Mouse Aim Controls deprecated?

[Omarb10legends]

I probably didn't use the right word for that in the title, but I want to know why after 9 years since it's release- there has been 0 improvement to the mouse aim scheme and if there's even any hint of it being improved on in IL-2 Korea.

Just using WarThunder as an example here, there is little to no input for the rudder axis which makes steering the plane very problematic.

And as a disclaimer, I do not need veterans of the game to respond with "just get a joystick" "it's a sim" "this isnt war thunder" etc. etc.

I have a joystick, I've played IL-2 1946 a lot with it exclusively, same for this game. But I find the mouse aim here to be a good subsitutue if I don't want to pull out my Track IR/joystick, set everything up, and sit up straight for a few hours flying. Sometimes you just want to casually play the game and not have to set everything up over again and just lie down or something.

And just to make something clear here, mouse aim fills a gap for what grants WarThunder it's huge playerbase and success, vs the not surprising small playerbase when it comes to sims.

I just wanted to put that out there as foundation for my original question, so I don't get unwanted flak or snarky remarks, I just want a concrete answer, or see if anybody has any knowledge on whats going on with the mouse aim.

[R33GZ]

1 hour ago, Omarb10legends said:

I probably didn't use the right word for that in the title, but I want to know why after 9 years since it's release- there has been 0 improvement to the mouse aim scheme and if there's even any hint of it being improved on in IL-2 Korea.

Just using WarThunder as an example here, there is little to no input for the rudder axis which makes steering the plane very problematic.

And as a disclaimer, I do not need veterans of the game to respond with "just get a joystick" "it's a sim" "this isnt war thunder" etc. etc.

I have a joystick, I've played IL-2 1946 a lot with it exclusively, same for this game. But I find the mouse aim here to be a good subsitutue if I don't want to pull out my Track IR/joystick, set everything up, and sit up straight for a few hours flying. Sometimes you just want to casually play the game and not have to set everything up over again and just lie down or something.

And just to make something clear here, mouse aim fills a gap for what grants WarThunder it's huge playerbase and success, vs the not surprising small playerbase when it comes to sims.

I just wanted to put that out there as foundation for my original question, so I don't get unwanted flak or snarky remarks, I just want a concrete answer, or see if anybody has any knowledge on whats going on with the mouse aim.

Just to clarify... are you talking about using the mouse as a controller for flying the aircraft? or are you talking about using the mouse to aim defensive weapons?

 

Comparing War Thunder to Il2 GB.... on this site, will most definitely get you some unwanted flak AND snarky remarks. And rightly so. Good luck.

[MDzmitry]

I'm not a veteran (came here from WT this summer), but you honestly answered your own question: "it's a sim, not WT and joystick is necessary in this case". 

 

Both games (Il-2 and WT) originally had both the arcade and the SIM aspects to them, but by now both projects have prioritized practically opposite sides of the spectrum.

WT's simulator mode is, for lack of a better word, nearly abandoned with emphasis on RB and Ground vehicles.

Il-2 gave up on improving mouse controls to spend more resources on other aspects of the project that actually have an impact on the gameplay (campaigns, maps, AI whether you believe it or not, DM and so on).

 

Sims are, as you said yourself, a niche genre. The playerbase will be small, and that's a given.

And I'd rather see it as a somewhat polished niche project than an attempt to be as "casual" as WT. What'd likely happen is that Il-2 would lose its flair while gathering exactly 0 attention from WT's playerbase due to brand recognisability (or lack thereof). 

"Those who seek to please everybody please nobody."

 

For casual chilling you can just boot up WT and chill, noone will dox you and mail you a pipe bomb for that. And when you want to fly somewhat properly, there will always be Il-2.

 

[Aapje]

10 hours ago, Omarb10legends said:

I probably didn't use the right word for that in the title, but I want to know why after 9 years since it's release- there has been 0 improvement to the mouse aim scheme and if there's even any hint of it being improved on in IL-2 Korea.

