****The Ultimate Descent: Freespace 1 & 2 Noobie Guide Thread****

Really enjoying this so far :) I'm playing using the keyboard and mouse though.

I cant help but feel it would be better with the 360 pad. Anyone using one? Would like some reviews if possible

Not a fan of joysticks at all I'm afraid ;)
 
360 pad is alright actually, surprisingly playable for this game, but not as good as a dedicated flight stick imo.

Taken from a joystick thread I posted in yesterday:

Richdog said:
Well guys I went out today and picked up a Saitek X52 from the local store...

First impressions were mixed, but after using it for a couple of hours it's got better. The joystick is well built and has a TON of fully programmable buttons, combined with 3 modes essentially tripling the potential number of programmable commands.

BLue LED's look gash but can be dimmer to nothingness or turned off. Throttle feels alright and can be tuned for slide resistance. Some of the "slider wheels" (extra axis) are placed in rather awkward positions and aren't that easy to manipulate... but i think this can be solved by tweaking the deadzones and i'm going to try that in a bit.

Anyway the important bit... how does it feel in games? Well as we all know Freespace 2 is the perfect test for any joystick... it's a fast-twitch space combat sim where accuracy is key. Does the X52 deliver? Well... yes and no really. Responsiveness is MUCH better than my Saitek Cyborg Evo, but my only real quibble is that in true Saitek fashion, the center of the stick is nowhere near as responsive as you want it to be, which makes minor adjustments a real pain, and targeting those nimble fighters in heavy dogfights can be a bit of a pain. However I am getting much better with it, so some hours training definately help, so I will see how it goes and if I don't like it will return it next week.

All in all though having all the extra buttons is a god-send, and really useful for pumping out orders and minimising interaction with the keyboard. I will expiriment with the mode switches at some point to see if I can use one mode for fighting and then one for comms and one for something else.

So far i'm giving it a 7.5/10 and will re-assess in a couple/few days. :)

EDIT - WOOOOO was browsing th Saitek foruma nd noticed someones made a X52 profile for Freespace 2... it has a SHIPLOAD of commandes mapped for every mode. Awesomeness, will try it ASAP. :D
Click to expand...

Can't get the Freespace profile working st the moment though... need to play around a bit more. :)
 
Completed FSPort today, now onto Silent Threat Reborn. Starting to get a little.... not bored, but perhaps numb to the game now. Might take a bit of a break from it.

My gut feeling is that the FS2 campaign is better than TGW, I prefered the sense of scale in terms of allied cruisers rescuing you with beam cannons blazing, and possibly a slightly stronger storyline. Could be rose-tinted glasses of course as it's 3 years since I played FS2!
 
FS2 campaign is undoubtedly WAY ahead of the first two (as good as they were, I still really like them). Silent Threat Reborn is apparently a big upgrade to the original though, it's been tweaked to hell and back. :)
 
Richdog said:
Flags? You mean the screenie as shown in the guide?
Click to expand...

Ye, been following the guide to the dot, now I have this error

3375931776_0276450467.jpg


Would one re-install?
 
Well yet again my wheezy IGP in my laptop amazes me some more... Runs FS2 in DX8, high settings, 1280x800 on an Intel x3100 nicely. (Dell Inspiron 1520, C2D 2.0ghz, 4gb)

Right, off to badders, set the Mrs up with some trashy soaps and that's my evening sorted. Cheers again Rich! :D
 
^Bear in mind that OpenGL is the 'officially' recommended renderer of choice now for FS2Open, and should be used ahead of D3D8 (assuming Intel have acceptable drivers for it).

FS2Open seems fairly cpu limited to me (as one would expect), I'll be clocking a steady 120fps but if you're viewing a lot of craft in combat it drops down to 75 or so with one cpu core maxed out.
 
Okies got the "thrustmaster T-flight joystick" yesterday and gave it a quick blat late last night.
First impressions are it appears well made and has a bundle of switches and buttons which is useful for the various functions but I just left it at default as it were and had a go with it.
The first thing I found was that this joystick is harder to use in combat than a mouse. This is down to a form input lag (which I seem to recall was the case with me old wingman jobbie too). You make a move with the stick and theres a slight time delay before the movement appears on the screen. This basically causes "overcompensation" where then find you're making large movements of the stick and you end up going too far, so you find you've got got to use a large input movement to correct. This translates to some wild movements of the craft you're piloting. Adjusting the deadzone and sensitivity appears to make no difference at all either, increasing the sensitivity just means all this happens a lot quicker, and increasing the deazone just means you have to push the joystick over a bit further to get all this to happen. One thing that is useful is the "rudder" function by twisting the stick, it enables you to get a nice turning effect going when in close combat
The upshot of this means to me that I'm gonna have to play through the game again to get used this joystick and learn how to use it properly as I think this prob applies to all sticks, and I can't try it out on any other flightsims 'cos I ain't bough any yet:p
 
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HangTime said:
^Bear in mind that OpenGL is the 'officially' recommended renderer of choice now for FS2Open, and should be used ahead of D3D8 (assuming Intel have acceptable drivers for it).

FS2Open seems fairly cpu limited to me (as one would expect), I'll be clocking a steady 120fps but if you're viewing a lot of craft in combat it drops down to 75 or so with one cpu core maxed out.
Click to expand...

I tried OpenGL last night, that too works very well. Seriously impressed with this little IGP, but like you say it does appear that FS2Open is more CPU limited than anything. Ah well, either way I'm dead chuffed that I can run yet another game on my laptop well. :) Just need a spare evening to give it a good going over, something which I just don't seem to have at the moment... boo.
 
Burlsey said:
Gog won't let me create an account.

Bummer, I was looking forward to this after reading the thread at work.
Click to expand...

Gog won't let me create an account too. I'm using Windows 7 build 7000 and IE8.... every time I fill in the new account details and click the create account button (or whatever its called), the website sits there for a while and then returns me to the homepage without a single error message. The account hasn't been created as when I try and login, the account details are not recognised.

GRRRR! I need my FS2 fix! Thanks for the guide; it's very easy to follow :)
 
I might just do that :p

I've only had web access through Windows 7 over the last few days... I'll jump on my Dad's PC tonight and give it another go :cool:
 
ok this is stupid, trying to pass the damned tutorial, where it says go full speed by pressing "\", I do that and nothing! Just does nothing! What the heck? anyone else same?
 
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