Please Add an Option for SE1s Flight Model, New One Causes Neurological Discomfort!
Hi Keen team,
I’ve been a Space Engineers player since the very beginning, Day 3 of Early Access back in 2013. I’ve supported the game for over a decade, through every experimental system and overhaul, and I’m genuinely excited for Space Engineers 2. You’ve built something that finally delivers what we dreamed of in the early years: a more powerful engine, water, compound blocks, and so much more.
That said, I’m writing with a serious request and concern regarding the new flight model.
The New Flight Model Feels Physically Uncomfortable to Use
I’m not exaggerating when I say the new assisted flight system actually causes me physical discomfort while playing. Because of the added input delay, momentum smoothing, and “cinematic” motion interpolation, there’s a disconnect between mouse movement and ship response. My brain expects immediate motion feedback, the way it’s worked in SE1 for over a decade, but instead, the ship moves fractions of a second later.This sensory mismatch causes neurological discomfort for me, a form of motion-lag response similar to what some people experience in VR when there’s latency. It’s not just “I don’t like it,” it’s painful and disorienting. I’ve seen others on the forums describe similar experiences of discomfort from the delayed input feel.
The Old Flight Model Was Functional, Not Just Nostalgic
The SE1 model wasn’t just familiar it was mechanically perfect for what made this game special:1:1 control feedback between input and ship motion
Immediate response for fine maneuvering and ship testing
Consistent gyro behavior that made combat, docking, and mining intuitive
It felt like you were directly interfacing with your machine, a pure engineering experience. That’s part of SE’s DNA.
Please Add a “Classic Flight Model” Option
I completely understand that the new model fits cinematic play and story mode. But for sandbox veterans, it breaks immersion and comfort. All I’m asking for is a toggle or world option — “Classic Flight Physics” or “Legacy Control Response” that restores the SE1 model exactly as it launched with.If this toggle is reintroduced, everyone wins:
New players keep the smoother story-friendly version.
Longtime engineers keep their precise control and comfort.
No major system conflicts just a selectable input behavior.
I truly love what you’re doing with SE2, and I want to be able to play it long-term. But as it stands, the new flight response makes that very difficult for me and others with similar sensory sensitivity. Please consider reintroducing the SE1 flight model as an option, not as nostalgia, but as accessibility and player choice.
Thank you for reading and for everything you’ve done for this game over the years.
TheDarkDragon89
I like this feedback
The new absolute target flight model can also be hostile during attempted recovery from an upset, which coupled with the inability of the dampeners to take advantage of gravity and the fine line between zero damage and total destruction can lead to total loss of the vehicle during an upset that might have otherwise been recoverable.
An example of all three of these is in https://www.twitch.tv/splitsie/clip/UnusualBlightedSkunkNomNom-fraP7mehUOMS2Yl4
* Thrust was let off at 2 seconds and 20m/s
* At 4 seconds, the upwards velocity was 15m/s, meaning the lifting thrusters were still applying 0.75g of thrust.
* During the upset it appeared that the lifting thrusters actively pushed him into the wall
* During the upset I would think he would have been trying to right the roll and face away from the wall, as evidenced by the point of view moving
* Crashing into the wall sideways at 26m/s resulted in complete destruction of the craft.
The new absolute target flight model can also be hostile during attempted recovery from an upset, which coupled with the inability of the dampeners to take advantage of gravity and the fine line between zero damage and total destruction can lead to total loss of the vehicle during an upset that might have otherwise been recoverable.
An example of all three of these is in https://www.twitch.tv/splitsie/clip/UnusualBlightedSkunkNomNom-fraP7mehUOMS2Yl4
* Thrust was let off at 2 seconds and 20m/s
* At 4 seconds, the upwards velocity was 15m/s, meaning the lifting thrusters were still applying 0.75g of thrust.
* During the upset it appeared that the lifting thrusters actively pushed him into the wall
* During the upset I would think he would have been trying to right the roll and face away from the wall, as evidenced by the point of view moving
* Crashing into the wall sideways at 26m/s resulted in complete destruction of the craft.
I agree. I actually like the new flight model, it feels more organic but recognize why people want the classic model. We should have an option selection in the menu.
I agree. I actually like the new flight model, it feels more organic but recognize why people want the classic model. We should have an option selection in the menu.
New flight model seems to be fine for space and larger ships, but for things that should do maneuvers it's rather unwieldy.
