Speed control on the throttle, steering with the pedals, turret controlled by the joystick.
Question: Best way to control your SRV?
- Thread starter Factabulous
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I highly recommend a wired 360 controller for SRV driving. I absolutely can't stand driving without analogue controls. A keyboard is guaranteed to make the thing undriveable at any speed. I don't know what a HOTAS is like but I can see it being too slow for the kinds of reaction times you need when driving, throttle in particular. A driving wheel won't be any good by itself as you need more inputs than a standard car game for your rotational control.
To those saying just drive slow all the time: hahahahahaha
At this point I consider myself pretty damn good at driving the SRV at any speed, on any terrain, in any gravity well, and it's a lot of fun once you can, so here are my tips:
-Drive assist OFF. Always. I don't know what it's for other than making you crash.
-Avoid skidding and doing unplanned donuts by keeping your throttle appropriate to the speed the terrain is moving under your wheels. This will take some practice, but you can completely eliminate skidding once you get the hang of it. This means don't jam on full throttle when you're at a standstill and keeping it graduated until you're up to full speed. Once you're moving you can keep the pedal to the metal and go as fast as you like.
-If you find yourself spinning out when driving at speed use light steering inputs to put you back on the desired heading and avoid overcompensating. Ease up on the throttle (but not completely off, as this adds engine braking which can cause you to skid) and power back on gradually when you're facing the right way. You'll eventually get a feel for how much is too much in terms of compensating for drift and maintaining momentum.
-Remember to map both pitch and roll controls to analogue axes. I use the left and right sticks for that, though you could try something else as I find it a little awkward at times. When you're in the air being able to control with precision the angle you hit the ground at is of utmost importance if you want to, y'know, not die. This goes for small bumps as well as large jumps.
-When jumping over hills use the boost not to soften your impact but to control where you land, ideally you'll want to land on a downhill slope to prevent damage and preserve momentum. Landing on an uphill slope when moving forward quickly will kill your speed and damage your SRV, so while you're in the air pick a hill to land on and try to glide just over the top before you touch down. Try to land with all wheels at the same time, it's less important (but still important!) on the pitch axis but very important on the roll axis, otherwise you'll be more likely to spin out or bounce undesirably. Ignore the vertical speed warning bar, it doesn't take into account the angle of your landing surface and therefore won't give you an idea of whether you'll take damage or not.
-Gravity determines how aggressive you can be in your manoeuvres. On high-G worlds (which generally have flatter terrain) you can pretty much just hold the throttle down and go flat out as long as you want, let the thing drive itself. For obvious reasons you won't be spending much time in the air, but remember you'll have greater momentum and it will take longer to slow down if you're travelling downhill. On low-G worlds (especially ice worlds) grip is a big issue and it's much easier to spin out. Best to practice in higher gravity to get used to SRV handling first. Sufficiently low gravity lets you "hill hop" your way to any destination, jumping off the uphill slopes and landing on the downhills, spending very little time on the ground in between. This is where precision thruster control comes in most handy to guide your rotation and alter your landing spots.
-For hill climbing on high-G worlds slow and steady does it, though to get over some steeper peaks gunning it and using momentum to carry you up will be necessary as the engine won't cover it alone. On low-G worlds low grip gives you the same sorts of problems high gravity does elsewhere, meaning slow and steady on lumpy but shallow hills and momentum hopping on steep ones. You can travel quickly downhill on either kind of world using the boost to skip over ledges and only make contact with the slope. Make sure to avoid ledges and "ramps" as they'll catapult you away from the hillface and cause you all sorts of problems.
-The handbrake is only useful for stopping suddenly, no use for drifting. Luckily it drifts just fine with the throttle and mild taps of the brakes.
-Type of terrain has a big impact on how easy it is to slide or lose traction. Ice is slippier than rock, duh. The SRV has tremendous grip with 8 wheels and offroad tyres but remember it does have its limits and those limits vary from world to world.
That's by no means everything but all I can think of right now, let me know if you have any more specific questions.
