BurntByHellfire

the more interesting thing for me is that this game represented a huge challenge.. granted, i still need to clean up the button releases when exiting a shoft mode so some buttons dont get stuck-on, and i still need to map 0-9 to the command mode and make sure i have the keys right where i want them, where id instinctively try to find them (such as the thumbstick click for crouch and prone due to how much battlefield 3 i played on console).. but the challenge was not just getting everything onto a controller, but getting everything onto the controller in a way that worked and made sense, so it was easier to remember.. also, some other things i need to do is im going to remove the blue-shift mode i dont need it, i was only going to use this to be able to zoom in or zoom out while holding the aiming button, but i think i could probably map this in another way and not requiring the use of a shift-mode.. for example, up/down arrow keys are mapped by default to the d-pad for navigating the menus, and the arrow keys have been removed for movement function, so i could probably map the left trigger to also hold some other button that when used in conjuction with one of those arrows (kinda like shift+A, ctrl+B) type thing would provide those functions so im still working on perfecting it.. and the developers at arma could certainly expand on this, or come up with something similar, possibly some kind of GUI wheel interface to pop up when one of those shift mode buttons are pressed.. you know, nothing that needs to be implemented for general gameplay, just as part of a controller scheme, or an interface feature that would need to be enabled so if they implemented the changes would never effect or be seen by those using a mouse/keyboard unless they specifically wanted that interface feature.. thats what im hoping could be added but.. atleast now i know since arma 3 can be fully mapped to a controller that there probably arent many games that CANT be mapped to it, which reinforced my decision to switch over to PC gaming.. obviously, i come from a console background beginning on the pre-NES atari era all the way up to the xbox 360 which i only stopped playing about 6 months ago when i build a gaming PC, and due to the time ive spent with consoles theres just no way i can comfortable get used to WASD keys, and even if i did, then i wouldnt be able to move as well, drive as well, or fly as well, and a tried a controller+mouse hybrid (with a single handed controller in the left hand) but this was too akward feeling and the mouse couldnt be implemented into profiling software also, im not sure how many people have sustained any kind of injuries to their hands, or have developed any kind of joint or muscle problems or any kind of carpal tunnel, but i cant use a keyboard for gaming anymore than about 5-10 minutes before my left hand feels like its on fire (long-term effects of injuries i sustain when both my hands were completely frozen on a ski trip),, so im hoping it could help someone else.. if you request the action .pin file for the profile, ill post it here in the forum for anyone to download

ive been working on a pinnacle profile for arma 3, and im just about finished with it.. but i did manage to map just about every control to arma.. im still ironing out some kinks, there are just a couple issues here and there with it, but its coming along quite nicely.. i need to add some button releases when exiting a shift mode, and finish mapping the 0-9 keys to the shift mode that contains all squad command related actions.. probably switch the grenade and squad command buttons around for better function.. but other than that im nearly done so id like to get some thoughts on this control scheme from people who use controllers to play this game, no controller user bashing, or mouse + keyboard elitist crap, just some thoughtful input from people who use them ive posted a photo that contains images of the all the mapped functions for review.. and im willing to post the pinnacle profile .pin file if anyones interested http://i40.tinypic.com/2po2urc.jpg (519 kB)

ive been thinking that it would be cool to be able to hold that reload button and have some kind of a wheel menu pop up to change weapons, fire mode, etc, you know, something visual and on-screen that you could use the thumbstick to select.. basically just a cleaner, better GUI represented version of what i did.. and for the the squad commands as well ---------- Post added at 15:29 ---------- Previous post was at 15:19 ---------- i made a feedback ticket on feedback.arma3.com.. heres a link to it below. i know most people here probably dont care either way whether the controller support is added or not, im not sure too many people use controller?.. but i expect the more childish people to vote it down because they have some kind of deluded hate towards anything that involves NOT using a keyboard.. so i expect to hear a lot of crap from it http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=15480

bear, i have all my weapon related keys bound to the reload button.. while holding the reload button the d-pad can be used to change weapons, select fire mode, tap the aim button to change options, tap the grenade button to change grenades all while holding the reload button.. releasing the reload button changes everything back to the normal layout.. and doube-tapping the reload button does the useless function of lowering/raising the weapon

