Elite Dangerous : Controls Setup Frustrations

Littlenose

Littlenose

Littlenose

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I'm comign from a DCS background, with full HOTAS, 2x MFD Cougars, and 2 homebuilt button boxes.
However, the controls setup in Elite Dangerous combined with the inability to launch in 3D with a VR setup attached is really getting in the way of me getting into the game, I'm at the point of giving up and instead buying a new module in DCS to learn instead. (I sound like a bit of a brat there, but I'm not into fighting to enjoy entertainment)/
Does anyone have any helpful pointers to stop me just moving onto something else?

Disclosure - I got this on the Epic Games free games giveaway, so I've no skin in the game other than Elite being my number one game of all time (ZX Spectrum)
 
Littlenose said:
On the HOTAS thing... I'm finding that whenever I try to map a new control it defaults to "[+ JOY Y-AXIS]" before I have chance to select a new key map
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You're moving the stick in the y axis when pressing the new control, the easiest way to bypass these frustrations (and it is a massive frustration which many games other than elite have) is to assign everything to keyboard presses and then use your HOTAS software to profile the HOTAS to press the keys.
 
The control setup in Elite is something that lots of people complain about. There was a revision to the UI with Odyssey (although I'm not sure it was an improvement). Are you playing the base game (Horizons) or Odyssey?

I only got a HOTAS after playing for a while, so already had some idea what the functions did - something that hit me trying Star Citizen on a free weekend - trying to set up controls for a game where you've no clear idea of what the described operations are for is tricky.

So while I don't have tips for setting up HOTAS in Elite from cold, there are some hints I can share:

Firstly, Elite has a limit of 32 buttons per device (which I understand is because it uses an old DirectX control interface) - depending on what devices you have you may need to use software to create a virtual device to make full use of what you have.

Elite will only search for connected devices on startup and will only load control schemes where all the required devices are present. So always make sure everything is plugged in and ready before starting the game. Otherwise your custom bindings will "disappear". If you restart the game with everything plugged in, it will reappear fine though.

However. It will also happily overwrite a custom control scheme - if you start the game without all your devices connected and make changes it will create a new custom scheme overwriting the one you created. As a consequence, there is a sticky on the Frontier forums describing how to create a named control scheme to avoid accidentally doing that. Unfortunately it involves hand editing the XML files that hold the mappings. The thread is here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threa...-free-backed-up-binds-look-no-further.554451/. For some reason, a "Save As" dialog for the bindings is not something Frontier have seen fit to add to the UI.

There is a player-made tool to support the Cougar MFD devices, forum link is here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threa...splay-game-changing-new-companion-app.519274/.

Littlenose said:
On the HOTAS thing... I'm finding that whenever I try to map a new control it defaults to "[+ JOY Y-AXIS]" before I have chance to select a new key map
Click to expand...

I've not experienced that. Only thing I can think of is to perhaps try setting a larger dead zone for that axis, at least while setting up the bindings?

I don't play in VR, so can't help with that; sorry.
 
I'm not really sure what your issue is exactly, the way I worked with Elite was to use some of the throttle buttons as shifters, changing the stick buttons depending on which shift was pressed.
 
VersionMonkey said:
So while I don't have tips for setting up HOTAS in Elite from cold, there are some hints I can share:
Click to expand...
Thank you for the helpful pointers.
I've disconnected the button box that was causing the errant joystick y-axis, and I'm getting the hang of setting things up, and will soon be adding some Voice Attack commands to the mix for thigns like langing gear, scoops and other non-critical commands - VA doesn't always respond too well to the change in my voice pitch change when things get hairy :D
 
There isn't a setting if I recall correctly, you just hold down button combos while setting (releasing a button will enter the combo) and it accepts multiple inputs.

The shift/modifier function was like below, mine were a bit different but it's been years and you'll have your own pref:

thruster-master-t-flight-jpg.80705
 
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Zefan said:
There isn't a setting if I recall correctly, you just hold down button combos while setting (releasing a button will enter the combo) and it accepts multiple inputs.
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This is a nugget of gold... I'd have never worked that out.

It's nice to see the important commands laid out. I've got 60-70% of it covered, but not things like "Select Highest Threat", cheers !
 
Zefan said:
No problem my dude, I also was quite illuminated by this, worth googling for elite dangerous hotas layouts to see specifics which will presumably be suited to your hotas.
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This was how I ended setting mine up, found a good one that I like online and then printed out the layout so I could refer to it for first few plays until muscle memory kicked in.

Use an xbox pad for driving the SRV though
 
Having played Elite to the point of being Elite in exploration, trading and combat, my suggestion is to...buy another DCS module. After all, currently on sale.
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
Having played Elite to the point of being Elite in exploration, trading and combat, my suggestion is to...buy another DCS module. After all, currently on sale.
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yeah, I anticipate I'll be picking a few things up in the DCS sale.

I've gotten over most of my initial hurdles to get into the game mentally, and I think the nostalgia that I mentioned from playing Elite on the Spectrum ~40 years ago will keep me going for a bit. It's fun for now.
 
Littlenose said:
I've not found the shift/modifier setting yet, but I think I'm all good for the moment, not needing the extra buttons.
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I use a CH Products setup. In the CH software I set three throttle buttons as modifiers (Shift, ALT and CTRL). I then just go through the Elite settings and apply controls as required.
Things like selecting targets, selecting sub-targets or components, numbering targets etc, all get done through one Hat control and modifier keys. Engine/systems management tasks are all programmed to another Hat, and so it goes with other command groups.

Elite recognises the modifier+button combo, no problem, but so do many other games, so I get a good measure of general consistency in HOTAS controls no matter what I'm playing.

As for VR - I haven't played lately, but it used to work fine if you first start up SteamVR (or whatever you use) and then start the game. It loaded into VR direct with the menus in 3D and everything.
Obviously doesn't work if you're using Odyssey and running around M&KBing your combat, but that's not an especial loss.
 
Littlenose said:
That's a very clever method... I've also got the CH throttle, I will give it a try and see how I get on.
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It effectively quadruples the number of controls you have at your fingers, which should be enough for most of the commands you want in-game.
The trick is, of course, remembering what you assigned where, especially when you have a VR headset on... But at least there are apps for CH kit which produce key-maps for any given profile you create.
 
I've not played any recent ED updates but I really didn't get on with the game on release and gave up on it - everything seemed overly complicated for the sake of being overly complicated and it just got in the way of enjoying it sadly - and I was a big fan of the original.
 
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