Using joysticks / gamepads like a PRO - tutorial

[abija]

So after trimming out all the bullshit you wrote, we ended up with: "For fighting games, dedicated joysticks are better than regular gamepads". Whoop-dee-fucking-doo, that's some groundbreaking discovery here.

As most of people posting here, it turns out you know shit about things other than the games you play (fighting games?). First you reduced all platformers to 2D ones ("keyboard roxx!"), before I reminded you about the 3D ones. Then you kept defending the keyboard as a perfect control device, only to finally change the subject to some dedicated joystick, made specially for fighting games. All this while posting such pearls of wisdom like the ones I quoted.

What a retard.

That "dedicated joystick" replaced the STICK with KEYS. That means using 4 fingers instead of your fucking thumb is objectively better for control, which is the reason I mentioned keyboard is better for platformers.
I didn't bring up fighting games btw, you did. And despite proof to the contrary you still can't accept how inferior the gamepad is.

Also, you didn't mention a single game (platformer) that can't be played better with keyboard (+mouse) than with a gamepad. You list random games (like tekken, zelda, soul reaver, darksiders ) without probably even trying to play them on anything else than gamepad (hell, I gave a better example than you in that direction).
Bonus points for bringing mouse acceleration into discussion without any clue what it is or why it's used, somehow associating it with the analogue acceleration from sticks.

Now handle movement/aim acceleration, bitch.

Give an actual example.

 

[pakoito]

 

[A user named cat]

It's funny to see there are still scant retards pushing the PC vs console narrative, as if gaming in general hasn't been a massive heap of shit the past decade on all platforms. If anything, the worst offenders have been on PC with the plethora of retro hipster garbage. Give me cheesy weeaboo Dragon Questing Etrian Fantasizing Suikoden gaming any day over that boring humble cum bundle Cave Story clone garbage.

What kind of braindead uses a keyboard to play platformers though? Can you say carpal tunnel and finger cramps? GET OUT OF HERE, STALKER. This is why Xpadder and JoytoKey exist, to alleviate this retardation when firing up Win800, WinUAE, BlueMSX and various other emulators. Using a keyboard to play a platformer is like being a Linux user and making sure the entire internet is aware. The fuck is the point and why are you so tremendously gay about it?

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

If you want to play a platform or fighting game with a keyboard then go ahead, but trying to act smug about it is just retarded.

PS 2 gamepad that I've used finally is dead, I've done to him horrible things when rage quitting with some Snes platformers. Bought X-360 for a change and so far I can't complain. It's bigger so it's always a plus for me and playing Mortal Kombat on Mame feels very natural. Same for Crimson Clover steam edition.

Good thread spekkio. I'll bookmark it if I have the urge to try tinkering with some Dos game.

 

[abija]

What kind of braindead uses a keyboard to play platformers though? Can you say carpal tunnel and finger cramps? GET OUT OF HERE, STALKER.

You really don't want to bring ergonomics in a gamepad vs X debate. Whenever I had a snes/ps/md overnight marathon with my friends we all ended up with callouses on fingers.
Or idk, maybe you're trying to hold keyboards like gamepads...

 

[BlackAdderBG]

If anything, the worst offenders have been on PC with the plethora of retro hipster garbage. Give me cheesy weeaboo Dragon Questing Etrian Fantasizing Suikoden gaming any day over that boring humble cum bundle Cave Story clone garbage.

You drunk or something ,there is one in a million chance dev that is making platformer cancer today to be PC gamer.Just look at any interview what their favorite games are.They release them for PC ,as publishing indie on consoles was close to impossible.Look at Russians/EE to see what actual PC centered devs want to make-tons of HoMM/JA/RTS clones.

 

[ghostdog]

thread delivers



Anyway, back to the topic, my favorite tool is joy2key. Simple and effective.

Nowadays, since I'm using my PC slouched in my reclining chair I use the keyboard only for writing and FPS gaming. For all the other PC games that don't have native gamepad support I use my wireless mouse (right hand on a little side desk) + gamepad (left hand : using mainly the left side of the pad). Basically all PC-game controls can be assigned that way, with nice, comfy results. You use mouse as it is, while movement keys are assigned to the left analog and the rest of the keys are assigned to the d-pad , L1-L2, L0, select. Non-comon actions like, qsave/load and menu stuff can be assigned to the right gamepad buttons.

Hope you plebs are taking notes.

Of course I'm using my awesome PSX controller that's only getting better with age. No really, the analogs are fucking sweet. I tried my rarely used ps2 controller and it was stiff as a corpse.

I do this for Dosbox too. Why bother setting up joystick, when I can assign the default keys to mouse+gamepad, or only gamepad. I haven't actually used it much for flight/space sims though, but I think that the "threshold for input" setting can help a lot:

That's right bitches, AoD have fun with your non-rebindable keys.