well, i supported this game since the alpha, and ive been hoping theyd offer some common sense aspects to the control interface to the game, such as the ability to have omnidirectional movement.. for a military simulation, its pretty unrealistic when you can only move in one of 8 directions.. now i can understand this not being an issue for people who use WASD movement, but i do not, for the most part i play the game to the full effect without the use of a keyboard i know, im going to hear people complain about how i need something like 40 keys to play this game, 7 just for movement, 3 for crouching and standing, a button to lower a weapon, one to look around seperately from the gun, lowering the weapon but most of these functions just arent even remotely useful for actual gameplay.. i play the game just fine using a controller for my left hand for movement, and 6 button mouse in my right hand for aiming, shooting, etc.. however, i also dont mind playing full controller.. i didnt ask for much, i didnt ask for a scheme specifically for controller, i didnt ask for support of a specific controller... all i asked for is omnidirectional movement when mapped to an axis, the ability to adjust sensitivity when aiming down a sight seperately from general sensitivity, and the ability to map ALL controls for vehicles seperate from infantry controls.. for example, i see no controls for firing the weapon of a vehicle.. it just re-uses the button used to fire the weapon as infantry.. as infantry, i like the gun to fire when the trigger is pulled a longer distance than a quick tap.. if we're talking simulation here, doing this allows it to feel like pulling a real trigger.. however, not so useful in aircraft, as these axis' are better used for throttle control so through the alpha and beta i asked for: omnidirectional control support the ability to adjust aimed in sensitivity being able to map all functions to the vehicle seperately from infantry what i basically received was a "who gives a damn what you think" from the arma community

im creating a new pinnacle profile for this game, and using my PS3 controller.. this control scheme is much more intuitive than the one i had before which i was able to map everything to.. but this ones much, much better.. i kind of abandoned the idea on making it exactly battlefield-ish and went for just making it an all around better control scheme.. and im utilizing the d-pad a lot for certain things ill give an example.. i push the square button to reload.. just tap it, and you reload.. if i double tap the button, ill actually raise/lower the rifle, but if i hold the square button, while holding it, i can do all sorts of things weapon related.. up/down on the d-pad then becomes next/previous weapon, left and right toggle the pistol and grenade launcher, tapping the left trigger while holding square changes optics mode, and hitting the throw button changes the throw item while holding the square button... so basically all weapon-switching or tweaking is done essentially by that one square button, as this button has its own set to do all of that another thing i mapped is this.. when i push the left trigger, my aiming down the sight pops up, and once my trigger reaches full forward, temporary zoom comes up.. so i can zoom in at will simply by pushing this trigger in all the way vs only part of the way.. and while holding this button, the d-pad performs various functions relating to what you may need when aiming.. such as up/down being zoom in / zoom out i used to have it set up so holding the throw button would change the grenades as opposed to tapping it.. but this new method is a lot quicker... i also have crouch/prone/stand on one button and i essentially have all the weapon/view and most of the infantry controls mapped and havent even touched the X, O, or triangle buttons, nor the start, select, L1, and without pushing any of those behavior modifier buttons ill probably set up the d-pad to provide a 8 more functions, four for just tapping the button, four more for holding them (such as compass/watch), and the right bumper will probably take care of all the stance modifiers, lean, etc what ill probably do is set up the x-button for selection stuff.. tap the x button for the default select, hold the x-button and use the d-pad to navigate through possible things i can select (like facing a backpack and scrolling through whats inside) and then selecting the selected item by simply releasing the x-button.. cool thing is that ill be able to have this profile decrease zoomed-in sensitivity for me as well.. so ill be just fine with accuracy via controller in all i think once im done with this profile this is going to be a phenominal control scheme for this game.. so does arma need a mouse and keyboard?.. nope :D.. however, better thumbstick movement support or the ability to have a different control scheme for flying would be a big help.. mostly because id like to use the same flying control scheme i use for war thunder but ill have to make do for now.. (wonder why armas xinput control scheme couldnt be half this in depth?)

