| Game Commander and Peripheral Perfection
by Thomas "AV8R" Spann |
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THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE RIGHT JOB: Does GC replace joystick controllers, game panels, and keyboards? Absolutely not. Programmable joysticks still are the most adaptable to games and different keyboard mapping issues. For example, Thrustmaster programmable sticks support RAW CODES that effectively allow almost any key board command sequence possible. This also includes mouse movement and buttons as well as those wierd AUX ARROW key sequences. In the same way, game panels inherently add value because at a quick glance you can see (and program) functions to labels on a touch panel format. And the good old keyboard will be with us for a while yet. A Place for Voice Command So where does GC fit? GC does support most keyboard commands and combinations of commands and maps them to a voice command. If you are using a voice program you have to careful not to have your voice communications overlap your game commands. And likewise, if you have your sound cranked up too high your unidirectional microphone may pick up game sounds and try to interpret them as commands also.
 European Air War To get around these problems you have to use the tool wisely. GC comes with two reserved commands for putting the program to "Sleep" and to "Wake up" the program. So if you want to issue a voice program command (like RogerWiclo or BattleFieldCommander) to your human wingmen, you must first tell GC to sleep. Then after you're done communicating you tell GC to wake up and be ready for voice commands. I've tried this use model and it works quite well. I also renamed these reserved commands to "RADIO" and "TRANSMIT" respectively. If you look closely at the EDITCOMMAND picture, you will note that I programmed certain phrases to automatically type out chat commands, like TIGHT FORMATION. This is just one way to use GC to communicate to human wingmen via the game chat feature. You can also use GC to issue the commands to the AI wingman, probably GC's best use. |
 EF2000. Command your wingman verbally.
 MiG Alley SUMMARY: To sum it up, there's definitely is a place for this software in our flight sim world. It is this writer's opinion that GC adds value to the composite flight simming environment. Would I depend upon it over a flight stick switch for mission critical or time critical commands like guns or view slewing? No way. But where it can clearly add value is in the non mission critical or time critical commands like wingman callouts, jettison weapons, gear, and the many numerous options you don't want on your sticks. While I was success with view control with GC, there still seems to be something lacking for this application. Perhaps a refined gyroscopic headset/glasses or multiple screens (Win2000?) will bring on the situational awareness (SA) aid that we despirately seek in our 3D world flown on 2D screens. So at this point in the evolution of this product I would have to say it is strongly recommended but not a requirement; definitely chrome and not propeller material.
 For innovation and quality, we award Game Commander our "Top Pick."
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Download configuration files for EAW, WW2F and F4 by clicking HERE. Join a discussion forum on this article by clicking HERE.
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