It's also less immersive. With old system the responsiveness of you craft directly affects responsiveness of your mouse which contributed to ship's character, to immersion, with new one you do not feel your vessel as well as you did in SE1.
New flight model seems to be fine for space and larger ships, but for things that should do maneuvers it's rather unwieldy.
It's also less immersive. With old system the responsiveness of you craft directly affects responsiveness of your mouse which contributed to ship's character, to immersion, with new one you do not feel your vessel as well as you did in SE1.
Could the option be in the cockpit blocks menu?
Based on the idea that the SE2 system is great for large ships but not so good for maneuvering/combat, so having an easy way to switch between would be great, especially if its per grid not global?
Could the option be in the cockpit blocks menu?
Based on the idea that the SE2 system is great for large ships but not so good for maneuvering/combat, so having an easy way to switch between would be great, especially if its per grid not global?
Or if you bump into something and it rotates the ship a bit and you try to countersteer, no idea where the game thinks my mouse is pointing in that moment, it smashes the ship even harder into the overhang.
On PC, it feels like artificial rubberbanding. NMS has a very similar flight model, (I assume it's for console players? I have never seen it in PC-only games.) but admittedly worse than in SE2, in NMS it just makes the ship wobble drunkenly instead of steer. What did NMS do? They added a toggle to switch back to the direct steering option.
Or if you bump into something and it rotates the ship a bit and you try to countersteer, no idea where the game thinks my mouse is pointing in that moment, it smashes the ship even harder into the overhang.
On PC, it feels like artificial rubberbanding. NMS has a very similar flight model, (I assume it's for console players? I have never seen it in PC-only games.) but admittedly worse than in SE2, in NMS it just makes the ship wobble drunkenly instead of steer. What did NMS do? They added a toggle to switch back to the direct steering option.
I can handle the new system but when I introduced my friends to the game they experienced wild swinging back and forth and felt like ship movement was unpredictable and made it difficult to not randomly bump into things.
The new system also prevents you from doing a turn-and-burn with dampeners on without CAREENING off to the side and likely smashing yourself to bits. I imagine this is because the flight model wants to go where your mouse is pointing but that is crazy talk, unless im pressing thrust in this direction i definitely dont want to go that way.
I can handle the new system but when I introduced my friends to the game they experienced wild swinging back and forth and felt like ship movement was unpredictable and made it difficult to not randomly bump into things.
The new system also prevents you from doing a turn-and-burn with dampeners on without CAREENING off to the side and likely smashing yourself to bits. I imagine this is because the flight model wants to go where your mouse is pointing but that is crazy talk, unless im pressing thrust in this direction i definitely dont want to go that way.
Yeah, 'Alt' as a toggle for mouse steering would be perfect.
Yeah, 'Alt' as a toggle for mouse steering would be perfect.
Alt is already used to reposition the camera.
Maybe an option for a combination of mouse velocity "I want to move right now", and mouse position "go where I'm looking", possibly with damping the target vector back toward the forward vector "release the controls and let them center"?
Alt is already used to reposition the camera.
Maybe an option for a combination of mouse velocity "I want to move right now", and mouse position "go where I'm looking", possibly with damping the target vector back toward the forward vector "release the controls and let them center"?
Just having one method wont be great for all different types of crafts or various situations. It can already cause problems with docking because it can cause undesired roll to the craft and you have guess where to aim to line it up. yes the auto dock is there to help it just makes precision docking a bit tedious. Dispite that the current model is great for combat, it's reminiscent of War Thunders aircraft controls which that game has different control models including "mouse joystick", I can also imagine rovers driving like halo. I think we still need ALT looking, maybe some button combo like ALT+V, it is easy-ish to press and it correlates with the view space and UI with V controlling third person which i feel is close enough related to ship control to make sense.
Just having one method wont be great for all different types of crafts or various situations. It can already cause problems with docking because it can cause undesired roll to the craft and you have guess where to aim to line it up. yes the auto dock is there to help it just makes precision docking a bit tedious. Dispite that the current model is great for combat, it's reminiscent of War Thunders aircraft controls which that game has different control models including "mouse joystick", I can also imagine rovers driving like halo. I think we still need ALT looking, maybe some button combo like ALT+V, it is easy-ish to press and it correlates with the view space and UI with V controlling third person which i feel is close enough related to ship control to make sense.
I think it's important to distinguish between the new super damper and the mouse control (ship forward orientation converging on a target etc).
