map fighterstick to functions in the U/I.

I fly Hotas with stick, throttle, pedals, trackIR, and voice activated

commands. Analog control of helo cyclic with my fighterstick is only

possible when autohover is activated in the Learn/VR Trainer (so far).

When using Learn/VR Training, the helicopter reacts like a real

helicopter in an analog way (the helicopter attitude stays in a

position analogous to the position of the cyclic stick).

I don't know if it is related or not, but while flying helos in editor

mode since the DLC, my mouse freelook didn’t work while flying.

However, one of the forum members suggested disabling freelook from

vehicles and freelook worked again. It was not crucial to me because I

use TrackIR.

In the forums, there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about game

response to controllers, even among seasoned players. I believe that

Bistudio should provide some specific guidance to clear up the

misunderstandings instead of leaving users to bicker back and forth. In

my opinion, there are two categories of misunderstanding. One is the

difference between analog controllers and analog response in the game.

The second is the difference between relative mouse control and

absolute mouse control with a joystick (please note that the terms

absolute and relative with regard to mouse control is industry

accepted). I do not mean to be condescending; I am not qualified.

please bear with me.

1. Relative Mouse Control of Cyclic vs Absolute Mouse Control of

Cyclic with a joystick

a. Relative Mouse Control of Cyclic with a joystick

1. Relative mouse control means that in the game if you

move the stick 45 degrees to the left, the helicopter will continue to

move counterclockwise around its longitudinal axis until you move the

stick back to vertical. This method mimics keyboard controls.

2. Many gamers grew up on keyboard controls and know

intuitively that brining the stick back to center equates to releasing

a key. But releasing a key is a lot quicker than moving a joystick back

to center. So I can see that keyboard players would want to stay with

the keyboard.

3. Relative mouse control is what you get in Arma3 when

you assign cyclic axes to an analog stick. It means constantly

returning to center after every twitch of the stick. Clearly, the time

difference between the duration of a key release and that of returning

a joystick back to center may not be trivial.

b. Absolute Mouse Control of Cyclic with a Joystick

1. After assigning mouse controls to a HOTAS/HOCAS

stick, the attitude of the helicopter is an analog of the attitude of

the stick. This means that if I move the stick 45 degrees to the left

and hold it there, the helicopter attitude will tend to mimic 45

degrees and stay there as long as I keep the stick at 45 degrees. To

bring the helicopter attitude back to vertical, I move the attitude of

the stick back to vertical.

2. According to posts, this is how real helicopters are

flown.

2. Analog Controllers and Analog Response

a. Just because you are using an analog controller does not

mean you get an analog response. For example, in Arma3, when I map my

cyclic controls to my fighterstick analog controller, the in-game

response is like relative mouse control; that is, it will mimic

keyboard controls. I suppose you could also call this a "digital"

response.
b. However, If I use the mouse for cyclic, I get absolute mouse

control-like response. This I would call "analog" response. This is

more like real helicopters are flown.
c. I want analog responses to my joystick.

My impression about the bickering about cyclic control is that users

are talking past each other. I believe it is the responsibility of

Bistudio to clear this up. I even have detected some disagreements

within your development branch. I recall one post in which a "digital

player" was telling a real helicopter pilot (they fly analog) why

digital is preferred. I couldn't believe it! In the posts there are

countless references to DCS and FSX and how they handle cyclic. I don’t

believe that many users do know that these two games offer both analog

(called axis commands in DCS)and digital control (as I have defined

them above). I believe the chief reason why DCS and FSX flight controls

are preferred over those in ARMA/TKOH by many players is their analog

modes. As for Arma3 (and TKOH for that matter), you would blow DCS and

FSX out of the water if you provide analog cyclic mapping. The fact

that some of the coding is already there (during autohover and with the

mouse for two examples) indicates to me that analog control is possible

in other helicopter flying modes. While trying to get analog control in

TKOH, someone at Bistudio suggested that I go through all of the mouse

functions and substitute joystick axis positions for all instances of

mouse axis positions. That did not work. In both Arma3 (except in

autohover) and TKOH (not sure about autohover), the games translate

analog joystick input to digital (keyboard input).

Moreover, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. I recall Dslyecxi

saying that he uses the mouse for precise control and the joystick for

flying. Keeping all hands on the HOTAS/HOCAS controls, one could also

get precise control if one uses a controller hat mapped to digital

controls, while, using the joystick in analog/absolute mode for flying

generally.

In looking through this great feedback database, I don't see the issue

I raised mentioned. Every now and then it is raised in the forums.

There is however a long history of users wanting analog control of one

control or another. Clearly your job is complicated by the many kinds

of devices used to control the game. But, the fact that analog response

exists in autohover in VR training gives me hope that we can have

DCS/FSX-like analog control over helicopters in the near future (not to

mention, blow DCS out of the water).

Please give my thoughts favorable consideration.