I don’t know if other people have had difficulty turning the knobs on the G1000 and other avionics, but I struggle to use it, especially in-flight when the aircraft is bouncing around. You try clicking on a knob and then the aircraft moves slightly and your cursor is now off the knob. If you’re turning the knob with your mouse wheel, when the aircraft bounces, all of a sudden you find that you’ve now zoomed in or zoomed out.
I know there are a couple of Wishlist requests for key bindings for various cockpit elements, and I have voted for those, too. But if people want to use the mouse, I’d like to be able to do that without getting frustrated.
CM Edit: There have been proposed solutions and suggestions in different threads which I am combining here, outlined below:
1 - Sticky Mouse by @r2p42
A thing which bugged me in other sims as well unless you are able to pop out instruments is that the mouse cursor does not rest on switches or knobs when the camera is moving. In real life one can hold onto a knob while turning it even if the plane is shaking a bit. But in a sim, especially if head tracking is used, it is nearly impossible to keep the mouse in position until the correct pressure, frequency and what not is dialed in. Which results offen in zooming in and out.
I would suggest some sort of sticky mouse which grabs onto a control surface regardless of camera movement as long as the mouse itself is not moved by the user.
2 - Turn off Camera Shake for better mouse operations by @MrMartin0815
Trying to spin the heading/baro knob with the mouse cursor while the plane is moving/shaking is a big pain at the moment and its even worse on planes with stacked knobs - although “camera shake” in options i have switched to “OFF”.
To solve this problem I wish I had an option to turn off camera shake completely, so that the camera doesn’t move in the cockpit at all when the plane is shaking or moving.
3 - Add Child Window with NAV Radio inputs by @TanveerVGHS
In a real aircraft the knobs and switches are fairly stationary relative to a pilot’s hand during use. However, in the Simulator the airplane moves while the users mouse-pointer (representing a Pilot’s hand) remains stationary. This creates a relative motion between the knobs & switches and the mouse-pointer which is unrealistic. Having flown 1100+ hours on VATSIM (my ID 1009883), I routinely experience high workload situations where this relative motion makes it difficult, time consuming and error-prone (=frustrating) to manage everything. Near the end of a great enjoyable flight on MSFS, the positive experience gets severely effected by this issue.
Desired feature: Consider adding a child window (like VFR map or ATC window) with NAV radio inputs (frequency, NAV1<->2, CRS, Stby<->Active) and G1000 flightplan related inputs (zoom, direct-to a waypoint).
4 - Various mouse improvements by @SunlitTax368497
Using the mouse wheel to turn knobs, flip switches or change levers can be useful, but there are a few issues with it:
- Using freelook (e.g. by holding right-click) and scrolling to zoom in/out can sometimes inadvertently trigger plane controls if you’re pointing the center of the screen at a control (but you don’t even know where exactly you would trigger something, since there is no cursor or crosshair or anything)
- Trying to scroll a control, but missing it, will zoom the camera, which is technicially correct, but a bit annoying, since you then have to zoom in again to re-aim for the control
The most important improvement:
- Never trigger plane controls when mouse wheel scrolling while the cursor is not visible (freelook)
Other things that could be useful, probably optional as a setting:
- Never zoom when mouse wheel scrolling while the cursor is visible (definitely only optional for this one)
- Add a bit of a zone around controls, where scrolling will not zoom
- Add some kind of crosshair when in freelook, so you know what you’re pointing at for changing controls (could also help for clicking to change controls)
5 - Lock to Cockpit Control to Prevent Zoom by @Parorng
I propose when changing a frequency or autopilot knob, that zoom be inhibited whilst continuous mouse wheel scroll inputs are made. This could be implemented in a few different ways:
This could be time based approach (Zoom is inhibited whilst the mouse cursor a control as it is now, but requires 1 or 2 seconds of no mouse wheel movement to unlock the zoom, or another control again)
Or perhaps a requirement to right click the mouse to unlock zoom again after a knob is turned. Mouse wheel movements would change only that control until the right mouse button was pressed to unlock it again.
Another way to do this would be a requirement to hold down the right mouse ‘cockpit look’ button whilst zooming - although this may be difficult for some.
Another would be a modifier key to be pressed to lock the mouse selection onto a control whilst it is pressed, regardless where the mouse moves to. This has the downside of requiring a key or button or mouse button to be pressed and would need careful consideration so that a control could be changed whilst still flying with a joystick.
6 - Eliminate all areas near Control Elements by @Sath68
There are enough areas where zooming doesn’t affect buttons and knobs. Just eliminate all areas near control elements. The Garmin displays are also ok.