Setting in flight views with Tophat and joystick buttons

[kaybayray]

WOW!! First off I have to say I am Impressed with the look of this game in flight. Man I had to turn it down to the rookie "Novice" setting to land without field looping. [8D]

Great flight model. Very realistic IMHO.

I am having some trouble getting some views set with my joystick. I have flown many flight simms so I am not new to setting up the Tophat with other buttons on a joystick so that you can map out all the possible "fixed" views for use in aerial combat manuvering. I currently fly online in AHII, Flew AW I, II, III and ME prior to AH and AHII. IMHO I agree this is a dated engine but a good one though. The skins and scenery are better than or equal to those currently in AHII.


The issue is for example mapping the looking "right" and "up" view using a combination of a button on my joystick and a position on the top hat of my joystick. I know I can map an individual key for a particular position but I done have enough buttons on my joystick for them all. So I am trying to use a combination of Button # "x" with the corresponding Tophat position but it is not working.

I am using a Logitec 3D Pro Extreme joystick. So I dont see why I should be having any issues getting this setup. I obviously must be doing something wrong but not sure just what. I would appreciate some assistance from those of you that have set this up and have it working.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Later,
KayBay

[Hard Sarge]

for landing, watch to make sure your wheel brakes are not turned on (I think the patch turned them on, it wasn't before)

not sure about the views

[MemoryLeak]

Good Morning,

I also have a Logitec 3D Pro Extreme joystick and I have a rudder ploblem. The rudder starts in the full left position and always returns there no matter what I do. If I keep full left ruddr on the joy stick the plane will fly straight but that is an impossible input to maintain during manuevers.
Yes, I calibrated it several times and it works fine on other flight simulators.
I tried the keyboard rudder trim controls listed on the template that is in the manual but they do nothing. But neither do any of the keyboard trim controls.
Any suggestions on how to correct this? Or is this going to be just another of many games that goes into the toilet? Not being mean-spirited just realistic because most games do not live up to the claims made by the producers.

[Hard Sarge]

hmm, looks like we got the same stick

I am not having trouble with the rudder at all in my game

have you checked the control settings ? maybe something is turned on, or off that shouldn't be ?

(your trim keys may not be assigned ?)

also in some of the scripts doc, there may be ways to turn something on or off to help you

looks for a notepad file, listed as BDG

I didn't see any commands for Trim or rudder in that file

hmm, did you run the config program at the start of the game ? (not sure if that was part of the 2.07 patch or came with the 2.06 verison ?)

there is something in that for realitic trim or standard trim settings

???????

[MemoryLeak]

Hard Sarge,

Thanks for the reply. I don't recall a config screen during install but it sure could of been there. I am currently usinng v2.06 but I did download the patch. I am at my office right now so I'll have to wait untill tonight to try it. But I am afraid it is not going to work. I wll look into mapping the keyboard. i assumed it came with the keys pre-assigned.
If you hear of anything that I should try please keep me posted.
Thanks again

[kaybayray]

Sarge,
You got any help for me on setting my top hat?

My left hand is getting pretty tired using the generic keypad "look up" settings.

I have followed the manual to the letter and I can not get ANY key on my keyboard or my joystick to let me look up an any direction other than just "Up". I even tried the "toggle look up" button on the key settings. The default doesnt even work. I am assuming that all I need do is push the defalut "lookuptoggle" which is the scroll lock button and I should switch from looking left, right, etc... to up left, up right, etc.... That doesnt even work using the default key settings. I am using the version 2.06 which was the download. There is a patch or update? Would that correct this issue?

This is getting a bit frustrating. I am ranked in the top 25% fighter pilots in Aces High II and I should be blasting these drones outa the sky but you cant shoot what you cant see if you understand.

If you have your joystick setup to use the tophat for looking both horizontally around and up and around would you please explain exactly how you set it up? Or for that matter if you have anything set up such that you dont have to use the number pad keys with the ctrl button to look up and around please explain how you did it. I would really like to use my left hand for throttle and flaps.. jeez I have throttle, flaps, views, rudder, trims and everything else set on my joystick for AHII. That is as old as this, should be able to duplicate that here.

Later,
KayBay

[genehaynes]

Kaybay,

Re: your problem with the Hat Switch. I have the same joystick as you (Logictech 3d Pro extreme). I can pan using the using the hat with no problem. I didn't map any keys to the hat, just used the default settings (I think??).

What view are you using? AFAIK, you can only pan around in the Cockpit view. You can't pan in the "Cockpit Remove" view, you can only see what's in your forward FOV. Hope this helps.

[Hard Sarge]

I agree, from what I see, the hatswitch works while with in the cockpit, if you are using the view with out the cockpit, the hatswitch does nothing

if you are using the F8 key, you can alway click to cockpit and then padlock, you can also then click to padlock, nearest enemy and also set up to click to look to see who is targeting you

[kaybayray]

I am using the "cockpit view". Using the default settings is not the problem. It is mapping my joystick buttons and tophat.