On the mouse aim/control feature:
I would like there to be options for this feature to e.g. allow moving the cursor 180 or more, and responsiveness options, as well as a toggle for the feature, as it may be useful in point-to-point navigation or massive ships/low gyro strength, whereas 1-1 control is better for tight maneuvers or ships with strong gyros.
I think it's important to distinguish between the new super damper and the mouse control (ship forward orientation converging on a target etc).
On the mouse aim/control feature:
I would like there to be options for this feature to e.g. allow moving the cursor 180 or more, and responsiveness options, as well as a toggle for the feature, as it may be useful in point-to-point navigation or massive ships/low gyro strength, whereas 1-1 control is better for tight maneuvers or ships with strong gyros.
Current tagret gyro control system is uncomfortable.
It's a pain to park on the land - your vihicle is trying to get orientation according to your cursor, and I have to turn off whole ship to align with the ground, to be able to park with my land gear.
It's good for big ships with big momentum, but for small ships - it's pain to fly. Feels very unresponsive. You can't rotate in 180 degrees, instead you have to do a lot of smaller rotations, and it feels not smooth. You can move mouse smooth, but cursor behaves strange, very twitchy.
What is my suggestion:
1. Making target gyro control togglable feature in cockpit settings would be great. You choose how to manage you ship depending on it's mass or momentum, or dedication.
2. Tweak target gyro control a bit - bind camera orientation to target circle to avoid it's twitching on the screen. And make able in one move to turn cursor on 180 degrees related to ship, at least in third person view. And as I suppose, it will look awesome! You will see front side of your big ship, and then it slowly rotated to target behind - great view!
'Q' and 'E' ship roll feel very uncomfortable too. It starts very slow (no matter how much gyros you have), then it speeds up very fast. When you want to roll 180 degrees it's realy hard to catch the moment you need release button. Now 'Q' and 'E' control is hardly predictable, I would say.
Current tagret gyro control system is uncomfortable.
It's a pain to park on the land - your vihicle is trying to get orientation according to your cursor, and I have to turn off whole ship to align with the ground, to be able to park with my land gear.
It's good for big ships with big momentum, but for small ships - it's pain to fly. Feels very unresponsive. You can't rotate in 180 degrees, instead you have to do a lot of smaller rotations, and it feels not smooth. You can move mouse smooth, but cursor behaves strange, very twitchy.
What is my suggestion:
1. Making target gyro control togglable feature in cockpit settings would be great. You choose how to manage you ship depending on it's mass or momentum, or dedication.
2. Tweak target gyro control a bit - bind camera orientation to target circle to avoid it's twitching on the screen. And make able in one move to turn cursor on 180 degrees related to ship, at least in third person view. And as I suppose, it will look awesome! You will see front side of your big ship, and then it slowly rotated to target behind - great view!
'Q' and 'E' ship roll feel very uncomfortable too. It starts very slow (no matter how much gyros you have), then it speeds up very fast. When you want to roll 180 degrees it's realy hard to catch the moment you need release button. Now 'Q' and 'E' control is hardly predictable, I would say.
The Current model for SE2 Flight feels like it is intended to be used with a Flight Stick (HOTAS or HOSAS), this can be ideal for flying in first person, however I and most likely many other players typically fly in 3rd person and use first person when looking for precession like drilling or welding. I would suggest giving us a toggle to this so we can switch to the SE1 setup.
The Current model for SE2 Flight feels like it is intended to be used with a Flight Stick (HOTAS or HOSAS), this can be ideal for flying in first person, however I and most likely many other players typically fly in 3rd person and use first person when looking for precession like drilling or welding. I would suggest giving us a toggle to this so we can switch to the SE1 setup.
Yes, it would be great if we could switch between the classic and new model, as the new model is more suitable for some short playtime, and only to entertain ourselves. The first part, however, is much more pleasant and comfortable for long flights and sessions.
And of course, I would like them to add a switch during the game within the session, rather than in the main menu, so that we wouldn’t have to exit and re-enter five times just to switch.
Yes, it would be great if we could switch between the classic and new model, as the new model is more suitable for some short playtime, and only to entertain ourselves. The first part, however, is much more pleasant and comfortable for long flights and sessions.
And of course, I would like them to add a switch during the game within the session, rather than in the main menu, so that we wouldn’t have to exit and re-enter five times just to switch.
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