Joystick has become unusable after a recent patch due to changes in the option values

Joystick support has never really been the highlight of this game, but before one of the recent patches (either GU7 or GU8 I can't recall exactly :/ ) it was possible to make it work.

Here's the gist: There are two values in the options for joysticks. Those are Joystick sensitivity and Joystick deadzone.

Joystick sensitivity determines how much joystick movement corresponds to how much ingame movement, while joystick deadzone determines the amount of joystick movement required for it to register as an event.

In the options those two settings have the following possible ranges:
Joystick sensitivity: 1.00 ... 1.50
Joystick deadzone: 0.05 ... 0.30

Now here's the deal. Both those settings have min values that are WAY over the range of optimal values. That means that both sensitivity and deadzone were too high even with them both put to min in the settings. That makes it impossible to aim accurately with the joystick as the sights will jump repeatedly over the target due to the high values.

Before that was fixable, because both those values are available in the UserOptions.ini settings file that resides in the planetside 2 folder, where the game allowed values that weren't inside the UI allowed range. After some trial and error, I found my sweet spots somewhere around sensitivity being 0.60 and deadzone 0.01. Notice that those are a lot lower then the min values in the settings UI. The game however accepted those values and it was possible to play well with a joystick.

Now that ended with one of these recent patches. What happened now is that when starting the game, the values in the ini file are checked and if they are out of range for allowed values, they are forced back into the range. For me it meant that my sensitivity was back at 1.00 and my deadzone back at 0.05 with no way left of lowering them. Tried setting the ini file read-only as well to forbid the game from changing it but the settings still get reset ingame.

I've tried using the software that came with the joystick to work around the problem and configure the values lower from outside the game but while sensitivity can be lowered, it's not really possible to compensate for the ingame deadzone. All in all that means that I haven't been flying almost at all since the changes. It's impossible to aim accurately and vehicle control is twitchy.

If there's a workaround that might help me, please let me know. Would be a lot more sensible to fix it ingame though, and that would require just a couple of line changes in the code. The ranges for the values could be expanded to be 0.00 ... 1.50 for the sensitivity and 0.00 ... 0.30 for the deadzone. Those values are already well possible in the game, just not allowed for anymore.

I really really hope, that this post reaches someone in SOE who has a hand in dealing with the controls system. Would be great if you'd let us know by posting here as well but a silent fix would be welcome as well.

This really is a bug that has a really good time invested/value for fixing.

Thank you.

Nice post !
We have been promised better joystick support since beta, and it looks like its an easy fix.
I used to use the same values in my ini too except mine was 0.55
Luckily i use a logitech duel action joypad and it allows you too map a stick to mouse movement instead
I dont understand why they changed the ini settings though ? Perhaps a Dev could explain ?

Bumping at a SOE friendly time.

Going to keep bumping it until someone concerned takes notice.

I don`t think your allowed to bump so you may get a response off a mod
I think we might be better off posting on twitter .
That seems to be the official sony website now anyway

Pretty much.

You're correct that SOE community guidelines discourage plain bumping but I'd hope that in this case the positives of the issue reaching the right developer overweight the forum users' inconvinience of having to see the same thread title among new posts multiple times. If an admin disagrees however, let me know and I'll stop immediately.

I've tweeted a small description + reference to this thread to Margaret Krohn (@PurrfectStorm), who I understand is supposed to be one of the main links between the community and the developers. Didn't receive a reply though.

I'm not too sure if me keeping to retweet that to the devs would change anything. Perhaps it would be better if different people did that so it's clear that it's not a problem impacting just a single user.

Still no notice from devs either here or on twitter. Bumping.

Bump.

Hat switch is also still broken
You can bind it but it only works once then stops working
I use mouse free look button in conjunction with my stick that`s mapped to mouse instead but its a PITA cos u loose stick control when looking around
This has been like this since beta as well.

This whole thread +1 . Better sensitivity and deadzone control, and hat button fix.

A game with aircraft should put some priority on joystick support.

I am taking such a beating as Infantry or Vehicles and looking to Aircraft to improve my game play. However, I am having such a difficult time learning to fly with the use of the keyboard and mouse that I was considering investing in a Joystick but after reading this posting that appears to be a lost cause as well. This could explain WHY so few members FLY in PlanetSide 2?

Glad to see I'm not the only once affected by this.

Since I haven't had any luck getting hang of devs on twitter, I sent a PM to Luperza, perhaps she can help out.

Add me to the list of disgruntled joystick users. Flying with M+KB is horrible. I'm surprised anyone does it. The lack of accurate yaw control is extremely frustrating.

I generally set my joystick sensitivity in game to the lowest possible setting and then adjust it down again in my joystick's software.

Still, I have a massive deadzone which makes it extremely difficult to make small adjustments quickly. I'm always going over/under/over/under a few times.

That being said, flying with a joystick makes high deflection shots so much easier than with mouse as I never run out of mouse pad or have to pick up and drop my mouse.

I got a reply to the PM I sent Luperza:

Glad to know that right people have been contacted. Now all we can do is keep our fingers crossed.

Many kudos to our Community Relations Representative for living up to her title .

Sorry... do you really fly the bumber cars called ESFs with a joystick? They don't even have a flight dynamic. It's all just a huge mechanical Light Assault with endless jetpack. Libs and Gals might actually feel like planes, but ESFs are really made around M+KB. Look at the crazy maneuvres. Kudos to you if you can do that with a joystick and throttle.

I did, before the patch. Felt like a well-controllable air vechicle and I was pretty good at flying it. Right now I only use ESFs for quick one-way transport.

My favorite thing about using the joystick was; I never accidentally hit e instead of r to reload.
I set a button on the stick for reloading but left enter/exit vehicle safely on the keyboard.

Give us more control over sensitivity and deadzone and fix the hat button problem, and I personally would fly with the stick exclusively. I like the immersion factor of getting into an aircraft and grabbing the stick. I just feel more like im flying. I fly in first person for the same reason, so being able to look around with my hat button properly would make me enjoy flying a lot more.

If this thread really has reached the devs who work on controls, would be nice to get some feedback from you. Is this an easy fix or are thing more complicated then it has seemed to us? Is there anything specific that's holding up the fix?

Was kind of hoping to see it addressed already in GU11, as the whole update was focused on improving and fixing what existed instead of adding new features, but didn't get that lucky. Any words on the joystick maybe getting some love for GU12?

Would mean a lot just hearing that someone's working on it.