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JayKyte

macrumors newbie
Jul 7, 2014
28
4
I hope to play elite dangerous on my iMac. could someone advise which make joystick to use?
grateful greg
This wants moving to Games, but to answer your question - ED will play better in Bootcamp, then you can install ED:Horizons, which cannot be installed under macOS.

When booted in to Bootcamped Windows, any suitable joystick will work fine, you will not have to find a Mac compatible joystick.
 

Kissmyne

macrumors 6502
Apr 21, 2015
354
48
Most controllers and Joysticks will either work out of the box, or you can also use something like Joystick Mapper(Software Tool) with ones that are not natively supported.

Also FYI. Performance for Elite Dangerous is superior on my macOS partition vs Windows. ONLY reason to boot camp for this game in particular is if you want the expansion imo
 

steve62388

macrumors 68040
Apr 23, 2013
3,079
1,932
It's not worth buying for macOS because development has stopped. Mac gamers are now at a considerable disadvantage against other platforms because powerful in game features are not available.
 
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whooleytoo

macrumors 604
Aug 2, 2002
6,607
714
Cork, Ireland.
It's not worth buying for macOS because development has stopped. Mac gamers are now at a considerable disadvantage against other platforms because powerful in game features are not available.

Development hasn't stopped, the Mac version continues to get Season 1 updates. It just won't get any of the Season 2 features (planetary landings, Engineering, ship-launched fighters, multicrew etc.)

(Sorry to quote an old post, but felt it was important to point out).
 

steve62388

macrumors 68040
Apr 23, 2013
3,079
1,932
Development hasn't stopped, the Mac version continues to get Season 1 updates. It just won't get any of the Season 2 features (planetary landings, Engineering, ship-launched fighters, multicrew etc.)

(Sorry to quote an old post, but felt it was important to point out).

Which really means it has stopped.
 

Stella

macrumors G3
Apr 21, 2003
8,822
6,240
Canada
HOTAS controllers are popular with Elite -
thrustmaster t16000m is cheap
X52 ( and Pro ), X56 are also popular, though there are quality issues.

There's the Logitech 3D joystick which is OK
Some play with Xbox controllers

The reason there is no Season2 for Mac is because Apple ship an ancient version of openGL which does not contain the necessary shaders.

FD did not use Metal because it wasn't around then, and even if it was, the first version of Metal didn't contain good enough functionality.

I found bootcamp offered far better performance than the native mac version did. Oh, and I was able to play Horizons too...
 
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spacedcadet

macrumors regular
Mar 5, 2009
198
43
I just bought Elite Dangerous via Steam, this is really useful. Trying to play it on a keyboard is impossible.
 

whooleytoo

macrumors 604
Aug 2, 2002
6,607
714
Cork, Ireland.
I just bought Elite Dangerous via Steam, this is really useful. Trying to play it on a keyboard is impossible.

Interesting point - a lot of the best players actually play with keyboard & mouse. Because the precision is greater with a mouse, plus in Flight-Assist-Off mode (the hard way of playing, with pseudo-Newtonian physics where the craft will keep on manoeuvring indefinitely unless you compensate in the opposite direction) using the mouse is easier than a joystick.

But using a joystick / HOTAS is definitely the most immersive way of playing. A HOTAS, rudder pedals, and head-tracking (TrackIR/Tobii) or even VR.. then add a Buttkicker or Kor-FX haptic vest... the game can really really be a bottomless pit for your cash! :)
 

daveak

macrumors 6502
Jun 28, 2009
306
346
Durham, UK
I use the Thrustmaster FCS stick and throttle, plug and play (well may have to select thrustmaster under controls but other than that), no problems after 6 months of play.
 

daveak

macrumors 6502
Jun 28, 2009
306
346
Durham, UK
What is the throttle like?

I've not used any other throttle before so I've got nothing to compare it with, but I'm happy with it. Slides smoothly, other buttons in good positions. The only slightly annoying thing is it the entire base can slide around on the desk a little sometimes.
 
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