Hello - Snap views?

K

kratz

Guest
I just discovered this great looking game today, and have one kind of make or break question that I'm sure has been answered before, but that I wasn't able to find an answer for by searching...

I recall getting CFS3 when it came out, and being enormously frustrated that it lacked a standard numpad / numpad + 'up' snap view system.

Is this view system available in OFF?

To clarify exactly what I mean:
numpad 7 = 45 deg left
numpad 7 + numpad 5 = 45 deg left, and 45 deg UP
numpad 4 = 90 deg left
numpad 4 + numpad 5 = 90 deg left, and 45 deg UP
numpad 1 = 135 deg left
numpad 1 + numpad 5 = 135 deg left, and 45 deg up
etc., around the rest of the numpad
 
I dont know about 45 degrees up but yes there are snaps around the numberpad hat return you too center foward when you take your finger off the key.

with scroll lock on or off (which ever) you can smoothly turn view all around, up and down ... it does not return to center however
 
Kratz

The short answer to your question is no. The standard key pad snap view system your used to is not available in OFF. It does have to left right forward back views but not the up views. Additionally the fields of view chosen for each of the views are pretty bad. Unfortunatly the OFF team can't change it as it part of the MCFS software they don't have access to.

Scott
 
Hi, KRATZ
I have found a good way to use the view commands.
By pressing "escape" in the game, you get the menue at the right. Choose "Controlls" and edit them as follows:
- Go to "view commands"
- "Toggle snap view/glide view" is on "V" (I think) - put it on Button 2 of your joystick (normally for cannons or dropping bombs - don't need that here)
- search for "center view" (or so), and put that on Button 3.

Now you can fly your mission with glide view, so you can look in every direction. If you want to get forward view, press Button 3.
When it comes to dogfighting, you can change to snap view immediately, to check your six, and switch back to glide view, if you want.
It didn't take long, and I could use it very well. It's the best solution next to TrackIR (for me at last), which is on my list. (See Gimpy's "TrackIR"-thread above.
Have fun! Olham
 
Oh, that's disappointing.

Interesting approach there, Olham... I wonder if I could get used to that. I'll have to give it some thought, as the game really looks cool.

Thanks for the replies!
 
Hello Kratz - all I would like to add is buy Trackir!!

Sure it seems pricey but you will not regret buying what IMO is one of the MUST HAVE additions for any FS nut!

HTH

WM
 
Winder said:
Hello Kratz - all I would like to add is buy Trackir!!

Sure it seems pricey but you will not regret buying what IMO is one of the MUST HAVE additions for any FS nut!

HTH

WM
Click to expand...

2nded. It will change your life forever. Like discovering there's such a thing as a joystick when you've flown with a keyboard all your life.
 
Hi Kratz,
If you can't afford Trackir, just Google "Freetrack" and try to "roll your own". Apparently, from what I hear, if you can use a soldering iron and are halfway intelligent, you should be able to put one together at a fraction of the cost. Best bet is a real Trackir though.

CJ
 
Okay... if one were to get TrackIR, is there a specific model I want to look for? And what's the 'right' price? Expensive things cut into my guitar budget though. :)

I can use a soldering iron... I build amplifiers. I'll take a look at the Freetrack stuff.
 
Cameljockey said:
Apparently, from what I hear, if you can use a soldering iron and are halfway intelligent,
Click to expand...

I'm all over that idea. One out of two t'ain't too bad. Soldering iron, shootin' iron, what's the difference.
 
ftgc said:
The short answer to your question is no. The standard key pad snap view system your used to is not available in OFF....unfortunatly the OFF team can't change it as it part of the MCFS software they don't have access to.
Click to expand...

:banghead: :censored: :icon32: :violent:

:a1451: There really aught to a law against making a flightsim without the standard KP system, including up/down combos. Every friggin' joystick with a hat switch and pinky button is made to use it, it's the most intuitive, and many people expect it. Next to a good flight model, using this view system in the most important thing a flightsim can do.

