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Miscellaneous Forums => Gameplay => Topic started by: Prince Lex on 2012-01-25 16:17:57

Title: Analogue controller support?
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-01-25 16:17:57
Lately I feel like I've been spamming this board slightly with niggling issues, so I thought I'd round it off with this one.

It's been years since I've played FF7 from start to finish, but for some reason my old love for the game was totally rekindled yesterday and I can't stop playing it. I have dipped in and out to see what mods have looked like, but usually end up stopping on the cargo ship (I don't know why, I always seem to stop playing there). The only (and I really mean only) huge thing that's bothering me playing it now is the awkward D-pad controls.

I realise that the original FF7 never actually had analogue support, so it may be totally out of the question. If it is, then...

FF8. What's the dealio there? The original had analogue support, and if the PC uses the same/ similar files, it should certainly be possible. There would obviously need to be some sort of plugin to properly map the controls.

I'd be willing to actually learn and have a look myself, but I don't have a clue where the data for the control mechanisms are stored. Somewhere in the .exe?
Title: Re: Analogue controller support?
Post by: sithlord48 on 2012-01-25 16:25:16
it should only depend on what buttons are set under custom controls. have you tried changing it in that area?

edit: talking about 7 , maybe same for 8
Title: Re: Analogue controller support?
Post by: Bosola on 2012-01-25 16:45:44
I don't really know how the engine handles character movement; I'd suspect that there's no real model for moving in directions that aren't up-down, left-right or straight diagonals. You might find a joypad driver that translates analogue input into a certain ratio of left-right and up-down keypresses, but this will fail if there's an entry threshold for movement - i.e. if lots of brief entries don't trigger a movement.
Title: Re: Analogue controller support?
Post by: dkma841 on 2012-01-25 17:43:22
My Saitek gamepad works flawlessly since i got the game especially the analogue, maybe it depends on the gamepad?
Title: Re: Analogue controller support?
Post by: sithlord48 on 2012-01-25 17:46:36
same thing w/ my ps2 to usb converters. if i turn analog on it uses the analog but if its off i get dpad. for the ps3 controller use what ever teh driver decides is axis 0 and 1.  in that case i have to go to the custom controller mapping in game and reasign up  down left and right.
Title: Re: Analogue controller support?
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-01-25 18:06:18
I use motioninjoy on my PS3 gamepad. I tried mapping the analogue stick to up, down, left, right in game and it doesn't even register the movement. Works fine on D-Pad though.

Shouldn't there be a way to properly implement analogue in FF8 though? Since it did originally have it. Maybe they removed it in the porting process or something.
Title: Re: Analogue controller support?
Post by: Lionsmane on 2012-01-25 18:15:05
hmmm thats weird. im using an afterglow 360 gamepad and only the analog works, no d-pad
Title: Re: Analogue controller support?
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-01-25 18:20:19
It's maybe something I can resolve with motioninjoy (that driver is BEASTLY), but I still won't have analogue control, I'll just be using the analogue stick to fool the game into thinking I have D-Pad control.
Title: Re: Analogue controller support?
Post by: Covarr on 2012-01-25 19:03:50
hmmm thats weird. im using an afterglow 360 gamepad and only the analog works, no d-pad
You may be using the analog stick, but it's still digital control. You're not getting different speeds based on how far you push it, and you're not getting more than eight directions. 'Tis not true analog control. The game doesn't even support it.

Might be possible to add, but it'd require brand new code. No simple script could fix it.
Title: Re: Analogue controller support?
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-01-25 19:07:12
You may be using the analog stick, but it's still digital control. You're not getting different speeds based on how far you push it, and you're not getting more than eight directions. 'Tis not true analog control. The game doesn't even support it.

Might be possible to add, but it'd require brand new code. No simple script could fix it.

See, you get what I'm talking about!

Imagine the difference it would make to FF7 to play with an analogue stick and have a slight push be walk and a full push be run? *oh* ... dare to dream.

That and proper widescreen support = immediate pants creamage.
Title: Re: Analogue controller support?
Post by: Bosola on 2012-01-25 19:12:50
That's another thing - what about running by default?


It can't be that hard to do; just reversing an input. Anyone know of any attempts to do this?
Title: Re: Analogue controller support?
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-01-25 19:20:46
There was a patch years ago (part of YAMP I believe) and there's a more recent one cutting about somewhere. They both work fine.
Title: Re: Analogue controller support?
Post by: Bosola on 2012-01-25 19:31:28
Hmm, they're only for the PC version. Maybe I should see if I can implement something like this on the PSX (though I don't really have experience with this). It sounds like I'm looking for a function that increases speed if X is pressed down.
Title: Re: Analogue controller support?
Post by: sithlord48 on 2012-01-25 19:47:42

i had problems when using the run by default(i think as part of menu overhaul) . only in one spot when trying to sneak away from aerith . holding 'X" should had made me walk(it did)  but it didn't work she still heard me. had to remove the patch to get past that part.
Title: Re: Analogue controller support?
Post by: Covarr on 2012-01-25 19:49:18
Did you try running past? I suspect the scene checks if the button is being held, rather than checking movement speed, so running should've worked.
Title: Re: Analogue controller support?
Post by: sithlord48 on 2012-01-25 21:13:44
Did you try running past? I suspect the scene checks if the button is being held, rather than checking movement speed, so running should've worked.

yes iirc i tried both with and without holding 'X'
i have since removed the patch cause i was working on getting progression vars from that area(we all know why..)
Title: Re: Analogue controller support?
Post by: pyrozen on 2012-01-26 23:51:49
I think it is definitely up to the controller your using to decide which control options are active. I had an old logitech gamepad that you could switch between the analog and d-pad with a button, it seemed to work fine. I recently bought a clone ps2 controller with a usb connector($5!) and the analog works fine on it as well.

if you pad flat out refuses to work with the analog controls, xpadder is your friend. Pretty much any control scheme is possible using this once you figure out the interface/
Title: Re: Analogue controller support?
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-01-27 02:30:05
I managed to make the analogue pretend it was digital using motioninjoy, which is marginally better than using the D-Pad. But still not as good as real analogue, which may never happen :(