Hello. Like the title says, I'm glad to have found this gem of a game. It looks like something that I'll spend much time exploring in.
I do however have one request:
On my X-52 pro throttle, I have separated the IDS mode throttle to the slider and the inertial fwd/reverse to the main throttle handle. The IDS mode throttle has both fwd and reverse afterburners when set to full-range mode and the menu option is selected. The inertial throttle has no afterburners without activation with an extra button. There is no menu option for afterburner activation when the throttle limits are reached like can be selected for the IDS throttle axis. Even if the inertial throttle handle is full-back, pressing the afterburner button only fires in forward mode. I do not have enough easily reachable buttons to activate a 'reverse thrust' key along with the afterburner key while using the throttle.
Is it possible to make the afterburner on the inertial thrusters axis work the same as the selectable option on the IDS throttle axis or otherwise, cause pressing the afterburner key while the inertial thruster axis is set to reverse (just past the center point and beyond) to also apply reverse afterburner? This would be very helpful in better control of the ship.
Hello and welcome. Indeed, the inertial forward/reverse axis control is for the thrusters as opposed to the main engine, so if they are split from a throttle axis input, then they won't have access to the same afterburner control that the throttle axis input does for the main engine. It might be a bit tricky to work out some kind of blended mode behavior between the two modes, but I can try to set some time aside to see how feasible such an option might be or not (may carry too much of a bug risk with existing control mapping templates/values/code routines).
That said, any time you are in inertial mode, you can quickly swap things by pressing and holding the IDS on/off button (for 1-second) to toggle the mode to access the afterburner when desired on any separate throttle axis, then release that same button when finished to return to the thruster control mode. That will involve only one button control you're already using for the two IDS modes to also gain A/B access on the (separate) throttle axis without requiring the A/B button or the reverse thrust button.
Another option is you can enable the 'Set Axis' mode for throttle which will then align all forward/reverse engine and thruster controls to work much the same way (rate based inclination/declination rather than absolute). Then assigning both throttle and inertial forward/reverse to the same axis will provide a consistent control behavior while retaining afterburner control in either IDS mode. If you went this route, I'd recommend using the X52's thumb slider for IDS scale control as it's a good fit for quick access to that important input on the same device used to select velocity.
Ultimately though, mapping all forward/reverse controls to the same throttle axis in either normal or set axis mode will also align things in such a way (combining Throttle+A/B+Inertial Thrusters all in one) for the simplest and most consistent solution.
Thank you for such a quick response! I will experiment with your settings suggestions and see if my request is actually unnecessary. I was using the IDS on the slider in non-full range setting in order to use the IDS as a full brake with the slider all the way back. I suppose I can adapt to IDS throttle at 0 in the middle position of the throttle handle with some practice. I've set the middle deadzone pretty wide to keep the inertial thrust under control already.
I'll probably have to report back in a day or two as that's when I'll next have time to play.
On another note, I have not tried it yet but, I would like to combine the "target ship in gunsight/nearest/next" , "target object in gunsight/nearest/next" and "nearest/next hostile secondary" onto the same hat switch. Can I use the pinky trigger on the joystick as a combo/modifier without using the external X52 profile software? So far, I bound these to the same buttons in a "conflicted" state and got mixed results whether or not objects/asteroids and ships were in the same sector. I guess that's to be expected though. Still, if it is possible to condense these functions into a single area of buttons, I would like that very much.
Yes, you can combine buttons on the same device for dual input combinations, using one of the buttons as a kind of alt or shift key for an additional function on a primary button. The pinky trigger will likely show up as a 'B#' value on the device while the HAT inputs will show up as 'H#' values. Then any combinations will appear as something like 'Device 1, B#+H#'.
Partial conflicts will appear as yellow and can generally still be used together. The game will just highlight such mixed controls in yellow to indicate when one or more buttons might be assigned to more than one function in a combination. That way, if an unexpected behavior occurs, you can narrow down which button or combo set might be involved.
Full conflicts will appear as red and will generally result in dual functionality with one button. These are best avoided unless there is a specific desired blended combination of controls on one button input mapping.
Targeting will likely be pretty consistent regardless of mapping scheme. The system is primarily for ship targeting, so there is a functional focus on that type. But method is consistent. So 'nearest' functions will look for the nearest ship/object, gunsight will focus on proximity to the central HUD area, and 'next' will toggle through a group by type. Under certain circumstances, a nearest ship might be targeted automatically if no nearest object is available when prompted.
I have tested the target selection and it works as I hoped.
As far as the throttle settings go, here's my impression:
I have placed both main engine and inertial controls on the throttle handle. I have decided to use afterburner as a button instead of setting the afterburner to activate at the range limits. I set the IDS scaling the x52 throttle top thumb wheel. I am also using the keyboard 1-through-backspace to set throttle levels when the IDS throttle is set to 0. This allows me to more precisely adjust exit velocity for single-point jumping. It works well enough.
Ideally, I would like to set up the controls like this:
Main engine throttle on the top thumb wheel. Afterburner: key press.
IDS scaling: throttle slider.
