• [VIDEO] [Frothy] Anthem Flight Controls Feel Like a Bad Console Port
    9 replies, posted
Just wanted to share my good dude Frothy to ya'll. I'm excited for Anthem but very cautious and as a PC player this made me a bit unsure. https://youtu.be/r50yYSpT2ME
Isn't that flight model similar to Freelancer? https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/109811/85d6b177-6215-4a41-b230-4eb61f98bdbd/image.png https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/109811/4f628fc7-b393-49b2-ab30-ad6123aa4443/image.png Personal opinion here: Anthem picked the right choice for the flight model.
Urgh, I hate these kinda virtual joystick controls when they don't have auto-centering, hope they can at least add that before release The mouse input not feeling "raw" is also a pretty bad sign
It's also what's used by SC and ED, other space games. But, none of these games rapidly transition between fps and space controls in second to second gameplay. A virtual joystick is the wrong decision here for that reason, those space games also provide an option something SC calls relative mode which should have been used here instead and makes way more sense for switching between normal fps aim and "flight" moment to moment. AFF also uses that default for all it's space controls.
Every time they don't use raw mouse input and instead go with some really fucked version of "SMOOTHING" it feels like such garbage how the fuck do you even "SMOOTH" mouse controls outside of making it feel like garbage.
Also goes against par tof the principal of a mouse. Mice are non linear input devices for a reason. Trying to smooth them to move at a constant speed is ignoring their purpose. So of course smoothing makes mouse movement feel like garbage, it's not supposed to be smooth even movement. I don't remember what game it was, but trying to fly with a mouse in it was impossible. The mouse controlled pitch and turning, so trying to use the mouse to fly a helicopter resulted in dipping forward and nose diving, or tipping back and flipping. Was it GTA IV? I wouldn't expect this issue to get fixed either, given the usual track record.
So EA lied when they said during the NDA'd closed beta that they would fix the flying controls for KBM? Not surprising.
The demo is still an outdated build, it was branched back in December before they fixed all this mouse control garbage because console certification takes 6 weeks
It would work better if it was more like War Thunder where you pointed the crosshair where you wanted to be turned to, and then your plane turns to match it and stops turning.
The issue, if its anything like other console ports. Mouse input isn't actually used, instead of what happens if the general directional movement provided by the mouse is taken and then processed by the game, which then converts it into an analogue joystick input. Because mouse inputs are not linear or have a cut off to their movement, this conversion process leads to weird smoothing effects as its essentially "emulating" a joystick with the mouse inputs, so you lack the 1:1 input from the mouse, the movement is overly processed and it has all the restrictions of a joystick applied, so acceleration cut off and movement limitations. So you can rapidly slam your mouse from one side of the pad to other but the movement and acceleration will not be transferred ingame, because a joystick can't do that same degree of input, as its a linear system focused by the acceleration from the centre point, a joystick input can only move so fast and go so far while a mouse is non-linear, it can do so much more than analogue stick. If you want a great example of how terrible this system can be, look up Monster Hunter World back when it released, it was FUCKING awful to play with because it used this exact same system. These systems are entirely down to lazy and/or rushed development where they don't want to develop multiple input types or there are issues with developing multiple input types. They're fucking awful systems to use as they don't count in the acceleration and raw input of a mouse, why this emulation method keeps cropping up I don't know but it is usually caused by either a rushed development, or an inexperienced porting team and in the case with Anthem, I'm going to guess rushed development to get it on PC, its very obvious that the original development platform was for consoles first. This is also something that wont be fixed overnight or even fixed at all, because this emulation solution is ingrained deeply into the game as the solution to different input types. I wont be surprised if on release Anthem is still using joystick input emulation for its input control and raw mouse input is either a placebo option in the menu that would either do nothing or just remove some of the emulation restrictions (like whats been done in few previous games, it helps but its still very processed because its still input emulation in the end).
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.