Aces High does this best of anybody. Instead of your view just teleporting to an angle, you have the option to swing your head that way. Plus, for each view angle, you can set the position of your POV inside the cockpit like if you were leaning over to look past a canopy strut or something, instead of always being stuck dead center in the cockpit. /:a1451:

Anyway, sorry for the rant, but this is a very sore subject with me. I loved RB3D, but the view system was just PAINFUL. I can't fly with padlocks at all, but I had to in that game, switching back to the fixed ahead view when I wanted to shoot something. I was hoping OFF had a real view system.

Oh well, I'll guess I'll have to use Ohlam's system. At least that sounds better than RB3D's. I've done similar things in other sims.
 
Hi, Bullethead
Have a look into "view commands" - cause you can have keys for:
1. lifting out of the seat a little (can be pressed repeatedly, to come up higher)
2. duck behind the targeting cross (as above)
3. move left or right in the cockpit, so in "glide view", you could even look out downwards. (Can also be repeated to move further).

I don't know, how they are named, but you'll find them. I have put them on the buttons at the bottom of my joystick (it has 12 altogether), and so it all works second best to having TrackIR. Certainly good enough for P2 - for P3, I think we should get that device?
Have fun.
Olham
 
Cameljockey said:
Trackir 4. I run a Trackir 3 and it works just fine. I'm not really sure what the difference is though.

CJ
Click to expand...


Be careful here, especially if you think of, or get offered, a used trackir.

CFS3 and therefore OFF will only work with "trackir 3 with vector expansion"
or trackir 4.

The earlier trackir 1 or trackir 2 will NOT work with OFF.

If getting trackir, go safe and get the latest- trackir 4.
 
Bullethead said:
Aces High does this best of anybody. Instead of your view just teleporting to an angle, you have the option to swing your head that way. Plus, for each view angle, you can set the position of your POV inside the cockpit like if you were leaning over to look past a canopy strut or something, instead of always being stuck dead center in the cockpit.
Click to expand...

1. Oh yeah, the Aces High version was the best!

Olham, what was really cool about the Aces High one is that you could hold, for instance, 'back' on the hat, and then while holding it down, use the arrow keys to move your head to the side of the cockpit (imagine turning your actual head and leaning it over until it hit the glass, as an actual pilot would probably do to get the best rearward view possible)... then, when it was where you wanted it, you would hit a key that would SAVE that position... now every time you hit 'back' on the hat, your 'head' would return to that saved position. It was (and is, I suppose) absolutely brilliant.

2. I totally agree with your rant. I seem to recall B17 Flying Fortress also lacking the 'up' modifier. Boggles the mind. When I got CFS3, I couldn't believe that it had been removed.


Thanks for the TrackIR info, guys. I'll see if I end up with any extra cash.
 
The answer to your rant is TrackIR as WM and others say. Overwhelmingly people who have got one see the light and it really is like switching to a joystick after being convinced keyboard was the way to go for years we aren't making that up.. TIR and WW1 nothing beats it!
 
Polovski said:
The answer to your rant is TrackIR as WM and others say. Overwhelmingly people who have got one see the light and it really is like switching to a joystick after being convinced keyboard was the way to go for years we aren't making that up.. TIR and WW1 nothing beats it!
Click to expand...

Well, first I ain't got $130 to spend on TIR. Second, I'm the ultimate luddite, so kluging a FreeTrack seems a bit daunting. I mean, the only things I can make for myself are flint projectile points. Even bows are too new-fangled for me--I'll stick with atlatls, thanks all the same :icon_lol:.

And finally, the last few dozen of my previous incarnations ended with me being hanged. Thus, my neck this time around has a permanent kink in it, either out of habit or to make the inevitable noose fit better, but either way I can't turn my head so well :blind:.

I know this ain't an OBD problem, it's another reason to hate MS. But I still get steamed by it. Sorry for ranting.
 
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