What I am trying to accomplish is being able to "snap view" so to speak to any one of the "up right", "up forward", "up left", etc... fixed views while flying in combat in such a way as to allow me to simultaneously use my rudder, throttle, joystick for elevator and aileron controls. I dont want to touch the keyboard for any of this during ACM.

The problem is when I attempt to go through the key mapping routine I can not get the setup to recognize that I am pushing one of the buttons on my joystick and pushing the tophat to a specific position simultaneously. It shows that I have the button pushed and the tophat in that position but in flight when I use that combination I get nada response from my joystick.

I am also having difficulty in getting the setup to allow me to map more than one tophat position. For example, when attempting to setup for "LookupNE" (look up right). I push button number 8 on my joystick and try to place the tophat into the top right corner. (There are 8 possible locations other than the center static position. ) When I do this following the key mapping as described in the Manual works OK for this one but when I go to setup "LookupNW" (look up left) I push the same button 8 on the joystick and place the tophat into the top left corner but the mapper reads it as the same key settings that I just input for "look up right".

This gets further complicated when I am trying to set up other locations where it will not even read the location on the tophat at all. This is a conflict because in the default settings the system has no difficulty moving to the N, NE, NW, E, W, SE, SW, etc positions of the tophat when in flight. So I know that the system recognizes I have a top hat and recognizes the different position locations. So I am at a loss for what I am doing wrong when trying to map these specific "look up XX" views.

It has to be something I am doing wrong because the system recognizes I have a joystick with tophat and it differentiates between the various tophat positions. Therefore I must be doing something wrong when trying to map them.

Yes I have found and can use the Padlock features and the loose view scroll using the tophat but to do this I have to use keys on the keyboard with one hand and that only allows one hand to use the joystick. This therefore limits my ability to manuver the aircraft in combat and thus restricts my ability to Kick those lousy Nazzi Bastages Azzes [8D]

So I hope you can help me figure out what I am doing wrong. [8D]

Later,
KayBay

PS: THis game is freakin awesome.... cant believe I missed it when it was first released. It must have been released when I was working overseas and had no life.

[buddye]

Hi kaybayray,

I am not 100% sure but I do not think you can use two simultaneously press a joystick button and and a hat button button. I think you are limited to mapping one key to one button but some of the other Shockwave guys may know better than me. The hat should be configured so you can either snap or pan view ( a GUI control). The users manual may help you (300+ pages under controls section). The manuals are located in your BOBII folder in the Docs folder.

Most of the old Pro's that could better answer this question now use TrackIR4 6DOF (most BOBII'ers now use it and love it). You have lots of options in BOBII to get your enemy in view (the BOBII padlock system is one of the best and most flexible) but I understand your frustration.

[genehaynes]

Katbay,

Ok, I'm obviously not understanding your problem. If I understand you correctly, you want to use your hat switch to pan around (up, side, back,etc.) while in the cockpit view before you padlock a target. If I'm not mistaken, you have this ability without programming the hat switch. When I'm flying around I use the hat switch to "check six", look up, left, etc. I know I'm probably missing something, but I haven't seen anything on the various BOBII forums where this was an issue.

If you don't get a satisfactory answer here (And I know this really isn't helping you), I suggest posting your question on the Shockwave BOBII forum (Shockwaveproductions.com). Either Bader or Buddye will be able to help you.

[genehaynes]

Kaybay,
 
Sorry, I didn't see Buddte's reply. My bad!!

[kaybayray]

Yeah I am going through the registration on the shockwave boards atm.

I know there is a way to do it, there has to be. I have my joystick setup like that for most every flight simm I have ever ran. Just got to find out the path to get it done. [8D]

I have been using the pan off the tophat and toggle between that and the fixed views. It works OK but it ties up my left hand that I normally use for throttle and views simultaneously. I thought I found a way, there is a "toggle look up" but that does not work. It does nothing when I push it. I figured that would let me toggle between using my tophat for looking horizontally and vertically.

The AI pilots ore actually pretty good sticks so you have to use your throttle, views, rudder and other flight controls to manuver on them to get a good shot. The problem being I have to choose to use my left hand to either operate my throttle or the views. So I am missing a lot of potential kill shots because I cant make the speed and angle change fast enough to make a good shot.

My typical setup is, joystick button and tophat combo for views with one finger of left hand and thumb of right hand, thumb of left hand operates throttle, right hand operates X/Y/Z aileron/Elevator/rudder, other finger of left hand operates flaps, index finger of right hand operates weapon fire.

So my hands never have to leave the joystick when in combat.

I dont really care for the swirlly pan views, after 20 years of snap fixed views along with the other controls simultaneously I really dont like this other method too much. I know sombody has it figured out. I cant believe the developers actually use the keyboard for flight manuver in combat. [8D]
That would be like running a VW bug in the Formula 1 circuit, you could probably finish the race but man that would be a rough road to drive on. [8D]

I will keep workin it. I know there is a way.

Later,
KayBay