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General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Karnak on March 30, 2004, 01:30:20 AM

Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: Karnak on March 30, 2004, 01:30:20 AM
Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy I implore and beseech you to remap the GV throttle from the joystick to the throttle.

After driving the M-8 for about 15 miles my wrist is acheing.  With the new, more detailed (e.g. bumpier) terrain driving from the driver's seat where you have access to the gears is much more important.  Having to constantly hold the joystick forward (especially for those of us with stiff springed joysticks like the F22 Pro and HOTAS Cougar) becomes a litteral pain.

Please map the GV throttle control to the throttle.
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: LAWCobra on March 30, 2004, 01:48:09 AM
I second that please:)
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: Waffle on March 30, 2004, 02:08:39 AM
hehe - need to look into this and see if it can be mapped.

Left toe brake on rudder pedals ( Brake) right toe brake on rudder pedals (gas / throttle)...

guess ya gotta have rudder pedals
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: Kweassa on March 30, 2004, 02:10:22 AM
Is it currently possible to join GVs?

 One person manning the guns, the other driving?

 That'd rock!
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: Karnak on March 30, 2004, 02:13:22 AM
Quote
Originally posted by Waffle BAS
hehe - need to look into this and see if it can be mapped.

Left toe brake on rudder pedals ( Brake) right toe brake on rudder pedals (gas / throttle)...

guess ya gotta have rudder pedals


The problem with remapping it ourselves is that the axis that controls the throttle also controls gun elevation.  If you remap it to your toebrake, then you're going to be using your toe brake to elevate the gun as well as using it for a throttle.
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: Wilbus on March 30, 2004, 03:41:18 AM
Yes Kweassa it is, atleast in AH1
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: Flossy on March 30, 2004, 05:18:55 AM
You don't have to keep holding the joystick forward..... once up to speed, you can let go and the speed holds until you go up a hill.  At least that's the way it's always worked for me.  :)
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: Karnak on March 30, 2004, 09:31:26 AM
Quote
Originally posted by Flossy
You don't have to keep holding the joystick forward..... once up to speed, you can let go and the speed holds until you go up a hill.  At least that's the way it's always worked for me.  :)

Hills are a lot more common than they used to be.  Also losing speed in turns to go around forests are too.

Really, I just think the GV throttle should behave like the PT-Boat's in AH1.
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: rabbidrabbit on March 30, 2004, 11:43:42 AM
if you lose speed going up a hill or turning it will come back.  i just get it up to speed then hit the commanders position.  this leaves the throttle stuck wide open.  It will keep trying to go as fast as it can.
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: Virage on March 30, 2004, 12:43:28 PM
vote for the remap to throttle.
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: Karnak on March 30, 2004, 08:25:43 PM
Quote
Originally posted by rabbidrabbit
if you lose speed going up a hill or turning it will come back.  i just get it up to speed then hit the commanders position.  this leaves the throttle stuck wide open.  It will keep trying to go as fast as it can.

Until you hit one of the now not uncommon hills that are too steep for the high gear ratios and you slow down to a complete stop.

Don't say what you did in AH1.  I know what worked in AH1 and it isn't working in AH2.
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: hitech on March 31, 2004, 08:05:26 AM
Karnak ,you realy do not understand how the current system works. With what you propose you also would come to a complete stop going up hill. The joy stick just increase an rpm preset. The vehicle will hold that as long as you do not pull back on stick, or go up a hill in to high of gear.If you down shift with out touching any thing you will continue to go as fast as positble. Exatly like a thottle would.

HiTech
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: Karnak on March 31, 2004, 09:48:12 AM
Quote
Originally posted by hitech
Karnak ,you realy do not understand how the current system works. With what you propose you also would come to a complete stop going up hill. The joy stick just increase an rpm preset. The vehicle will hold that as long as you do not pull back on stick, or go up a hill in to high of gear.If you down shift with out touching any thing you will continue to go as fast as positble. Exatly like a thottle would.

HiTech


Hmm.

