Gamepad Controls Reset to Default

[nostrich]

I play Altitude with a wired Xbox 360 controller on OSX through Steam. Every now and then, I forgot to plug my pad in before I launch Altitude, and whenever I do that, the gamepad controls reset to their defaults -- or what I assume is the defaults. No idea what would be causing that.

And I'm not sure if it's an Altitude issue or a drivers issue (I'm assuming the latter), but Altitude doesn't let me map the triggers to anything. They're registered as axis within OS X configuration panel, rather than buttons, which I suppose would explain it. Just thought I'd mention it in case it's an Altitude issue and in case there's a known workaround. And because I have thrusters and directional controls mapped to the left analog by necessity because of it, and it's annoying.

I'm all up to date on Altitude, Steam, and OS X, fyi.

[wolf'j'max]

are there any controllers which use the USB port which can be used to play altitude?

[nostrich]

Yes. Probably hundreds. I'm not sure what Altitude's support is like, but within OS X at least, it seems like it will work with any pad recognized by the OS. I'd imagine it's the same deal on Windows. And even if not, you can use something like joy2key and just map it to keyboard commands. So, seriously, search Amazon for "gamepad" and take your pick. Pretty much all of them use the USB port. (Some are wireless, and they should work just as well.) And I highly recommend the Xbox controller if you don't care about the d-pad, which is ****.

[wolf'j'max]

ehh i don't have any xbox or something but if i just buy a joystick, can i use it on my mac for any game?

edit: which supports joysticks/pads

[nostrich]

Yes and no. Most peripheral makers don't support OS X. Make sure whatever you look at explicitly says that it supports OS X. Alternatively, you can use apps like ControllerMate and Gamepad Companion to make unsupported pads work, but that only works by mapping pad buttons to a keyboard press.

By the way, you don't need an Xbox to get the controller. They're sold separately and will work perfectly with OS X with these drivers.

[wolf'j'max]

i just downloaded these drivers, will install it buy a controller and if i have questions. can i PM you?

[ZodiacMunch]

I also use an XBOX 360 controller to play altitude, and I have a similar and maybe related problem. (Maybe I should post to a different thread?)

I use a wireless 360 controller. If it loses power or gets disconnected for any reason, I have to restart altitude to get it to recognize input from my controller. If I go to the controls menu, it still claims the controller exists. It just ignores all input.

As you can imagine, this can be extremely inconvenient. For example, imagine this happening during a ladder game. There is no way I can continue playing without completing exiting altitude and coming back (which I think you can get banned from ladder for?).

Nostrich, I'd be curious to know if this happens to you as well if you disconnect/reconnect your controller while playing.

-ZodiacMunch

[nostrich]

Originally Posted by ZodiacMunch

I use a wireless 360 controller. If it loses power or gets disconnected for any reason, I have to restart altitude to get it to recognize input from my controller. If I go to the controls menu, it still claims the controller exists. It just ignores all input.

As you can imagine, this can be extremely inconvenient. For example, imagine this happening during a ladder game. There is no way I can continue playing without completing exiting altitude and coming back (which I think you can get banned from ladder for?).

Nostrich, I'd be curious to know if this happens to you as well if you disconnect/reconnect your controller while playing.

-ZodiacMunch

Yep. I play a lot of shmups through Mame OSX and have the same problem there too. And equally, if I forgot to plug it in until after Mame/Altitude has launched, it won't recognise it without a restart. No idea what the problem could be, but it seems to be a limitation of the operating system rather than a bug in anyone's software. I don't think OS X has any kind of Windows-like plug-and-play API for game controllers, so maybe that's the cause.

i just downloaded these drivers, will install it buy a controller and if i have questions. can i PM you?

Sure thing. It couldn't be easier, so I doubt you'll have any problems, but feel free.

[Karl]

For whatever reason the library we use (jinput) isn't capable of detecting freshly plugged in controllers when the game is running...

If there was something we could do we would.

