We have not tested the program with HOTAS so far, mainly because of lack of availability of that hardware in the dev team. Hopefully, with the help from you guys, at the end of the testing period we have something compatible with those joysticks. :)

For the test, we will officially only have the Y-wing historical missions. Unofficially, we have other missions running and others that at least can be started. Perhaps we can extend the testing pool of missions during the testing period.

I also got my confirmation email.

Let me introduce my test setup:

I have the XWing CD-ROM Edition 1994 in German (If you like to Google the EAN#: 4005209027847)

Currently I am using this setup to start with:
Dosbox 0.74 DAUM SVN with the X-Wing CE 1994 from GOG with my mounted original CDROM for German Speech and UI text.

Graphically I am using the Super2xSai Scaler with a 5xBR Pixelshader on a 1920x1080 display.

For Midi I am using the CoolSoft Virtual Midi Synth with the Sonatina_Symphonic_Orchestra Soundfont

As Controllers I have several choices:
- Precision: HOMAK (Hands on Mouse and Keyboard)
- Arcade: XBOX 360 Controller
- Hardcore: HOSAS (Hands on Stick and Stick) 2x Saitek/Mad Catz Cyborg V1 (Symmetrical Build)

The HOMAK setup is rather impractical for me since the mouse control is absolute.
A relative mouse control like in Freelancer or Star Citizen would make it a real alternative, though.

I like the following HOSAS setup from Star Citizen (Arena Commander) and it would be nice if this could be implemented:
- Left Stick: Strafe Left/Right Axis X, Strafe Forward/back Axis Y, Strafe Up/Down Rotation Axis Z, Throttle Axis unused
- Right Stick: Yaw Axis X, Pitch Axis Y, Roll Rotation Axis Z, Throttle on Hat Up/Down, Throttle Axis unused

I have a suggestion for the dev team regarding the video scaling. I checked he VOGONS forum for a high quality scaler and I think the xBRZ scaler is Superior in terms of crispness of the image. I would like to keep the hand drawn look of the FMV rather than have it blurred out by AA or Filters.

Please check this: http : // www . vogons . org / viewtopic.php ? t=34125

Cheers, looking forward to test the Unity setup.

The X-wing series never had strafing controls, they would drastically alter the balance and the thing was always a straight up "WWII dogfighting in space" thing.

Yep, no strafing. It is not neccessary in X-Wing, however it would be a nice option to have it added. Of course that would require a rebalance of gameplay in terms of shield face management.

Even without strafing a dual stick layout makes sense.

Example:

Left Stick: Roll - X Axis, Thrust - Y Axis
Right Stick: Yaw - X Axis, Pitch - Y Axis

In that case the Rotation Z Axes are unused.

Another possible setup if the cockpits will be 3D Cockpits:
Left Stick: 2 DOF Freelook (X and Rot-Z Axes) + Zoom (Y Axis)
Right Stick: 3 DOF Flight Movement (Yaw, Pitch, Roll) + Throttle on Hat Up/Dn

But, what about this : http : // www . 3dconnexion . com / products / spacemouse / spacenavigator . html

And to make sure you get my standing right:

- I am a big fan of X-Wing since it was my first PC game. I also played X-Wing Alliance and liked it a lot due to the more immersive storytelling.
- I also played Wing Commander Privateer (the first one) for many months, so you can also consider me a fan.
- I skipped the Wing Commander 1 and 2 era completely and started playing Wing Commander from 3 to 5 and I never got warm with the flight model but I liked the immersive storytelling.
- Freelancer I would consider a kind of a casual game, where skill doesn't matter, if there wouldn't be the immersive storytelling.
- Today I am a big fan of Star Citizen (Arena Commander) and therefore I will never touch Freespace, I-War, Elite or X anymore although I played all of them for quite a time.

Even though the game X-Wing itself has no big storytelling other than a few cutscenes, I still like it very much, maybe because it's the first PC game I played.

Hi.
Supporting input devices isn't trivial, especially when we have Unity as the layer that provides the Input data to us. If Unity doesn't support a particular joystick, it will be complicated to support it in our project unless we bring out the wallet and acquire some expensive third party asset. Since this project isn't commercial, we are very wary of throwing too much money on it. It's more like a hobby.

I see you link all kind of esoteric input devices, like that tridimensional mouse. I don't know how that is supposed to be used, but I hope you understand if we focus our effort and time first on supporting a bit more down-to-earth devices.

About strafing, that is just a "verb" that doesn't exist in X-wing. Ships have no strafing ratings, and strafing would make it trivial to perform a straight on approach on capital ships and enemy fighters while avoiding incoming fire. For balance, we would need to allow the AI to also use strafing while dogfighting and attacking the player's ships. And then it ceases to be X-wing.

I am totally expecting everyone to come with totally complicated and convoluted input bindings. That is what the control setting panel is for. However I didn't expect anyone to suggest playing while holding two joysticks. Have you considered playing instead with a gamepad with dual sticks?
I am not totally sure I understand what you mean when you assign "Thrust" to the Y axis. There is no Thrust in X-wing. You cannot move forward and backwards. There is a Throttle axis, but that wouldn't work on the Y axis, since it would be going back to neutral (50%? throttle) every time you stop pushing that axis.

