Rover controls

[DerekL1963]

So how in the heck do rover controls work?

I'm using Docking controls, in Linear mode, and I can't seem to steer or produce forward or aft movement.

And yes, it has power, and drivers aboard, and everything else required.  The Navball is displaying the proper orientation.   It drives in Staging mode using WASD (though it rocks and rolls since that mode induces rotation).  Mechjeb drives it just fine.

I'd prefer not to remap.

Edited February 5, 2017 by DerekL1963

[renhanxue]

What's the orientation of the command module (and hence navball)? If the navball isn't showing you as level with the horizon, you're gonna have a bad time no matter what your controls are.

I've never actually used docking mode ever so I don't know how that even works on rovers (I guess you accelerate/reverse with the throttle controls and steer with the yaw controls?) - personally I just mapped the wheel controls to the numpad.

[DerekL1963]

10 minutes ago, renhanxue said:

What's the orientation of the command module (and hence navball)? If the navball isn't showing you as level with the horizon, you're gonna have a bad time no matter what your controls are.

The navball is showing the correct orientation.  I'll edit the OP.

[renhanxue]

Right, seems they reworked this at some point and the wheel controls (steer left/right and drive forward/reverse) are completely separate from flight controls now. They're bindable under input -> vessel, default to WASD (IIRC) and you can select when you bind them which flight control mode(s) you want them to be active in. If you want to drive in linear docking mode, bind wheel forward/reverse to shift/ctrl and steer left/right to A/D and deselect staging and rotational docking when binding them.

I think?

Edited February 5, 2017 by renhanxue

[bewing]

Or turn off the reaction wheels, and use WASD.

[dangerhamster]

Change the reaction wheel mode from "normal" to "SAS only".

[Sharpy]

My preferred approach is to remap the rover control buttons. I like to be able to steer the rover while mid-jump (to set it wheels down) using reaction wheels, but when I braked on Minmus (in flat terrain) and my rover did a very graceful backflip, it was a little awkward So I unmap camera controls from arrows and remap rover controls to them, leaving WSAD for reaction wheels and RCS rotation.

[DerekL1963]

44 minutes ago, Sharpy said:

My preferred approach is to remap the rover control buttons. I like to be able to steer the rover while mid-jump (to set it wheels down) using reaction wheels, but when I braked on Minmus (in flat terrain) and my rover did a very graceful backflip, it was a little awkward So I unmap camera controls from arrows and remap rover controls to them, leaving WSAD for reaction wheels and RCS rotation.

I've ended up remapping, putting the controls on the arrow keys, but I'm not very happy about it.  It puts too much on my right hand side.

[Sharpy]

9 minutes ago, DerekL1963 said:

I've ended up remapping, putting the controls on the arrow keys, but I'm not very happy about it.  It puts too much on my right hand side.

I'm usually driving with both hands: SAS to Prograde, right hand on arrows, left on Q/E. If my rover flips, SAS will turn it safely "nose forward" but I need to flip it manually wheels down.

[DerekL1963]

29 minutes ago, Sharpy said:

I'm usually driving with both hands: SAS to Prograde, right hand on arrows, left on Q/E. If my rover flips, SAS will turn it safely "nose forward" but I need to flip it manually wheels down.

Working cross country, MJ handles stability and most piloting tasks, so all I have to worry about is WASD for steering and throttle (if MJ isn't handling those) and my mouse (for interacting with MJ's controls) on my right.  Everything works fine there.

Where I'm hitting a problem is fine work, getting on and off transport vehicles and docking.  Because of physical issues, it's painful for my left hand to work anything to the right of WASD, hence my interest in figuring out why docking mode didn't work.  Remapping puts all the work on my right hand rather than balancing tasks between hands and leaving the rover controls on the hand position it's already trained for.