can SRVs PLEASE be less infuriating

[Thwarptide]

I know I knoooooow I suck at driving the damn thing but god, is there anyone who enjoys driving the scarab?

I sucked too. Then I figured out how turn off that stupid drive assist (it doesn't belong there). Then simply learning to adjust your throttle play is a breeze.
I very much enjoy driving the SRV now and will often fly out to Dav's Hope to grab mats I don't need as an excuse to get insanely crazy with the srv. It's a blast!

 

[steff]

wow, i was really livid yesterday about this thing haha.
thank you all for the input, i hope it will help me suffer less. drive assist off, okay, i can do that. probably in the menus somewhere. not sure what i can do about throttle, i play with a keyboard and mouse

Weight is determined by mass/gravity, if the SRV's were made heavy enough to slow them down appreciably on low grav planets they wouldn't even be able to move on high grav planets. Also, throttle control? I have one on my joystick, you just move it a bit and the SRV moves slowly.

god damn gravity

drive assist off makes a huge difference (ninja'd by Zieman, but kept for completeness). Some people say drive assist on helps driving on the keyboard but I turned it off once and never thought back, so I can't even comment on its function. I think it makes the throttle "set" your speed, so if you keep pressing the button you keep accelerating - which does sound like your problem.

Handbrake helps a lot if you have troubles stopping, it also stabilises your SRV when under fire by those sentinels (I guess by applying down-thrust on your wheel thrusters)

yeah, i was pressing the hell out of the Q and Es - a bit out of anger too. my index finger kind of feels like the bloodflow got cut off yestersday haha. ill have to find wherever the handbrake is on the controls - didnt know that was an option at all haha

Good luck and hopefully your frustration will soon make place for joy in driving the SRV.

thank you, i really hope i can come to at leats tolerate it its no fun to feel like i want to break my doors every time i drive the thing

Driving the SRV is great fun and easy. Just takes practice like everything else. If you really hate doing the guardian ruins (and I don't blame you, the hilly terrain is sick inducing), bring a friend in a ship - they can not only charge the pylons for you they can also shoot the sentinels. Then all you have to do is drop a relic/key at the right spot and scan a ball. If that's too hard, well, guess you're not getting the module.

The sentinels were fine, actually. my ship shot down the missiles, i killed them with the srv's weapons before trying to charge the pylons. it's really driving the damn thing that stopped me from being able to... do stuff. too bad my friends are both new, so they can barely steer a ship yet
i am getting that fsd booster iam getting it i am speaking it into theruniverse i NEED those 10LY.... whatever it takes

I hate the SRV with a passion.
Whatever I try to use it I end up either uncontrollably belting about like a scally teenager in a nicked golf on police interceptors or trundling along like postman pat. Material collection time is spent mostly rolling down hills sidewards whilst swearing.

When the ruins were first found I went for an explore around them and hated it so much that I've never been back and have ruled out ever having any guardian stuff.

SRV's can do one - they're beyond my skill and patience level.

You understand me! specially rolling down the hills... thats all i do

Keep in mind the speed indicator is indeed m/s. So doing say, 25 in the SRV is the average speed you do in a car on a freeway (90 kph / 55 mph ish). Combine that with a moon with barely enough gravity to keep the rocks on the ground and you're in for a trouble should you hit anything bigger than a pebble.

OH. OH SO THATS WHY THEYRE SO INSANE. I THOUGHT IT WAS LIKE. KPH OR MPH LOL. Thats... THATS TOO FAAAST. no wonder the damn hull feels like its made of eggshells.

Yeah it feels like it was almost intentionally made bad. I swear the spin-out movement is a canned animation designed to point you backwards every time you turn just a teeny bit too sharply, which is going to happen all the time because the sensitivity on the steering is so extreme it might as well be a binary left/right/center game pad switch like SNES Mario Kart.