 

It's probably since there are few people using it that way, and those don't tend to complain over here. At this point there is also little reason to make a change, since it could cause existing mouse players to get upset.

 

I saw that on Reddit, someone said that he set the x and y axis of the mouse to pitch and roll, and that makes it a lot more similar to WT.

 

In IL-2 Korea, they are going to completely redo the input system, and they talked about making the entire game usable with a controller, not anything about flying with the mouse.

 

Quote

But I find the mouse aim here to be a good subsitutue if I don't want to pull out my Track IR/joystick, set everything up, and sit up straight for a few hours flying. Sometimes you just want to casually play the game and not have to set everything up over again and just lie down or something.

 

I understand that it can be a hurdle to set up an extensive set of hardware, although just plonking a Gladiator or such on a desk is really, really quick.

[Omarb10legends]

On 9/20/2025 at 11:46 PM, R33GZ said:

Just to clarify... are you talking about using the mouse as a controller for flying the aircraft? or are you talking about using the mouse to aim defensive weapons?

 

Comparing War Thunder to Il2 GB.... on this site, will most definitely get you some unwanted flak AND snarky remarks. And rightly so. Good luck.

Well, then the devolopers wouldn't of added the mouse aim control scheme in the first place 9 years ago during WarThunders prime. Just saying.

[Omarb10legends]

On 9/21/2025 at 2:13 AM, MDzmitry said:

I'm not a veteran (came here from WT this summer), but you honestly answered your own question: "it's a sim, not WT and joystick is necessary in this case". 

 

Both games (Il-2 and WT) originally had both the arcade and the SIM aspects to them, but by now both projects have prioritized practically opposite sides of the spectrum.

WT's simulator mode is, for lack of a better word, nearly abandoned with emphasis on RB and Ground vehicles.

Il-2 gave up on improving mouse controls to spend more resources on other aspects of the project that actually have an impact on the gameplay (campaigns, maps, AI whether you believe it or not, DM and so on).

 

Sims are, as you said yourself, a niche genre. The playerbase will be small, and that's a given.

And I'd rather see it as a somewhat polished niche project than an attempt to be as "casual" as WT. What'd likely happen is that Il-2 would lose its flair while gathering exactly 0 attention from WT's playerbase due to brand recognisability (or lack thereof). 

"Those who seek to please everybody please nobody."

 

For casual chilling you can just boot up WT and chill, noone will dox you and mail you a pipe bomb for that. And when you want to fly somewhat properly, there will always be Il-2.

 

Understandable. Though as I said, it's been almost an entire decade, so it is quite daunting to see there was apparently 0 time to improve something thats stayed the same since release.

And yes, obviously I have booted up WarThunder if I wanted to go do something casual. But WarThunder is not a very pleasurable option, especially when it comes to damage models and flight models, something I enjoy way better in IL-2 GB / 46'.   

Of course you can't please everybody, that's a given. But the mouse controls don't even have full basic functionality, it's more so 75% complete. Again, it's more so been 9 years and a lot of polishing has been done to the game since then, to the point now we're getting a new game. It's just hard to believe there wasn't time to be found to at least fix or update something on it.

((And while I understand you can't please everybody, there will always be the never ending issue of new players wanting to play these games, and basically not have the time to invest to fully learn it, limited budget for sticks and whatever else the problem may be. If those isues were unrealistic, the sim genre in general would be more popular.)_

On 9/21/2025 at 10:57 AM, Aapje said:

 

It's probably since there are few people using it that way, and those don't tend to complain over here. At this point there is also little reason to make a change, since it could cause existing mouse players to get upset.

 

I saw that on Reddit, someone said that he set the x and y axis of the mouse to pitch and roll, and that makes it a lot more similar to WT.

 

In IL-2 Korea, they are going to completely redo the input system, and they talked about making the entire game usable with a controller, not anything about flying with the mouse.