To those saying just drive slow all the time: hahahahahaha
At this point I consider myself pretty damn good at driving the SRV at any speed, on any terrain, in any gravity well, and it's a lot of fun once you can, so here are my tips:
-Drive assist OFF. Always. I don't know what it's for other than making you crash.
-Avoid skidding and doing unplanned donuts by keeping your throttle appropriate to the speed the terrain is moving under your wheels. This will take some practice, but you can completely eliminate skidding once you get the hang of it. This means don't jam on full throttle when you're at a standstill and keeping it graduated until you're up to full speed. Once you're moving you can keep the pedal to the metal and go as fast as you like.
-If you find yourself spinning out when driving at speed use light steering inputs to put you back on the desired heading and avoid overcompensating. Ease up on the throttle (but not completely off, as this adds engine braking which can cause you to skid) and power back on gradually when you're facing the right way. You'll eventually get a feel for how much is too much in terms of compensating for drift and maintaining momentum.
-Remember to map both pitch and roll controls to analogue axes. I use the left and right sticks for that, though you could try something else as I find it a little awkward at times. When you're in the air being able to control with precision the angle you hit the ground at is of utmost importance if you want to, y'know, not die. This goes for small bumps as well as large jumps.
-When jumping over hills use the boost not to soften your impact but to control where you land, ideally you'll want to land on a downhill slope to prevent damage and preserve momentum. Landing on an uphill slope when moving forward quickly will kill your speed and damage your SRV, so while you're in the air pick a hill to land on and try to glide just over the top before you touch down. Try to land with all wheels at the same time, it's less important (but still important!) on the pitch axis but very important on the roll axis, otherwise you'll be more likely to spin out or bounce undesirably. Ignore the vertical speed warning bar, it doesn't take into account the angle of your landing surface and therefore won't give you an idea of whether you'll take damage or not.
-Gravity determines how aggressive you can be in your manoeuvres. On high-G worlds (which generally have flatter terrain) you can pretty much just hold the throttle down and go flat out as long as you want, let the thing drive itself. For obvious reasons you won't be spending much time in the air, but remember you'll have greater momentum and it will take longer to slow down if you're travelling downhill. On low-G worlds (especially ice worlds) grip is a big issue and it's much easier to spin out. Best to practice in higher gravity to get used to SRV handling first. Sufficiently low gravity lets you "hill hop" your way to any destination, jumping off the uphill slopes and landing on the downhills, spending very little time on the ground in between. This is where precision thruster control comes in most handy to guide your rotation and alter your landing spots.
-For hill climbing on high-G worlds slow and steady does it, though to get over some steeper peaks gunning it and using momentum to carry you up will be necessary as the engine won't cover it alone. On low-G worlds low grip gives you the same sorts of problems high gravity does elsewhere, meaning slow and steady on lumpy but shallow hills and momentum hopping on steep ones. You can travel quickly downhill on either kind of world using the boost to skip over ledges and only make contact with the slope. Make sure to avoid ledges and "ramps" as they'll catapult you away from the hillface and cause you all sorts of problems.
-The handbrake is only useful for stopping suddenly, no use for drifting. Luckily it drifts just fine with the throttle and mild taps of the brakes.
-Type of terrain has a big impact on how easy it is to slide or lose traction. Ice is slippier than rock, duh. The SRV has tremendous grip with 8 wheels and offroad tyres but remember it does have its limits and those limits vary from world to world.
That's by no means everything but all I can think of right now, let me know if you have any more specific questions.
Thank you that was most useful.
While I have always loved the idea of the SRV (and something useful to do in it) my time with it has been minimal due to controller issues. Don't wanna drive with my joystick and the KB was quite marginal. With my PC XBox controller coming I may take you up on your offer.
My preference is to have the throttle on the rudder pedals, joystick for steering. When in Turret mode, the steering moves to digital hat switch.
Find its a lot of fun, but having the throttle on pedals made it a lot more precise when wanting a specific speed or need to stop/reverse.