Pretty much the only way to get around is to spend more time flying the srv than driving it. Throttle up, let it careen off the first bump it hits, and then use gentle pulses of thrust to keep it skimming just off the ground for as long as you can, while reducing or even zeroing out the throttle and focusing on lining up your landing when the descent starts. If you match angles with the surface you'll be able to carry on at the same speed you were going, and then launch off the next bump and repeat until you reach your destination.

im honestly not a fan of the sheer idea of FLYING that thing... when i inevitably hit the ground i think it will break all of my bones

Your bio states you just joined yesterday, it doesn't state how long you've been playing. As it's been said, make sure that drive assit is off, and if you've reconfigure all you srv configs to match your ships configs; Driving will be exactly like flying only you'll be on the surface. If and when the bad guys are shooting their missiles at ya, stop and make sure your brakes are on. And make sure your ship is parked as near to the center as possible and that you have at least on Point Defense somewhere on the top not the bottom of your ship.
And most of all, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, and more PRACTIC!

yeah, i joined the forums specifically to rant about my frustrations LOL. ive been playing for... huh... a few months i think?
i did have point defense on, fighting the sentinels went so much better than trying to get on top of the damn structure to start up the first pylon

1) Drive assist OFF
2) find a set of bindings you can work with
3) practice

and

4) if you visit the Guardian sites and want to collect a blueprint fragment, bring more than one SRV. 3) also helps. A lot.

What doesn't help, though, is VR . Also here, 3) helps - but it's a slow road.

i cant IMAGINE how horrid it must feel to drive a scarab in VR... all the spinning around would actually kill me i think i would seriously die choking in my own vomit LOL

 

[Stigbob]

Try a controller or a joystick. Mapping forward to up the left and right to steering means driving is really simple. Just never go flat out on uneven terrain, almost flat out is fine but full flat out always goes wrong.

Here's a guardian unlock guide I wrote a while ago :

Prep : Find the location of a guardian site that provides the right blueprint (cannons website has them all), check Inara for the requirements and make sure you have all the human mats except cargo already. Take a small ship with some utilities on the upper surface and stick a couple of point defenses in them (diamond backs are perfect), add a fuel scoop. It needs a cargobay (small is fine). Take an SRV you may need enough mats to synthesize some new SRV ammo.

Head out to the site. Thanks to nightvision lighting conditions are not an issue, but they are spooky and fun in the dark.

Once you get to the site do an aerial survey there's a pyramid looking thing with panels on the upper surface this is where you'll get the data. Now fly around looking at the floor spot for small triangles on the floor these are where the power pylons come up. Draw a crude map to help orientate yourself mark the pyramid and the triangles on it. There are usually some near the pyramid and more scattered symmetrically around the site. Should be six in total but the number varies IIRC, you'll get a notification of pylons remaining later so no worries.

Land as close to the center of the site as you can, try to do it in line with the pyramid this helps orientate yourself, if you can't mark your landing site on your map for easy navigation. Your point defenses will take out sentinel missiles in the air this is why landing centrally is good you want maximum coverage.

Jump into your SRV, you need mats that drop from the wonky pillars which have shootable panels on them also more panels scattered around the ruins themselves. Pillars will rise from the floor with relics on top blast one down and scoop it.

Once you've got enough bits go to the first triangle (you may stumble across them whilst gathering) a power pylon will rise from the middle of the triangle with a glowing blue bar in its center. Shoot the bar, aim to one side if your shots miss the bar itself. It will visibly charge up and stay charged and give you a countdown to do the rest.

Now visit all the other triangles and charge their pylons. The countdown is generous don't worry about it.

Once you have all pylons charged the pyramid will activate. Go to the stone panels on the floor right in front of the now lit up pyramid and drop the relic you scooped onto them. This activates the big data ball thing which rises up from the pyramid, target the ball and scan it and you have the blueprint.

Sentinels will spawn when you drive into certain area's activate pylons and activate the pyramid. Don't let their numbers build kill them as they spawn (and scoop their bits) so you don't get overrun. They fire energy blasts which do damage and can knock you over, I configured my SRV to work like an FPS and use the ruins for cover pop out blaze away and pop back before they return fire. They also fire missiles which your point defenses will target, if you are too far from your ship get under the sentinel and their own missiles kill them.

