Logitech G15 Support for Future Relic Games

[PULSTAR]

This stems off of one of the sub-discussions in the What's Going on at Relic #2 - PLUS RELIC Q&A thread. A couple of people have asked if Relic plans to support the Logitech G15 in its future products, and Buggo's suggestion (see this post, about 3/4 of the way down) was to create a poll that she could pass on to the folks at Relic. Since I haven't seen any poll appearing yet, I figured I'd go ahead and make one.

The question is simple: If you own (or plan to get) a Logitech G15, would you be interested in having Relic incorporate support for it into future games, etc.?

Personally, I just recently got a G15, and I've completely fallen in love with it. I could go on for hours about the merits of it, but sufficed to say, I'd definitely like to see support for this versatile and useful piece of hardware in future Relic games.

[Black]

Yes. I don't have a G15 but two of my friends do, and it is quite awesome. Any new hardware that strives to integrate itself with software gets an A+ in my book.

[Relic]

It might be better if you changed the options to something more specific like,

"Yes - I own one, or will buy one and would like the feature"
"No - I own one and would not like the feature"
"No - I don't own one and don't plan on buying one"
"Don't care"

[Verrin]

What is this feature and what makes it so different from regular mice?

[PULSTAR]

That's probably a good idea, Buggo, but don't think I can edit the poll options myself. I'll see if I can hunt up one of the staff to take care of it.

And Verrin, the G15 is a keyboard, not a mouse. Its biggest features are something like 50 programmable keys (18 keys, three unique modes) and most importantly, a customizable LCD interface that can display a variety of game-specific information.

[Verrin]

Oops. I guess I got this confused with the G5 laser mouse.

[FriendlyFire]

Yes! My G15 is currently used as a Media display and CPU/RAM gauger... While practical, I would much prefer to have it display useful information on-the-fly. What'd be even cooler would be to use the four little buttons under the LCD screen to do some in-game actions (I was thinking something similar to select Barracks, HQ and all the other buttons of that type, for example). You might even have multiple tools integrated to display multiple pages and have many purposes for the little buttons...

Just some small suggestions, but I'd definitively would love to see the G15 get support from CoH.

[Dark_Axel]

Thank you for posting a poll Pulstar...
I was still working on some mockups of what I would have wished for in COH, and why I think it will add to the game.

For people who don't know the Logitech G15.
It features a small LCD panel which is controlled by a program running in the background. This program can be loaded up with different kinds of applet which can output any kind of info you what. A good example is the Echovoice Mod for Counterstrike. It will display kill/death stats and even kill/death stats by weapon...

2 good examples of what COH could feature on the G15 display.

A victory point display, which makes it redundant in the current UI. Including the US army star and the Bundeswehr Iron Cross.


A stats option for the division of sectors in absolute numbers and percentages. Just a stats info screen which gives you better info without taking a direct look on the map.

In any case, the G15 features 4 programmable buttons which can make a navigation between multiple displays possible. Other options include a ingame chat output (including scrolling) or a console output.

But why do I believe Relic should make this, instead of modding it ourselfs. (Well, I had a go at it an I suck, couldn't even compile demo applets without errors. But I have limited programming skills, so)

First; the applet requires information out of the game. And although SCAR scripting is powerfull it's probably difficult to get al the info without Source Code knowledge. (And it would also not be neccesary to hack ingame stats info) It's up to Relic to make these kind of data easy accessible to be outputted towards the applet.
Second; Relic could tap into the G15 fanbase, and this kind of feature can set it apart from other similar games.

Personally I do hope that we, and Buggo (since she seems also interested in the Idea) can make Relic consider this kind of things for their future games, or maybe even for a COH expansion pack/patch <Buggo claims Relic would not consider to make a G15 applet for W40K and COH, but WE can change that>. I would very much love to see something like the Echovoice mod, which is even capable of detecting Counterstrike 1.6 or Source and change accordingly. We need the Ultimate Relic G15 applet, which can work under W40K and COH using the SCAR script....

[Rafta]

Well, i opened a thread about CoH and the G15 when CoH was released in the US.
http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=101399 <- Link to said thread.

I would love to see some use for my G15, I only use the LCD panel for teamspeak at the moment and as digital watch but it's possibilities are somewhat larger.
Pitty the game developers ignore it.
It's not even hard to code for it, as you can see there are lot's of homemade G15 mods for many games.
If fans manage it it should be a piece of cake for a professional game dveloping team to think of some nice use for the LCD and implement it in the game.

edit: A poll in GD won't be of much use as 99% of the CoH and DoW players don't look into General Discussion!

