SRV needs better keyboard+mouse control options (hard to drive)

SentineI

SentineI
[Horizons] SRV needs better keyboard+mouse control options (hard to drive)

This is a cleaned-up repost of what I wrote in the Bug Reports forum, since a forum moderator asked for it to be put here:

Driving the buggy SRV is much harder in Horizons than it is in other (arcade-style) car driving games, mostly due to the rubbish keyboard controls. It can be made to behave *somewhat* like those kind of games by having Drive Assist Default set to Off (this way it stops accelerating & comes to a halt when I let go of the Accelerate key).

1. However, when I am driving very fast, steering is way too difficult, because even a slight tap to steer it left/right causes it to turn sharply left/right (so I end-up swerving wildly). I do not know how other car games handle this, but I guess either (a) reduce amount of steering at high speed, and/or (b) you have to hold the left/right steering button down for longer to steer harder left/right. In Horizons, tapping the steer left/right key causes the wheels to immediately turn fully left/right, which is no good at high speed.

2. I would also like to see steering by mouse supported, as it should give better control than the keyboard, and so would not have the above swerving problem. It would need the following Ship control options added to the buggy SRV driving control options:
* (Mouse Controls) Mouse X-Axis (for Yawing)
* (Mouse Controls) Relative Mouse X-Axis
* (Mouse Controls) Mouse Sensitivity
And probably at least some of these:
* (Mouse Controls) Relative Mouse Rate
* (Mouse Controls) Mouse Deadzone
* (Mouse Controls) Mouse Power Curve
* (Mouse Controls) Show Mouse Widget

And while you are at it, it would also be great to add the following too:
* (Mouse Controls) Mouse Y-Axis (for Pitching)
* (Mouse Controls) Relative Mouse Y-Axis

3. And finally, driving with Drive Assist enabled is a nightmare, because it's very hard to control the throttle, so you end-up going forwards when you want to be stationary or going backwards. I feel that the following Ship control options need to be added to the buggy SRV driving control options:

(Changing speed using the mouse wheel)
* (Flight Throttle) Increase Throttle (arguably we already have this by a different name - but there is no way to set Throttle Increments)
* (Flight Throttle) Decrease Throttle
* (Flight Throttle) Throttle Increments (I have mine set to 10% - works very nicely)

(Directly setting the throttle speed)
* (Flight Throttle) Set Speed to -100%
* (Flight Throttle) Set Speed to 0% (this is absolutely essential, as currently I find it almost impossible to stop my SRV completely)
* (Flight Throttle) Set Speed to 100%
 
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SentineI

SentineI
On a related note, I am told that Drive Assist combines two entirely separate functions:
1. Throttle is adjusted up/down by the forwards/backwards keys (so when you let go of those keys you keep your current speed).
2. Automatic thrusting downwards, to maintain grip & stability in low-gravity situations.

Like someone else, I would also like to see these two functions split apart, so that I can have "manual throttle" (as happens with Drive Assist off), but still benefit from automatic thrusting downwards to maintain grip. This would mean adding one extra control option, so seems like a no-brainer to me.


ALSO, on another related note, as suggested by someone else, I would like to see the ability for manual control of the down thruster (we can already thrust upwards). This would allow much better control on low-gravity worlds, particularly when Drive Assist is off. (This is not keyboard specific!)


ALSO, as someone else suggested (also here), it would really help with driving at high speeds across bumpy terrain if Steering Left/Right was separated from Rotate Left/Right. Currently you steer left/right when on the ground, and rotate left/right when in the air. This means that if you are bouncing on/off the ground, it's very easy to rotate when you mean to steer, and vice versa. The buggy SRV would be MUCH more controllable if there were separate controls for Steering & Rotating. (This is not keyboard specific!)
 
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Flimley

Flimley
ChrisH said:
On a related note, I am told that Drive Assist combines two entirely separate functions:
1. Throttle is adjusted up/down by the forwards/backwards keys (so when you let go of those keys you keep your current speed).
2. Automatic thrusting downwards, to maintain grip & stability in low-gravity situations.

Like someone else, I would also like to see these two functions split apart, so that I can have "manual throttle" (as happens with Drive Assist off), but still benefit from automatic thrusting downwards to maintain grip. This would mean adding one extra control option, so seems like a no-brainer to me.


ALSO, on another related note, as suggested by someone else, I would like to see the ability for manual control of the down thruster (we can already thrust upwards). This would allow much better control on low-gravity worlds, particularly when Drive Assist is off. (This is not keyboard specific!)


ALSO, as someone else suggested, it would really help with driving at high speeds across bumpy terrain if Steering Left/Right was separated from Rotate Left/Right. Currently you steer left/right when on the ground, and rotate left/right when in the air. This means that if you are bouncing on/off the ground, it's very easy to rotate when you mean to steer, and vice versa. The buggy SRV would be MUCH more controllable if there were separate controls for Steering & Rotating. (This is not keyboard specific!)
Click to expand...

Yes. I agree. This would be much more intuitive. Especially to separate the steering on the ground to flying through the air. I like to twist the stick (yaw) for steering but move side to side (roll) when in the air. It just makes sense to me
 

Morholt

Morholt
I also think this needs improvement, Mouse + Keyboard works fine for space but accelerating/decelerating and mouse control doesn't work nice for the SRV.
Having bound keys for speed presets (stop, 25%, 50%, etc.) are also missing, but are not strictly speaking a KB+M only issue.

Lots of room for improvement there.
 

Mack

Mack
As has been stated elsewhere there is a plethora of driving games that can be controlled via a keyboard.
I've been using KBD + Mouse only for space with no problems, but the SRV IMO is just un-drivable, and I can't believe they are pushing us to a suggestion, rather than a bug tbh (even though BrettC did acknowledge the threads on it.

I have to agree with ChrisH on his suggestions, as I'm too lazy to go into that much detail!!
 

OxKing

OxKing
It needs a better control in general. For HOTAS too.
Why is steering left/right suddenly rolling when in "mid air"?
Why those limited Thruster capabilities with axis missing?
(The wheel Thruster could do a yaw movement easily by firing the front and back ones on opposite sides.)
I want the same controls like in my ship. On my X52 the POV Head for Thrusters, the Stick for Roll and Pitch and the twist for Yaw (Steering).
I think the game is getting too complex in general for the average gamer and this kind of consistency would help with that lot.
 
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Malakie

Malakie
OxKing said:
It needs a better control in general. For HOTAS too.
Why is steering left/right suddenly rolling when in "mid air"?
Why those limited Thruster capabilities with axis missing?
(The wheel Thruster could do a yaw movement easily by firing the front and back ones on opposite sides.)
I want the same controls like in my ship. On my X52 the POV Head for Thrusters, the Stick for Roll and Pitch and the twist for Yaw (Steering).
I think the game is getting too complex in general for the average gamer and this kind of consistency would help with that lot.
Click to expand...

I am still trying to figure out what button on my 52Pro Hotas is for thrusters! LOL
 

SentineI

SentineI
We have been thrown a bone:
- Split out the SRV roll into a new binding, this new binding can be bound to the same as the steering axis to get the same functionality as we have now
Click to expand...
 

the-monk

the-monk
My biggest gripe. I can get by with WASD to control the SRV but I need mouse axis available to be bound to mid air flight. That would make a world of difference. Maybe even a mouse wheel incremental for SRV speed as well.

Simple things like this would go a long way.

Please enable mouse Axis for SRV control.
 
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