i didnt even know that about voice commands.. thats pretty cool, ill look that up.. i never play with an AI squad though.. i only play multiplayer with real people

nah, i dont need to disconnect my keyboard, it keeps disconnecting itself unless the cable is held in just the right position... im waiting for a new one i ordered.. and i do play arma without touching the keyboard.. have mapped everything thats even remotely usable.. for example, i didnt waste buttons by mapping pointless things like saluting, sitting down, lowering the rifle, etc.. besides basic moving and shooting and changing weapons, grenades, crouching/prone, etc, ive also mapped the compass, the watch, leaning left and right, and even the stance modifier parts.. i also used xpadder a lot so i can change to 3 different speeds with the thumbstick, added a set selector, while im holding the set button which is a bumper button i can still aim, shoot, and move.. have it set so i can lean over and walk while leaned too... so im really not missing anything im going to try the game the way someone above mentioned it.. with a controller (in my case, a PS3 navigation controller nunchuck thingie) with a mouse.. and i still want the ability to change sensitivity when zoomed in independantly.. and no, im not going to buy a mouse that changes resolution because its pretty dumb to have to push an extra button just to do something that should be done automatically

then tell me.. whats the keyboard offer that other devices dont?.. when people talk up mouse and keyboard they almost always use the mouse for their arguements.. so what does a keyboard provide that a controller with 17 buttons.. over 30 of them when you add a set selector button.. what does the keyboard provide.. a more comfortable layout?.. no, aah, maybe it provides a better means of movement?.. nope, not that either.. hmm, in arma, i actually use my left trigger for a variable zoom.. if i lightly push the trigger my sight comes up.. if i pull it down more itll actually zoom in depending on how far its pushed... im sure the keyboard can do that.. right?.. aah, no so really all you have in your arguement is the mouse, and there are better ways to get every single thing i just mentioned above, while still using a mouse for aiming

lets face it though.. games are only "mouse and keyboard" games because thats what they can be sure everyone with a PC has.. doesnt mean its necessarily the best, or that support for other interfaces shouldnt be added because it does cut out a huge market.. with steam box coming out soon and a pretty large number of people coming to PC from consoles, a better emphasis should be placed on some kind of better controller support so those coming from console can use what theyre comfortable with (im actually more accurate with a thumbstick than a mouse.. trust me, ive tried it both ways on the BF4 demo).. also, steam will put a big emphasis on controller as well as for the inverted axis thing.. in order for me to do that i had to delete the pre-configured scheme and reconfigure the controller from scratch.. its not hard, i have an xpadder profile made up to allow me to do pretty much everything anyone else playing arma can do.. even leaning and stance modifiers on my controller as well also.. im trying out a new interface for PC gaming.. its a bit of a hybrid to controller and mouse.. its basically mouse/nunchuck where the nunchuck will be a playstation navigation controller i ordered (usable with the motioninjoy driver).. this gives me a thumbstick, d-pad, 2 face buttons, a PS button, trigger, L1, and a clickable thumbstick giving me a total of 17 mappable functions, not including the analog axis' and double that with a set selector.. so itll be interesting to see how the nunchuck/mouse setup works just saying though youd be suprised of the number of people on PC that wouldnt mind a more relaxed way of playing (not at a desk), the number of PC games that will be hooked up to a living room television when steam box is release, and that the xbox 360 and playstation 3 will be obsolete soon and a very large portion of the people i played with on xbox have purchased the components to build a gaming PC as opposed to pre-ordering a new console... so the number of people that want to use a controller is going to be getting very big, very soon.. potential market of millions and if a few small configuration tweaks or UI tweaks to be enabled while a controller is being utilized is all it takes to cash in on a market, why wouldnt you do it?.. its not like you have to remove any current features or abilities.. just implement by default a real, legit, and usable control configuration like the one ive been working on

i just realized another problem... see, i couldnt use the xbox controller with armas control scheme.. i had to create a control scheme of my own because arma doesnt even allow you to invert the Y axis.. just the fact that you cant even so much as invert the axis shows me that the people at arma really couldnt care less about any reasonable support for controller and i think theyre alienating a pretty big market of people who dont want to be forced to sit at a desk to play their games

