Jaysus H Christmas!!

I have Win7 and an X52. And a mouse and a keyboard. And TrakIR.

And a bit (going back to EAW) of experience with flightsims.

BUT I will be dipped in #%&*$# if I can set up my controls in ROF so that I can actually fly the planes! And I know that there are approximately 65 BILLION people that seem to have no trouble at all! I, however, simply can not get the frigging controls fixed enough to simply FLY the damn planes, let alone fight in them! AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!

Everyone raves about this title, and from what I have seen, it is all well deserved, but.............

Why,in the name of Jesus, do sims have to be so damn hard, confiscatatable to set up controls? X52 has to be one of the most common sticks in the world, but no default setup? I don't care that there is a special control for Uncle farting in the mess, and the CO going bonkers when his mule pees in the porridge, all I want is to download/purchase the sim and fly the damn thing!

God in Heaven Almighty!!! If you can make a sim this good, can't you spend at least a minute to make it accessible? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!

And don't anyone give me any of that crap about "it's a sim, so we must make it difficult so that the common folk don't enjoy it". Bullcrap!

I'll tell you, if I was new, and just ran across ROF? I'd be gone in a minute, I don't care how good the sim was! (Oh, I can just hear everyone saying, "Good, we don't want your type, anyway."

Bollacks!

*rant over, for now*

I have the X52 pro, and had no issues setting up my controls.

If the control input is difficult, you may want to look into setting up response curves - especially in the pitch area.

From your post though, I don't know what the actual problem is or where the difficulty lies.

Perhaps reading the beautiful manual: 2012 ROF User Manual would avoid such frustration

Jugs,

I'm sorry for your troubles, but our system really is no different than any other flight-sim. It's as accessible as any other title. I defy anyone to show me how it is any more complicated than anything else out there. When I compare it to FSX or DCS or IL-2 its all the same process. I suspect long time simmers who have not tried ROF are just so used to other sims menus that it takes them a little bit to get used to ours, but when you compare them, it's basically the same thing. All of these titles need some kind of setup before you can fly effectively. With all of the infinite control combos out there there is really no easy way to just install the sim and the game detects all your favorite controllers and sets it up for you. We expanded and re-vamped our control section at the request of our users several updates ago. I even made a video about it here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFUxCm9CIgg

I also suggest Requiem's video that I hired him to do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHTq4wmiCOk

Also as Laser mentioned you may want to read our updated User Manual.

We really have tried to improve our Controls section even though the core of it has not changed.

It should just take a few minutes to get setup and flying.

The only thing missing, that I would like to add is a programming tutorial that takes you through the setps one by one with voice over etc. There is only 1 sim out there that does this to any degree and it's not even that great. To say ROF's controls is any more complicatedor confusing or different than anything else out there really is not true.

So Jugs, I love you, but please watch the video I linked to and read the manual or do a little more trial and error. Just hit apply after each control change and you should be ok. Use Quick Mission to do short missions to test your changes. You can even make changes on the fly while IN the cockpit as well.

Jason

Keep at it Jugs.
I like my simple Cyborg stick for ROF.

Even though it's WWI, and I'm really a WWII buff - this sim is the best I've experienced.
Well worth getting set up.
It makes me not care that CloD which I purchased at full price hit with a wet thud and never recovered and
is more or less useless.

I have about $120 invested in RoF, and looking forward to further developments and spending more.

Jason, et al, yes, sorry for the rant, it's not all about ROF. CLoD is the same way, even Il-2 1946. I'm just getting too old and set in my ways, I guess. Grew up in the sim days when there were actual, physical "hold in your hand" manuals that could be cross referenced while flying/setting up a new flightsim.

Ah well, soon all us old timers will be gone, and no one will even know what a "manual" means.

"Back in my time, we had to physically turn the pages of the manual, and we LIKED IT!"

Yeah I miss the printed manuals too - and call me weird but I liked boxed versions of sims too.

Jugs,

It's all good. You can print the manual of course. Manuals are nice, but they are so expensive to print and put in a box. Maybe when sims would sell millions of copies it could be justified, but not for just a few thousand.

I've spent several thousand dollars having our manual made and translated. I hope people read it.