Check you have all you need, visit other ruins if you need more stuff (some players relog but that's boring). Now return to the bubble go to a system where you can get any cargo needed for the unlock, transfer in a trade ship that can fight buy the required cargo and go to the right kind of tech broker (galmap filter shows this) and do the unlock.

 

[Zieman]

drive assist off, okay, i can do that. probably in the menus somewhere

 

[Agony_Aunt]

There is a learning curve associated with driving a SRV. It takes a lot of practice to master it. But when you do, boy it can be loads of fun.

Sure, you can get fun from simple mechanics, and maybe there should be some sort of SRV, like a hover bike, for those who want something simpler to drive. But if you want something that you can master and be rewarded for, for example, by bouncing over the surface as insane speeds, then the Scarab can do that.

Also, when you have mastered the Scarab, those guardian ruins are fairly easy.

I love driving the Scarab so much, i connected a steering wheel and pedals just for it. This means i get full control over the driving and my right hand can use the mouse for the turret in turret view.

 

[steff]

Try a controller or a joystick. Mapping forward to up the left and right to steering means driving is really simple. Just never go flat out on uneven terrain, almost flat out is fine but full flat out always goes wrong.

Here's a guardian unlock guide I wrote a while ago :

thank you! i think my biggest problem of all in the guardian circuit specifically was getting the srv up on the stupid pyramid. it just DIDNT want to go there, whyyy couldnt ther ebe a ramp[. maybe its just that ruin though so i will try again on a different planet

View attachment 189166

AH! Thank you the menus sometimes overwhelm me

There is a learning curve associated with driving a SRV. It takes a lot of practice to master it. But when you do, boy it can be loads of fun.

Sure, you can get fun from simple mechanics, and maybe there should be some sort of SRV, like a hover bike, for those who want something simpler to drive. But if you want something that you can master and be rewarded for, for example, by bouncing over the surface as insane speeds, then the Scarab can do that.

Also, when you have mastered the Scarab, those guardian ruins are fairly easy.

I love driving the Scarab so much, i connected a steering wheel and pedals just for it. This means i get full control over the driving and my right hand can use the mouse for the turret in turret view.

god i wish we could have a hover bike actually that sounds great. just floating around, no rolling and gettign stuck.... what a dream
maybe eventually i will actually enjoy driving the scarab... i hope so

 

[Iskariot]

(less of a suggestion and more like me whining about how much i hate the scarab)

I just cant, I cant, I cant. I cried out of anger ten minutes ago because I cant finish that stupid Guardian module blueprint stuff exclusively because riding the SRV scarab is just absolutely bonkers. It goes too fast when you accelerate, it goes too fast when you reverse, it flips itself in all directions, the jump is ridiculous, my hull is done for in 5 minutes because controlling it is hell on earth.

Im sorry, but videogames are supposed to be fun! and this aspect of the game just makes me go insane! Its not fun, its not even like just a somewhat boring mechanic that you do because you need something, and the guardian thing itself it's not difficult or complicated. It's just that the SRV is so horrible. Driving that thing makes me want to seriously die. It makes me want to be dead. Okay, it kind of sounds funny when I say it like this but by god I cant deal with this thing.

I know I knoooooow I suck at driving the damn thing but god, is there anyone who enjoys driving the scarab? its just infuriating, obnoxious, hellish, demonic, disgusting, repulsive, loathsome, annoying, grating, irritating, anger-inducing, hateful, devilish, horrible, terrible, it makes me see red, it makes me want to be dead, it makes me want to bite someone and it makes me want to kill. most of all it makes me want to explode myself.

It'd help if it felt a bit heavier, so it wouldn't wobble so much. And also setting a speed limit if we want to, that thing takes off so fast when Im trying to get myself un-stuck from somewhere that I end up getting stuck again. If I could make it never go above 5 (km/h? mph? idk hat the unit is) it'd already be 10% less irritating.

