NOTE TO MODERATORS: This is more appropriate in the Guides And Tutorials Section but I don't have perms to post this there. Please feel free to move this there.
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So, setting up your vertical thrust to an analogue control. Why would you want to do it? How do you set it up? What is the point and main benefits?
What is an analogue control?
There are two types of controls[1] digital and analogue. A digital control is binary in that it is either on or off. Buttons are a good example of this. An analogue control has a wide range of variance in the control. The volume on a speaker is an example of this.
So on your joystick, your POV hat switch is a digital control, and your throttle is an analogue control.
So what's wrong with how I have my controls set up at the moment?
Nothing. If it works for you, then great. there are people who play with keyboard and mouse quite happily and don't want to use a joystick. Use the controls that you are comfortable with and work for you. I am writing this to give you an option to do something with your joystick that maybe you are not doing at the moment.
So does my joystick have an analogue control?
If it's a flight stick and you're using it to play Elite Dangerous, then it probably has at least one analogue control, and that's normally the throttle. Some joysticks have more than one analogue control. The Mad Catz F.L.Y. 5 has a split throttle, for example :
And the X52, which is a popular choice for Elite Dangerous, has various dials that are analogue :
These can be set up for thrust controls.
So why would I want to do this?
If you have a control set up as an analogue vertical thrust control, you can set your ship down gently on a landing pad, and when taking off, you don't have to wait until the panels go down to thrust upwards, you can set the thrust to maximum upwards, and when the pad releases you, up you go!. On planets, you can hover, or even smoothly counter the gravity. If you set up an analogue control to roll, for example, you can match the station's rotation as you're flying into the letterbox. With having thrust on a digital control, landing on a pad is a case of on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off ... and hoping you don't hit the pad too hard.
OK, so where in the options do I set this up?
There are three main areas to set up the thrust controls: Flight Thrust, Alternate Flight Controls, Flight Landing Controls.
Flight Thrust has settings for normal flight. So if you set up an analogue control here, it will always be on.
Alternate Flight Controls are controls that are active when you switch to the alternate controls.
Flight Landing Controls are active when you lower the landing gear. They override the normal flight controls.
I set my joystick up to have the analogue vertical thrust be active when I lower the landing gear :
To set it up, click on the empty box for the thrust control. It now wants to know what you want to use to control the thrust. If you press a key, it will use that key for the control[2]. Move the analogue control you want to use for the thrust. It should now say something like JOY U-AXIS This means that that control on your joystick will control that thrust you just set it to.
Apply the options and go into the game and try it ... it is worth mentioning here, you may want to be in space and not in a station the first time you try this.
Now go back into the options and invert the axis if you want it inverted or increase the deadzone a little if that's what you want. Unfortunately, the options for thrust controls between the three modes (normal, alternate and landing) are not all the same. You will just have to set it up as best as you can.
This sucks and I hate it
OK, but accept that it may take a little practice to get fully used to using an analogue thrust control. If you get the hang of it, you'll be flying more like the pro space nerf-herder you are
It may also take some trial and error to set it up just right to how you like it, and you may hate it because you haven't quite got it set up to suit you.
I have feedback and/or a question
Post below.
Have fun and I hope this helps
Alien
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[1] There may be other types of controls, but for the purpose of this guide, I'm only talking about two of them.
[2] You know this, you must have set up the controls options before now.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, setting up your vertical thrust to an analogue control. Why would you want to do it? How do you set it up? What is the point and main benefits?
What is an analogue control?
There are two types of controls[1] digital and analogue. A digital control is binary in that it is either on or off. Buttons are a good example of this. An analogue control has a wide range of variance in the control. The volume on a speaker is an example of this.
So on your joystick, your POV hat switch is a digital control, and your throttle is an analogue control.
So what's wrong with how I have my controls set up at the moment?
Nothing. If it works for you, then great. there are people who play with keyboard and mouse quite happily and don't want to use a joystick. Use the controls that you are comfortable with and work for you. I am writing this to give you an option to do something with your joystick that maybe you are not doing at the moment.
So does my joystick have an analogue control?
If it's a flight stick and you're using it to play Elite Dangerous, then it probably has at least one analogue control, and that's normally the throttle. Some joysticks have more than one analogue control. The Mad Catz F.L.Y. 5 has a split throttle, for example :
And the X52, which is a popular choice for Elite Dangerous, has various dials that are analogue :
These can be set up for thrust controls.
So why would I want to do this?
If you have a control set up as an analogue vertical thrust control, you can set your ship down gently on a landing pad, and when taking off, you don't have to wait until the panels go down to thrust upwards, you can set the thrust to maximum upwards, and when the pad releases you, up you go!. On planets, you can hover, or even smoothly counter the gravity. If you set up an analogue control to roll, for example, you can match the station's rotation as you're flying into the letterbox. With having thrust on a digital control, landing on a pad is a case of on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off ... and hoping you don't hit the pad too hard.
OK, so where in the options do I set this up?
There are three main areas to set up the thrust controls: Flight Thrust, Alternate Flight Controls, Flight Landing Controls.
Flight Thrust has settings for normal flight. So if you set up an analogue control here, it will always be on.
Alternate Flight Controls are controls that are active when you switch to the alternate controls.
Flight Landing Controls are active when you lower the landing gear. They override the normal flight controls.
I set my joystick up to have the analogue vertical thrust be active when I lower the landing gear :
To set it up, click on the empty box for the thrust control. It now wants to know what you want to use to control the thrust. If you press a key, it will use that key for the control[2]. Move the analogue control you want to use for the thrust. It should now say something like JOY U-AXIS This means that that control on your joystick will control that thrust you just set it to.
Apply the options and go into the game and try it ... it is worth mentioning here, you may want to be in space and not in a station the first time you try this.
Now go back into the options and invert the axis if you want it inverted or increase the deadzone a little if that's what you want. Unfortunately, the options for thrust controls between the three modes (normal, alternate and landing) are not all the same. You will just have to set it up as best as you can.
This sucks and I hate it
OK, but accept that it may take a little practice to get fully used to using an analogue thrust control. If you get the hang of it, you'll be flying more like the pro space nerf-herder you are
It may also take some trial and error to set it up just right to how you like it, and you may hate it because you haven't quite got it set up to suit you.I have feedback and/or a question
Post below.
Have fun and I hope this helps
Alien
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] There may be other types of controls, but for the purpose of this guide, I'm only talking about two of them.
[2] You know this, you must have set up the controls options before now.
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