Inertial FWD/RVS: main throttle handle. Afterburner: key press.
Keyboard 1-through-backspace: As I have been using them.
I can see how setting the afterburner to activate with max-limit throttle movement can conflict if main engine and inertial are on separate axes. I understand now that the afterburner is a "main engine" function and not related to the inertial FWD/RVS, which is why the inertial FWD/RVS does not have afterburner activation options of its own when the IDS/Inertial axes are separated. Is it possible however, that if the afterburner is a button-only binding that the FWD/RVS direction could be controlled based on the throttle being in a +/- position of the throttle handle center?
In other words, if the IDS main engine is set to 1 axis and on in full-range mode, the afterburner (activated by button) direction depends on whether the axis is + or - of center.
If it is possible to make the afterburner button behave the same way when the engine is set to inertial FWD/RVS without conflicting with the main engine IDS settings on a separate axis, when said axis does not align with the inertial mode axis setting, I think that would satisfy what I'm looking for.
(I hope I explained that well enough.)
I realize that I'm just one customer, and things may or may not be possible at your discretion. Still, I thank you for considering my request, for better or worse of outcome. If "no", I will practice some more and try to develop my own "operating procedures" to get the most efficiency and control out of what's available to work with.
I've been pondering some ideas for such a scheme, both practical application scenarios and compromises/negatives.
The challenge comes in creating a link between the main engine throttle percentage value and the inertial forward/reverse thruster control input control array sets (potential conflict that you referred to). I'd imagine a number of players who might also want to split main engine control from thruster control would prefer to keep such controls independent of each other for consistency (just like every other thruster axis input control). Also, when in manual thruster control mode (IDS off), it reduces fuel use and gives them full thruster control without accidently bumping into the afterburner range. So by artificially applying an A/B link, it would be creating an inconsistent control behavior for one axis thruster direction input when a player may intentionally split them.
Directional A/B control can certainly be linked to forward and reverse thrusters, but it requires binding the main engine axis control with the forward/reverse thruster control so that they share/blend their values on one axis channel (namely the one with engine control on it).
Afterburner direction is quite hard locked to engine settings. It can't fire in reverse unless the engine, from which the afterburner comes from, is set to reverse. Hence, the engine has to be set to reverse in order for the afterburner to do so. That can only feasibly be done to the engine with either the reverse key/button control or reverse axis control setting the direction. So when the IDS is turned off, it requires whatever engine control is available to set that reverse mode. And to do that with split engine/thruster axis controls (which removes it from 'inertial' mode availability), you'd need to remember to set the afterburner direction with main engine control whenever you might separate it.
Is there a reason you want the two control inputs separated? Do you intend to try and use both inputs at the same time somehow? Because one is disabled in one IDS mode and vice versa in the other. So I'm not sure what benefit there would be in splitting the two inputs when you can only use one at a time anyway. Instead, linking them would seem to offer a number of key benefits. Namely, keeping control behavior unified (further so with the 'Set Axis' mode), keeping all thrusters controls consistent, driving engine direction simultaneously in inertial mode, and reducing the number of inputs you need to apply all seem together to offer better and more efficient control. But maybe there is something I haven't considered.
The main reason I want to separate the two controls is so I can "set and forget" the IDS engine without it being affected by using the combined IDS/Inertial axis. As it stands, the two "linked" axes cause the IDS "set" reading on the left MFD to be adjusted along with the throttle as Inertial mode is active.
While I can see the usefulness in this, there are times when setting (for example) IDS=factorX max throttle or even 0 and having it remain independent of the inertial throttle link can greatly help in keeping certain situations under control. A couple of examples of this would be presetting the velocity for exiting single-plotted manual jumps and jumpgate exits and limiting the max IDS speed to use as a "safety" in atmospheric flight during cases where I might want to also use moments of inertial mode.
This way, If I have the IDS set to (physical) throttle handle full-back = 0 instead of throttle handle at 50% = 0, I don't cause the IDS to go to (in-game) 50% on accident when I center the inertial axis to (in-game) 0 and reactivate the IDS.
For the most part, keeping the IDS/Inertial axes separated makes this work, except for the afterburner not being reversible based on the Inertial mode axis position and requiring the reverse engine thrust button to be used in combo with the afterburner button. This is just not physically possible with the x52 throttle handle and other button bindings I feel are important to have set to the keys available on the controller.
To a certain extent, the keyboard 1-through-backspace keys can offer an override to the IDS throttle axis settings but, not if the linked throttle is moved in inertial mode afterwards. This has caused me to accelerate or decelerate in unexpected ways when that was exactly the thing that was going to get my ship destroyed.
Ah ok, that makes sense. Here is one way to achieve that with what you described above (the A/B key and split axis configuration). The game supports binding axis inputs as button functions, including simultaneously with an axis control. Since your description indicates you don't already have the reverse engine thrust control mapped to a button, map that control to the reverse thruster axis you are using. Then, whenever you apply reverse thrusters in inertial mode, reverse engine direction will also automatically be applied and you can just press the afterburner key or button to engage it in the reverse direction.