id be willing to help come up with a really good control scheme, much better than the one they have now for the xbox controller that would map pretty close to every function to the game when im done with it

something else not to be ignored is the upcoming steam box.. i used to be quite active in the xbox live community before switching to PC gaming just a few months ago, and many of the people i played with on there were keeping an eye on the steam box and wanting to buy that over a new console.. they specifically wanted the ability to play full PC games relaxed in their living room.. and those going full on PC gaming are simply a lot more comfortable with a controller... so theres going to be a huge influx of people, console oriented people flooding the PC gaming market soon when these new consoles are released

i think the issue with running in 8 directions is because it allows you to run in any direction while facing another.. in reality i can run towards something at any angle i choose while still facing it.. while i wouldnt somehow be running diagonal but straight, with my upper body turned to face whatever it is im looking at.. for example, when driving a tank in a game that tank can be driving in any direction of 360 degrees and anywhere in between with the turret facing your target... as you can turn your upper body independantly of your lower, running forward in more than just 3 directions could simulate this and maybe thats what youre character in the game should so, have the upper body twist a bit to face where youre pointing while the lower body runs whichever route you put them on but anyway.. when i set up vehicle controls i couldnt find an independant setting for firing the weapon.. for vehicle controls i prefer to use triggers for the throttle, and bumpers to fire the weapon.. though since i use a PS3 controller i could probably map the L1 and R1 to an axis of their own as theyre pressure sensitive buttons and use these for the throttle and brake.. or just map an axis to the X button (also pressure sensitive) anyway... to really aid controller support would require just a couple things.. omnidirectional movement to go with the varying levels of speed available with a thumbstick, but that last part is already in the game, so just omnidirectional support is needed... second thing that would help since we're more limited on the number of buttons we have would be to be able to come up with a completely independant (fire buttons included) scheme for infantry and the different types of vehicles (vehicle, helicopter, plane, submarine, etc).. and lastly something that would help a lot too is hands-free voice chat not requiring a button to speak.. i know you can double tap the talk key for hands free, but this leaves the mic on all the time and the fourth thing i mentioned benefits mouse people as well, and thats the ability to change the zoomed-in aim sensitivity seperate.. i cant imagine any of these features being all that difficult or requiring more than a small patch to implement

im not sure how i feel about seperate free look, if i see something i want to shoot at id like to already be pointed at it.. but i guess it might help if youre trying to not move so to not give yourself away... but free look doesnt necessarily mean it needs its own buttons.. id be more inclined to map a button to activate free look while its held down and just use a pre-existing axis.. more intuitive that way and im used to it im actually trying out something new for first person shooters.. i bought an inexpensive playstation navigation controller which is the device in the link below.. and with motioninjoy (a PS3 controller driver for PC) i can use this on PC and map a variet of functions to it.. combined with my 5 button mouse gives me a total of 17 mappable functions.. make one button a set activator button and its closer to 30 different functions that can be mapped.. and thats if i stick with a 5 button instead of an 8, 9, or even 12 button mouse.. so ill be having the navigation controller in my left hand giving me full omnidirectional movement in games that support it, and still being able to aim with the mouse with enough buttons to map arma 3 to... now if only arma 3 had support for omnidirectional movement id truly have the best of both worlds http://www.amazon.com/Playstation-Move-Navigation-Controller-3/dp/B002I0K6X6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380989265&sr=8-1&keywords=playstation+navigation

its really not that difficult to add omnidirectional support, or for that matter seperate ALL the controls of the vehicles and infantry so you can set up a different control scheme for each and it would make a HUGE difference in mapping controllers or other analog devices to the game.. and not only is it relatively simple to do, but does open the game up to a lot more people meaning more sales to them, because i enjoy sitting back on my bed or in a recliner and play PC games... and for those who still want the mouse, being able to map the game to something like the aimos XB would allow someone the ability to run omni-directionally while still using a mouse to aim.. lastly, being able to adjust the zoomed in sensitivity independantly of the overall sensitivity would aid mouse or controller users.. since have good eyes and a good screen i have less reliance on scopes and tend to take longer shots with the sights or a red dot, and whether i use a mouse or controller i like to have zoomed in sensitivity lower than average as for the aggressive nature, i tend to be that way when it comes to controller support as all i ever seen to get is an onslaught of mouse elitism, despite just finishing playing the battlefield 4 beta and doing incredibly well against mouse users (game sucks btw in my opinion).. id rather take a small hit on precision speed (i tend to ambush or sneak up to people anyway), and still be able to sit back and be more comfortable when i play the game.. besides, after about 20 minutes of WASD my left hand feels like its on fire due to having larger than average hands and carpal tunnel like symptoms brought on from having them both frozen solid on a ski trip