Find its a lot of fun, but having the throttle on pedals made it a lot more precise when wanting a specific speed or need to stop/reverse.
I found the best, most reliable way, to get where you're going in the Surface Reconnaissance Vehicle, is to spend as little time on the surface as possible.
I basically fly mine everywhere. Lol
CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
This, also keep enough mats to repair on the fly.
Anyone worked out how to map the SRV camera .... I have it working fine (ish) for the ship, but for some reason I can't detach the camera from the SRV.
A while back I switched to an XBOne controller for SRV, rather than 'tank steering' via peddles and flight stick I used previously. Honestly, it's like the SRV was actually designed to be driven with a controller, which is perhaps no accident given Elite is on Xbox One and will soon be on PS4.
Also you can use the upper bumpers (and some other buttons) as a modifier on most xbone or PS4 controllers (including on a PC) which means you can layer the control scheme. Bit like shift-click or alt-shift type keyboard modifiers. This typically blows peoples' minds when they realise.
Also you can use the upper bumpers (and some other buttons) as a modifier on most xbone or PS4 controllers (including on a PC) which means you can layer the control scheme. Bit like shift-click or alt-shift type keyboard modifiers. This typically blows peoples' minds when they realise.
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Pip management and drive assist off.
I use a HOTAS - but I use rudder pedals to steer.
I do kind wish it handled as such a machine should. It currently behaves like a 1970's 911 turbo popping on and off boost around the corners, not at all like a 6wd vehicle should. The thing should drift when it loses traction, not oversteer with a pendulum affect tail.
Z...
I do kind wish it handled as such a machine should. It currently behaves like a 1970's 911 turbo popping on and off boost around the corners, not at all like a 6wd vehicle should. The thing should drift when it loses traction, not oversteer with a pendulum affect tail.
Z...
I use a saitek hotas with joystick twist mapped to steering, throttle to throttle (full range with a bit of deadband to "stop"), and joystick X & Y axis' mapped to the turret. I like this combo as it enables me to deploy the turret and drive it like a tank shooting one way driving another and still able to steer.
I use a joystick and throttle combo (Logitech Extreme 3D Pro) for flying my ship and driving my SRV. I only have 16 joystick buttons, so I use VoiceAttack (with the Obsidian Ant / HCS Voice Pack) to trigger the lesser-used commands.
I did need to do a bit of setup for the SRV, in-game using Control Options to map roll to steering and tweak the SRV thrusters axis settings, but this configuration works well for me. If you go too fast on a low gravity world, the SRV will slide around, so speed control is important.
I often go as fast as I can "barely control" watching the scanner and boosting over any big rocks. This technique allows me to gather materials fairly quickly.
Here's a tip: Orient yourself using the compass and/or a landmark in the sky. When you aren't actively following a nearby signal, your should reorient yourself, so that you are generally traveling in one direction. This will help you avoid rescanning areas you've already depleted.
I did need to do a bit of setup for the SRV, in-game using Control Options to map roll to steering and tweak the SRV thrusters axis settings, but this configuration works well for me. If you go too fast on a low gravity world, the SRV will slide around, so speed control is important.
I often go as fast as I can "barely control" watching the scanner and boosting over any big rocks. This technique allows me to gather materials fairly quickly.
Here's a tip: Orient yourself using the compass and/or a landmark in the sky. When you aren't actively following a nearby signal, your should reorient yourself, so that you are generally traveling in one direction. This will help you avoid rescanning areas you've already depleted.
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There's a different keybind for it, but I'm not sure where it is in the settings.
The simple answer is to drive slower .. The SRV isn't a race car.
uh . . .
anyway you know about using the thrusters to skip from Rise to Rise?
Your wheels are just uh, you know - springy like the legs of a kangaroo.
So it's kinda like skipping.
There's this thing on dirt roads. You either need to drive slow enough that the corrigations don't hurt or fast enough that you're skimming the tops. But when you go fast you don't have much traction.
and for me? Pedals. I steer with pedals and have throttle in my left hand.
