Thinkpads Forum

Hi,

Can I use the TrackPoint as a joystick input in games? (I tried to play a flight simulator game, and I chose to allow keyboard and mouse input, but when I used the TrackPoint it acted as if it was a mouse and not a joystick, i.e. when I left the TrackPoint things didn't get back to center, but kept moving as if I am pointing at some unknown point)

I don't know if it's possible. But do you want to? I can't imagine how painful my finger will get if I were to game with the trackpoint.

sugo: "But do you want to?"
Me: "Duh!"

Get a joystick.
Addressing the Trackpoint as a joystick would be like addressing your common mouse as a joystick. So no.

For me at least, TrackPoint doesn't work all that well in most games, except for turn based strategy, where aiming isn't necessary.

It is quite annoying that I asked if one thing is possible, and instead of answers I get comments that what I want wouldn't be good anyway so why bother, from people with no experience. Well, I don't really want to go into that debate - if it would be good or not - but just to let you know, you already use the TrackPoint as a joystick. That is how you move the "mouse" cursor on the screen. You point up - it goes up. You point down - it goes down. No one complained. A joystick works the same way: You point up - it goes up. You point down - it goes down. I think that the way that it works for moving the mouse cursor, is going to be just fine for flight simulators and other games that are designed for a joystick control. To better define the problem: The problem with the TrackPoint now in the game that I tried is that it doesn't go up when I point up, and down when I point down, but seems to instead move the "mouse cursor" to some point, and the airplane is affected only by the PLACE where this "mouse cursor" is, and not by the way that that "mouse cursor" is moving. I expect the airplane to move like the mouse cursor moves, and not by the place where the mouse cursor IS. BTW the "mouse cursor" is invisible, so I can't even know where it is.

My point exactly. I didn't write my post to rant.

The individual game/application would have to support this kind of feature, and I have never played any game that does. But if would propably be a good feature if supported.

Torque: If there is a joystick driver that gets its input from the TrackPoint this would look to the software like a real joystick, and hence no special attention would be required from the software. The question is if there is such a driver. This reminds me, the TrackPad can also be treated as a joystick, say it's center is (0,0) and I would touch point (x,y) it could interpret it as if I moved the joystick stick to point (x,y). If both TrackPoint and TrackPad can be had, one would be able to practice flying a four channel remote controlled airplane, which in reality is controlled by a remote control that has two joysticks on it.

the real killer app, would be using the laptop itself as a joystick (since the active HDD protection detects tilt)

blackomegax wrote:the real killer app, would be using the laptop itself as a joystick (since the active HDD protection detects tilt)

I just had the most insane mental image of me rattling a thinkpad all over the place playing Freespace. I'm pretty sure even an IBM couldn't survive that!

i've already thought of that, broke a joystick back in the day playing freespace 2
be neat to show off though

Well, the original Red Baron could use the mouse in a special mode. This mode meant that when you moved the mouse, the plane reacted as if you were pushing the joystick in that direction. When you weren't moving the joystick, the plane reacted as if you weren't touching the joystick.

Therefore, Red Baron was a VERY fun game on my Toshiba Satellite Pro 405CS, which has an AccuPoint (Toshiba's knockoff of a TrackPoint) - until I wore through the little rubber cap trying to manhandle the plane

Also, I'd think that your average FPS with mouselook would be good on a TrackPoint (or equivalent), seeing as the mouselook behaves in a similar manner - you don't have to center the mouse to stop mouselooking. It'd certainly be better than on a touchpad, that's for sure (just try it. It's not pretty.)

blackomegax wrote:the real killer app, would be using the laptop itself as a joystick (since the active HDD protection detects tilt)

Actually, I seem to recall reading a mod that uses the accelerometer in Powerbook as inputs to other software. There were some cool tricks to it. Let me see if I can still dig it out...

It's a wonder I haven't seen any powerbook users madly shaking their beloved powerbooks

http://wired-vig.wired.com/news/mac/0,2 ... 36,00.html

http://www.kernelthread.com/software/ams/

http://interconnected.org/home/2005/03/ ... _powerbook

http://www.balooba.se/baloobasoftware/index.html

If someone is still interested have a look here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=85831

TrackPoint is great for panning in flight sims - you have right hand on the joystick, flying the plane and your left hand on keyboard for various engine and weapon commands and use trackpoint for panning view.