Hi,

is there a way to bind the strafing to the mouse? I`m thinking of flying with a joystick _and_ a trackball.

I think that vo thinks the trackball is a mouse, and it can only see one mouse.

Yes, the trackball is seen as a mouse. It`s only one, but I also have a joystick, so two different input devices. But you can switch settings between `keyboard/mouse` and `keyboard/joystick`, and the mouse seems always to be bound to the steering of the ship.

Maybe it would be less painful to fly if I could use the trackball for strafing (left/right, up/down, buttons for Accelerate/Decelerate) and the joystick for steering. Though I`m not sure if it would work out, I would like to try --- but how do I bind the strafing to the trackball (mouse)?

Well you can definitely bind mouse buttons to strafing. And Yoda and I have flown using Dual Shock2 controllers as the poor-man's dual joystick setup (I don't really recommend it tho. I find the analog sticks aren't sensitive enough, but yoda seems to like it). I've never heard of anyone binding strafing to moving the mouse.

Wouldn't the problem be that there are only 6 thrust vectors/strafes, while a mouse/trackball has an infinite number of vectors? How would you bind "to" the mouse movement?

Mouse/Trackball has 2 degrees of freedom, Lecter. Right/left, up/down. The fact that these two vectors span a plane does mean that there's an infinity of vectors that *could* be used, but all those vectors are sufficiently described (lacking the proper term, my apologies) by the two given ones that span the vector space (the plane).

Basic vector/linear algebra.

Right enough, perhaps I wasn't clear enough. What is he binding to? Is there a way to tie the 'thrust left' command to any degree of left mouse movement?

In all fair disclosure, I'm not terribly familiar with even basic game control setups. I play VO on a Powerbook and fly with w/s/a/f/r/f thrust keys, q/e roll keys, and a track-pad for attitude movements. The details of what one can do vis-a-vis interfacing a mouse's input with a command is not my strong point, which is why I posed this as a question.

I don't think the drivers for the trackball will allow for it in the current configuration within VO. Myself and a good number of other players had found success using a joystick for strafing. Weather it be a joystick and mouse setup or dual joysticks (the latter more popular.) It works out well because you can not only strafe, but rotate, accelerate / decelerate and turbo with a it as well. Some joysticks with hat buttons will allow for additional accessibility to things like FA toggle, target nearest enemy, toggle auto-aim, target next in front... All of which are very simple to bind in the controls menu under Options.

Playing VO for as long as I have, I can tell you that giving up the extra keys available near you strafe keys is not a good idea. At least not without replacing them somehow. I would tend to think a trackball doesn't have enough buttons at easy reach for me to use like my joystick does.

bind MOUSEX StrafeLR
bind MOUSEY StrafeUD

that might work, i haven't tried to play with the analog binds.

You fly with a TRACKPAD Lecter? Inconceivable.

Seriously, I'm impressed, I have difficulties enough with a mouse. (Maybe I should replace my mouse with a trackpad eh?)

Thanks, I tried the bind, and it actually works. It`s not exactly useful though because I`d have to turn the trackball without end. Now I`ve got to find out how to undo these binds ... :)

Hm, I didn`t think of strafing with a joystick yet or using two of them. I`ll keep the idea in mind.

PS: Ok, it`s


/bind MOUSEX +LookX
/bind MOUSEY +LookY


to set it back.

I've tried flying with a G7 gaming mouse, and while tollerable, for me the trackpad allows for much more precise and connected flight. Perhaps because I'm directly controlling movement with my fingertip, I feel more like I'm 'at' the controls of the ship, so to speak. The mouse feels disconnected by comparison. A stick was an impossible nightmare =P

But FYI: using the P'book's clicker as the primary trigger != a good idea. Beats the shit outta the poor critter.

alias mouseLook "bind MOUSEX +lookx; bind MOUSEY +looky"
alias mouseStrafe "bind MOUSEX StrafeLR; bind MOUSEY +StrafeUD"

chillum, thought of trying a trackball?

Nope, don't like trackballs much. Don't like trackpads much either, maybe just 'cause I have little experience with 'em. (Same could be said of trackballs I guess.)

I fought against someone with a wacom tablet once. That was interesting... Someday I'm gonna borrow a DDR pad and bind movement to it.

Mmmm. Dance Dance Space Bass Fishing 2008.

HAHAHAHA
I had all but forgotten Dance Dance Space Bass Fishing!

Yeah, I've heard of people flying with the trackpad, they said it wasn't that bad. I tried playing (VO, among other twitch-based games) with it and failed miserably, but that was solely due to my impatience and lack of skill, I think. I can see that the precision of the trackpad can help a lot, I wonder how it'd be to actually play with a tablet, like CrippledPidgeon said.