Question about flight controls in general

[Kasa]

Figured this is as good as a place as any, why are controls in flight sim games like this they way they are?

Would it not be easier to flying with KB&M if the flight controls were WASD and the scroll wheel was rise and lower on the z-axis?

I kind of like games like this but not used to the controls in general and was curious as to what was they story to them being mapped like they are.

I'm not expecting a 100% perfect answer just general curiosity.

[Lou the Lou]

Wait... what? Which controls do you want on WASD? I'm guessing... throttle and side-strafing? And you want the scroll wheel to control vertical strafing?

That's... unusually unintuitive. Having throttle on the mouse wheel is unusual enough. Having an actual directional control bound to the mouse wheel is crazy, especially considering the occasional need to constantly use lateral thrusters for extended periods of time. A mouse wheel is insufficient for the task.

No, lateral thrusters need a continuous control like a key or hat switch. Same goes for pitch and yaw; you either need a joystick or a Follow Mouse control scheme to achieve full maneuverability. The mouse wheel is set to control the throttle because it's the only function that's appropriate for that control. Just like one wouldn't move "Walk Forward" from W to the mouse wheel, so one would not assign strafing to the mouse wheel, either.

-- But, that this seems unusual to you could probably be chalked up to the fact that you don't own the game and thus have not actually experienced its controls.

[Wraith]

I don't know about that.

I think the controls for the game is right where they should be.

ASWD for thrusters.
Mouse wheel for throttle.
Mouse for direction.
Q/E for roll.

Who want to move up and down using the mouse wheel?

[Kasa]

Originally posted by Lou the Lou:

Wait... what? Which controls do you want on WASD? I'm guessing... throttle and side-strafing? And you want the scroll wheel to control vertical strafing?

That's... unusually unintuitive. Having throttle on the mouse wheel is unusual enough. Having an actual directional control bound to the mouse wheel is crazy, especially considering the occasional need to constantly use lateral thrusters for extended periods of time. A mouse wheel is insufficient for the task.

No, lateral thrusters need a continuous control like a key or hat switch. Same goes for pitch and yaw; you either need a joystick or a Follow Mouse control scheme to achieve full maneuverability. The mouse wheel is set to control the throttle because it's the only function that's appropriate for that control. Just like one wouldn't move "Walk Forward" from W to the mouse wheel, so one would not assign strafing to the mouse wheel, either.

-- But, that this seems unusual to you could probably be chalked up to the fact that you don't own the game and thus have not actually experienced its controls.

You actually missed my point, I was asking why the controls were as such.
I've played this game before and know of the controls.

But I wasn't asking why the controls were NOT WASD I was asking why they are the way they are, as in have they always been like this or is this a new thing?

As for me personally? I have ACC and DECC set to W and S with strafe set to A and D with SHIFT + N for steering and it works just fine, if I need to strafe up or down I use Z and X which while not ideal work well enough though I'll probably use auto hotkey to fix that though and script scroll up and down to X and Z.

@Lou the Lou
And for the record I have the game on gog my dude, there are more platforms then JUST steam.

[Wraith]

Then it a control scheme you like but not others.

Sound like you are used to games where WASD is the primary movement key.
But in this type of game that movement style just doesn't fit well.

For me that feels backward as heck because there so much more way to move.

Personally the only thing I did to the control scheme was add clicking mouse wheel as full stop and my side mouse button as my firing key.

Now I have full control over the thrusters in one hand while having full directional and speed in another.

[Kasa]

Originally posted by Wraith:

Then it a control scheme you like but not others.

Sound like you are used to games where WASD is the primary movement key.
But in this type of game that movement style just doesn't fit well.

For me that feels backward as heck because there so much more way to move.

Personally the only thing I did to the control scheme was add clicking mouse wheel as full stop and my side mouse button as my firing key.

Now I have full control over the thrusters in one hand while having full directional and speed in another.

Exactly and I understand that most flight sim games don't do this.
Hence my ACTUAL question which was: "Has it always been this way?"

I don't actually care that this game has the control scheme the way it does I'm more curious in general if most flight games control like this in the same sense that most action adventure games now a days use WASD.

[Wraith]

No it hasn't always been this way.

It mainly depend on the flight game and their devs in my own experience because of all the button they need each one does it their own way.

Some does it pretty much the way you like though for example like in elite dangerous where throttle is W and S
R and F are for the thrusters up and down.

and Star Citizen (whenever that releases)

To use two directional thrusters at the same time though in those type of game tend to hurt my hand because it has to form a weird position to use two button at the same time not so much in X4

[Kasa]

That's interesting!

Alright so there are no strictly conventional control schemes for games like these.
I guess because they tend to be a little more niche then other genres.

Thank you for answering my question as weird as it was.

[Count_D_Farat]

Originally posted by Lou the Lou:

The mouse wheel is set to control the throttle because it's the only function that's appropriate for that control.

I also set my mouse wheel for selecting next/previous enemy, but that got changed in the patches/updates. And for some reason I can't set them back. It's very annoying.

[Kajar]

If you look back in time, i think you can find three main reasons for why the controls are the way they are now.
Cost. Accessibility. Market Trends

Cost.
Old spacesims required you to have a joystick or gamepad. It was near impossible to play such a game without one. In some cases it actually was impossible. So you needed not only to spend a pile of money for the game, but also a pile of money for a joystick, making the entry cost into the genre higher than average.

The solution was to simplify the controls so you could play it with just mouse+keyboard or just the gamepad in case of a console. WASD controls reduced the cost of entry.

Accessibility.
Space and Flight Sims back then were hugely complex. Energy management, sensor modes, shield focus, weapon changing, rudder trim, sight modes etc. You needed A LOT of buttons to play such games. Back then you actually had paper cut outs that you could put on your keyboard, reminding you which button did what.

The solution was once again to simplify the controls and remove unneeded complexity. Cutting down the needed controls and buttons makes it easier to manage and makes it more appealing to a wider audience who don't want to memorise a 200 page handbook.
WASD controls made it easier to just pick up and play space and flight sims.

Market Trends.
In the 90s the First Person Shooter was gaining massively in popularity and soon enough took over the top spot as the most played genre. Space and flight sims were missing out on A LOT of customers because of their complexity. You couldn't just sit down and go for a quick pewpew.

The solution once more was to adopt the WASD controls of the shooters and partially, or fully, turn space/flight sims into space/flight shooters. So you could market your game as a space shooter and grab a piece of the FPS market. The players then could pick up the game and already had a familiar control scheme they could use.


In the end the FPS genre had the most influence in standardising the WASD controls, as well as the controler controls, into what they are today. Pretty much any game where you move something with direct controls uses the same basic layout today.

[Kasa]

@Kajar

Wow, I had no idea!
Heh I really like learning about stuff like this from time to time but trying to google "history of flight game controls" in google turns out... mixed results.

[Wraith]

Anyone remember when the arrow keys were the movement for map in old strategy games

Those were some darks days