You say that mouse and keyboard is impractical for you because the mouse is absolute. I don't know how it works in Star Citizen (a game I have not tried), but in X-wing weapons aren't gimballed, unlike in Freelancer, or Elite Dangerous. You aren't going to hit anything unless the nose of your ship perfectly aims at the target lead. We will try to add a "Wing commander"-style mouse control scheme. But my early tests with that is not great. It awfully hard to hit anything when you don't have autoaim, gimballed weapons, or similar "easy modes" that didn't exist for X-wing.

Thanks for the link to the filter/scaler. We will consider it as optional filter besides point and bilinear/trilinear.
My personal opinion is that the 2D art in the cutscenes weren't hand drawn. Some of them were pixel art. Some of them were prerendered with raycasting. Some of them were scanned stills from the movies, retouched in, most likely, Deluxe Paint II. And finally some of them were indeed hand drawn and scanned.
I don't think any one single scaler is just right for all art in the cutscenes game. All these scalers make all pixelated art look like Yoshi's Island to me, that is not especially what I think on when playing some Star Wars game.

Sorry, your loss... ;)

@Azrapse

Uh, sorry if I shot over the target.
Just wanted to give you my input on practical game controls as they are today supported in hardcore flight sims.

Check this out: https : // youtu . be / 5pGkORJhwdY

I totally understand that this is a hobby project and I can live with what can be done.

Absolute vs. relative mouse control explanation:

For the absolute mouse control in X-Wing the X, Y position of the mouse on the desk translates directly into an angle along the yaw and pitch axes. However in case you have a finite area on your desk but want to do a sharp turn, you have to lift up the mouse and recenter it on the desk multiple times, depending on how far you want to turn or how small your area on the desk is.

For a relative mouse control like in Freelancer, Star Citizen, etc..., the finite X, Y area of your desk defines virtual joystick axes for yaw and pitch, whereas the distance from the center translates into the velocity with which you perform the turn around that axis. This has the advantage, that you don't have to lift up and recenter.

So also without gimbaled weapons you have a clear advantage with relative mouse control over absolute mouse control when you want to perform sharp turns, which is neccessary in dogfighting.
For precision shooting however like in the training missions, an absolute mouse control can be advantageous.

However I could imagine using a trackball with absolute control, and with the "mouse accelleration" set to 0 and the correct mouse sensitivity and movement resolution it would be the most natural way: Navigating the trackball would navigate your ship 1:1 - Perhaps I will try that.

Regarding thrust for the Y axis:

In Star Citizen (Arena Commander) I normally accelerate up to 50% velocity using the keyboard and define it as neutral which stays this way. Then I am using the left stick to pull back and reduce the velocity to 0% (or even negative velocity in Star Citizen, what we cannot do here) or push the left stick forward and accellerate to 100% velocity. Additionally I am using another digital stick button as a "spacebrake" which reduces the velocity to 0% as long as I press it and as soon as I release it it falls back to 50%. This is exellent for sharp maneuvers, quickly catching up with a runner or sticking behind a fighter with manually matched velocity.

Thinking about that throttle - I used to use the mouse wheel in Startrek Online for the throttle. That also pretty much worked well, as you can quickly get slower for a sharp turn or to fall behind your attacker.

However I think X-Wing has no inertia, right? So there is no "driftin rounda bend".

Regarding the Scaler, please check attached image. I think it is pretty good compared to a Lancosz or Bilinear.

i use advinterp2x in DOSBox. I'm not a fan of the watercolour look of most other filters, and something like 2xsai isn't really appropriate since you really were expected to be able to see the individual pixels at the time.

I don't think using Star Citizen as a model is a good idea, the flight model of that thing is a bloody mess that doesn't know what it wants to be.

Regarding scaling: I think I''d prefer a scaler that maintains the original pixelated look for the cutscenes but that's my personal preference.

As far as I understand that scaler wouldn't apply to the unity engine which displays the space and ships, so it never would interfere with "individual pixels you need to see" and in FMV or animated characters you don't want to see individual pixels.

Works as designed... so far... it's still alpha... and works for me.

But as I said, I understand that XWVM is a hobby project and Star Citizen is a 150million dollar project, so I know what to expect and what not to expect.

Anyhow, looking forward to test the Wing Commander Mouse control in XWVM in conjunction with the control settings panel, Azrapse talked about.

It's a while since I played the Alpha:
Are there still the idiotic redouts and blackouts?
Is energy management still confined to a stupid menu instead of assigned to hotkeys like in every spacesim that isn't Wing Commander or Starlancer?

Or Hellion... Yes it is still that way and some like it - some don't. But that's OT.

Didn't know about Hellion, but that game really doesn't seem to be my cup of tea.

The point however is that X-wing is a Star Wars simulator, you don't see x-wings and TIEs strafe in the movies and the cartoons at most they drift a bit when cutting the throttle, they pretty much fly like WWII aeroplanes as per George Lucas' intentions.
If there is any strafing at all it might be more like in Elite: Dangerous with flight assist on, that is very limited and only useful for manual landings and takeoff outiside some advanced combat manouvers, and in the X-wing games landing and takeoff are always automated.

Sometimes they may be Force-assisted. ;)

lol... greetings from Starkiller, here is a star destroyer for you, where shall I put it?


@Det_Bullock ... in Lego Star Wars and in Star Wars TOR there is strafing, but it is tunnel shooter/top down scroller... ok NOW you persuaded me totally. I don't want strafing in X-Wing. Thanks.