Hell you know what Id love? the option to get a different, sturdier slower vehicle. hell, anything that's not the scarab, that god-forsaken hunk of trash. that oversized can of crap. i want to set mine on fire and i want to EAT its fragile little bits. I swear if i had that hting in front of me i would EAT IT i would chew it bit by bit it deserves nothing but VIOLENCE. i would go feral on that stupid thing.
sorry. i may be just a little frustrated right about now

oh great. the damn thing exploded on the guardian site while i was typing this. on one hand, GOOD. its what it deserves. nothing but violence. i wish it could feel pain i wish i could hurt it.
on the other hand, damn it i gotta go buy another one if i want the fsd booster. ugh. >_>

This is one of these occasions I have to say "its not the SRV, its you".
Depending on the surface type of a planet and depending on the level of gravity you need to adapt your average speed.
I had to learn this too. In this case if you slow down a bit you will end up going faster, so to speak. Your SRV will be much more stable and not flip in all directions.
Driving the SRV is something you need to practice and learn.

I know I knoooooow I suck at driving the damn thing but god, is there anyone who enjoys driving the scarab?

I absolutely love it, but that is because I mastered it after a bit of practice.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

god i wish we could have a hover bike actually that sounds great. just floating around, no rolling and gettign stuck.... what a dream
maybe eventually i will actually enjoy driving the scarab... i hope so

 

[steff]

i followed yalls advice and OH MY GOD I CAN ACTUALLY CONTROL THIS THING it feels so much better without drive assist!!! thank you

 

[Craith]

i cant IMAGINE how horrid it must feel to drive a scarab in VR... all the spinning around would actually kill me i think i would seriously die choking in my own vomit LOL

It is actually a lot of fun, and the spinning stops happening at some point - just need to get used to the controls.

Drive assist off is a keybind, but you can also (de-)activite it in your right hand menu, in the vehicle (where the ship tab is usually, whatever it is called in the srv) tab.
You may want to try changing some control axis to grow more comfortable, just with digital input with keys I can imagine it is hard to steer and control speed.

If all else fails, and you can't get to terms with it, you can wing up with a friend (even inexperienced) and do it together. Actually you can do many parts of the guardian from the ship, one of you can just activate the whole thing in the SRV, and get the beacons to appear. then you can shoot the beacons and sentinels from the ship (you need weapons of course, energy weapons are easiest, and probably at least minor shields - sentinels don't really hurt spaceships). when all beacons are lit, one can get the relic, activate the orb, while the other gives air cover and could even scan the orb.

 

[Mr T]

i followed yalls advice and OH MY GOD I CAN ACTUALLY CONTROL THIS THING it feels so much better without drive assist!!! thank you

Yeah, I discovered that too, it's drive assist that's bonkers. I don't understand how it's actually meant to be assisting you as it just makes you drive where you don't want to go.

 

[Speedcuffs]

thank you! i think my biggest problem of all in the guardian circuit specifically was getting the srv up on the stupid pyramid. it just DIDNT want to go there, whyyy couldnt ther ebe a ramp[. maybe its just that ruin though so i will try again on a different planet



AH! Thank you the menus sometimes overwhelm me



god i wish we could have a hover bike actually that sounds great. just floating around, no rolling and gettign stuck.... what a dream
maybe eventually i will actually enjoy driving the scarab... i hope so

Don't try and drive/jump up the ramp.
Go up the side.
Someone else might explain better than me.

 

[Sensei Jacksama]

Yeah, I discovered that too, it's drive assist that's bonkers. I don't understand how it's actually meant to be assisting you as it just makes you drive where you don't want to go.

You gotta use it like a cruise control. If your traveling to a far off destination or just searching for materials it's useful since it will just keep going without you actually having to keep holding down the drive button.

 

[varonica]

Yeah it feels like it was almost intentionally made bad. I swear the spin-out movement is a canned animation designed to point you backwards every time you turn just a teeny bit too sharply, which is going to happen all the time because the sensitivity on the steering is so extreme it might as well be a binary left/right/center game pad switch like SNES Mario Kart.

I tend to find none of this is true. The rate of spin is related to gravity and the surface, you have less traction on icy surfaces so will spin easier, you have less traction on low grav planets and moons so will spin easier, basically driving the SRV on a low grav icy planet is worse than driving a car on an ice lake, you will spin all the time if you don't have serious control of throttle and steering.

