Flying Vehicle Controls....
by Mike "wowo" Miller · in Torque Game Engine · 01/10/2003 (10:31 am) · 8 replies
Hey,
Ok, here's the deal. I don't like the way the controls are currently set up for the flying vehicles in torque. They aren't very "flight sim" like since the mouse x axis controls yaw when it should really control roll.
So, is there a way to get the mousex/joystickx axes to control roll rather than yaw? Does this require modifying the engine code or can it be done with script?
How hard would it be to implement a *very very* basic (arcade style) flight model? Could I just use the existing flying vehicle code? I only know basic 3D math, so i'm guessing i'd have some trouble doing this if i had to create a new vehicle type in the engine code....
Hopefully someone has some answers :)
Thanks!
Mike
Ok, here's the deal. I don't like the way the controls are currently set up for the flying vehicles in torque. They aren't very "flight sim" like since the mouse x axis controls yaw when it should really control roll.
So, is there a way to get the mousex/joystickx axes to control roll rather than yaw? Does this require modifying the engine code or can it be done with script?
How hard would it be to implement a *very very* basic (arcade style) flight model? Could I just use the existing flying vehicle code? I only know basic 3D math, so i'm guessing i'd have some trouble doing this if i had to create a new vehicle type in the engine code....
Hopefully someone has some answers :)
Thanks!
Mike
#2
Thanks for the info. I spent the day today playing around with the flying vehicle code, and managed to get them handling somewhat to my liking by changing a bit of c++ code.
Although I still need to figure out a way to get a throttle working.... aaahhh!! so much to learn! hehe
Mike
01/11/2003 (9:37 pm)
Hi,Thanks for the info. I spent the day today playing around with the flying vehicle code, and managed to get them handling somewhat to my liking by changing a bit of c++ code.
Although I still need to figure out a way to get a throttle working.... aaahhh!! so much to learn! hehe
Mike
#3
01/12/2003 (9:52 am)
I dont think roll helps you turn though. At least if it's like Tribes2. Tribes2 made you roll over when you turned a lot, it was like a side effect of turning.
#4
01/12/2003 (10:02 am)
I don't like the control behaviour either. BTW, would you consider to share your changes? 
#5
Ask him nicely, he'll probablt help, 'cause he's a gentleman :)
Have fun
01/12/2003 (10:37 am)
Maybe you should contact Frank Bignone about how he went about it for Dog of Prey...Ask him nicely, he'll probablt help, 'cause he's a gentleman :)
Have fun
#6
Josef, I haven't changed the controls according to my original plan of having the x axis of the mouse control roll. I decided to settle for a more "arcadey" control scheme a la Tribes 2.
The only things I've really changed is adding a few new variables to the FlyingVehicle datablock that allow you to define the "sensitivity" of the yaw and pitch axes. This allows me to make the vehicles MUCH more nimble than I could before. They still don't handle completely as I'd like them to, but it's satisfactory. And I suppose it's also the best method of control when a joystick is not available.
If you're still interested, I can post the source code changes needed.
[edit] I've since changed the entire physics of the FlyingVehicle class to handle a lot like that old "moon lander" game. It's actually quite cool :) [/edit]
Mike
01/12/2003 (10:46 am)
Hi,Josef, I haven't changed the controls according to my original plan of having the x axis of the mouse control roll. I decided to settle for a more "arcadey" control scheme a la Tribes 2.
The only things I've really changed is adding a few new variables to the FlyingVehicle datablock that allow you to define the "sensitivity" of the yaw and pitch axes. This allows me to make the vehicles MUCH more nimble than I could before. They still don't handle completely as I'd like them to, but it's satisfactory. And I suppose it's also the best method of control when a joystick is not available.
If you're still interested, I can post the source code changes needed.
[edit] I've since changed the entire physics of the FlyingVehicle class to handle a lot like that old "moon lander" game. It's actually quite cool :) [/edit]
Mike
#7
www.oreilly.com/catalog/physicsgame/
There's also some downloadable examples under the examples link on that page. Should prove to be a fun challenge when we get to this portion of our game. :)
01/15/2003 (1:42 pm)
Yeah, you'll probably have to add quite a bit to achieve the right physics. The current 'flying hover vehicle' physics will be hard to tweak to a good flight model. There's quite a few good resources out there though. www.oreilly.com/catalog/physicsgame/
There's also some downloadable examples under the examples link on that page. Should prove to be a fun challenge when we get to this portion of our game. :)
#8
05/18/2003 (7:55 pm)
i was wondering if anyone knew how to map up and down controls to the player. i changed everything in the scripts (moveMap.bind...) stuff. but only the camera takes these into effect when you press f8 to detach from player. if anyone knows how to map them to player this would be helpful. thanks 
Torque Owner Matthew Jones
Hope that's worth reading
Matt