'Jerky' jet controls

[Ubiquitous]

Does anyone else have the problem, when flying a jet with the mouse, that if you set the sensitivity high enough to be able to control the thing properly the nose of the plane bobs up and down continuously and uncrontrolably whilst ever you are flying; making the task practically impossible?

I would like to give aviation a go, but it is rendered practically impossible by this weird quirk.

Please, no "You should be using a joystick" posts—I'll save that for the real flightsims

 

[elDiablo]

Well, you're human. And, as humans, we can't ever hold our hands completely still. So, setting the senesitivity of the mouse too high means you will get all the little movements from your hand - the shakes!

But as you said, if you want to control it properly with the mouse, you need it that high. Well, your best bet is either to lower the sensitivity to a point where it doesn't shake, and just launch your mouse across the room when you need to turn, or get a joystick And (IMHO) this is by far one of the best flight sim's I've ever played, as you get decent targets moving around!

Still, yay for another person joining the flight squad!

 

[Macca]

When Im flying I use the Arrow Keys, (I've got a joystick but I much prefer the arrow keys .) Anyway If I would suggest having a go with the arrow keys and seeing how you like that. You can always switch between arrow keys and mouse for example use the arrow keys to do all the manovering and then set up a target and machine gun it down with the mouse .

 

[Ubiquitous]

Hmmm, might have to give some alternative control set-up a try. I don't think that it's shakey-hand syndrome because the nose pitches up and down through a massive angle — I'd say 50 degrees or more — and it doesn't get less severe as I lower the sensitivity; there seems to be some kind of threshold below which it doesnt happen at all.

It's weird because it doesnt happen in any other vehicles/on foot or in any other game - just the jets in BF2.

 

[pHatBambi]

I think you have wonkey-jet syndrome.

 

[Ubiquitous]

I think I have "God I hope patch 1.4 finally fixes BF2 once and for all" syndrome. From what I gather, it's quite a common affliction.

 

[Ubiquitous]

Okay, so I capitulated and went for the joystick approack. Well, almost — I'm using my Microsoft Sidewinder Freestyle Pro which I use for all my flightsims. It's definitely a vast improvement, but I don't know how to get it so that the throttle knob on the thing works so I'm still having to use a button for accelerate.

 

[elDiablo]

Hmmm, shouldn't be a problem. As long as the throttle stick is working, select the accelerate section in the flight controls, and push forward on the throttle. BF2 should recognise the change in the throttle axis, and set that as the axis to accelerate and deccelerate on.

If not, make sure you have the drivers for the stick installed correctly, and then make sure the stick is calibrated (Control Panel -> Joysticks -> Freestyle Pro properties -> calibrate). Common problems seem to be windows thinking joysticks are default 16-button ones, meaning lots of the "advanced" bits aren't available.

Hope that helps =/

And yes, joystick ftw! \o/ If you want some flying battles, we can find an empty server anytime!

 

[Ubiquitous]

Yes, I managed to get the throttle control working. It was because my throttle is weird and I had to turn it for ages to get it to register. For the same reason it isn't very good in game. It doesn't have a 'top' and 'bottom' per se: you can just turn it indefinitely in each direction like a mouse scroll wheel. That makes it really difficult to tell how much throttle you are putting on or taking off so I have resolved to stick with my button for now.

Not sure I'm up for a dogfight yet though: still busy being taken to pieces by the bots

 

[elDiablo]

Fair enough. One thing I found so helpful was pHatBambi sitting in a tank, driving around an empty level, and letting me bomb him, as I was quite s***e at bombing (shush Piacular and alpha squad!). Having someone sitting in a tank, telling me how far off of a target, and how much damage I was doing was a major help in getting bombing runs (especially in the 2-bomb fighters) to near pinpoint accuracy.

Other suggestion, if you can cope, is to assign a button on your joystick (or keyboard if you use it one-handed) to be cockpit view (so you can easily toggle the cockpit), and one to be the front-to-behind view of the plane. Being able to see behind you when someone has a track on, so you can release your countermeasures when they fire, and not before, is also such a big help. The cockpit view button means you can switch back quickly enough so you don't crash

Finally, learn to barrel-roll. If you run out of countermeasures, and you barrel-roll, sometimes you get lucky

 

[waterproofbob]

i can't get the whole flyign thing at all i can fly helis fairly well now but in the gunship helis i can't hit a thing as a gunner, and in jets i can't get any wahere near the targets, i'm all about the ground stuff tho.

 

[elDiablo]

Well, thats quite good actually. A clan doesn't need 16 jet pilots who can't hit the broad side of a barn with an AT rocket In fact, 2 pilots is the most any maps will ever need, but you need more then 2 pilots in case someone can't show up.

If flying or gunning isn't your thing, find what is, and prove you are good at it to get in the clan. Bambi chooses people depending who/want he needs for a map. If you can snipe a tank from one side of the map to the other with the AT rocket (damn your accuracy thatbloke), then do it!

 

[PsiSoldier]

Have you also considered the fact it could be your mouse? If you have an optical mouse, small pieces of dirt can cause effects like this. Maybe you have a dodgey mouse, mouse driver or mouse mat?