are you afraid of controllers or something?.. i mean, if your mouse and keyboard really is supreme, why worry about support for omnidirectional movement unless you feel like youd be left out.. if the keyboard was as perfect as you claim, then youd have nothing to worry about

i have the modifier key mapped just fine and i do have extra buttons i can map step over too, also have the lean mapped, and i sprint automatically when im in the full forward position, with a couple UI tweaks i can easily free up a few more buttons... so theres PLENTY of buttons on the 360 controller, anyone who says it cant be done simply doesnt know what theyre talking about as theyre most like the mouse/keyboard elitist type that gets offended on the thought of using a controller.. but thats their hangup.. ill continue stomping them online at their own games and sit back and be comfortable doing it... as for the mic simply have a hands-free feature that will automatically open voice communication when a certain threshold has been met in the volume of your microphone (talking), such as what they do on console games and it works quite fine, there really doesnt need to be a button for any game for this unless the game was made before 2000... the key to making the controller work very well would require xpadder, and with this you can set up advanced control schemes you just cant do in arma 3 itself.. for example, pull the left trigger a small distance and it brings up the aiming down the sight, pull it a bit further and you zoom... for the sake of making this more stable, and not have your zoom distance fluctuate whenever your finger slightly moves, with xpadder you can set up certain "zones" for different levels of zoom instead of using the d-pad left and right to lean as someone mentioned, i simply move the left thumbstick left and right while clicking it in.. xpadder allows you to press one button and while its pressed turn your entire controller into a different control scheme to access even more functions, so while holding the left bumper my left thumb stick then becomes a stance modifier, as the left bumper then brings up a list of less important functions... because the goal here is to have the majority of your moving, shooting, and general infantry work be easily accessible... as i seriously doubt you need to bring up the map or compass while someones literally shooting at you mapping these to the face buttons while that left trigger is pressed is quite easy as it essentially doubles your buttons/axis' i would just assume make the A button the button you need to step over objects, and for now while that left trigger is held it becomes the button to access something, allowing the d-pad to select the item i wish to select... of course, simple UI tweaks would eliminate the need of this entirely by allowing the A button to handle both functions by default based on whether or not im actually facing a container, and allowing me to click on a container AND THEN select specifically what i wish to access would make it a lot simpler, more intuitive, and easier to use so really, theres a LOT you can do with a combination of the games configuration settings and xpadder is a definite must to make this work, so to make the game itself natively gamepad friendly i would like to see them implement some of these features into the game control configurations themselves and make those few UI tweaks and i think with that they could easily build a default xbox 360 control scheme that wouldnt need to use the keyboard for ANYTHING.. unless of course you wanted to type a text message in which case theyll want a keyboard anyway im more than willing to help BI work on an intuitive default controller setup for this game that wont leave anything out and be simple and easy to use, having virtually no learning curve of the control scheme for people that use controllers on other FPS games but ive done about all i can do on my end, its all up to them to make those tweaks to the UI to make it more controller friendly, and expanding the customizability of the controls lastly, im also working on using a one-handed controller for my left hand that will include an analog thumbstick, analog trigger, bumper, a few face buttons and a D-pad to use with a mouse to have the comfort and intuitiveness of the controller with the precision of the mouse