Steering sensitivity is entirely down to how and what you are using to control it, I use my joystick main stick to control steering and throttle slider to control speed, but I have the throttle slider set to full motion to forward/back. So from the bottom of the slider it's zero and top of the slider it's full, forward or backward is a toggle. So if I am in forward motion I have the full length of the throttle slider to give me better control. Yes I can do the mad driving, bouncing and spinning if I want to have fun, but if I am collecting materials and steering around bio/geo I have full control. Using the joystick main stick to steer gives me a lot of control over steering from just a slight turn to full lock, if you are not using a controller with a large motion to control steering then that will probably make you think it is extremely sensitive, it just isn't!

The problem is you can't make it really good for low G bodies because it won't work at all on high G, I was on a relatively high G the other day, 3.7 I think, and I had to take run up to get up slopes you would use as launchers on low G bodies. If they made it perfect for high G then you would have everything you are complaining about now multiplied by 10. It is all down to practice, control setup and "assist off", can't stress that enough.

 

[varonica]

You gotta use it like a cruise control. If your traveling to a far off destination or just searching for materials it's useful since it will just keep going without you actually having to keep holding down the drive button.

That's why I use a the slider for proper throttle control on my joystick, I just set it to whatever speed I want to go and leave it if I am driving a long way, assist is for players without a proper controller setup.

 

[Red Anders]

Drive assist on the SRV makes no sense at all unless you're driving across a perfectly flat and smooth surface. Even then it still doesn't make much sense. The number of people I've seen on here having problems with the SRV until someone says 'turn assist off' is unreal.

There is one obvious way to decrease the overall throttle responsiveness and speed of the SRV by the way - just allocate pips somewhere other than engines. Which is a pretty good idea anyway for shooting those Guardian skimmers since you don't need to run around if you're blowing them out of the sky. The only problem is that it will also limit the duration that the boosters will fire for, so if you need to get out of a hole or something you need to jack engine pips back up to 4 before you try.

 

[varonica]

wow, i was really livid yesterday about this thing haha.
thank you all for the input, i hope it will help me suffer less. drive assist off, okay, i can do that. probably in the menus somewhere. not sure what i can do about throttle, i play with a keyboard and mouse

You can set 25/50/75% hotkey for ship thrusters, can you do the same for SRV? I've never looked.

god damn gravity

Yep.

yeah, i was pressing the hell out of the Q and Es - a bit out of anger too. my index finger kind of feels like the bloodflow got cut off yestersday haha. ill have to find wherever the handbrake is on the controls - didnt know that was an option at all haha

Standard hand brake is X on keyboard. Helps to hold still on a slope if you are shooting at something.

You understand me! specially rolling down the hills... thats all i do

Haha, you shoot mats on a slope on a high grav world they end bouncing down the slope faster than you can chase them, I've had many a fun chase trying to catch the things! Slopes are fun on low grav worlds, it's amazing the angle you can get the SRV to sit at and drive around, high grav worlds not so easy!

Keep practicing, and keyboard is a right pain to use for control of the SRV, even a cheap joystick with throttle control would make a huge difference if you can get one.

 

[Mr T]

The only problem is that it will also limit the duration that the boosters will fire for, so if you need to get out of a hole or something you need to jack engine pips back up to 4 before you try.

That reminds me, I got properly stuck when I was at the guardian site and boosting wouldn't get me out. However, as it's considered a place of danger (I forget the correct terminology) I was able to just relog to get my SRV out of the hole. I was initially thinking I'd have to go into non-Horizons mode to get out but ended up not having to.

 

[space voyager]

Step number 1:
turn "drive assist" OFF

Works for a short time, then one of your fingers will hurt. A ship at least goes on... Climbing mountains with drive assist off is a middle finger murder.

 

[Frank]

I don't know what your problem is because I use a gamepad to control my SRV. But it doesn't sound like the default controls for the KB&M are very good

Once you can control your throttle with a bit more finesse I'd suggest you use the boost key a bit more. Keep all pips to engine so you've got plenty juice in yer boost buffer, and just fly over those pesky undulations