Anyway, as seen above if you want to use both analog sticks and d-pad you should tick the "use axes other than x and y" and "use POV switches" boxes.
"Threshold for input" sets the stick's sensitivity <- Fiddle with it since it's pretty important in some games.


Now, for the actual keybinding. In each gamepad button you can assign one, two, or three keyboard buttons. Or you can assign the mouse, which is useful for full gamepad control, but this works best only in popamole games, like TWitcher3. For point and click stuff, you should go for the gamepad+mouse combination. You can also use autofire for those finger-mauling SHMUPS.

Neat trick: Popamole gamepad doesn't have enough buttons for your master-race piano game? You can use one button (L1/2 works better) as a switch to another, completely different configuration:

Case in point: Realms of the Haunting has a notoriously crappy control scheme. I've managed to make it fully work on a gamepad with natural FPS control, left stick movement, right stick camera, etc. I'm uploading this because I know a lot of people have trouble with this game:

Spoiler

I had to use 2joypad configs. L1 is the switch. Full config :

Spoiler

or simply use the file I've uploaded here.

In-game keys you must have:

The first four are ( [ ) , ( / ) , ( ; ) , ( ' ) if you can't make them out. Yeah I know crappy scheme but I wanted keys that don't clash with the hard coded ones.

Quick keys non-bindable:

Spoiler

Setup: (D-pad is also the arrow keys when "shift" is pressed)

damn, I spent too much time with this shitty post. I've drunk too much coffee today.

 

[spekkio]

thread delivers

As for the rest...

 

[spekkio]

ghostdog

Neat trick: Popamole gamepad doesn't have enough buttons for your master-race piano game? You can use one button (L1/2 works better) as a switch to another, completely different configuration.

BRO, do you know is it possible to use the "switch to other joystick settings temporarily" button as a so-called "momentary" button? Same way as Shift, Alt and Ctrl keyboard buttons work?
I mean, what I want is for such button to work only WHEN and AS LONG AS it's pressed. So, for example, I want to use a TRIANLGE gamepad button to do sth (Joystick #1 settings), but SELECT ("switch to Joystick #2" button) + TRIANGLE to do something else.
From what I see, Joy2Key only allows for "switch" button to be a regular button. It switches to Joystick #2 when pressed once, if you press it again, it will switch back to Joystick #1 (as long as both joystick profiles use this key as a "switch profile" key. Which is not what I want - in the heat of the X-wing battle I don't have time to check which Joystick settings are currently chosen.

From what I know, the only program that allows the use of such advanced options is RB-Joy.



First, you have to choose the "switch to special mode" key. 4 devices are listed: the real gamepad (Dual Shock 2) and virtual one (vJoy), with 2 modes for each one (regular and special):

As you can see, I use Button#9 (SELECT) of the Device #1 (vJoy, regular mode) as a "switch to special mode" button.

How does it work? Well, for example, in regular mode, pressing gamepad Button #4 (TRIANGLE) translates to "x" keyboard input ("cycle firing settings" in X-wing):

"Auto-release" is another neat thing in RB-Joy. Using this option means that pressing the gamepad button will lead to the "x" keyboard input being sent only ONCE. Without it, program will keep sending the input as long as you keep the gamepad button pressed (it works like auto-fire). For some inputs you will need this option enabled (launching torpedos, changing ship settings, ordering wingmen), for other - disabled (fire lasers).

Now, when you press the SELECT button (and keep it pressed), pressing TRIANGLE will lead to the "Shift+c" keyboard input ("order wingmen to cover you" in X-wing):

Now - is such thing possible with Joy2Key?

Spoiler

 

[ghostdog]

BRO, do you know is it possible to use the "switch to other joystick settings temporarily" button as a so-called "momentary" button? Same way as Shift, Alt and Ctrl keyboard buttons work?
I mean, what I want is for such button to work only WHEN and AS LONG AS it's pressed.

That's exactly what i was talking about in my post. I can certainly be done with joy2key.

Spoiler

 

[spekkio]

Cool story, bro.

How is it done, cuz' I don't see such option anywhere?

When I use this option:

Pressing this button switches the keybinds to the "Joystick 2" settings. And that's it, keybinds are set to Joy 2 for good. Maybe it's something with my gamepad?

 

[spekkio]

*Update:

I did it, you simply need 3 joysticks enabled when using vJoy: #1 (vJoy), #2 (real one - don't set anything for this one) and #3 (special settings, accessed only when the "Switch" button for Joy#1 is pressed:

With this, pressing CROSS (Button 1) gets me "x" keyboard input:

L2 (Button 7) is the "Switch to Joystick 3" button. Presing it together with CROSS gets me "X" (Shift + x) keyboard input:

So indeed, what I wanted is possible with Joy2Key.



Last time I was using the "Load and switch to another configuration file" option probably.