I have it set almost exactly the same as the ship controls. The only difference is I have the yaw on my rudder pedals as steering left and right.
What pip management ? The shields only work against weapons and not against bad driving and bumps !
4 to ENG 2 on WEP, no management.
(except turning shields off, gives you more miles per tank)
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I recently wrote up a bunch of SRV driving tips in response to a plea for help from someone who was competing in the Candyball SRV rally.
They're more about fliving than driving (the art of propelling your SRV forwards at high speed using a combination of flying and driving) but I thought some of you might find them useful.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...ight-Academy?p=5499428&viewfull=1#post5499428
As far as controls ... I'm basically using the same joystick controls I use for flying the ship (Thrustmaster T-Flight HOTAS X). So I've got Drive Assist turned off, throttle mapped as forward only throttle on the HOTAS (with a button press for reverse), twist on the stick for steering, pitch/yaw on the main stick as for normal flight and my usual ship vertical thrust up button for SRV boost/thrust.
Oh, and here's a video of my 10th place Candyball run where you can see me attempting (with moderate success) to put some of the above tips into practice.
Errr ...
What he said!
They're more about fliving than driving (the art of propelling your SRV forwards at high speed using a combination of flying and driving) but I thought some of you might find them useful.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...ight-Academy?p=5499428&viewfull=1#post5499428
As far as controls ... I'm basically using the same joystick controls I use for flying the ship (Thrustmaster T-Flight HOTAS X). So I've got Drive Assist turned off, throttle mapped as forward only throttle on the HOTAS (with a button press for reverse), twist on the stick for steering, pitch/yaw on the main stick as for normal flight and my usual ship vertical thrust up button for SRV boost/thrust.
Oh, and here's a video of my 10th place Candyball run where you can see me attempting (with moderate success) to put some of the above tips into practice.
[video=youtube_share;4-LUHZwQPs4]https://youtu.be/4-LUHZwQPs4[/video]
The simple answer is to drive slower .. The SRV isn't a race car.
Errr ...
What he said!
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i use wired xbox one controller to control my ship and my srv. the only gripe i have with it is, the control scheme i am happy with my ship on the controller is completely different on the srv. for example B and right in ship does camera mode. in srv i think its Y or A plus a direction. B and up on dpad deploys scoop on ship. on srv its hold a and right to deploy scoop. making that adjustment was tricky.
i think you might want to buy an xbox 360 wired usb controller and try it, they are pretty cheap. get a second hand one that works jkust to test. if you like it better then buy xbox one controller for windows. i got mine with usb cable but apparently they can connect wirelessly with bluetooth (the 360 controller need a special usb thing to connect wirelessly but the xbox one doesnt).
the only problem i had with the xbox 360 wired usb was the cable breaks internally where it leaves the controller eventually, leading to random control disconnects depending where the wire is hanging. the xbox one controller uses a standard usb to micro usb cable. i have bought a backup cable in case the thin one MS supply with the cotnroller breaks. any micro usb (controller) to any usb will work - my backup is micro usb to usb type c because my laptop has one of those and i never have anything to use it with lol. hope that helps. i think it should be possible to use the controller only for the srv, i think its possible but you might want to check the options before buying anything.
i think you might want to buy an xbox 360 wired usb controller and try it, they are pretty cheap. get a second hand one that works jkust to test. if you like it better then buy xbox one controller for windows. i got mine with usb cable but apparently they can connect wirelessly with bluetooth (the 360 controller need a special usb thing to connect wirelessly but the xbox one doesnt).
the only problem i had with the xbox 360 wired usb was the cable breaks internally where it leaves the controller eventually, leading to random control disconnects depending where the wire is hanging. the xbox one controller uses a standard usb to micro usb cable. i have bought a backup cable in case the thin one MS supply with the cotnroller breaks. any micro usb (controller) to any usb will work - my backup is micro usb to usb type c because my laptop has one of those and i never have anything to use it with lol. hope that helps. i think it should be possible to use the controller only for the srv, i think its possible but you might want to check the options before buying anything.