Learning to use a joystick is a pain in the rear

[Bainwalker]

I missed Mumble night because I just today bought an extreme 3D Pro joystick and have been attempting to re-learn how to fly helicopters with it since I've always just used mouse/keyboard.

What I've noticed so far:

- With the joystick acceleration is at a constant percent, that's a huge change for me since with the keyboard I'd always have to hold the forward key for acceleration, and when the key was released it would then drop very fast unless I tapped the key.

- Only after I get the joystick do I realize the faster you go the less you are able to turn... or at least I just noticed it and so have come to realize one must always be adjusting the acceleration for different tasks/landing/turns.

-------------------------------------------------

It has been about 5-6 hours and I've been practicing non-stop. I still feel like a newb and I find myself still tinkering with the joysticks sensitivity parameters. Just when I think I've found the sweet spot I get into a different trans helicopter (what I mostly fly) and it's either way too low or way too high.

Any suggestions people have would be great, I love flying and would hate to think mouse/keyboard is better than a joystick.

Anyone using the same joystick? Logitech Extreme 3D Pro
(I know they tend to get bad but for an extra 5 bucks I got a deal where if it wears out I can simply get the store to replace it as many times as needed over 3 years)

--------------------------

Just be happy I'm on the training servers doing this... speaking of which they are full of idiots not even wanting to learn how to play but there just to either A) @#%$ around B) grief the new guys C) be a **** to everyone.

I didn't see many people actually trying to learn how to play... so I mostly train on just a local server from my comp.

[badmojo420]

Yeah, the faster you're going the more you have to bank in order to turn, the tail rotor does little to nothing at high speeds. (on some helicopters anyway)

Also, i would stick to one helicopter when learning to use a joystick. Personally i used the littlebird to learn to fly. And once i mastered that i moved on to the rest. Just because the helicopters handle so differently, that the joystick movements don't transfer over from one bird to another. For example the littlebird can be 'thrown' around like a sports car, where as the black hawk needs tender loving care like a luxury sedan.

[Bainwalker]

Yeah, the faster you're going the more you have to bank in order to turn, the tail rotor does little to nothing at high speeds. (on some helicopters anyway)

Also, i would stick to one helicopter when learning to use a joystick. Personally i used the littlebird to learn to fly. And once i mastered that i moved on to the rest. Just because the helicopters handle so differently, that the joystick movements don't transfer over from one bird to another. For example the littlebird can be 'thrown' around like a sports car, where as the black hawk needs tender loving care like a luxury sedan.

Yeah the blackhawk was the one to always be way too low, would take forever to bank left/right. Though really I never did much of that in it with the mouse so I should just work on finding the right acceleration percent for each bird.

The little bird is easy, since even at 100 percent acceleration you can turn, it's the others I need to just work on finding the perfect spots.

It's just so much more complicated now and I love it, can't believe those 6 hours were fun just crashing into the ground over-and-over. Like a game in itself getting the joystick set up the way you like

[ChiefRyza]

Bainwalker, joysticks are hard to master but once you have the hang on them its much easier to maintain control while flying. As for throttle, I actually use W, A, S + D and my joystick at the same time. I use A and D for rudder control, W and S for speed control and the joystick for everything else. Works for me but maybe you might want to try a few different things. One thing is for sure is that your not going to get it perfect right away.

[bloodthirsty_viking]

i think i got the same one, is the power control on the joystick itsself, just a little bar like thing? i stoped using it=P i did not take the time to try and master it, so i just decided, ill have it near me, and if i fly a jet i will use it, if i fly a helo, ill use it to regain controll, but now i mostly use keyboard and mouse, some joystick

[Qaiex]

I saw a guy do a barrel roll with the Huey using a joystick, can't do that with the mouse and keyboard.. But then again it's not the most useful manouver ever.

There was a thread about it a while back, alot of people agreed that you had more control and precision when flying helicopters with mouse and keyboard, while airplanes were better with a joystick.


Gotta say I agree, I'm sticking to the keys with the helo's.

[Cheditor]

Well i got a joystick myself with ideas of using it for helis as well as jets but though i had much more control actually flying the thing over large distances was hard. I was constantly moving left and right through out my whole flight. Also the throttle slide is annoying in a helicopter i find as you dont have the freedom of just releasing it etc. I would suggest flying the harder helicopters and even try making a muttrah local game where you can just pratice with the LB, Heuy and cobra, going around urban areas is much harder than desert.

[AnRK]

I've not flown in PR in ages, but I did start to get used to using helis with a joystick, I use the joy throttle and twist function for the rudder and it works out fine.

The ONE thing that seems to change with the stick is having to pre-empt what your gonna do next, maybe it's a PR thing and not a joystick thing since I got my stick around about the same time jets/helis got introduced properly and coded well, but it seems your very much controlling for the next move otherwise you get very jittery movements that cause you to crash. After I figured that out I haven't had much of a problem flying with a stick, just haven't done enough flying to really get particularly amazing at it, personally I think it's worth learning even for helis though.

[Pedz]

I have the same joystick and I find it better than mouse and keyboard, mainly because I've used a joystick since I started bf2. The main thing to do is not to just leave the throttle alone thinking it will keep 100% and that's always good.
Just keep your other hand on the throttle and make changes depending on what you want to do, lower to turn quickly and full to speed away from a turn.

Also controls are very important, I've found it very useful to use the twist on the handle for the rudders, although this doesn't work too well with jets as its a tad too sensitive. But the other controls are generally good for everything. And set the point of view HAT switch on the top to 7 8 and 9, as these are the looking around keys. Very useful in jets and choppers to have a quick look around. But remember to set one to the default view.

Hope some of that helps, but generally you'll get used to a joystick after a while. It wont come after a day or so but i find it much easier now (and Im now unable to fly with a mouse )

[roob]

To actually say you've got more precision with keys and mouse is a lie (even if you don't know better ). You can of course fly very decent with them, but in the end a joystick is waaaaay better and more precise than the mouse and keyboard will ever be.

In regular BF2 this wasn't really the case. I flew with the keyboard only and owned the shit out of it. But then when 0.6(0.75?) came and they re-did the whole steering the need for a joystick was a pure fact.

[brag]Some of you may know my pure awesomeness in flying as Flanker-D or J-39[/brag]

OnT: I've got the same joystick as you do, except for a X-52 throttle and I started out with the LB (personally I think it's the most manouverable chopper). Then comes the Huey which I love to death in PR. Takes a lot of hours of crashes to get the hang of it, but once you go black you never go back! Wait...

[Bainwalker]

Even though I do suck right now with the joystick I do see the stick becoming way better than the mouse once mastered. It's just a matter of time and patience... which means a lot of alone time in a local training server. I do attempt to avoid the Kashan Desert map, it is too flat for the most part and for the added challenge I usually practice on Qling since the trees are rather dense and make for good practice (more so for rudder control/stability)

[lucky14]

I swtiched to a Joystick in Battlefield 1942. Sure makes it easier when you completely forget how to work the mouse by the time your in PR.

[ralfidude]

Been using a joystick since when i was in pampers, there is no other alternative for me.

Once you get used to it, you will be able to make surgery with it, trust me.