Kerbal EVA Six Degrees of Movement

[Apollo13]

Currently, a Kerbal; on EVA has four degrees of freedom: Forward/Backward, Left/ Right strafe, Up/Down, Left/Right rotation about the Y-axis.

Definition: X-axis is right-to-left through hips; Y-axis is down through head and torso; Z-axis is through the stomach and back

Kerbals can rotate about the Y-axis with A and D keys and using right-clicking and moving the mouse. However, Kerbals cannot tilt forward nor backward. Tilting (rotating on the X-axis) would allow the Kerbal to directly point at and travel in the direction that is other than the current method.

For instance, on a recent EVA, Bob wanted to enter a command pod; the crew hatch was facing down. I could not get Bob to look at and directly move to the hatch. Using the CTRL key, I dropped him down below the pod; used the W key to move forward; used the SHFT key to rise, bumping his head on the hatch. It would have been easier and far more realistic to tilt Bob and point him at the hatch, then use the W key to move him forward to grab it.

Rotation about the Z-axis would be greatly beneficial and more realistic as well.

Perhaps use the QEZC keys for those new rotations.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Apollo13

[sal_vager]

Did you know you can pitch by holding the mouse button and moving the mouse forwards and backwards, and you can yaw with left and right mouse movement.

It doesn't work too well in the normal EVA mode, but if you set EVA_ROTATE_ON_MOVE to False, you'll have a lot more control

[BudgetHedgehog]

And if you let go of the mouse, they go back to the galactic plane. I've tried setting that option to False, but honestly, found it more confusing and harder to use than just pointing the camera where I wanted to go.

[Northstar1989]

For instance, on a recent EVA, Bob wanted to enter a command pod; the crew hatch was facing down. I could not get Bob to look at and directly move to the hatch. Using the CTRL key, I dropped him down below the pod; used the W key to move forward; used the SHFT key to rise, bumping his head on the hatch. It would have been easier and far more realistic to tilt Bob and point him at the hatch, then use the W key to move him forward to grab it.

I've had the same trouble many times myself- sometimes, when the command pod was out of ElectricCharge at the moment, and could not re-orient itself, causing the Kerbal to die as I could not get him back in the cabin (such as when on EVA on a sub-orbital trajectory), forcing me to load a quicksave before the EVA...

I've never been particularly good at EVA- but I haven't found setting the camera to "free" mode helps anything- when orienting the camera north or south relative to the galactic plane, the Kerbal still refuses to pitch himself accordingly...

I also don't understand this bit about setting EVA_ROTATE_ON_MOVE to false- is that a config for the game, and where can I find it?

Regards,

Northstar

[BudgetHedgehog]

I also don't understand this bit about setting EVA_ROTATE_ON_MOVE to false- is that a config for the game, and where can I find it?

It's in the settings.cfg.

[r4pt0r]

i just want to be able to jump on the mun and do a front flip.

[Climberfx]

Wow, i love you Sal. This was missed from me a long time now.