listen... im tired of hearing this "arma was never designed for a controller and its impossible to do everything with a controller" crap... because its a false statement, people who say this have never tried to map a controller properly, and ive been able to map EVERYTHING to the controller in a very intuitive way leaving nothing out, so its a lie passed around by people that underestimate what a controller is capable of doing... heck you eliminate 5 buttons by using a single thumbstick for movement alone, the analog triggers can be used to map a few optics related buttons, and most of the keys are duplicates or not necessary when analog comes into play in short... yes, ive mapped EVERYTHING to the controller, the only issues i have relating to it are UI related and i cant imagine BI wouldnt make a few UI and control tweaks to make it 100% controller friendly because theyre really going to be alienated a lot of people if they dont... since its only a few minor tweaks that would be necessary to make this 100% controller compatible, ill simply not play arma unless those modifications are made, theyd lose me as a customer and many other people i know especially since i know for a fact it CAN be completely mapped to a controller and you know... as much as these mouse/keyboard guys try to convince others it cant be despite never having tried to do it themselves, im wondering who theyre trying to convince a keyboard absolutely must be used, me? or themselves?

well, ive been mapping my 360 controller to arma, and luckily they allow me to do this, i could even map my right thumbstick to aim the weapon in a way it would allow me to inverse the axis.. no problem here either, but mapping my thumbstick to a mouse and then using the mouse in the game just works out smoother when using a controller i used xpadder to add a little bit more control with the mapping on certain things.. for example, arma 3 lets me use my left thumbstick for moving at varying speeds depending on how far im pushing the thumbstick, and one thing i used xpadder to do was to auto-sprint when my thumbstick reaches the full forward position so i didnt need a seperate button for this what else i was able to do is map the lean side-to-side function to the controller as well by holding the left thumbstick clicked in i can then tilt the thumbstick side to side a small distance to lean, and a bit further to walk sideways while leaning.. what else i mapped in with xpadder is being able to zoom in with the left trigger pulled a small distance, and then bring up the optics when its pulled further... another thing i needed xpadder for was crouching and standing up, kind of annoying i couldnt use the same button to stand up as i used to crouch... so what i added was a timer to xpadder so if i tap the B button, ill stand, if i hold it for just a split second ill crouch, and if i hold it just a tad longer ill go prone... i also mapped the stand up button to be pressed the same time the sprint is initiated so ill automatically stand up when i wish to run... and lastly with i did with xpadder is when i hold the left bumper i can inch my way up or sideways to look over the top of something there are some issues that could be addressed though, but this would have to come from the developer end of this game, and that would be allowing the crouch and stand to be a simple tap of the button and prone occur with just a moment of holding it, certain interface tweaks would help with using a controller, for example when i hit the A button to open a bag, for now i use up/down on the d-pad to select what id like to click on first... having some sort of context priority or specifically which part of a vehicle im looking at to determine which seat i get into or what i access would be a big help, or being able to click on something with multiple options first, and then having a selection come up i can simply use the thumbstick to select with of course.. the UI for looking at the inventory or pulling up the map/gps could be good too, using the left thumbstick to move around the map would be very helpful... i still havent mapped out what the other buttons on the D pad do yet, and with some of these tweaks the d-pad in soldier mode could be used to bring up other less important functions to the controller, like holding one direction on the d-pad which would then allow me to use my thumbstick to look around if im prone with a sniper rifle and dont actually want to move my body to look somewhere else (so less likely to be seen) the final issue im having which im sure could easily be fixed is the fact that some of the infantry controls interfere with vehicle controls, i mean.. certain control schemes id like to have in a vehicle mess up control schemes set for a soldier... when driving a vehicle, id like to be able to use the triggers to move forward and back, or if i try to map the ability to look around with the thumbstick itll take away my ability to aim the rifle as infantry.. but i could map this to the relatively unused d-pad anyway --- i understand some of these may have already been fixed in various patches, if they are then ignore this, but what im trying to do is make this game much, much more controller friendly because there are a people that are a bit more casual and would prefer to sit back in a chair and play, or people who have issues with mouse + keyboard... for example i have hands that are quite large, that ive also sustained damage to when i was younger which makes keyboards the most incredibly uncomfortable thing i could ever use... i have no issues with the mouse, in fact id be willing to use one if i could still use my controller for the left hand which is completely mappable with some of these ideas ive mentioned plus a mouse with a few extra buttons for a mouse/controller type hybrid setup