Poll: Best controller for UT?

[The-Wraith]

Panther XL is one I use althought it feels weird compared to using a mouse.. My Favorite bad boy of them all, and there is no other Razer 2000 [img]/~unreal/ubb/html/smile.gif[/img]

[Cicero]

EASY_T: I've got a Razer Boomslang 2000 ordered, unfortunately I ordered it late and they're not gonna ship it to me until the 13th.. every review I've read of it has just been awesome though. There was one on Stomped I think where he said it was by far the best gaming controller he'd ever used, and a pretty good review on CNet as well.

I'll let you know what I think of it once I get mine.

[Rotgut]

Good question Watchdog!

Anyone know what the current guru's of UT use for their controllers?

Rotgut

[wooly_mammoth]

Actually, the undisputed champion of Unreal, OverToad, uses a panther xl.

[Rotgut]

Cool!

Rotgut

[The-Wraith]

The razers reponse over a regular mouse is phenominal, very accurate...

[Darwin16]

What I've used since it was introduced is the Logitech Trackman Marble Plus. Inverted, buttons are primary and secondary fire, with the wheel switching previous/next weapon.

For a while I used the W,A,S,D setup, but if you look at it, it's not that comfortable. So, I switched the backward key to Alt, and it's been much better. Maybe it's just me though [img]/~unreal/ubb/html/smile.gif[/img]

I noticed a few people wondering how anyone could possibly use a trackball for FPS games. After using a trackball for so many years, I can't see how you could play without one!


- Darwin16, ExtremeSIMS

[Rotgut]

There is something about the trackball that I just find to be more ugh... I can't find the right word to describe it. Maybe its related to the fact that your hand stays still the entire time, so you don't get jitter from all that mouse movement.

I use the Marble +, with the trackball that is thumb operated and I find it to be VERY quick and very accurate, well, at least as accurate as my thumb can be.

The left button is primary fire, the right button alt fire, the center scroll wheel selects weapons, and pushing the wheel selects my translocator.

But I went to Comp USA today and looked at the Panther XL and the Gravis Exterminator. Well having never really paid any attention to joysticks before, I got a $69 sticker shock, and was surprised to see that both of these are huge joysticks, especially the panther.

So I tried em out, and couldn't really decide weather to shell out the cash, or play UT a little longer and get better at it with the trackball. The thing about getting a joystick now is it won't be so painful later on trying to learn one.

I'm kind of leaning towards the panther because of the trackball. Trackballs are just sweet in my opinion, the Gravis had a small analog thumb scroller that seemed fairly decent, and the Gravis also had some buttons built into the joystick that would auto-turn a person in any direction. For example you could be running forward, then push the back button, suddely you are turned 180 degrees and running in that direction.

Hard to decide...

Rotgut

[Bugman]

To all of you:

The choice and configuration of your controller is an individual thing. It depends on what you like and what games you played in the past. If you play with a stik,G-Pad, K-Board/Mouse or trackball, it's almost only you knowing why you use it and how you configure it.

My choice was made in my earliest days on the computer highway(don't know when it was set in this final config.)

And this is it:
- I use inverted mouse
- normal ball-mouse(hopefully a laser-tech. one at christmas)

- i = forward
- k = backpedal
- j = left
- l = right
- left MB. = fire
- right MB. = sec. fire
- b = jump
- v = croach
- u = next weapon
- z = prev. weapon
- spacebar = translocator

Stupid you think?
-you're right [img]/~unreal/ubb/html/smile.gif[/img]

...............
MFG, -Bugman-

[Stryker]

I got an Intellimouse Explorer the other day and it ROCKS! It is extremely accurate and smooth (so long as you dont lift it too high off the table) It also has 5 configurable buttons. Now I hate having to use my work PC for any games since I dont have one there too.

[GOLO]

WATCHDOG, JOYSTICK? you're kidding. I took the time to apologise to you for annoying you and you didn't even read my post. There's no way I'd use a joystick!! I defy anyone to do anything relating to well on a FPS with a joystick. No thanks. Mouse and cursors thanks very much. Like the sound of this Panther everyone is on about.

[Watchdog]

Golo, sorry about the confusion, I merely connected two sentence fragments together. Firstly, I meant to tell you that there was no animosity coming from me, and secondly, I wanted to get a discuccion going about joysticks. I didn't mean to imlpy that you were a joystick reader (I'll puncuate more attentively in the future hehe) I'm in complete agreement, mouse+keyboard for me, bu this joystick hting is interesting on a novelty basis. I don't know about the unreal champ, but the best quakers use keyboard and mouse. That's cool that the pantherXL won one.

[GOLO]

Cheers Watchdog, Yeah I'd like to hear more about the potential of joysticks. If anyone can actually perform with one, I'd like to know. What about he stick that twists also? Wasn't it a Microsoft sidewinder or something? Possibly that may incorporate a little straffing but I'm not sure about the shooting accuracy. It'd have to be a very delicate piece of kit to beat the accuracy of a mouse. Suppose you could switch the autoaim on. Bit of a girl if you did.

I used to love flight sims, got very handy with rudder pedals etc. Maybe you could straff with those. Be knackered after a couple of rounds. What's the story with the Trackballs with half a dozen buttons? I'm stuck with a 2b mouse.

[Sachiel]

Isn't the WASD config fairly common? I use that with an inverted mouse and my friends think I'm a freak. They seem to prefer:
S - forward
Shift - back
A - strafe left
D - strafe right
and non-inverted mouse.
I can't make much sense of using S/Shift for forward/back.

[Rotgut]

UT has auto-aim? Does this feature work in multiplayer games? I'm new to the UT scene and didn't know this, and all along I'm thinking I must just have bad aim.

But I'd like to see more discussion about joysticks to, I think some of them could have potential, especially something like the panther XL because the aiming is done with an analog trackball.

Rotgut

[Sachiel]

I use the Intellimouse Explorer and the movement to me seems really smooth and it glides across my mousepad better. I originally tried using it just on my desk which has a wood grain pattern and on certain areas of my desk, the tracking didn't work quite right. After going back to my 3M Precision mousepad, it works great. Just wish the pad wasn't so thin and light. It has practically no traction, so sometimes it slides with the mouse if I'm using too much pressure. I heard those Everglide pads work well with the Intellimice, might just have to get one myself...

Just curious, for those who have the Intellimouse Explorer, how do you have the buttons configured?
For me:
wheel up/down - next/previous weapon
wheel click - translocator
Button 1 - primary fire
Button 2 - alt fire
big thumb button - best weapon
small thumb button - impact hammer

[Sachiel]

Rotgut, I think the autoaim is supposed to make a small adjustment to the vertical aspect of your aim. I tried it once but I don't see any difference.

[Voyd]

i wanna arrange a little get together with any non-believers. i use a PantherXL and im willing to show anyone on this forum that this controller has everything it takes to be equal to or superior to the mouse. so whos first?

icq# 32232649



[This message has been edited by Voyd (edited 12-08-1999).]

[Killerfro]

the fast is whatever you use, eventually you will become comfortable with and you will improve your game as time goes on. I have used a joystick, a mouse, and a track ball in the past. I stayed with the track ball cause I thougt it was the best option for me. playing on a mouse had me picking it up off the mouse pad every now and then and I hated that, I might have been doing something different than these other guys, I dont know.
Peace and Chicken Grease!!!
Kill

[Rotgut]

Seems like at the moment the top contenders for best UT controller are, in no particular order:

- Mouse
- Panther XL
- Trackball


So maybe this weekend I'll go back to CompUsa and take another look at the Panther XL they have for sale.

Rotgut