An Absolutely Brilliant Idea :)

[Tekspdy]

Let's say some unfortunate fellow like myself doesn't have a joystick or a wheel. I use the mouse. Now how would someone like me with the mouse, stay at a constant 50mph? Well, I'd tap the mouse over and over and over.

What could be done to give more precise control?

The mousewheel.

Make it so the mousewheel acts as a pedal. Moving the mousewheel up a certain amount increases acceleration. Move it to the max (maybe a whole flick) and it simulates full throttle.

Same could be done for braking, could be incorporated so that the mousewheel fully controls accel/braking.

Look at this picture here:
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb58/Tekspdy/wheelidea.jpg

I have a scroll wheel on my keyboard too, wouldn't have to flick on my mouse, so I could have perfect control of the car while accelerating in the left hand and steering with the right.

What do you think?

[AstroBoy]

It may be a good idea but i dont think its practicle im very nuteral with this one, i mean sure if the mouse wheel could be used to lock the speed that u wanted that may be good. Right?

[Tekspdy]

Not practical? How practical is it to be limited to "stop and go"?

This would be an option, I'm not asking to change the way it is, just an addition for those who like the idea.

[Electrik Kar]

I'm dying for some analogue throttle control, and even though not a perfect solution, I think this is a great idea. Maybe pressing the mouse wheel button would reset throttle/brake to neutral?

A small problem is that I usually use my index finger to scroll the mouse wheel, but I've set my gears to the left and right mouse buttons- my index finger goes over the left mouse button, and my middle finger's on the right mouse button. I'd have to adjust to scroll the wheel too. It could be a little awkward but I'd probably settle in.

edit: problem solved. Just re-assign the gears to the keyboard for your left hand. doh!

Another crazy idea I just thought of, is being able to assign midi wheels to throttle and brake! That would be much smoother input than the mouse wheel, but not many people would have this choice, so it's most probably a ridiculous idea.

Anyhoo- again, great idea! +1

[danowat]

I thought you could currently use the mouse to push up and down to give analog accel and brake?, is this not the cases?

[Electrik Kar]

I heard you could do that, but I couldn't get it to work ages ago when I tried, and I haven't tried since. Probably a good place to start... :D

[J@tko]

its a good idea - but it would take longer to go from full throttle to full brake than it would on kb/wheel/pad whatever.

But if u can live with that its a good idea and surely not that hard to put in the game?

[kiss me]

u mean like cruise control with the scroll wheel? i tried it , but since it isnt a feature (yet) it didnt work, yeah
+1

[AndroidXP]

Good idea, but I don't think Scawen will invest time in something like this. I mean, you're supposed to use a FFB wheel; keyboard and mouse support are just niceties that exist for the purpose of letting new potential customers try the game without a wheel until they buy one.

[Shotglass]

I thought you could currently use the mouse to push up and down to give analog accel and brake?, is this not the cases?

you can but it only works with a combined axis which is extremely odd to drive with (trottle on the mouse movement and brakes on a button would be much better imho)

I heard you could do that, but I couldn't get it to work ages ago when I tried, and I haven't tried since. Probably a good place to start... :D

you have to select wheel/js instead of keyboard mouse to make it work (doesnt make any sense but meh)

[xt]

mouse is used in racer game (www.racer.nl), and there is mouse moving up to accelerate, moving down to break (kinda confusing). Game is abandoned in very unfinished alpha stage.

[Electrik Kar]

I don't think using the mouse to accel/brake is actually really a good idea, if you're using it for steering as well, now that I think of it... dunno. Will test later.

[dev]

Waste of time, IMHO....

-1

[Electrik Kar]

It wouldn't actually take much time...

[Bob Smith]

You forget, the mouse wheel is not an analgue control but a digital button like the keyboard. You would have to replicate the analogue nature by specify how many button presses to reach 100% and how many to reduce it to 0% again. It sounds easy enough to program (outised of LFS at least), and could be used on any button too, I just think the proportion of users that would benefit from it would be so small that it hasn't a chance of happening.

[Electrik Kar]

Yeah, I just used the term analogue loosely to differentiate between an on/off throttle state. even 3 or 4 'clicks' of the wheel to full throttle, and same for brake- would probably be better than nothing. Button control rate option helps but I find I have to constantly adjust it depending on which car I'm using, and it's very inflexible when you're out on the track.

Poor mousies.... :(

[Tekspdy]

I'm curious, are the people that are voting "no" to this, using a joystick/wheel?

How could an option like this hurt anything? It would give better precision to drifting, and taking normal race turns with ease for the mouse people.

Scroll wheels are also made in keyboards, you could use those.

[Jimmy_Lemon]

im 95% of the time a mouse racer, and id say no sorry.

i use mouse for steer and keyboard for the throttle/brake/gears etc,

And yet i win over 90% of my races in mixed car classes which for mouse isnt bad at all in all fairness

[NSX_FReeDoM]

what if i want to do some left foot braking (applying throttle and brake at the same time?)