 

 

I understand that it can be a hurdle to set up an extensive set of hardware, although just plonking a Gladiator or such on a desk is really, really quick.

Are you able to link me to that post so I can see what they did and other tweaks?

Well, in my situation anyways. I don't have the space for a desk to mount any sort of setup. It's just my gaming laptop, track IR hooked to the top of my computer and a joystick. Sure it doesn't take much too setup, but it's not all the time one wants to do it, and believe it or not. It can get quite exhausting pretty fast, moving your head all around in the midst of combat. Not to say that it isn't fun, heck yeah it is.  But it's not all the time I want to do it.

Y'know if IL-2 never had a mouse aim, then this post would be quite irrelevant, but they added it, then literally let it rot for a decade with not a single update since the beta last I recall. So I would say it'd be pretty fair to question why so, and how there was 0 possibility to tweak it over the span of a decade. And of course, those same players probably would be disappointed if they had no intention of improving upon it in Korea.

Edited Tuesday at 01:39 AM by Omarb10legends

[R33GZ]

3 hours ago, Omarb10legends said:

mouse aim control scheme

Im still a bit confused... are you talking about using the mouse as a controller, or are you talking about using it for defensive weapons ie, rear gunners, where the mouse IS used to AIM the guns

 

3 hours ago, Omarb10legends said:

((And while I understand you can't please everybody, there will always be the never ending issue of new players wanting to play these games, and basically not have the time to invest to fully learn it, limited budget for sticks and whatever else the problem may be. If those isues were unrealistic, the sim genre in general would be more popular.)_

Honestly, if you want to play a flight simulator, then at a minimum, you need a flight stick. Yes they can be expensive, but that is the price of entry. I would imagine that the investment in developing inferior control inputs did not add up to the extra customer base using it. Hence the freeze on developing mouse control further. If we aint getting a flyable B-25/B-26, then I think the chances of further development for the exceptionally small section of Il2GB that tries to fly with a mouse is somewhere around 0% - Just saying.

[Aapje]

5 hours ago, Omarb10legends said:

Are you able to link me to that post so I can see what they did and other tweaks?

 

I didn't save the link to the post, but the person didn't say anything more than what I told you.

 

[Kubert]

2 hours ago, R33GZ said:

Yes they can be expensive

Not necessarily. Flight stick I am using, Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, cost me 56€ or 66$. Yes, it is budget stick, but works as intended.

[BFBunny]

Playing this game on and off since Il2 bos beta, originally flight stick only - I hardly use the game now or post, but I do use the mouse and don't have an issue when I use the game.

 

I tried 'mouse mode', but it's awful for me and doesn't give the 'sim' experience.

 

Most realistic settings, realistic flight model, no UI, disable spectators (first person mode only)

 

Joystick mode then map the roll / pitch / rudder to the mouse axis. The axis curves are kept if you don't delete the joystick control, otherwise seems difficult to get back, unless you reset.

 

Link rudder and roll together and on some setups have independent switch / disconnect for rudder (sometimes you want full rudder, etc)

 

You'll need to tune the axis to level you want / add dead zones if required especially when linking rudder and roll, otherwise plane will move in ugly ways.

 

Some duplicate commands to disconnect the pilot camera head to check six / look around.

 

Setup certain buttons to quickly move the pilot head forward / backwards.

 

You might also want to make sure you duplicate some functions so you can still fly even when moving pilot head.

 

After some time you can fly by feel, land fairly easily, check six and keep going about where you need to.

 

This setup + TIR would probably be compromise if you did not want to use the flight stick.

 

I've not worked out how to move the map around using mouse without it also moving the plane.

 

Overall never had an issue. It's not like playing the game with a Joystick, but allows me to still use the planes, takeoff, land, fly around, take down AI enemies, look around while in engagements.

Edited Tuesday at 05:44 PM by BFBunny