Help with mouse look

[eziocin]

I need help in understanding Mouse look behaviour. I am using FSUIPC 4.858 and I have the mouselook enabled in Miscellaneous. I also have Opus as Camera view software. I have created a series of VC views (Cpt, overhead, radios, etc...) which are associated with an assigned key press.

Now, as long as I use mouse look to pan in one view, it is working quite well, but when I switch to a different view and I press the mouse wheel to start again panning, the mouse cursor (and then also the eyepoint) resets to the last position it had in previous view. Ideally I would prefer "to point" with the mouse cursor at the area around which I want to pan, then press the mouse wheel and start panning from there. Indeed what I have actually is that the "centre" of the panning is located in the last position of the mouse cursor in the previous view, which is extremely annoying. Am I missing something or is this behaviour normal ?

I have no Space bar or any key in FSX controls associated with any view function.

Thanks

Jackson

[Pete Dowson]

Now, as long as I use mouse look to pan in one view, it is working quite well, but when I switch to a different view and I press the mouse wheel to start again panning, the mouse cursor (and then also the eyepoint) resets to the last position it had in previous view. Ideally I would prefer "to point" with the mouse cursor at the area around which I want to pan, then press the mouse wheel and start panning from there. Indeed what I have actually is that the "centre" of the panning is located in the last position of the mouse cursor in the previous view, which is extremely annoying. Am I missing something or is this behaviour normal ?

I don't really know. FSUIPC simply interfaces to the FS mouse look option. Does the FS implementation do the same thing? Maybe it is related to "Opus as Camera view software"?

Pete

[eziocin]

Pete,

thank you for your quick answer. The problem is not related to Opus Camera: if I start FSX and don't start Opus, the problem is still there. Every time I press the mouse wheel to pan, the mouse cursour goes back to the last position in which it was before the mouse wheel was previously released. Let me explain better as I understand I may not have made my point clear enough (English is not my mother language...apologise..!). Let's say I am in VC default view, looking forward with the mouse cursor exactly in the middle of the screen....I want to look right, so I press the mouse wheel and pan right using the mouse, then I release the mouse wheel and stop panning...at this time I am looking at the right hand side of the VC and the mouse cursor is pointing at what I looking ....then I move the mouse cursor (without pressing the wheel) in another part of the screen, because, say, I need to turn a knob or select a switch which is not exactly where I am looking at but still within the field of view..so now the position of the mouse cursor in the screen has changed....now (and here is the point I am talking about) if I press again the mouse wheel, the mouse cursor goes immediately back to the position were it was when I previously released the wheel. Now, if this is not a problem using always the same camera view, when you switch among different camera views it is extremely annoying because it resets the view point to a position that was a part of the previous camera and not the actual. Hope I have better clarified. I'd like to know if this is the normal behaviour of the mouse look function (by the way it did not happen using Ezdok Camera).

Thanks in advance for your time...

Regards

[Pete Dowson]

Pete,

thank you for your quick answer. The problem is not related to Opus Camera: if I start FSX and don't start Opus, the problem is still there. Every time I press the mouse wheel to pan, the mouse cursour goes back to the last position in which it was before the mouse wheel was previously released. Let me explain better as I understand I may not have made my point clear enough (English is not my mother language...apologise..!). Let's say I am in VC default view, looking forward with the mouse cursor exactly in the middle of the screen....I want to look right, so I press the mouse wheel and pan right using the mouse, then I release the mouse wheel and stop panning...at this time I am looking at the right hand side of the VC and the mouse cursor is pointing at what I looking ....then I move the mouse cursor (without pressing the wheel) in another part of the screen, because, say, I need to turn a knob or select a switch which is not exactly where I am looking at but still within the field of view..so now the position of the mouse cursor in the screen has changed....now (and here is the point I am talking about) if I press again the mouse wheel, the mouse cursor goes immediately back to the position were it was when I previously released the wheel.

I'm sure that is as intended. It it did not do that and you started panning again there would be a very big jump on panning to reset the coordinates. I don't think there is any other way.

Now, if this is not a problem using always the same camera view, when you switch among different camera views it is extremely annoying because it resets the view point to a position that was a part of the previous camera and not the actual. Hope I have better clarified. I'd like to know if this is the normal behaviour of the mouse look function (by the way it did not happen using Ezdok Camera).

Why not try it in FSX mouse look mode, then, so you will know? Why ask me?

If you prefer Ezdock why not use it? I do. The FSUIPC mouse look was added by request of others and is simply a mapping onto the FS function.

Regards

Pete

[eziocin]

Pete,

the point is: I would like a mouse look function in which the eyepoint would not reset to the previous position kept by the mouse cursor but instead would start panning from where I am looking at. Is that possible ? I mean, is my set up incorrect or am I looking for something impossible ? Now, I am not using Ezca any more due to other reasons, but I remember that Ezca "hides" the cursor while panning using the mouse wheel (and the issue I am talking about does not occur with Ezca), while the mouse cursor remains always visible using FSX/FSUIPC mouse look...I don't know if this makes the difference.