[Takumi_Project.d]

it is an interesting idea.. but sounds troublesome to use.

so if you're at 0% throttle, and you'd want say, 4 clicks forward on the wheel to get up to 100% throttle, how would you go about braking? scroll down 4 clicks to get back to 0% throttle, then a further 4 clicks to get to 100% braking?

it sounds awefully slow and tedious to me. as a mouse racer i use my left hand on the A/Z keys for accel and brake. sure they're still digital keys, but its much easier than your right hand doing everything.

using the mouse Y axis for accel and brake is also extremely weird.. i am sure you could get used to it.. but it just feels very clumsy to me.

[Tekspdy]

Thats why it would be good if there were many ways to configure and use it.

EDIT: A mousewheel that "clicks" as you roll it wouldn't be so great IMO. I forgot older mousewheels do that. Mine is perfectly smooth.

[Bob Smith]

EDIT: A mousewheel that "clicks" as you roll it wouldn't be so great IMO. I forgot older mousewheels do that. Mine is perfectly smooth.
I'd have thought it better on clicky wheels tbh as you'll know when you've made a difference to the input.

[AndroidXP]

The input from the mousewheel is always digital (clicky) and not analogue anyway. Whether it physically clicks or not is IMO pretty much irrelevant for the OP's idea, though for browsing I have to say that I vastly prefer the well defined clicky wheels to the mushy ones.

[Tekspdy]

The input from the mousewheel is always digital (clicky) and not analogue anyway.

Flight Simulator X has a system that uses the mousewheel for throttle in the exact manner in which I'm stating. With good coding and tweaking I'm sure it's possible.

However, the entire point of my topic, is the fact that you can get REAL control over your car. Not just clicks, like 10, 20, 30, 40% .etc with a click wheel. However, would be better than nothing.

[Takumi_Project.d]

whether the wheel clicks or not its still digital..

[Goop]

I thought you 'got wheel' Tak....?? :scratchch

Seems like a decent idea, though I haven't moused since demo :p

[Tekspdy]

whether the wheel clicks or not its still digital..


Yes, but it can still act like an anologue if done right.

[Zero7]

+1 here, I think it's a great idea.

I regularly use a mouse and any further options made available to control your car would be welcome.

[Mille Sabords]

I'd rather see x axis for steering, y axis for throttle and brake assigned to a button - having tried the combined y axis for throttle / brake I can not consistantly brake in a straight line (or in the adequate direction). This would also solve the left fott braking issue.
But it does not seem possible to implement. Carry on tapping!

[Takumi_Project.d]

I thought you 'got wheel' Tak....?? :scratchch

Seems like a decent idea, though I haven't moused since demo :p

i did but the wheel itself started spiking :really: back to the mouse!!! lol :D i still use the pedals though

[wsinda]

I don't think using the mouse to accel/brake is actually really a good idea, if you're using it for steering as well, now that I think of it... dunno. Will test later.I tried it, but it was no improvement over normal mouse control. The point is that when you brake at the end of a straight, you must move the mouse downward quickly (from 100% throttle to 100% brake). When doing so, you must not move the mouse sideways, otherwise the car becomes unstable and spins. That's very hard to do. I found it easier to have throttle and brake under a button.

[Fuel Filter]

Good idea.
Customizing the clicks to throttle percentage - 1 click to 50% / 2 for 100% would be ideal. You'd want to be able to keep your finger on the roller the whole time for the fastest response. Say you had it configured for 5 clicks to 100% - you'd have to lift your finger, bring it back and keep rolling. It doesn't seem that influential, but when races depend on milliseconds, it may throw your whole game off.

+1

Agree fully with wsinda though.

[col]

Why not use a third party app - or write one ?

There are numerous controller converter apps available - most are of the gamepad 2 mouse variety, but there are some aimed at flight sim folks that let you use a mouse as a 'yoke'... and others that provide loads of options (the super powerful ones are usually crippled shareware though).

Please do some searching and try out some of these options before asking for niche functionality in LFS :D

[BlueFlame]

I thought you could currently use the mouse to push up and down to give analog accel and brake?, is this not the cases?
You could with RACER, but it was a nightmare trying to late brake and get into corners with you SPAMMING the mousemat.

I think its a great idea. Although, maybe the devs could set the throttle controls for 'kb/mouse' and give and option for the 'step-by-step' throttle and brake. You could just tap it, and you can see the pedals in the bottom right side, if you have that enabled.

[Mithras]

BRILLIANT.

I've been a mouser since the first day I ever started LFSing, and I've been dying for some kind of way to precisely control the throttle position..

[e2mustang]

how about this? http://images.google.hu/imgres?imgurl=http://www.itwales.com/images/998710final%2520mouse%2520above.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.itwales.com/998710_textonly.htm&h=258&w=193&sz=11&hl=hu&start=94&tbnid=qQ-jn5BoxI5ddM:&tbnh=112&tbnw=84&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dold%2Bmouse%2Bwith%2Bbig%2Bwheel%26st art%3D84%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D21%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3 Dhu%26sa%3DN

[wark]

-1 there could be better improvements, and I'd list some again, but Scawen has said he has no interest in doing anything more for mouse users as "it's just something to tide you over till you get a proper wheel." :(