Problem XR2 Attitude AP pitch buttons non-intuitive

[Wishbone]

The upper button in the pitch section of the Attitude autopilot decreases pitch, the lower one increases. Absolutely counter-intuitive, unless one's living down under

Thanks for the great ship, BTW.

 

[Lucy]

Counter-intuitive? Pitch control is traditionally inverted in Orbiter at least, so pushing the topmost pitch control will pitch you downwards (I.e, NUMPAD 8 pushes the nose down, rather than up as some might expect given its position on the keyboard).

I don't find it counterintuitive, but perhaps the capacity to invert the autopilot pitch controls could be added in to a future version for those who do.

 

[Wishbone]

This is a spin-control with a number that can be increased or decreased (the pilot does not pitch up or down directly, the autopilot does). Instead of following accepted UI conventions (see, for instance the MS User experience guide or Shuttle operating manual or the relevant MIL-STD - the number escapes me at the moment) why not label the controls in Klingon?

 

[Lucy]

Because there are very few people who have actually devoted the time and effort to learning a fictional sci-fi language with no basis in reality nor practical application, wheras figuring out that if you roll the wheel upwards the value decreases and remembering that takes much less time, effort, and brainpower.

It might be rocket science, but it's exceptionally simple rocket science.

 

[garyw]

I've never had an issue with the Xr pitch autopilots but then I tend to use the numpad keys which work the same way as the joystck, down lifts the nose and up lowers the nose. it's fairly standard flying convention.

 

[Wishbone]

Okay, up to you folks. Whatever works for you. I can remember fly-to and fly-from conventions, so would guess this one is just a nuisance, and no real person in real gloves is trying to reach the right button at 3g during ascent or entry.

 

[PeterRoss]

In fact, Wishbone is right. When you are using mouse instead of keypad you are operating with AOA numbers and the 'up' arrow should increase its value - as my intuition says to me. Still I don't think it's a serious issue - takes just a few minutes to get used to it.

 

[dbeachy1]

I agree it's a subjective issue -- personally I find it intuitive to keep all the directions consistent between the mouse arrows, keyboard, and joystick: pull back (down) = increase pitch, push forward (up) = decrease pitch. TBH it would feel backwards to me to have the AP mouse arrows behave one way but the keyboard and joystick the reverse way.

However, I do understand the OP's point, so what I'll do for the next XR patch releases is add a config file preference setting to invert the AP mouse arrow behaviors if the user sets that.