[1.10.0] [1.4.5] Plane Mode - Swap Yaw/Roll in Flight

[zengei]

Plane Mode

       

Plane Mode is a continuation of @Belisarius's MIT-licensed Aeroplane Mode which allows you to swap the roll/yaw axes while in flight. This is especially useful for joystick users who likely want their joystick to control yaw for rockets but roll for planes.

• For more information and installation instructions please see the README.
• For changes please see CHANGELOG.
• For future enhancements please see GitHub issues.

Download

• CKAN as PlaneMode
• GitHub

Here is Belisarius's orginal video demonstrating the mod's basic functionality, although this version is much changed.

Source: GitHub

License: MIT/CC BY 3.0

Edited July 3, 2020 by zengei

[Captain Sierra]

Oh my God you have no idea how happy this makes me. *breaks out joystick* Now I can fly with my stick again, yay!

[Kerba Fett]

This is a very cool idea. I don't fly planes that much, but having to roll using the QE keys always bugged me. (I do all my flying with the KB) This should make things a lot easier.

I'd like to suggest a feature for a future release that I think would fit right in. A third control mode for landers.

When you fly a rocket through space your camera is usually behind it looking forward. The ship is usually oriented so the spine of the ship faces to top of the screen and the controls are quite intuitive. W pitches you forward, A yaws you left and Q rolls you left. It's quite easy to keep track of.

When you land a lander on it's tail, your camera is usually behind and above the ship looking down. The spine of the ship faces the camera and most of the controls are intuitive. W pitches you forward and A rolls you to the left.

Q and E however seem backwards. Pressing Q causes you to yaw to the right rather than the left as you might hope for.

I understand why it does this and have learned to cope with it, but it would be nice if there was an easy fix like your mod.

Is there any chance of getting a Lander mode in a future update that's like Rocket mode but reverses the Q E axis?

It would be a big help with a lot of my flights.

[zengei]

Oh my God you have no idea how happy this makes me. *breaks out joystick* Now I can fly with my stick again, yay!

Have fun.

This is a very cool idea. I don't fly planes that much, but having to roll using the QE keys always bugged me. (I do all my flying with the KB) This should make things a lot easier.

I'd like to suggest a feature for a future release that I think would fit right in. A third control mode for landers.

When you fly a rocket through space your camera is usually behind it looking forward. The ship is usually oriented so the spine of the ship faces to top of the screen and the controls are quite intuitive. W pitches you forward, A yaws you left and Q rolls you left. It's quite easy to keep track of.

When you land a lander on it's tail, your camera is usually behind and above the ship looking down. The spine of the ship faces the camera and most of the controls are intuitive. W pitches you forward and A rolls you to the left.

Q and E however seem backwards. Pressing Q causes you to yaw to the right rather than the left as you might hope for.

I understand why it does this and have learned to cope with it, but it would be nice if there was an easy fix like your mod.

Is there any chance of getting a Lander mode in a future update that's like Rocket mode but reverses the Q E axis?

It would be a big help with a lot of my flights.

I'll consider it if people think it'd be useful and that's a common expectation. Generally when I'm piloting landers I'm moving my camera all around so wonky controls are expected to me, whereas with rockets on ascent and planes the camera is generally fixed, so I don't really have an expectation in that regard.

[zengei]

I've confirmed it's now available through CKAN as PlaneMode.

[wiviking]

Great Idea! I already do this with my throttle mode select but if I didn't have a programmable HOTAS this would be a must have mod.

[riocrokite]

hello, cool mod, would it be possible to add vehicle mode (with subtype-inverted front-end) mode so you could utilize and control wheels when moving on the ground?

[zengei]

I just published v0.4.0, it revamps how the swapping is done so it should be completely transparent to KSP and other mods. I also included a setting option to disable the app launcher button since you can get that information from the part menu.

It's available on KerbalStuff and GitHub right now. CKAN should follow shortly once the bot gets around to it. CKAN is updated now too.

- - - Updated - - -

hello, cool mod, would it be possible to add vehicle mode (with subtype-inverted front-end) mode so you could utilize and control wheels when moving on the ground?

