Important information about drivers

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Jonathan
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Important information about drivers

Post by Jonathan »

Before Xpadder can communicate with your controller you need to have installed a driver for it. A driver allows Windows to see your controller and it is how joystick-enabled games and Xpadder can read the controller. The driver is usually on the CD that came with your controller. You can also download the driver from the manufacturer's website.

How to test if you have a driver installed
In the Windows Control Panel there is the Windows Game Controllers Control Panel. It has a gamepad as its icon and is in the hardware section. It lists all the gamepads that have a driver installed and are currently connected. If your controller is not there then either is its not connected or it has no driver installed (so Windows does not know what it is).

If there is no driver available will Xpadder support it?
No. Xpadder is completely dependant on a controller driver. If the Windows Game Controllers Control Panel cannot see your controller then neither can Xpadder.

If a driver does become available in the future will Xpadder support it?
Yes and if there are features of the driver that Xpadder does not support by default I will try my best to add them.

Will I (the Xpadder coder) write a driver for your controller (Wii,Chatpad,(insert unsupported controller here))?
No. For a number of reasons:

1) Xpadder is designed to read a controller and output keypresses and mouse actions. This is all I intend to do with Xpadder. It cannot convert keys into other keys, add new keyboard or mouse devices or communicate with non-controllers. While the output system may alter with a few secret features in the future there are zero plans for Xpadder to see anything other than installed controllers. With any program it is important to decide what it will and will not be and Xpadder was/is/will never be a read-all-devices tool. That's not its goal.

2) Writing a driver takes time. I already work on Xpadder full-time, supporting and improving it. I feel that I have a duty to all those who have bought Xpadder to maintain the program they have bought. I ask buyers to vote for new features so I spend most of my time working on areas that will benefit the most people. Working on a driver will mean I am spending precious time working in an area that will help only a small percentage of Xpadder users.

3) I enjoy application development and this is the area of that I have the most experience in. It is more stable and easier for testers to play around with. The work I do in this area is also of more use to more people.

4) I have very little experience, tools or interest in driver development. Developing a driver would take me ages, cost me money to buy the compilers/documentation and probably bore me :lol:

5) Driver development is a project in itself. I already have a nice little project going here :D

mercerre
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Re: Important information about drivers

Post by mercerre »

Spot on. A much clearer vision/mission statement that the confusing, obfuscating, buzz-word laden ones created by government and commercial agencies. For us noobs, it's as important to know what will be worked on, as what won't be worked on.

FARSTRIDER
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Re: Important information about drivers

Post by FARSTRIDER »

it would be nice if you added a lib for wii/ps3 controllers since emulation methods suck

Chr1s
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Re: Important information about drivers

Post by Chr1s »

Jonathan wrote: Will I (the Xpadder coder) write a driver for your controller (Wii,Chatpad,(insert unsupported controller here))?
No. For a number of reasons:
Jon said that he won't write a driver, but if one becomes available, the controllers with work with Xpadder.

Jonathan
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Re: Important information about drivers

Post by Jonathan »

FARSTRIDER wrote:it would be nice if you added a lib for wii/ps3 controllers since emulation methods suck
Apart from XInput for the very popular Xbox 360 controllers I will not add any controller-specific access. Xpadder supports DirectInput and XInput only. If a controller does not support those then it's the job of the controller manufacturers to realise the potential of making an official driver - Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 chatpad are all dying for a joystick driver. I have no intention of adding direct support for any of them for all the reasons listed above. I fully understand the need for such drivers though and I really wish the actual company that makes the controller would wake up!

FARSTRIDER
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Re: Important information about drivers

Post by FARSTRIDER »

well i doubt that will happen. even wiispeak has no support for computers

SGTCableDog
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Re: Important information about drivers

Post by SGTCableDog »

Hypothetically speaking: If Sony created a PC driver for their sixaxis controller and created a competitive input method to XInput and DirectX. Say, oh, I don't know, BetaMaxInput, or BlueRayInput, and they provided a SDK to developers. Would we possibly see support in Xpadder?

Jonathan
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Re: Important information about drivers

Post by Jonathan »

SGTCableDog wrote:Hypothetically speaking: If Sony created a PC driver for their sixaxis controller and created a competitive input method to XInput and DirectX. Say, oh, I don't know, BetaMaxInput, or BlueRayInput, and they provided a SDK to developers. Would we possibly see support in Xpadder?
Maybe. XInput is special because it is not absolutely necessary. You can use Xbox 360 controllers with DirectInput but some features are missing such as independant triggers. So XInput support was an option rather than something I had to do to get the controller working. Also, XInput is very easy to program, is useful for the most common controller used with Xpadder and had loads of technical documentation.

If Sony for example does create something as good as XInput but for the PS3 controller (or Nintendo for the Wii) then I will look into it.

The ideal solution is for Microsoft to create a new DirectX controller system, much like XInput but with support for all controllers (old and new). DirectInput is old (something like 2002!) and the code to use it sucks. XInput is amazing and if I could remove all DirectInput code from Xpadder without it affecting 80% of users then I would :D

For anyone interested here is what XInput data looks like: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... S.85).aspx
and here's how to read it: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... S.85).aspx

Now here is what DirectInput data looks like: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... S.85).aspx
and here's how to read it: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... S.85).aspx (the steps are at the bottom of the page)

You can see how XInput is designed specifically for the Xbox 360 controller BUT just look how easy it is to use.
You can also see how DirectInput is very open and capable of accessing any controller BUT look at all the junk you have to go through!

Chr1s
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Re: Important information about drivers

Post by Chr1s »

DirectInput looks like a bit of a headache sometimes.

steetonwilsonoff
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Can you use different drivers?

Post by steetonwilsonoff »

I want to use a keyboard driver so I can remap the keys to my numberpad, can I, and how would I?


steetonwilsonoff
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Re: Important information about drivers

Post by steetonwilsonoff »

rossharris121 wrote:is it autohotkey what you are looking for?

http://www.thefreecountry.com/utilities ... ools.shtml

http://www.autohotkey.com/
Yes, thank you this is exactly what I was looking for! :D

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