My experience is that my GV slows down steadily if I do not hold the stick full forward, speaking only from the driver position.  Also some stick movement is needed to manuver the vehicle.

I understand that changing the throttle would not change the behavior of the GVs.  I'd still need to play with gears and throttle, but I wouldn't have to constantly have the stick pushed forward.

That said, I'll try your suggestion and see how it works.
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: NHawk on March 31, 2004, 09:48:30 AM
LOL, I've often cursed the GV throttles not being on the throttle.

Especially when I blew my stick from mulitple over-zealous pushes forward on the stick. They only take so much abuse you know. :) Fortunately it was under warranty and I received a new one free of charge.

I have to agree on this one for that very reason. Move the throttle to the throttle on GVs.
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: Flossy on March 31, 2004, 10:51:18 AM
I spend very little time in the driver position, only going there long enough to change gear if necessary and to hold the joystick forward long enough to get maximum speed.  Otherwise, I'm in one of the gun positions steering with the rudders and watching for the bad guys.  :p  If I come across a particularly steep hill, I may resort to going in reverse..... but overall I don't have a problem with the current arrangements.  :D
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: lemur on March 31, 2004, 10:51:34 AM
Better to simply have additional entries for GV controls on the stick mapping page . As long as you allow people to assign a joystick axis to more than one control surface (which you can do now) they can "double map" some controls

i.e. I'd assign the 'x-axis' (L Brake) control on my rudders to both 'left wheel brake' and to 'GV brake' (actually the surfaces would map to the controls, but you know what I mean)

Conflicting controls wouldn't be an issue unless you expect to have a GV that has some of the same controls as a airplane.
(Flying cars? :D )

As far as default controls go, just leave it the way it is now:
The aircraft pitch and GV throttle would both be mapped to use the Y axis, and people with more elaborate set ups could change it.

In a nutshell: Tons of surfaces mapping to different controls good. Layering the mapping of GV controls on top of the aircraft mappings bad.

Give the GVs their own mappings!
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: lemur on March 31, 2004, 11:01:03 AM
Follow up:

To handle the issue of "what happens when I switch to a gunner / bomber position" (which currently remaps everything) you'll need to add additional 'control surfaces' for these too.

Complete list:
GV Throttle
GV Brakes
GV Steering
Gunner Aim (X&Y)
Gunner Steering
Gunner Throttle
Gunner Brakes

Variants could be to combine the brakes & throttle into one control  and/or add 'gear selector' as a surface.
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: Easyscor on March 31, 2004, 02:52:13 PM
Actually, tracked vehicles don't have steering as such; you stop or slow the track on the inside of the turn so just for discussion...

Most tracked vehicles I know of have a throttle, clutch, gear shift and lever handles or peddles that act as separate right and left brakes and sometime to reverse a track.

The current model in AH doesn't allow you to reverse a track while the other one is moving forward so I guess that's right for the WW2 time period.

For realism I would have to support the separate throttle mapping but also the ability to map the left and right tracks so you could use either the joystick, rudder or rudder peddle brakes as left/right brakes.

Maybe you could even use the brakes and throttle from the commanders cupola the way you can the throttle in a bomber.

Just wishfull thinking.:)
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: qts on April 01, 2004, 02:52:13 PM
The irony is that the mapping is correct on the PT boat.
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: DREDIOCK on April 01, 2004, 03:22:44 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Flossy
I spend very little time in the driver position, only going there long enough to change gear if necessary and to hold the joystick forward long enough to get maximum speed.  Otherwise, I'm in one of the gun positions steering with the rudders and watching for the bad guys.  :p  If I come across a particularly steep hill, I may resort to going in reverse..... but overall I don't have a problem with the current arrangements.  :D


Yup this is exactly  the way I do it. why anyone would spend anymore time in the drivers position then that is beyond me.
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: flakbait on April 01, 2004, 05:18:56 PM
I'd rather have the GV throttle work like it does in every racing game: like a gas pedal. No more pushing/pulling constantly on the stick to get your speed just so; park the throttle where you want it and leave it. It's already in place for the PT boat, so moving all the GV's over to use that type of throttle wouldn't be a big deal. IIRC, folks have asked for this change before in the AC/V boards.

