homepage Forums Land & Armor Combat Steel Beasts Series Dual joysticks....anyone ever try this with SB?

I use mouse and keyboard as I find it impossible to control the turrets in SB with a joystick.The reason is that when you pull back you also unintentionally move the joystick slightly left and right.This causes a less than precise feel of the turrets and is why real life tanks have the axis separated on their controllers.So why not use two separate controllers then as people have been doing for awhile now in space sims.Has anyone tried this in SB?

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Leo 1, M1, ASLAV all have a single controller to apply both elevation and traverse.

Indeed the Leo and M1 have "palm switches" that require the Gunner to keep both hands on the one controller.

I have to go back to Scorpion to remember a turret with an elevation control independent of and elevation control (i.e. two controls, instead of one combined one).

As for the dual joystick question, I have no idea if anyone has tried it.

Not possible AFAIK, SB will only recognize one game controler.

Hmm, I'm using a joystick for steelbeasts, don't have any precision problems.

Perhaps the 2 Axis on the control handle are meant with seperated axis.

I don't know for the M1, but for Leo1 and Leo2, it is sufficient to have one hand at the controls.
You may need the other one to push some buttons ;-)

I was trying not to overly complicate things.

The controller in these tanks is one piece but the axis are separated.What I mean is that you turn the controller left or right to to traverse the turret and you rotate the handles forwards and backwards to elevate the turret.The only thing that comes close is a flight yoke but they have no reasonable tension to work with IMO.Two joysticks on the other hand I think might make for a very realistic feeling controller.One for elevation and one to traverse.

Again,the reason for this is that when you have two axis on a normal joystick its impossible to move the joystick up or down and expect the left or right axis not to move also.Just go into controllers setup and try to move the axis up or down and see if you can keep the line perfectly vertical,or vice versa horizontal.

Whatever, Steel Beasts will only recognize the "preferred" game controller device (per advanced properties of the game controller settings).


...of course there's always AFV Sim Ltd.

Not central to the discussion but the ALSAV-25 has basically a joystick for the Gunner and one for the Commander.

Also if I'm not mistaken my old Leo 1 Commander's override was "joystick" like (could traverse and elevate in one action - i.e. push left and tilt back and the gun would elevate and traverse at the same time).

But Ssnake's answered the key question of only one preferred game controller at a time.

One could possibly rig a setup to allow two joysticks to work together and be read as single one if determined enough.Just an idea.

I think mouse will always work better. The real life advantages of a joystick are not really modelled in SB, or rather, the disadvantages of a mouse are not, so the mouse is a far more precise controller than any consumer grade joystick will ever be.

I had a controller one time that was built after the space shuttle joystick and had the tilt mechanic. That might be worth a try, but personally I prefer to just use the mouse. A joystick may seem more realistic at a glance, but unless you have something pretty fancy you're just approaching the same middle ground from another angle.

In any case, actual weapon controllers have the same issue where the other axis will be moved inadvertantly if the gunner is not careful, so if that is the issue that you want to neutralize, the way to do it is the same way real gunners do it: practice.

Mouse is more precise because with a joystick any movement in one axis causes a movement in the other and that imprecision makes it feel all wrong.Two joysticks to separate the traverse from elevation and you will feel much more in control of turret.

The main problem i have with joysticks is their limited resolution which leads to reduced tracking acuracy.

Have you ever tried the Thrustmaster T.16000M?

The joystick can be of utmost precision but you will still have the issue of trying to control traverse and elevation on one single controller.

"Practice makes perfect", isn't that the saying?

Anyway, it's not that I don't understand your point. All I'm saying is that SB Pro doesn't natively support multiple game controller inputs. I'm not sure what else to say.

Say this Ssnake...."in the next iteration we will allow the use of multiple joysticks"

I'll go as far as saying, "this Ssnake...."

There.