Like with the lander mode above, I'll consider it if there's a common expectation on how it should work and a lot of people would find it useful.

Edited January 25, 2015 by zengei

[diamondlover]

I have only an issue: in Rocket mode my Stabilization system is working perfectly, but in Plane Mode it doesn't work...

I have to disable SAS, swap to rocket mode and enable SAS again.

Thanks.

[Glyph]

First thing I do when I install KSP is set QE to yw and AD to roll . The default control axes seem unusual to me.

[zengei]

I have only an issue: in Rocket mode my Stabilization system is working perfectly, but in Plane Mode it doesn't work...

I have to disable SAS, swap to rocket mode and enable SAS again.

Thanks.

Sorry, I'm subscribed to this thread, but never received any emails for your post. Are you sure you're using v0.4.0 and not v0.3.0?

[terpcj]

Just stumbled across this. It has immediately made my KSP joystick life easier. Without a doubt it's now one of my must-have mods.

[zengei]

Just stumbled across this. It has immediately made my KSP joystick life easier. Without a doubt it's now one of my must-have mods.

Glad to hear it's useful.

[zengei]

v0.4.1 has been uploaded to GitHub and Kerbal Stuff which adds compatibility with with KSP v1.0. This version is not compatible with previous versions of KSP.

EDIT: And CKAN has the new version now as well.

Edited April 28, 2015 by zengei

[Vespian]

This is fantastic, thank you so very much! Flying planes in this game with a joystick would be much much harder without this. I also really like that you can invert the pitch access specifically in plane mode. It makes it much more familiar for those of us who are used to flying in other flight simulators. Well done!

-Now.. why not put this on Curse.com, so it's easier to find with the other mods that are available for 1.0?

[zengei]

This is fantastic, thank you so very much! Flying planes in this game with a joystick would be much much harder without this. I also really like that you can invert the pitch access specifically in plane mode. It makes it much more familiar for those of us who are used to flying in other flight simulators. Well done!

Thanks a lot.

Now.. why not put this on Curse.com, so it's easier to find with the other mods that are available for 1.0?

I prefer to have a single distribution source (besides GitHub, which hosts the source) and I personally prefer Kerbal Stuff to Curse.

[zengei]

v1.0.0 out which is just a minor fix for a warning in the log on vessel load and a bump to a 'stable' version number.

[DarthWall]

This was working fine, but then without reason, the mod decided to invert the plane and rocket mode =c

[zengei]

This was working fine, but then without reason, the mod decided to invert the plane and rocket mode =c

I've seen this happen once, somehow the game settings get persisted while in plane mode. I've never been able to replicate it, or devise a scenario in which it could occur.

To fix, just reset your input settings.

[zengei]

This was working fine, but then without reason, the mod decided to invert the plane and rocket mode =c

I've seen this happen once, somehow the game settings get persisted while in plane mode. I've never been able to replicate it, or devise a scenario in which it could occur.

To fix, just reset your input settings.

Okay, I figured out a couple of scenarios in which this could happen. Pushed a new version, 1.1.0, with the fix and a few other changes. The recommended way to change settings is now via a Module Manager patch, not via a UserSettings.cfg.

[Galahir950]

Is there a setting I am missing that would make it so it does not automatically switch to plane mode? I really only use this when I have my joystick out, but most the time I use a KB&M.

[zengei]

The mode is persisted to the vessel, right click on a command pod or docking port click "Toggle Control Mode" to change the mode either in flight or in the VAB/SPH. Anything created in the SPH will default to Plane Mode, there is no way to override that at the moment. Is that what you want?

[Galahir950]

Yeah, I wanted to override it.

[zengei]

Yeah, I wanted to override it.

v1.2.0 was just published that enables this. Create a Module Manager patch with the following content to get your desired behavior:

@PLANEMODE:NEEDS[PlaneMode]:AFTER[PlaneMode]
{
    @defaultSphControlMode = Rocket
}

[Galahir950]

Thank you very much for your quick response!