Add my vote: change it

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Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: mars01 on April 01, 2004, 08:44:18 PM
I have to agree.  What is the point of having the stick as the throttle anyway?
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: B17Skull12 on April 01, 2004, 11:12:35 PM
do like i do.

get to speed you want go to gunner position and drive from there.  much more of a view to.
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: Karnak on April 01, 2004, 11:52:01 PM
Quote
Originally posted by B17Skull12
do like i do.

get to speed you want go to gunner position and drive from there.  much more of a view to.

I do that in AH1.  It is only common sense.

In AH2, however, I found the hill and tree frequency caused serious issues with it.
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: Shiva on April 02, 2004, 09:39:10 AM
Quote
Originally posted by Easyscor
Actually, tracked vehicles don't have steering as such; you stop or slow the track on the inside of the turn so just for discussion...

Most tracked vehicles I know of have a throttle, clutch, gear shift and lever handles or peddles that act as separate right and left brakes and sometime to reverse a track.

The current model in AH doesn't allow you to reverse a track while the other one is moving forward so I guess that's right for the WW2 time period.


It depends on the WWII tank. The simplest transmission mechanism just brakes the axle on the side the tank is turning towards. A simple regenerative transmission brakes the axle on the side the tan is turning towards, but feeds the power from that side back to the other axle, speeding it up, which reduces power waste. More advanced transmissions -- which I believe were installed in both the PzKpfW IV and PzKpfW VI -- enabled the tracks on each side to be reversed independently, which allows the tank to spin in place.

For specific details, I'd need to go home and refer to my copy of R. M. Ogorkiewicz' Technology of Tanks.
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: mars01 on April 02, 2004, 09:51:21 AM
Yeah thats all good about tracked vehicles, but AHI does not model this.  You ever try turning these things, they turn like cars.  If they modled track style control, I could see throttle as one and stick as the other, but until then, please save my wrist and stick and put gas on the throttle.

BTW - when you switch to one of the gun pos you lose some throttle for some reason.  Also when your in tank town your always on the throttle.
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: moot on April 02, 2004, 09:22:15 PM
Mars, we could have a break button, to stop torque from one side of the tracks... or inverse the other if that's what some gv's did.. or three buttons for all three functions.

Hello Hitech? :)
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: moot on April 03, 2004, 01:35:51 AM
and throttle doesn't have a automatic deadzone to separate braking from throttle.
Then again separate break and gas control might give you some edge when you'd need quick acceleration from a stop. Dunno if a few tons would move that way..
Title: Please, please, please in the name of all that is holy, remap the GV throttle
Post by: lemur on April 03, 2004, 12:21:21 PM
Again, if we had separate mappings for the GV / gunner controls you could specify a different deadzone for the GV throttle even if it was still controlled by the stick.

As for separate track controls... Eiiiiie! That'd mean yet more mappings for wheeled vs. tracked vehicles.

I'd just make it so you could still turn a tracked vehicle at rest. Not as complex, but that's a bonus in my book (heck, I wish GVs had automatic transmissions)
Title: dude
Post by: moot on April 05, 2004, 12:08:12 AM
just make a I/O button for individual track stop, just like we have for airplaine gear brakes.

Throttle and steering would be the same whether you are gunner or not, with steering going from js in driver position to rudders in gunner position as it is now.
Turret Yaxis wouldn't have to have a remote control from the driver seat, but Xaxis would be a boon.

Static rotation of tracked GVs could be done by just pushing throttle fwd, pushing the break-torque button on the side you want to stop, either that or the invert-torque button, and the GV will have the fwd-going track going fwd at the speed of your throttle, and the other either stopped or going backwards at that same speed.
If some GVs had both inversion and break of track torque, then you need three buttons avail for each.     (left-brake, right-brake, invert.)

Gunner steering with that setup could get a little hairy, but only because it'd improve on a simple setup, and wouldn't be any harder than what we have to coordinate in planes.