Mouse flying: how do you handle freelook?

[tolpogulisEXTRA 1]

So I like flying helis & planes with the mouse for pitch/roll but combining this with freelook seems really hard. I can hold alt to look around, but then I lose all control of whatever Im flying. I cant for example look down when Im trying to land on a tiny rooftop or look behind me while I break away to see if my bombing run hit its target. I think my ideal solution would be having freelook lock wherever it is when I let go of alt (ie, I hold alt and swing mouse left, let go of alt, now I can fly while my guy keeps looking left). I cant find any options for doing that though. The closest Ive come is the look keys bound to numpad by default, but these are inconsistent and weird. Numpad 2&8 (look down/up) work well in that they pitch your view up or down and hold it there when you let go of the key, but numpad 4&6 (look left/right) automatically center your view whenever you let go of the button. I dont really understand why, but if I could get left/right to behave like up/down this might work, but again I dont know how to do that. How do other mouse pilots handle freelook?

[[frl]myke 14]

Best i can advice: TrackIR. I can't play ArmA 2 without anymore, even infantry. ;)

For a less expensive solution, search for Freetrack in this forum.

[chrisb 196]

I have freelook assigned to one of the side buttons on my mouse, click it once your in freelook, click it again and your back to normal view.

Keep flying and looking around, no problems. I have a Nostromo for my left hand, so can keep fly using that whilst looking around..

Edited August 12, 2012 by ChrisB

[celery 8]

I do it by pressing alt and temporarily switching to keyboard controls. It just takes practice.

[tolpogulisEXTRA 1]

Dont see myself buying trackIR anytime soon because this is the only sim I own and Im not heavily invested in it (yet). But the using keys to fly while looking is a pretty clever idea. I think I can make that work, thanks!

[BasileyOne 10]

my mouse had [easily controllable]7 buttons, ready 2 be pressed anytime.

so basically "freelook" was assigned to "mouse 5" key nearly instanteous, aswell as "zoom-in", action, evasion and some other feats/shortcuts[surely most players had quite inviidual preferences here, but thats why hardware-issued oportunities are essential].

[On_Sabbatical 11]

I do it by pressing alt and temporarily switching to keyboard controls. It just takes practice.

This, TrackIR or Freetrack for DCS or Lockon :D

[thecoolsideofthepillow 22]

I have thumb buttons on my mouse; I use one of those to activate freelook and double tapping it toggles freelook.

But I don't even fly with the mouse; I have a joystick :)

[BasileyOne 10]

I have thumb buttons on my mouse; I use one of those to activate freelook and double tapping it toggles freelook.

But I don't even fly with the mouse; I have a joystick :)

two mouses with free-look was >> one joystick setup :P

[Iroquois Pliskin 0]

Quite easy, if you use the WSAD along with the mouse to control the aircraft, but It does take skill mastering each aircraft's inertia, as you temporarily disengage controls to look around. In combat, I usually set the aircraft on a desired trajectory and do quick ALTlook-then-snapback overviews - lots of micromanaging.

---------- Post added at 10:43 ---------- Previous post was at 10:40 ----------

This, TrackIR or Freetrack for DCS or Lockon :D

nabs fly with TIR, eh, Qaz? ;)

[PELHAM 10]

Forget it - buy a joystick and set the views to the hat switch with up and down on Zoom in / out. Also have a button set to fire flares. Using that method I very rarely crash and usually survive missiles. Trying to juggle keys and mice + trying to find R key in .25 of a second = death for all.

[doveman 7]

I use a button on my joystick (Thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas X) to toggle freelook. I also have the hat mapped to the mouse when holding the trigger (using Xpadder), so that allows me to look around in freelook mode. When freelook is disabled and I'm not holding the trigger, the hat is mapped to snap view left/right for a quick look either side.