Jason

http://www.lulu.com/shop/eagle-dynamics/dcs-a-10c-warthog-manual/paperback/product-20469424.html

a post with 3 pictures of the A-10C manual: http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1586037&postcount=212

I was thinking back, not to long ago, at how nice it was to go to the mall and stop by electronic btq only to find a new flight sim that I didn't even know existed and make an impulse buy.

This happened a lot in the early 90's when new flight sims were a dime a dozen. It was nice to have a physical box and manual. Now everything is digital downloads and I can see why. Its far cheaper, better for the envirnment and you dont have to worry about scratched DVD's.

The last program I bought in a box with a manual, was Rise of Flight when it first came out. I remember the picture Jason posted pics of the warehouse with people packing boxes of ROF to ship for those who pre-orderd. That was the last time I bought a game with that new box smell! it was great!

Rob

P.S. remember the spiral bound manual that came with Falcon 4? That must have cost a pretty penny to print. I wish I still had mine.

The Warthog manual



...which is to say crappy monochrome, with no grey-scale. Though they also do a full-colour hardcover version for £134.98. On the other hand, it runs to 671 pages, so maybe it isn't that expensive after all. A manual for a RoF plane that went into that much detail would probably tell you how to build it, how to find the trees to build it from, and the names of all the insects that lived in the trees - and I mean the name of each insect, not just the species.

I think some sort of auto-setup routine is something developers should seriously look at.

A default set up for common hardware that auto-detects what you have and assigns basic controls to the available buttons/axis. Aerofly FS does this, it's a very nice feature imo.

So what exactly is your problem with setting up the stick for RoF?

Are you useing the profiler software? If so close it and start RoF and assign everything in game. That is what I do and unless you want to assign a TS key to a joystick button you really do not need the profiler software to run a X52 on winxp or higher.

I have Win7 with a X52 and it works perfectly fine.

I'd have to agree that ROF is no more difficult than any other sim. It IS different, with little commonality with previous sims in how it's done, and you need to spend some time to figure it out.

The relative lack of controls these WWI planes had compared to jets or even WWII props (no flaps, no gear, no trim) means there aren't many controls to map. So it actually takes less time that way.

If your issue is takeoffs, try some missions where you already start in the air first and try your basic aero moves to see how the planes work. After all this time I still have an occasional bad takeoff or landing.

Also, planes matter. Do NOT try and learn with the DrI!! Do not pick the Camel! SE5a, Spad XIII, DVII...those are better choices to learn the ropes.



The Jedi Master

I like the ROF setup and I am older than dirt and hate reading anything. The curve setup is wonderful, try it, just takes a little time but your joystick will be much happier (hmmm, that didn't sound right).

Li'lJugs,just so you know,you are not alone.I also found it frustrating when I first got ROF.
It must be our age I reckon.

I have a CH Products HOTAS and rudder setup I've used for flight sims for years. RoF was challenging to say the least. At default, it seemed every aircraft type was tail heavy, requiring considerable nose-down pitch for level flight. I fooled around with the response curves, mostly by trial and error, and finally reached a compromise that works for me. I say "compromise" because it definitely makes nose-down inputs a bit twitchy, but nose-up seems well balanced to me. I've been flying the Career Beta in a Camel for some time and having satisfactory results. You might want to import someone else's X52 profiles and see if they work any better for you.

Because you have not really defined what the problem is with your flying RoF and your X52 controllers....... my suggestion is: if the problem with your controllers is not button programming and IS not being able to fly the RoF planes because you have not messed with the Response Curves.............just select Easy Piloting and have fun until you are ready to move on to more complex stuff.
I learned to love RoF and my X52 Pro this way before moving on.
Hope this helps,
BadBud

.......or you could ask for X52 owners to post up their configs.

Personally I have found RoF fairly easy to set up curves for my sticks. We're lucky really to have that level of adjustment.
Those early sims were not really that complex I remember being able to take off in RB3D and EAW without even touching the stick. On my MSFFB Just give it a slight bit of back pressure, leave it there and push the throttle forward. Up they'd go.

RoF is a bit more complex than RB3d lol. Most planes you really need to nose in on take off to get your tail off the ground. Once you do that though your speed will increase and the plane will take off without a problem. If you just hold back on takeoff you will never get airborn in RoF.