joeh100

I got tired of changing joystick settings, and workarounds for getting a joystick to work, and just modified my own to work with KSP. Now with the flip of a switch it becomes a Kerbal controller and when switched back returns to the default. When the switch is flipped to Kerbal control, another switch on the controller(top right of photo) is enabled to switch between vertical and horizontal flight, (aka: from landers, helis and vtol's to aircraft control) otherwise you would have to modify the settings whenever you switched from aircraft to rockets/etc. Here's a pic of the modded electronics. It's a "bodge job" but I didn't want to make a pcb. Kerbal Controller by Blind Compass, on Flickr Here's my latest youtube video showing how well you can control a lander.

Showing my custom heli recovering a crew capsule to the space center.

It does; RC heli's require a lot of throttle control and so do airplanes when 3D flying. So there is some skill involved here, it's not just like hooking up a joystick will magically make you a great pilot. The good news is if you practice in KSP and get good you can fly RC heli's and quadcopters in real life (keep SAS off though). If you could set up a fixed camera position it would be a great RC practice simulator, assuming you set up your joystick correct. For example, it would be a disaster if you got good in KSP with your yaw and roll reversed and then tried to fly a model in real life, where the controls are different. You don't have to have a RC controller though. I have flown great in other flight simulators with a joystick that has a twist rudder. There is a lot of subtle rudder input required to keep a craft balanced. Almost impossible with the keyboard without SAS enabled. Anyway the controls translate well between the two controllers, so it's easy to go from one to the other.

You can save different setup files for ppjoy, one for aircraft and one for rockets, but I still have to exit the game, go into settings, and switch my roll and yaw controls for some reason. If you could change settings without exiting to the main menu that would be great. I added another video to show some pinpoint landings too. http://youtu.be/0Y6zvx7HkHM

Oh yea, planes and helicopters(firespitter mod) are a lot of fun now with the joystick if you design your aircraft well (I might make a tutorial on that). The physics are actually very good (heli's feel like real life) and the new SAS in the latest update is GREAT! Way to go Squad. I wish they would implement a better chase cam though, the current one is unusable for aircraft. I'm going to be playing on the planet for a while now. BTW just landed on the control tower!

Had to use ppjoy to get the controller working. It acts as a virtual driver between your joystick and the game. It's a kludge at best, which is why I would like to see better support by Squad. I found a post on this forum where someone was hosting the software, but that was a couple weeks ago. Do a search for ppjoy and you should find it.

Link Showing what's possible and requesting support for better joystick support by the squad developers.

I finally got my joystick working. I just wanted to show the advantages of joystick control in a video and BEG the squad developers to add better joystick support. It's a PITA to get working and I have to change settings between aircraft and rockets. Link: http://youtu.be/6h1t8hK443I