Thank you for your time

Regards

[Pete Dowson]

the point is: I would like a mouse look function in which the eyepoint would not reset to the previous position kept by the mouse cursor but instead would start panning from where I am looking at. Is that possible ?

I don't know. It depends how FS behaves. Did you try the FS mouse look to check? I did ask you about this.

Of course, FS has the advantage in any case because it knows when you change views, whereas this isn't realy identifiable in FSUIPC.

I mean, is my set up incorrect or am I looking for something impossible ?

I don't know how it could be done, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. I expect I could do it by having an extra control which you program to another key or button to "reset mouse look". Then you'd need to press that each time you changed views. It would need to reset the cursor to the centre of the new view.

There might be a more complex way to determine a change of view -- I'd need to investigate. If the currently focussed Window handle changes then maybe that always indicates a view change and I could automatically re-centre. But then it would re-centre when you returned also. Would that be right? I can see that it could become a real mess, but I'll take a look when I have a moment.

Originally, when I first implemented Mouse Look in FSUIPC, it re-centred each and every time you released the mouse button and pressed it again. That was MUCH MUCH more annoying, I can tell you, and everyone complained! Odd that no one before you has complained that it doesn't re-centre.

Now, I am not using Ezca any more due to other reasons, but I remember that Ezca "hides" the cursor while panning using the mouse wheel (and the issue I am talking about does not occur with Ezca), while the mouse cursor remains always visible using FSX/FSUIPC mouse look...I don't know if this makes the difference.

No, the presense of the cursor isn't relevant. FS changes it to a cross in mouse look mode.

Pete

[Pete Dowson]

There might be a more complex way to determine a change of view -- I'd need to investigate. If the currently focussed Window handle changes then maybe that always indicates a view change and I could automatically re-centre. But then it would re-centre when you returned also. Would that be right? I can see that it could become a real mess, but I'll take a look when I have a moment.

I've looked into this. Unfortunately it isn't anything simple like a window handle change -- the different VC views are all using the same Window. But, at least for the standard views included in default aircraft, they do have different Window titles. So I can detect a change in those.

I've implemented this is a version for you to test to see if you like it. All it can do is reset the view to centre when you use Mouse Look after changing views. To work from the last position in that view would mean saving the Window titles and positions for every possible such title, as it ses them, and the number of such views is not predictable. I am not really willing to go that far.

I don't think the result is better in any way, and, worse, it it is different to the way the built-in FSX mouse look works -- the latter works the way FSUIPC does now, before this change. Since the whole reason for me implementing mouse look in FSUIPC was to duplicate the FSX facility, which is made inoperative when you disable controllers (which folks often do when assigning everything in FSUIPC), I really want the facility to be identical as far as possible.

Anyway, try the changed version. If you like that better I can make it an INI -file selected option in a proper release in due course. But the default action needs to replicate the FSX implementation.

Download FSUIPC4859e test, try it and let me know.

Pete

[eziocin]

Pete,

first of all thank you very much for your availability and support...that's very much appreciated.

I have tested the 4859etest but the situation has not changed. However, reading your statement above "...To work from the last position in that view would mean saving the Window titles and positions for every possible such title, as it ses them, and the number of such views is not predictable. I am not really willing to go that far", makes me think that probably I have not been able to explain correctly what I am after, as I don't want to start working from the last position in that view.....what I want is that when I change view, and point the mouse cursor at a certain position in the screen and then press the mouse wheel to pan, the view starts panning around that point....what happens now is that when I start panning the mouse cursor goes back to the position it had in the previous view so,changing abruptly the viewpoint.....I know it is not easy to explain.... I will try to upload some pictures to better explain my point.

Thanks again, for the moment....

Regards

[Pete Dowson]

... what I want is that when I change view, and point the mouse cursor at a certain position in the screen and then press the mouse wheel to pan, the view starts panning around that point

Ah. Actually I'm not sure that's possible the way FS has implemented panning. You'd need to write a fairly complex program to do that. The mouse look works on the graphic which is displayed. The panning can go so many degrees each way from the graphic's centre(0.0), and the current position of the mouse is related to a specific point in that graphic, but I don't see any way to determine that in coordinate terms so that the panning can begin from there. You may have noticed that the distance moved by panning corresponds to the movement of the mouse cursor from the centre of the displayed view -- the edges are the extremes. That relationship is destroyed as soon as you move the mouse in non-mouse look mode, so even if the graphics coordinates can be determined, the proportion of movement is then not related to the relative position of the cursor on screen, so things would all go wrong.

As I said, the FSUIPC implementation only exists because without it folks who disable controllers in FS have no mouse look facility. Why Microsoft decided that "mouse look" is a controller function, when the mouse isn't actually a selectable controller in its list, I don't know, but that's why there is a mouse look in FSUIPC, and why it is designed to work in the same way as it does in FS.

I think you are after something different which may well be offered by more comprehensive view programs like EZCA and TrackIR, and maybe Opus, but is not really part of the role FSUIPC is filling.

Sorry,

Pete

[eziocin]

Pete,

never mind...

Thanks again for your kind support...

Have a nice evening..