showing 1 post.

[WernherVonTrapp]

I'm curious as to the origin of it's name, "Joystick".

[rmr1701]

Wern, if you have to ask, you don't want to know.

[Sailor Steve]

The term was first used for flight controls around 1910. Beyond that nothing at all is known, but there is speculation that some British wit made up the term for the obvious reasons.