Assign Controller Button Combo to Key Press

[nullPointer]

Hello All.

First off please let me express my gratitude for this wonderful program! I'm using version 2011.02.09 in Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.

This may be a noobish question I don't know. I did some due diligence trying to turn up an answer in the forums but came up empty handed.

OK, I know that I can assign a single controller button to a single key on the keyboard, or a keyboard macro. I'm wondering if there's any way to go the oppisite direction. I'm hoping that I can hold down multiple buttons on my controller and have Xpadder send a single keyboard key (or keyboard macro). Specifically this is what I'm trying to accomplish: I use GameEx as a frontend for my emulator collection. I would like to be able to use my controller (a Rumblepad 2) to exit an emulator and return to GameEx. This is accomplished using the ESC key. Ideally this this action should be assigned in such a way that I don't ever inadvertently exit a game by mistake. That's why I'd like to be able to assign this action to a button combo rather than a single controller button (or a single press and hold button).

tl;dr: I'd like to be able to press and hold R1, R2, L1 and L2 simultaneously on my Rumblepad 2 and assign that combination in Xpadder to the ESC key on the keyboard.

I know I can accomplish this in a secondary scripting app like AutoHotKey, but I'm hoping to keep everything centralized in Xpadder (you know because it's awesome and for simplicity's sake).

Thanks in advance for any advice or instructions you can offer!

[Kloreep]

There isn't any way to assign keys to a combination of button presses, I'm afraid. The best I can think of is "while-held" set switching, where Xpadder remains in another Set of assignments only so long as you hold a particular button.


This will only give you a two-button combination, but it might work to prevent accidents if you pick the right ones. E.g. have Select put you in a different set while held, then assign Start to ESC in that set. You would then have to hold Select, and then press Start, to exit. (You can even still give Select a "tap" function in your game. I believe you assign it in the destination set, sandwiched in release zones like in a normal tap/hold assignment.)

[Reboot]

Specifically this is what I'm trying to accomplish: I use GameEx as a frontend for my emulator collection. I would like to be able to use my controller (a Rumblepad 2) to exit an emulator and return to GameEx. This is accomplished using the ESC key. Ideally this this action should be assigned in such a way that I don't ever inadvertently exit a game by mistake.

If the (ESC) key is all you need, then you could use just one button to do something like that,
Choose a button that you will never come to at hold for more than a second, then setup, like this
(P)-(Pause)-(Add Hold Zone)-(ESC)-(Pause)


You can hit the P button as many times as you like, but as soon as you hold it for more than 10 seconds it will (ESC.) now if you think about it, 10 seconds is a very long time.