Oolite Bulletins

Well, my first OXP is a small one - just three functional lines!

The "keyboard Cobra" add-on, when installed, applies a damper to the pitch, roll and yaw of the standard Oolite Cobra Mark III, reducing each to 40% to 50% of their original values, thereby making it easier to line up the ship with targets.

Edit: Link to v1.2: keyboardCobra v1.1.zip

At the time of writing, only the standard Cobbie 3 is affected.
Version 1.1: All core Oolite ships are affected, but no OXP ships yet (other than the Shady Sugs Cobbie Mk 3 because that's what I fly.)
Version 1.2: The Far Star Murderer and the Dragon ships are also included.

Mouse and joystick players who install this OXP will be equally slowed down.

Extra Info:
While the Cobra Mark III is a great ship to fly, those species without opposable thumbs, extensible claw-mandibles, pseudopodia or other means of gripping the analogue mouse / joystick astrogational navigation equipment struggle with the alternative keyboard-only flight interface, primarily because the digital turn/no turn does not work well with the Cobbie's super performance.

To aid these customers - and any space-travelling cold-blooded, sloth-like or plant-based life forms - the ship control can be converted to turn more slowly. This is achieved by applying this OXP, which converts the Cobra Mk III into a Cobra Mk III-KB. Resale value is in no way affected and there is no cost involved.

There is no need for everyone to know you are using the backup keyboard controls so only you know it is a Mark III-KB. This means you will never see a Mk III-KB in the spacelanes. Ships for sale which can take the keyboard adaptation will have "-KB" or "(KB)" at the end of their name. But should you need a new Cobra Mark III, such as when you use your Escape Capsule, rest assured the dockyard will discretely fit your required keyboard adaptation to your new Cobra Mk III at no cost to you.

Link to the Wiki page.

Keyboard users can finally line up a shot. It works, and good.

Rese249er wrote:

Keyboard users can finally line up a shot. It works, and good.

Ahem. Keyboard users could always line up a shot. I have never been using anything but the keyboard in all Elite-incarnations since 1985, and believe me, I have made a shot or two in all of them.



(Commander McLane, with currently roundabout 17.000 kills under his belt in Oolite (apparently, I'm a monster ).)

This .OXP is a good idea!

While reading this thread, i had an idea for a little improvement: How about a script that dynamically sets the values of pitch/roll/yaw depending on the duration the player hits the key? E.g. if you hit he pitch-key, for the fist 0.5 seconds pitch is 0.5 and only switches to 1.0 if you hit the key for a longer period of time.

Unfortunatelly my own scripting skills are to bad to write such a script but maybe one of the gurus could help?

Best regards

C.B.

Captain Beatnik wrote:

While reading this thread, i had an idea for a little improvement: How about a script that dynamically sets the values of pitch/roll/yaw depending on the duration the player hits the key?

The game already does that. That’s why there are pitch and roll indicators on the HUD. The damper determines the rate at which it happens.

Ahruman wrote:

The game already does that. That’s why there are pitch and roll indicators on the HUD. The damper determines the rate at which it happens.

Is the damper adjustable and if so how can I adjust it? Is there a key for the damper in shipdata.plist or an other config file? And is it possible to give the damper a more logarithmical characteristic? (I think a very strong damping at the first 0.5 - 1.0 seconds would make sniping and lining up with the space station easier.)

Captain Beatnik wrote:

Ahruman wrote:

The game already does that. That’s why there are pitch and roll indicators on the HUD. The damper determines the rate at which it happens.

Is the damper adjustable and if so how can I adjust it? Is there a key for the damper in shipdata.plist or an other config file? And is it possible to give the damper a more logarithmical characteristic? (I think a very strong damping at the first 0.5 - 1.0 seconds would make sniping and lining up with the space station easier.)

Your ship will go from level flight to max roll/pitch/yaw in 0.5 seconds of continuous key press.
It will return from max turn to level flight in 1.0 seconds of no key presses (or instantly if you press the opposite key to its current turn)

What's your frame rate? (Shift-F to display) At very low frame rates the game will be unable to tell the difference between a light tap and a longer press.

cim wrote:

What's your frame rate? (Shift-F to display) At very low frame rates the game will be unable to tell the difference between a light tap and a longer press.

56 - 60 FPS, I can see the difference between light tap and longer press. But is it possible to increase the time until the ship goes to max roll/pitch/yaw to e.g. 1.0 second?

Captain Beatnik wrote:

cim wrote:

What's your frame rate? (Shift-F to display) At very low frame rates the game will be unable to tell the difference between a light tap and a longer press.

56 - 60 FPS, I can see the difference between light tap and longer press. But is it possible to increase the time until the ship goes to max roll/pitch/yaw to e.g. 1.0 second?

There have been a few suggestions for introducing a "precision mode toggle" for keyboard controls (similar to that which exists on some joysticks), but no-one has yet implemented it in Oolite.

I expect one of the major issues is that the toggle has to be somewhere you can reach reasonably easily and reliably in combat, and most of the keys on a standard keyboard are already in use for something.

Commander McLane wrote:

Rese249er wrote:

Keyboard users can finally line up a shot. It works, and good.

Ahem. Keyboard users could always line up a shot. I have never been using anything but the keyboard in all Elite-incarnations since 1985, and believe me, I have made a shot or two in all of them.

We can't all be you, McLane.

Captain Beatnik wrote:

Is the damper adjustable and if so how can I adjust it?

You could install this OXP.

Captain Beatnik wrote:

Is there a key for the damper in shipdata.plist or an other config file?

Yes. Install this OXP and read the documentation within it. It tells you what to do if you want to tweak the values.

This is great SandJ! I've been trying to get used to using a controller in Oolite, thanks to you I've another option now. Do you have any plans to expand it's functionality to include other ships?

Geraldine wrote:

Do you have any plans to expand its functionality to include other ships?

Funnily enough, that's what I was working on when on the train home from Nottingham today.

It now applies to all the core ships, and the Cobra Mk 3 in the adck set (because that's what I fly). In due course I shall add other OXP ships too. See the first post for the link.

Note that it has no effect upon the Anaconda as it turns so slowly anyway as not to be a problem.

Also, I feel I have committed a sin applying this to the Fer-de-Lance.

Just wondering if people realise that this is going to put them at a big disadvantage as the NPCs are still going to be nimble and in a like-ship Vs like-ship dogfight the NPC will out-manouevre the player easily

Smivs wrote:

Just wondering if people realise that this is going to put them at a big disadvantage as the NPCs are still going to be nimble and in a like-ship Vs like-ship dogfight the NPC will out-manoeuvre the player easily

Not being able to hit an NPC until it is within a couple of km because the cross-hairs leap 6 ship-widths every time you press ↑ or ↓ is also a disadvantage. The player's ship will be no slower in accelerating or decelerating, it will just turn more slowly. In a furball it will be a disadvantage, I expect, where you want to be re-targetting quickly. Also, targets requiring the output from all 4 lasers will also have more time to recharge. But being able to line up with the target and actually hit it should make up for that.

I understand the whats and whys behind this OXP, and I'm sure for some it will be a good thing although as has been pointed out by others, practice does makes perfect.
I suppose I'm really asking if a complete shipdata de-tune (NPCs as well) might be an option to give the player the benefit of more control, while keeping a level playing field.