Mouse Steering - We Want It

[CornetPlayer]

I played over 400 hours FS2013 in Oct/Nov/Dec 2012 and I did not know what mouse steering was. I've been playing a lot of ETS2 (beta tester for SCS) and ArmA2 where mouse-steering is the preferred method, other than steering wheel such as Logitech G27.

Yesterday, I returned to FS2013 vers 1.4. I have been spoiled. I instinctively try to steer with the mouse because A-key/D-key is so crude and imprecise. Using keys to steer feels poorly executed now.

I suggest the ETS2 model. That is, use mouse-left and mouse-right to steer. Use mouse right-button-hold and mouse movement (right, left, up, down) to free-look.

[NickelPlate]

Hey Cornet,

I suggested this awhile back too. I've been playing ETS2 also since release, great sim by the way and the mouse steering with button hold down works really well. But I eventually went the dark side and bought an Xbox 360 compatible controller for ETS2 mainly and after getting used to it I love it. It works surprisingly well for FS13 also. It's a less expensive alternative to a bulky wheel and pedals. But sometimes I still just am too lazy to grab the controller for steering operations and would like to see mouse steering for FS13.

NP

[CornetPlayer]

Hey NP,

Glad to see you're still here. I was wondering how many of the old bunch would still be around the forum. Having played ETS2, I figured out where you got your previous avatar for this forum. He's one of my many drivers.

I've thought about getting an Xbox controller for ETS2 and FS2013. Given your recommendation, I may have to invest.

Looks like Giants did a lot of nice work in vers 1.4, especially AI. It appears the hired workers can actually work around the trees, instead of getting stuck or actually climbing the trees. Remember what fun we had in vers 1.3 with this?

[NickelPlate]

Haha can't believe you remember that avatar! Agreed 1.4 is a nice improvement. My biggest gripe early on was performance problems on high end hardware. It still isn't 100% fixed but it's much better now and doesn't stutter horribly every 30 seconds like it used to. And someone finally did a harvester mod worthy of a professional, which IMHO was the most sorely lacking thing in the game, the Terratrac 770 on the mods page. If you haven't already checked it out I highly recommend it .

http://www.farming-simulator.com/mod.ph ... mod_id=163

[CornetPlayer]

I'll checkout the TerraTrac. I'm currently using a Lexion 770 mod that I downloaded last October. It's worked well. It may be this one. If not, I'll try the TerraTrac.

[Haart]

Mouse steer would be good as an option.

It works well as long as it is done smoothly.

It works well in Euro Truck Sim 2

[Stegei]

I totally see the advantage of a mouse based steering. The thing is, that we also use mouse gestures to control the front loader and other tools, while both Arma 3 and ETS2 don't need that.
How would you solve this conflict? One solution I see is that we use a keyboard key to enable camera control. Or you could also map this to the mouse buttons 4 or 5 if your mouse has one.
I think the mouse gestures for the front loader works pretty well, so I don't think we should change that. And disabling the mouse gestures for the front loader when you enable mouse steering, probably isn't an acceptable solution.

[CornetPlayer]

To handle front-end loader mouse movements, simply add a ctrl-, shift-, or alt- to the mouse command. That is, without the key, the mouse would steer. With ALT plus mouse movement, the front-end loader arm commands would be executed.

[elgranjerou]

I have not tried mouse based steering in ETS2, but I choose to control the camera with the mouse rather than the steering. I'm a PC user and I lose my patience when I have to move the camera with keys or sticks. An option to choose between different steering setups like in ETS2 would be nice.

[CornetPlayer]

I have not tried mouse based steering in ETS2, but I choose to control the camera with the mouse rather than the steering. I'm a PC user and I lose my patience when I have to move the camera with keys or sticks. An option to choose between different steering setups like in ETS2 would be nice.

I am a PC user as well. Mouse steering in ETS2 is much more precise than keys. The same would apply to FS2013. In ETS2, my mouse left button is the standard in-cabin front view. Another button is the "upper right", which allows me to view the right-side mirror, front mirror, right-side mirror that points straight down, and (very importantly) the lane I'm in, so I can continue to steer safely. After quickly viewing this view, I left-click to face forward again. Also, the default to move the camera is mouse right-click-and-hold.

When making a turn, I right-click-hold and point in the direction of turn. Release the right-button and begin to steer into the turn with the mouse. Right-click-hold to continue to view my "target"; the truck wheels are still in the direction of the turn, so the truck continues to turn (while still holding the right button), and I move the camera to continue to point at the target. When I've completed the turn, I left-click to snap the view to the front view. Takes a little coordination, but it works quite well after a little practice.

Bottom line, you don't need to move the camera with keys.