Slashdot Mirror
Call for thoughts on the Thrustmaster Fragmaster
Cmdr_Pooky asks
"I have recently took a long gander at
Thrustmaster's Fragmaster. I must say
that it is quite impressive looking but
I was wondering if anyone out there had
any practical Quake 2 experience with it.
I see a trend of first person shooter
controllers coming out by various but my
problem with Thrustmaster is they sometimes
will use generic drivers and not device
specific for a particular os. Has anyone
out there used the Fragmaster yet? "
Frags Per Hour??
I have not used it. However, it seems like controller makers are always making the next gimmick controller. There was the space orb, the panther xl, some big globe thingy (serious) and then this. I've got a ps/2 intellimouse & 3m precise mousing surface (excellent pad, try compusa or... Krogers. Yes, a grocerY). Then I've got a program that increases the hz of the ps/2 port from 40 to 80. Keyboard, mouse & killer mouse pad, now theres a controller.
I bought the SpaceOrb to see what it was like (came bundled with BattleZone, so it wasn't a total loss). It's O.K., but I found that I was accidently turning (twisting) when I wanted to strafe.
I found that I suck less when I use the regular keyboard and mouse combo. The SpaceOrb might be nice for manipulating 3D models, but I'll take the keyboard/mouse for my multiplayer.
They do: there's a grey mountain scene and a rippled water surface as well as the mottled purple one. For a bit more cash 3M will make up any design you like (minimum 100 mats, about $13 a pop if I recall correctly). All of the info is on 3M's web site.
Okay, the normal ps/2 mouse only update 40 times a second. But my machine goes ~50-60 fps. Therefore you only get input for 40 of those frames & it results in some choppiness. Picky? Yep. But I prefer to eliminate every problem except my lack of mad skillz
-j gondek
I bought one of these today, and it's really, really nice. Highly recommended, despite all of the marketing cobblers on 3M's web site.
--
W.A.S.T.E.
W.A.S.T.E.
If you're looking for a controller well-suited to
first-person shooters, you might want to try the
Panther XL from Mad Catz.
I bought a Panther on a friend's recommendation, and
it's turned out to be amazingly fast and intuitive.
It also had the bonus effect of almost eliminating the
headache/nausea that I'd sometimes end up with (and
that I've heard others complain about) when playing
Quake or another FPS for an extended period of time.
I used it for a couple of hours once, and I was impressed but it's not worth $100. It's quite flimsy IMO, and I'd probably break it after a couple of days of serious thrashing. That's just my playing style. Bottom line, it didn't any easier or harder to aim with than a good old mouse and keyboard. It's main selling point is that it demystifies the moves that give newbies a lot of trouble, like circle strafing. Well that's great, but what Q2 player that's worth their salt can't circle strafe anyways. This is pretty much indicative as to who the product is geared to - newbies that don't won't to spend 3 months getting their asses kicked to to learn the ropes.
Speaking of which, I recently got a USB mouse for x-mas as well as a special mousepad, called the 'Precision Mousing Surface'. It's made by 3M.. these to things really helped. I was surprised, I'd say I'm consistenly getting about 25% more FPH from these 2 periphs alone. Try that and save yourself some money, you'd be much happier.
I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
I have one of these, admittedly second hand and quite old and battle scarred, and it (a) slips around a lot and (b) seems to give far too much friction with my mouse. YMMV of course, but this may be what happens if you don't treat it carefully.
Just bought one a couple days ago. It feels like it has a lot of potential, but there's a *lot* of drift, and you can't recalibrate it. The drift isn't too bad in close combat, but it's a pain in the neck in sniper mode.
Also, the Vertical range for mouse emulation doesn't reach far enough. It has only a third of the play that a normal mouse has, making it really hard to look up.
I love the feel of the triggers and the thumb buttons are placed just right. I like the resistance a bit lower. I'm sure it'll get a little looser with use, but without the ability to calibrate, and the truncated Mouse-Y axis, this stick is destined for the closet.
hz = times per second. Evidently, your mouse only sends to the computer a certain amount of times a second (with serial) by default. This isn't usually a problem, but with the speed of games like quake you might be going at 70 fps while your mouse is only sending 20 times a second, causing a bit of chopiness. I haven't used a USB mouse, but I think you'd have to be REALLY anal to notice the difference I think. Anyways his program makes his serial mouse update as often as a USB mouse.. I read that you can tell the difference if you bind some keys to look up and down, and then compare that to moving your mouse. the keyboard isnt limited like the mouse.. i think it's all horse shit.. just get a good mouse pad and a Logitech :)
I've looked at these things, but not even tried one, because they seem to be lacking in buttons. I use a four-button mouse with wheel in my right hand, and of the 17 keys I reach with my left hand without moving it, I use 11 quite regularly. Add to that the 12 function keys which I use for team communication, and a few other, harder to reach (they require hand movement) keys for various other things, and a controller without a couple of dozen buttons doesn't look so appealing.
cjs
The world's most portable OS: http://www.netbsd.org.
Just watch out for that itchy nose though.
--
There are no facts, only opinions