Since late December I’ve really been enjoying playing the early access release of Cattle and Crops (v. 0.1.0.1). If you haven’t visited my YouTube Channel, please do so and watch my Cattle and Crops video series showcasing the available missions in the game.
While my level of enjoyment has been high, it hasn’t been without frustration. I’m a really picky simulation gamer and practically refuse to play simulation based games (especially driving type games) without my trusty Logitech G27 steering wheel, pedals and shifter console. Unfortunately, Cattle and Crops is yet another simulation based game which is available where controller support appears to be somewhat of an after-thought.
After several hours of some trial and a whole lot of error, I have determined the best configuration settings I need to configure my Logitech G27 hardware with Cattle and Crops. While it’s not exactly the way I would like to have things, it will work until such time that hopefully the CnC Devs will better enhance their controller support for the game.
I’m not sure if these steps will work with older or newer Logitech controllers. I only own the G27 and only have that model to test with. In addition, I’m not sure if these steps will work with non-Logitech branded hardware. But my hope is that you might get an idea from this video which may work with these other setups. Good luck!
If you have questions regarding any of the steps I’ve outlined in the video, please leave a comment on the video or alternatively you are free to join my Discord server and contact me there.
Just before Christmas I wrote a blog article discussing my holiday video release schedule on the GBS YouTube channel and also discussed my early opinions on Farmer’s Dynasty and also briefly touched on an older blog article I wrote in late 2016 regarding my outlook on 2017 being the year for farming. After writing that article, two things happened.
First, a reader of my blog contacted me via email informing me of an update to Cattle and Crops which he felt I should look into. Second, Wonko (the owner of PC-SG) also posted his review of his experiences with the new update. After reading Wonko’s posting and also looking into the changes made to CnC, I decided to reinstall CnC with the updates and check it out. I’m really…REALLY glad I did.
Looking back to the early stages of 2017, most (including myself) was really excited about the release of Cattle and Crops (CnC). Initially we believed the early access version which many of us had helped to support in the CnC Crowdfunding campaign would occur in early Spring of 2017 with the official release of the game to be in the late Fall. Unfortunately this time schedule began to slip and the actual “Tech Demo” of CnC wasn’t made available until early summer. As Spring turned into Summer, I was still excited for the release, but that excitement quickly turned to disappointment once I downloaded the Tech Demo and spent a few hours with the game. During much of this time I was trying to get my Logitech G27 working. If you are a frequent reader of my blog and watch my videos, you’ll know that I make every attempt for full immersion with the simulation based games I play. In addition, I’m a firm believer if you are a game developer and wish to create a simulation based game, you MUST include support for 3rd party hardware such as steering wheels and pedals. Without this support, the game is just that. A Game!
For full disclosure, the few hours I spent with the Tech Demo (during the early summer) resulted in me forming a less than positive opinion which I’ve expressed in previous articles and during discussions on my videos. I uninstalled CnC and figured not much would ever come from the game.
Things change and so must opinions, since reinstalling CnC (v 0.1.0.1) my opinion has changed and my level of excitement has also changed. While the current version of Cattle and Crops is most certainly not ready to be considered a complete release, much has changed over the past 5-6 months and I truly must credit the development team for their hard work.
Of course, I’m not going to go out on any limbs and say that CnC will become the simulation game we may once thought it would be. Also, I’m not going to say CnC will become a Giants killer (at least not yet), but I do believe things are on the right path. Yes there are lots of wonderful things about the current state of the game and equally there are also many annoying things as well.
Over the course of the next few weeks, I plan to record my game play and commentary as I re-experience Cattle and Crops. To start, I plan to play the missions (I believe there are 12) and get a feel for the current state of the game. In addition, I’ll spend more time researching the current and future plans.
But for now, here’s what I’m calling episode 0 which I recorded recently. During this episode I discuss some of the challenges I’ve experienced in getting my wheel and pedals setup. But persistence did eventually pay off and things are looking up. Thank you for watching!
