Mana Games

[christopher]

Hi,

I enjoy the game, but I would like to have more control over the movement of the character and especially over the placement of where the ball will strike the court. I've tried a joystick, mouse, trackball, and keyboard, and I just can't seem to find the right control.
The mouse seems to work fairly well, but I find that I need a large surface area in order to be able to get from behind the baseline to the net and back. The trackball was not really usable as it required too much spinning of the ball. The joystick was OK I guess, but my joystick (a Wingman Extreme) has too much resistance (puts itself back to neutral), so it wears out my wrist; a more passive joystick might would work well. The keyboard gives me pretty good player movement, once I get used to it, but it does not seem to work well for controlling ball placement. With the keyboard, in order to hit the far corners from the middle of the court, I have to hold the arrow keys (left or right) down for a long time before the ball is hit and then afterwards (while holding down the strike key). When I should be able to strike the corners in a match, it just seems impossible to do with the keyboard consistently. The mouse worked pretty well for this, but required quite a bit of horizontal movement to get the ball all the way over to the corner. Not having this ability is very frustrating when the CPU player comes to the net -- I can't get the balls far enough to the side to get past him, so it is almost impossible to win the point in that situation (I try lobs, but he almost always gets to them).
If anyone has tips on getting optimal player movement and ball placement, please share them with me. In the meantime, I'll keep trying to get better with what I have. If there is a particular device (mouse, joystick, etc.) that works the best for this game, please let me know.


Thanks!

[manutoo]

Hello,

1- the best way to play Tennis Elbow is with a gamepad, for example, something like this : http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/4 ... AA280_.jpg it's the one I have, and it cost me only 10 Euros !

2- there's no after touch effect, so once you stroke the ball, you can push left or right as much as you want, it won't affect the ball trajectory.

3- if you have trouble with keyboard control, you may want to try with the numeric pad keys 4, 5, 6 & 8, instead of arrow keys left, down, right & up, because on some keyboards it's not possible to press more than 1 key in addition of 1 or 2 arrow keys; some keyboards even don't support to press more than 3 keys at once, whatever the keys are.

I hope it helps...

[Christopher]

Thank you very much for the information and tips and the quick reply.

I've got a gamepad for a PC around somewhere -- maybe I can find it. I did not know that about releasing the keys or about multiple key presses -- that should help. Great game!

Christopher

[Christopher]

I have been trying with a keyboard and with a PS2 gamepad (through a converter), but I cannot get proper placement. I have been playing the CPU with my skills as:

Forehand and Backhand -- 100
Forehand and Backhand Volley -- 60
Service -- 50
Smash -- 55
Form -- 100

It does not matter how long in advance of striking the ball (after I have pressed the strike key) that I hold down the direction button (or hold the joystick over), the ball will not go far enough to the corner most of the time. When I play online, very often I play with those who can hit incredible angles with ease.

Also, Manutoo said that you don't need to keep the button(s) pressed after having striked the ball, but in the full documentation it says, "You must keep the button(s) pressed when you hit the ball." Please explain what is meant by this. Do you mean that the direction button has to be pressed when the strike key is pressed and the ball has been hit but can then be released, or do you mean that you have to keep the strike key pressed down all of the time until the ball has gone across court but that the direction key has no effect after striking the ball?

It would be so nice to have better control. It is very had to pass a volleyer when you can't hit crosscourt no matter how long you apply the direction to the strike.

Thank you!

[Christopher]

I want to give an example of the problem that I am having. Say the ball is hit to me from either the far side or from the center (horizontally) to the opposite corner (or from center to my right baseline corner, for instance). I run over to the corner in plenty of time to return the ball. I hold down the strike key, in these tests using the normal strike (left button) and apply the right direction trying to make the ball hit the baseline corner on the opposite side, directly across from me. Instead of going either straight or to that corner, the ball goes slightly to the left, opposite of the direction that I am aiming for. So, the ball hits not even straight down the line from me, but just a little to the left of this. I have had other players be able to have better placement than this, so there must be something wrong on my end. I have tried adjusting the JoyDeadZone and the DxJoyDeadZone, but this has not helped.

Here is an illustration (x represents opponent strike position, imaginary line x - y represents line of travel of first strike, y represents first strike placement and where I am returning the ball from, z represents my return strike placement (where the ball will hit), and g represents where I am trying strike the ball to):

|------------|-----------g|
| | z |
| | |
| x | |
| | |
|------------|------------|
| | |
| | |
================
| | |
| | |
|------------|------------|
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
|------------|-----------y|


Thank you.

[Christopher]

The last illustration did not come out properly because the spaces were truncated. Here is another version:


|------------|-----------g| Baseline
|.................|.............z..|
|.................|.................|
|............x...|.................|
|------------|------------|
|.................|.................|
|.................|.................|
================ Net
|.................|.................|
|.................|.................|
|------------|------------|
|.................|.................|
|.................|.................|
|.................|.................|
|.................|.................|
|------------|-----------y| Baseline


Thanks.

[manutoo]

You have to react earlier to send the ball more on right (or left).
But sometimes, for example if your opponent did an acceleration or is at the net, you just don't have the time to send the ball much on right (or left).

And when you're on the side, the default direction will be to send the ball to the center of the opposite court, not right in front of you (else it'd be very easy to hit the ball wide when wanting to play along the line, and very hard to do a real cross-court shot).

I think you should practice in warm-up mode to see how long time of preparation you need to send the ball on the right or left line...

"You must keep the button(s) pressed when you hit the ball."
It means you have to have the buttons b1 or/and b2 pressed down at the exact moment you hit the ball, else you'd do the weak shot. Once you hit the ball, you can release them.
I wrote this in big, coz in most tennis games, you have to release the button before the strike (to initiate the swing), or you just have to press the button once, after then either it is pressed or not, you'll do a normal strike. In TE2006, if you release the button before the strike, you'll do a weak shot, which surprises some newcomers...