[Moe]

/me fixed the poll \o/

[PULSTAR]

Thanks, Moe, you've now officially replaced 'fishy as my favorite admin

And Rafta, I realized that when I started it, but if I put one in COH, the DOW folks would still be left out, and vice versa. Also, since this is more a topic for Relic's general future, it seemed to fit better in GD. If Buggo/the staff want to spread the word around somehow, they can go right ahead.

[HotForever]

yes, do it please! The g15 lcd screen rocks. It is very useful for games like battlefield 2142. I am sure that it can also be useful for keeping track of things like resource, vespin gas, etc in a RTS game too.

[Trizzdog]

If the G15 really is easy to implement into games, I'd say go for it. Defiantly would make me want to buy one

[Dark_Axel]

Rafta: A poll in GD won't be of much use as 99% of the CoH and DoW players don't look into General Discussion!

I would second that. Especially since we need a decent poll info if we want to convince Relic, but it's up to the Moderators to post announcements if they think this topic needs that extra attention.

Anyway Trizzdog, it's perfectly do able for us to MOD a W40K/COH applet if we wish, we just need some good coders. The SDK provides C++, but the main problem is getting the info from the game to a second program. And it would be far easier for Relic Devs to implement that kind of code, then to make your own. Especially, since I'm a poor coder.

Also the addition of certain Info displayed on the LCD can give certain options to clean up the UI. Which is also much easier for the Relic Dev team to do.
For example my mockup for the Victory Point counter will mean that it can be removed from my ingame UI.

Other options to get the data, like Memory hacking are possible but not recommended. They did that for WoW and it was identified by Blizzard as a hack, while they only tried to read the info. Blizzard later added some code to display certain stats, to recognise the G15 crowd.

On a personal note, I would only like these kind of addition when they would add to the game. Without doing injustice to other players.

[Sosobra]

I personally like my Saitek Eclipse very sturdy and such but if I needed to get a new keyboard and relic supported it I would consider thaat in my choice.

[Tak]

I have one and love it. The Teamspeak app is a must have now that I've used it. Also, Red Orchestra has great integration. I can play the game without any HUD whatsoever getting in the way of the game. It doesn't sound like much, but it's one of those small things that goes a long way.

That said, I don't think that it would be at all practical to show a full replacement for an RTS hud in the G15 display, but something like what Dark_Axel said is a great giant leap in the right direction (if you can 'hide' it on your monitor while running it on the G15, that is)

[molo]

I don't understand how this kind of hardware is useful - it requires taking your eyes off the screen to look at the other screen. Can someone provide real world examples?

[Rafta]

Well, molo, you don't really use the information on the hud very often. Especially in Shooter and RTS games there are just some numbers you sometimes look up but they often cover large spaces on the screen.
If you show this info on the LCD screen you have more visible space on the monitor but the info doesn't get lost.
Also there is additional info which could be shown like realtime statistics, ingame chatlogs, building queues, teammates' healthpoints and so on.
The G15 features 4 softkeys for pageswitching.

[HotForever]

just to add from what Rafta said, you can also use xfire with the LCD screen. That way, you don't need the alt tab in a game to chat with your friends.

[Terid]

anyone have any mods for the G15 for coh? I like the idea of the % of resources held..so if you knew you had under 50% of the fuel points on map you could go capture some. I'd really like a chat log tho since once the writing dissapears u cant get it back..or can you? i duno :P would really liek a chat log if anyone wants to build me one oke: cheers. o yea does nobody find the G keys a bit "laggy" sometimes? i play bf2 sometimes and i use one for a spotted key and to change cockpit view but sometimes it doesnt switch or it takes about 2-3 seconds. is it just my computer lagging or the button?

cheers again sorry if i went off topic

[Dark_Axel]

The lag is caused by the fact that the G 'macro' buttons are software controlled. So the logitech drivers handles it. Battlefield probably uses all your CPU resources. If you got a multi core it's better to switch the logitech program to another core, and give the game total use over the other core.

<I also sometimes get it when my CPU is facing timeout issues, the LCD clock sometimes goes every 2-4 seconds >

[GerryHYH]

Any luck yet with the LCD?

[Zir]

I wouldn't use something like this. It's all a bit cheesy. You Need The Best Equipment To Win As A Gamer (tm) Survive The Fiercest Battles Wether You Are A Platoon Leader Or A Deep Space Explorer. You Need The Tools To Win. (tm) /serious business. Makes relaxing and having some fun with your video games sound like a serious moral and ethical issue, we take ourselves too seriously.

I'm all for Relic and other developers taking notice of useful functionality they wouldn't normally think about though.

[Starfisher]

Bumptastic.

Remember, folks, only you can prevent thread necromancy!