How do I navigate menus?

[Jamesp111]

I'm using a HOTAS (thrustmaster warthog and pedals).

How do I navigate the menus? It looks like I need to bind the keys 1-0, arrow keys, escape and enter to my hotas, plus maybe shortcuts to specific menus. This doesn't seem reasonable though so I suspect there's an easier way.

Do I need to use the motion controllers? If not, how do I do this using just a HOTAS and the view pointer? Maybe it works like a mouse, or I can just use arrow keys and a select and back button?

Edit: I had a go with the controllers and found a yellow radial menu. I tried to play using this control method but I couldn't find many menus there e.g. the bulletin board so am stuck.

[Jamesp111]

I can't find many of the menus under the yellow radial menu: I can see stuff like dock, trade menu etc but no bulletin board for example.

This is for the VR version by the way, but I assume it's the same for the PC/console? version.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a guide to use this? Thanks.

[Jamesp111]

I can't work out how to navigate the various menus using just my HOTAS.

It looks like I need to bind many keys: 1-0, arrow keys, enter and escape, but I'm hoping there's an easier way.

Has anyone managed to do this?

[dertien]

Yes, there is no 'unified' menu and it's a bit of a mix of three. You could put this on the 'wishlist' tread as the 3 menus with their different control styles that were inherited from XR is a very tedious and immersion-breaking affair.

[j.harshaw]

Hi, just tested with a HOTAS stick.

With the default joystick profile, most menus are navigated via the POV hat.

Only exceptions appear to be the Quick Menu and the Ability Menu, which are the two menus that present you with a big ring with choices such as when choosing between drones you have equipped. Those two menus require axes mapped, and, with the default profile, they are navigated by using the stick. If you would like to map your own controls to navigate those two menus, you'll want to map axes to:

Scroll horizontal
and Scroll vertical

which can be found in:

Controls -> (under "Non-VR Devices", if you have either the Oculus Touch or Vive Controllers installed) Menu Navigation

The two controls are fairly well down that menu under the header "Misc".

If you have either the Oculus Touch or Vive Controllers, be careful loading the default joystick profile. At the moment, it clears controls mapped to those two controller types. Fix for this is already checked in, and should get to you with the next update. Otherwise, found the defaults to work pretty decently. All i had to do for this particular stick in addition was to map the Throttle and invert the axes for controlling pitch (Steer Up/Down) and Throttle.

[dertien]

@j.harshaw

Not sure what hotas you are using.

Using a CH Fighterstick and CH throttle and loading the default Jockstick profile that comes with the game, NONE of the buttons will open any interaction menu besides the one used to control drones AKA the Abitility Menu.

The communications menu that uses the keyboard shortcuts 1-6 should not be assumed to be controlled by a hotas stick.

Let's just face it: this game has far too many menu types

A quick menu (shortcut Y)
A main menu (shortcut Enter)
An ability menu (shortcut T)
The Dialog Menu
The slide out monitor menu

The Quick Menu uses a combination of holding a button and chosing an option with an analog joystick and works great for VR; It's a no brainer. It enables the player to make a choice of 8 or 10 options with just 1 button and a stick.

After selection from the Quick Menu, the slide out monitor comes out of its slot and you can choose options there, which is also fine and immersive. This can be controlled with 1 POV hat using its 4 choices + an apply and a cancel button.

Then, after any comms-related selection you make on the monitor, your focus gets shifted to another visually different and immersion breaking 'Dialog Menu' with a 5 choice + next option. That is one bridge too far. Once you're on the slide out monitor you should be able to keep your focus there, and not be stuck with blindly jabbing at your keyboard's 1 to 6 keys since only one X-Y axis can be assigned to a single menu at one time.

In short, there are 3 menus but you will need 3 different POV hats to operate all 3 using a joystick.

Also, the default joystick profile works like a gamepad. When pulling pitch on a hotas stick, I expect the nose of the craft to pitch up; not down.

Not much has been done on the UI side of things, which is what deals or breaks the interaction of a player with a game.
I hope EGO will realise that the multiple menu issues will frustrate both new and veteran players of XR and that they will fix what was not fixed in XR vanilla, or they might have a lot of refunds on their hands, despite the fantastic looking game it certainly is.

[BigBANGtheory]

I always struggled to get this working well, according the XR VR forum mapping your controller axis to Scroll Horizontal and Scroll Vertical is the way to do it.

Personal I think the UI is.... "unhelpful" there I was polite must be getting old

[Alan Phipps]

Three very similar threads from the OP merged.

[Franc Kaos]

I've mostly got the menu working on my X56, since the ship is disabled when in monitor mode I've got the hat up/down left/right, the fire button becomes the enter button, the fire missile (2) as back. Quick & Ability wheel scroll, use main joystick to move but have to use button on throttle to 'interact' which would be nice on button 3 but since you also need to interact with icons on stations and b3 is target nearest enemy it doesn't work.

For dialogue I use the two hats for the number options as they don't interfere with their primary targeting / weapon loadout jobs and that seems to work well.

Still got issues with the four buttons on the bottom of the slideout monitor, sometimes pagedown gets to them, sometimes other button presses...

In fact, would be nice if menu called up the monitor... maybe... keep everything on one screen.