Using a Joystick With VRSG

Joysticks are not generally used in VRSG, except in the following cases:

• Flying around the terrain database in fixed-wing mode; press F11 on your keyboard to activate fixed wing mode.

• Controlling a simulated UAV camera in UAV View (slave) mode, which enables you to attach to a DIS entity that supplies the UAV airframe telemetry. In this mode, VRSG uses an internal sensor payload model, which requires an attached joystick to pan and zoom the camera.

• Creating a dismounted character to walk about the database (as described below).

VRSG works with any 8-button 6DOF input device for which the vendor provides a Windows Joystick driver, such as the Logitech® Extreme™ 3D Pro.

Using a joystick with First Person Simulator

Using a joystick with First Person Simulator (FPS) entails making use of the axes, and using the joystick buttons for various functions. The example below shows the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick, which has sufficient axes and buttons for accessing all FPS features.

Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick; the numbers correspond to button functions described below.

• Button 1 fires a round of the currently selected weapon. For most joysticks, button 1 is the trigger located on the grip handle.
• Button 2 cycles between the set of available firing modes: Safe, Single Shot, and Semi-Automatic.
• Button 3 increases the entity's posture toward an upright position.
• Button 4 increases the entity’s posture toward a prone position.
• Button 5 reloads the currently selected gun with another clip of ammunition.
• Button 6 toggles the viewing mode. FPS is initialized in a third-person mode where the eye point is behind the simulated character. Pressing button 6 cycles first-person and gun-view modes.
• Button 7 has three modes; the current mode depends on a state selected with Button 8. Possible Button 7 actions include:
  • Turning the flashlight on and off.
  • Forward assist which helps the character traverse though obstacles, or releases the character if it is stuck in a certain place in the database.
  • Selecting the current weapon.
• You press Button 8 multiple times to reach the intended mode for Button 7. Pressing Button 8 a single time displays the current status in the lower-right portion of the screen. The items displayed are the currently selected weapon, number of rounds remaining in the clip as well as the total remaining rounds, the current firing mode (Safe, Single Shot, or Semi-Automatic), and the current mode of Button 7.

You can change the vertical viewing angle with the point-of-view switch located on the top of the joystick handle. Pressing forward pitches the viewing angle downward. Pulling backward pitches the viewing angle upward. Pressing the POV switch to either side returns the viewing angle to the neutral position. The sensitivity of the change in viewing angle is selected by the position of the throttle wheel on the joystick base.