Xbox One Wireless Controller

[cloister56]

Yes I know that many will say you need to use a joystick to play a flight game but I don't have one and I like my controller.
I wanted to post so anyone with a similar controller knows they can play this game with relative ease.
The left stick works immediately (if you tick joystick in the options) and controls forward/back and jinks the helicopter left and right.
The other buttons can be rebound in the options menu.
The right stick and triggers don't seem to be recognised but you can get round this with a program like Pinnacle Profiler by getting it to assign them keyboard values.
Even without them the game is very playable and very fun.

[cloister56]

So it seems at some point Steam added controller config support for various controllers (I had no idea they did)
This means you might not need external programs like joy2key, pinnacle or xpadder to get your controller to work.

To enable this:

First turn on your controller
Then go to "steam" in the top left of the steam desktop view.
Select "settings"
Go to "controller" and then "General Controller Settings"
You can then activate support for whichever controllers you own.

After this for whichever game you want to try it for either:
Right click on the game in your library and pick "edit steam controller configuration"
Or select the game and look for the option on the right of the window "Controller configuration"

Once you open this you should see your controller
You can configure it how you wish.

For Comanche 4 I've create a profile so feel free to give it a go.
Go to "browse configs" and then "community" and you should see it.

I've kept it simple all it does is map:

Right Trigger to Fire (ctr I think)
Left Trigger to Pop-Up (space)
The Right Thumbstick:
Up - Increase Altitude
Down - Decrease Altitude
Left and Right - Jink

The rest of the gamepad buttons are recognised as joystick button 1-10 plus the d-pad in the game and the left thumbstick works fine. So you can remap them using the ingame settings.
You could assign all the buttons commands via steam but you would need to clear the ingame mapping so this seems simpler.

Anyway just thought I would share this. If it's not clear, post here and I will try to help.

[cloister56]

Oh if you run into the problem of community profiles not applying there is a strange fix.
Go to "steam", "settings" and then "account"
Go to the beta participation and toggle it on and off for the steam beta, (unless you want to be in the steam beta)
You will need to restart steam but this seems to fix the profile problem.

[>_o]

You should play with Keyboard and Mouse anyway, this game is designed for that. It is designed to play like a FPS more than a flying game. The chopper turns as fast as you can whip the mouse around so it is just like an FPS.

[cloister56]

Originally posted by JD:

You should play with Keyboard and Mouse anyway, this game is designed for that. It is designed to play like a FPS more than a flying game. The chopper turns as fast as you can whip the mouse around so it is just like an FPS.

Each to their own, I prefer to play with a controller.

[>_o]

Noob

[cloister56]

Originally posted by JD:

Noob

Care to explain why?

[>_o]

Because of what I said, it is designed to play like an FPS. If you want to fly a chopper that feels like a real chopper you need to get DCS or even Arma3 or something.

[cloister56]

I don't agree it's designed to be played like an FPS. You select a target and your weapons aims for it, it would be far too strong auto aim for an FPS. There is no down weapon targetting to line up your shot.
It doesn't fly like a real helicopter and that's not what I want. It's easy to pick up and play and it's good fun.
You prefer to play keyboard and mouse and that's fine. There are some people who like myself may want to play with a controller. Either preference or because their home set up (relaxed on the couch).
I created this thread so if someone wanted to play that way they could see how it could be done.

You said I was a noob, which is a bit insulting. I don't see how setting up a game to play with my preferred input device and playing that game fufils that criteria. Surely if mouse makes the game easier it would be better for a "noob" to choose the easy way.

[>_o]

The mouse does it make it easier. But then you can play it fast like an FPS. Playing it with a joypad seems like you are trying to make it more of a chopper experience and it will never be that. It is too simple.

[cloister56]

I agree it's a simplified flight game. That's what I like about it. It can be set up to be played by mouse and keyboard or controller with relative ease.
Most flight games are designed for flight sticks with rudder and throttle control. I don't play them enough to buy a stick nor do I wish to spend the time with the more complex controls.
I wish more games were like this with a good range of controller methods.

[>_o]

Arma3 is worth trying too.

[cloister56]

I decided to check back to see if the controller support is still working.
I think you need to load the game once without the controller support on so the game will detect the controller.
Then you can go to the controller menu and enable Joystick.
You should then be able to re-enable controller support and use a profile to add the extra buttons.