Dual Shock

[sdfgeoff]

I've decided to try a different controller for Descent, seeing as I've been on keys only since I started.
I tried joystick, but the only one I could get my hands on was two axis, and not really that great.
I tried mouse, and that works OK, but I'm not sure it's quite what I wanted.
Recently I bought a USB dual-shock controller from a school fair. I tried it, and really liked it.
Seeing as their are threads on key, mouse and joystick settings for Descent, I am interested to see if there are any other people who use Dual-shock (or similar) and what their button settings are.

For simplicity of naming:

Not the exact controller I have, taken from wikipedia.

500px-Dualshock3_Layout.jpg (15.95 KiB) Viewed 790 times

My setup is:
Left Stick - strafe (forwards, backwards, left, right)
Right Stick - tilt (up, down) pan (left, right)
D-pad - strafe (up, down) bank (left, right)

L1 - Fire secondary
L2 - Drop Bomb
R1 - Fire Primary
R2 - Fire Flare (this one has a habit of getting stuck down on my controller.......)

Select - rear view
Start - map

Square - cycle primary
Circle - cycle Secondary
triangle - headlight
X - energy->shield

I don't have the stick buttons doing anything (pressing down on the stick)

The problem with this config is that the D-pad is hard to access when flying. This means that banking and strafe up/down tend to be left out, making descent play more like forsaken. Has anyone got a config for the dual-shock that has all the main flight controls accessible?

[carmatic]

left stick = lateral movement (slide vertical and horizontal) , push down = afterburner
right stick = pitch and heading, push down = flare
L1 , L2 = forward and backwards
R1 , R2 = primary and secondary fire
d-pad left and right = banking

those are the basics.... everything else is miscellaneous

it took me awhile to get used to it, like i was sliding up/down instead of going forwards/back for awhile, but when i got over that, i could breeze through the single player levels, if i wasnt moving so fast that i disorient myself
i set d-pad up and down depending on which game it is, on D2 up is automap, down is rear view , D3 up is use inventory, down is drop countermeasures

the face buttons , i use them in D2 to switch and drop mines, use the converter, and in D2X-XL enable the slow-mo ... in D3 i use them as next/previous inventory and countermeasures
my thumbs are almost constantly on the sticks , and the ergonomics isnt too good (my thumbs feel like they have suffered a sprain) since the playstation was originally the d-pad and face buttons only and the sticks are tacked-on, whereas the other controllers such as the n64, the xbox360 and dreamcast controllers have the analog sticks more intergrated

the difference is that i am using a Logitech Rumblepad 2 and it comes with a controller profile software, and i could assign one button as a 'shift' button ... so shift + primary fire = lasers, shift + secondary fire = gauss/vulcan/vauss , shift + forward = plasma, shift + backwards = spreadfire/flamethrower , etc etc, shift + flare = fusion/omega , etc etc....shift and the face buttons would select missiles... i assigned the shift button to the 'select' button, so the left joystick and the d-pad are not accessible for shifting because my left thumb would be holding that button down

[sdfgeoff]

I much prefer your setup to mine. Puts more the the flight controls ready at your fingers.

[carmatic]

the limitation of my config is that you can only fire primary OR secondary weapons, not both simultaneously, so things like shooting missiles while charging up the fusion cannon become impossible... unless your particular pad can be held properly with only 2 fingers in each hand, and still let your thumbs grip the sticks ...

[Thenior]

This seems like something the xbox controller would excel at.

[carmatic]

yes, the xbox360 controllers are much more comfortable to use the sticks on... but they only seem to sell the really expensive and marked up genuine controllers where i live, and all of the 3rd party controllers are still following the PS2 dualshock design... dunno if the other controller designs are copyrighted or what?

[Thenior]

Where do you live?

[sdfgeoff]

Of whom do you ask that question of?

[Thenior]

I was asking carmatic:

... but they only seem to sell the really expensive and marked up genuine controllers where i live...