Oolite Bulletins

I love this game!
However, I would like to know if there is some way I can dampen the keyboard so it isn't quite so sensitive.
(perhaps editing my save game file??)

I could use a little help here.

Thanks

are you finding the ship 'roll' to sensitve?

Different ships react differently I've found out.

Other than modifying your ship, note that key input is in fact damped. Tapping the keys will result in smaller inputs than holding them down. Watch the indicators on the HUD.

I too have the same keyboard problem.
I'm running on XP SP3 on a Core 2 Duo E8200 CPU @ 2.66 GHz with 3 GB RAM and a NVidia GeForce 210 graphics card.
I'm still "Commander Jameson" with the standard Cobra Mk 3.
If I touch the up arrow on the keyboard as briefly as possible, the pitch jumps to about 25% full scale deflection then gently returns to the centre. This is a very coarse step and makes docking and combat very difficult.

Please can we have a control that allows the keyboard sensitivity to be changed so that very fine adjustments are possible. On the original Elite for BBC Micro, Commodore 64 and the later Frontier for PC, pixel-level adjustment of the ship's flight attitude was possible from the keyboard (yes, I am old and have flown them all to Elite level ). With Oolite on my PC with the default setup, the smallest adjustment via the keyboard seems to move the screen about 1 cm on my 17" monitor.

A simple button on the keyboard that allows the sensitivity to be increased and decreased similar to the zoom control for the radar would be perfect...

By the way, I love Oolite... Many thanks for putting all the hours in to write it!

Hi hiddenengine, and welcome to the friendliest board this side of Riedquat

I can't help you with the keyboard sensitivity, I'm afraid, other than to mention many others have asked.
There is a sensitivity option if you use mouse or joystick. I'm a 'stick man (always have been since the old C64 days), and can recommend the Logitech Attack 3. It's really good for the price, and quite a few of us use them.
Might be worth a try.

Hi Hiddenengine welcome aboard.

I use the keyboard, but used to use a stick on with the Amstrad cpc6128. I'm too set in my ways and way too tight to buy a stick now, but if you do there is one major benefit IIRC, and that is to turn the stick around 180 degrees when firing the aft laser, so that it's control works the same as for the front laser.

If you find that a quick key press is still too slow, you could try using the TAF (time acceleration factor) function. Press P to pause, then the left arrow key to slow time down, unpause (P) and everything will be damped. TAF 0.06 (slowest) is like flying in treacle.

Pressing Shift+F will turn on a display to help you keep track of how fast/slow time is flowing for you at the moment.

I also use the keyboard same as I did for Elite those many years ago - even modified keyconfig to match. For the later there were configuration keys during game paused that allowed for re-centering (not sure if that is correct term). IOW, no drift at all upon releasing a movement key. In Oolite I just had to learn and adapt. I don't even think about it now, in fact have become pretty adept at placing the crosshairs along the path the enemy ship is taking.

In BBC Elite I had a 'stick, but for Elite Plus I had to use the keyboard, and became very skilled at it.
I can pilot Oolite with the keyboard, but I much prefer a 'stick. Like Smivs, I use an Attack 3... very good value.

OK - I give up

I bought the Logitech Attack 3 and it works really well. It doesn't have a twist action, however, so you can't yaw directly from it. If this is important then I guess the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro would be the better choice, but I don't know if it works with Oolite...

The Attack 3 works so smoothly, however, that I can live without the yaw and the fine adjust mode is superb.

Thanks to everyone that suggested it.

Glad that you like it, hiddenengine... as for the yaw, I never use it combat, so I don't miss it on the 'stick.

Oh, and welcome aboard.

hiddenengine wrote:

OK - I give up

I bought the Logitech Attack 3 and it works really well. It doesn't have a twist action, however, so you can't yaw directly from it. If this is important then I guess the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro would be the better choice, but I don't know if it works with Oolite...

The Attack 3 works so smoothly, however, that I can live without the yaw and the fine adjust mode is superb.

Thanks to everyone that suggested it.

I use a logitech extreme 3D Pro for oolite running on linux, but have to admit i don't use yaw often.

hiddenengine wrote:

OK - I give up

I bought the Logitech Attack 3 and it works really well. It doesn't have a twist action, however, so you can't yaw directly from it. If this is important then I guess the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro would be the better choice, but I don't know if it works with Oolite...

The Attack 3 works so smoothly, however, that I can live without the yaw and the fine adjust mode is superb.

Thanks to everyone that suggested it.

I can confirm that a Logitech Extreme 3D works on oolite - the twist can be mapped to yaw.