Mouselook speed in Descent 1

[jonboy99]

Hi guys,
I've got some clues to this one from searching, but wanted to make sure it was nothing to do with my setup.

I've been digging through my old games collection, and fired up Descent 1 after about 20 years, and trying to get to grips with the controls again. I've found that mouselook seems slow - even with sensitivity turned to max in the menu, it is still slower rotating than the keyboard controls. There's a lot of picking the mouse up.

Was this how it was meant to be? If so I'm happy to stick with keyboard controls even though it'll take longer to get my aiming down. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't something to do with my current computer setup. I've not interest in 'cheating' with hacks, looking for a fairly authentic experience.

I'm using Dosbox, just because it was already setup up, and gives me a chance to use Powermenu again, 20 years later.

Appreciate the time
Jon

[Krom]

It might be a Dosbox problem instead of a Descent problem, I'd look over the dosbox config on how it is handling mouse input.

If you want an authentic experience you can still get pretty close with d1x-rebirth, a couple graphical toggles will put it really close to the DOS version (less some framerate dependencies) and it just works natively in windows.

[jonboy99]

Will do, thanks. I'm on a linux machine at the moment so looks like i've got a bit of building to do!

[AlexanderBorisov]

I'd try dxx-rebirth too, original DOS version has problems with mouse controls... In general, you should learn to turn the mouse steadily, as there is rotation speed cap in Descent, and faster mouse movement just has no effect which is a bit counterintuitive...

[jonboy99]

I'd try dxx-rebirth too, original DOS version has problems with mouse controls... In general, you should learn to turn the mouse steadily, as there is rotation speed cap in Descent, and faster mouse movement just has no effect which is a bit counterintuitive...

Ah, both of those things explain what's going on - I found some mentions of a cap elsewhere on the forum, but that confirms it. I'm going to do some experimenting and decide whether to stick with limited mouse speed or go all keyboard. Thanks a lot!

[AlexanderBorisov]

Anyway I prefer mouse, gives better aim and control, and with some practice you can learn to rotate the ship as quickly as with the keyboard - of course, if you have no bugs with mouse or game port . You can practice a bit and see how many turns you can do with mouse and kbd in given number of seconds... Only problem with the mouse is that you should raise it off the pad sometimes - if you keep turning to the same side.

[Krom]

Some of the strongest players I've ever played with used a mouse, it definitely works well for many people.
I started out KB only, then trained myself on KB+Joystick and it helped me improve dramatically.

[jonboy99]

Hmm, I could dig out the joystick. Is the max rotation speed with a stick the same as with the keyboard?

[AlexanderBorisov]

Did not tried it (never had a stick), should be the same speed, it has the advantage that you can fly better but some people say aiming is more accurate with the mouse... Worth trying anyway.

[jonboy99]

Aargh, realised/remembered that my very dusty CH fighterstick has no rudder function. Will be sticking with mouse and keyboard for now! Appreciate all the pointers everyone.

[Sirius]

If mouse is slower than keyboard, something's broken; it should not be. The maximum turning speed is supposed to be the same for all input methods.

That said, I've seen mouse being slow in DOSBox as well. I haven't tinkered enough to figure out whether it's fixable.

[Alter-Fox]

If you've got the GOG version of the game there should be a configuration app for Dosbox somewhere in there (if you got it recently you might be able to find it through GOG Galaxy). There's a way to play with mouse settings in there and I managed to get the mouse working very well even though I usually play through one of the sourceports.
Keep in mind the ship turning speed has a limit, it won't be able to turn as fast as you can move the mouse. Might take some practice to be able to match the speed at which you move the mouse to the ship's max turning rate.