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JDspeeder1 wrote:
I’ve been playing since launch and I have some questions about JTL. Since I’m disabled (some of you might remember my pre-launch threads wondering if I’d be able to play at all), I can’t use a standard keyboard. I type using an on-screen keyboard uncreatively called OnScreen (http://imgpresents.com/onscreen/onscreen.htm). It’s a program that puts a clickable keyboard on the screen so I can type with the mouse. In SWG now, I do fine. I just have to find and “Examine” an object to be able to type or hit any of the UI buttons, and I’ll probably be able to solve that problem if I can ever find my copy of Game Commander 3 (http://www.gamecommander.com/). I wonder how well I’d do with JTL, considering my situation. I noticed on the JTL Quick Guide that acceleration/deceleration, yaw, and roll are all keyboard controlled.

Would maneuvering with the mouse alone be enough?

Also, with the mouse controlling the ship’s movement, will the JTL interface ever give me an actual cursor so I can type?

If so, is OnScreen visible while in space? Some programs seem to open “on top of” OnScreen. Luckily, SWG opens “under” it, if I set my resolution to 1024 x 768 and run SWG in Borderless Window mode. If JTL displays differently though, OnScreen might be “covered” when I get in space. Devs, the OnScreen website above has a free demo you can download for testing.

If the answer to these questions is no, I will basically be unable to play in space.

One solution I thought of was to include an option to change the controls to be more like the X-Wing and TIE Fighter games. In those games, you could control all ship movements with the mouse (or joystick). Moving the mouse (or joystick) up-and-down controlled pitch, side-to-side controlled yaw, but holding the right mouse button (or joystick button 2) while moving left or right controlled roll and up and down controlled acceleration and deceleration respectively. The left mouse button (or joystick button 1) fired whichever weapon you had activated, you could change weapons with a keyboard key. This setup worked for me because it let me control everything that was extremely time sensitive (i.e. movement and throttle) with the mouse and put less immediately necessary actions (i.e. weapon changing, power allocation, docking, etc.) on the keyboard where I can operate them with Game Commander. This scheme also allows for more then two weapons on some ships, whereas the current scheme does not.

I think I’m not the only one who would use this scheme, but you could keep the current setup as an option too.

Devs, please respond to this. If things stay as they are, I may be stuck on the ground forever!

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Message Edited by RowdyDurango on 08-25-2004 09:45 AM

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GarVa wrote:

You can control the ship with the mouse (such as pitch and yaw),, I'm not sure on the other onscreen stuff, still waiting for a reply.

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