[Demuyt]

Oh by the way if any Gamepad user is reading this!
What keys have you binded the Altitude controls to? I have a Logitech gamepad that is pretty similar to the Xbox controller but I never figured out what the best configuration would be in order to play decently...

[nostrich]

Originally Posted by Demuyt

Oh by the way if any Gamepad user is reading this!
What keys have you binded the Altitude controls to? I have a Logitech gamepad that is pretty similar to the Xbox controller but I never figured out what the best configuration would be in order to play decently...

Well, I have the left analog mapped to direction controls and thrust, the bumbers mapped to change plane/change team, and 3 of the 4 face buttons mapped to primary and secondary fire and power up. I'd prefer to map the triggers to thrusters, but as I said above, Altitude doesn't like it. The problem is the analog is pretty sensitive (I should probably investigate decreasing the sensitivity), and I frequently find myself mistakenly increasing/decreasing thrust without meaning to, or turning when I'm trying to afterburn in a straight line, so it's not ideal. (And god help me if I try to use a Randa, where afterburning becomes an attack more than just a speed increase.) I'd use the d-pad instead if it wasn't so terrible, it would be less likely to happen then, but c'est la vie, I suppose.

[Demuyt]

Originally Posted by nostrich

Well, I have the left analog mapped to direction controls and thrust, the bumbers mapped to change plane/change team, and 3 of the 4 face buttons mapped to primary and secondary fire and power up. I'd prefer to map the triggers to thrusters, but as I said above, Altitude doesn't like it. The problem is the analog is pretty sensitive (I should probably investigate decreasing the sensitivity), and I frequently find myself mistakenly increasing/decreasing thrust without meaning to, or turning when I'm trying to afterburn in a straight line, so it's not ideal. (And god help me if I try to use a Randa, where afterburning becomes an attack more than just a speed increase.) I'd use the d-pad instead if it wasn't so terrible, it would be less likely to happen then, but c'est la vie, I suppose.

Thanks! I'll give it a try, along with my Joystick

[wolf'j'max]

has anyone here custom painted his XBOX 360 controller? because you can do it easily:
here.

[ZodiacMunch]

Originally Posted by nostrich

I'd prefer to map the triggers to thrusters, but as I said above, Altitude doesn't like it.

I use the triggers for my brake/thrust with my xbox360 controller, for what it's worth. Maybe it is something different about OS X, since I'm running in Win XP.

For the other poster that asked about buttom mappings, I use the defaults that altitude sets, which are:

X/A/B: various firing/specials
analog triggers: brake/thrust
left stick: steer

I think it works well. Like Nostrich said, I'd rather use the dpad for steering, but the dpad on the 360 controller is worthless.

-ZodiacMunch

[saxamo]

I use a USB to PS1/2 controller adapter and play with my PS2 pad.

That being said, I can confirm that if i start altitude with the controller not plugged in, the controlls reset to default. If there was some sort of way to save a controller configuration, it would really help me, and many others out. Please address this bug, altitude team!

[drunkguava]

i cant get alti to recognize my 360 controller. I'm running Mac OSX so I installed the drivers that nostrich mentioned (http://tattiebogle.net/index.php/Pro...ller/OsxDriver). I'll try a couple of his other driver suggestions, but if anyone has any ideas on how to make the first one work I'd appreciate it.

[Kav]

Originally Posted by nostrich

I forgot to plug my pad in before I launch Altitude, and whenever I do that, the gamepad controls reset to their defaults

I do this all the time. It seems to happen to any application that uses a joystick. I feel I should just buy another 360 controller just to spare myself the trouble.


What is it you guys have against the 360 dpad? I use it for damn near every game I have on my pc that doesn't require a mouse, especially altitude. When I switched from keyboard to the dpad it took about an hour to adjust, but my flying drastically improved thereafter. But if that's not your thing the triggers for throttle are especially delicious, I must admit.

[wolf'j'max]

just ordered this controller: (it is a dutch site, just watch the pic >.<)

will have it tomorrow :3

[wolf'j'max]

i got my wired xbox 360 controller, installed the drivers and everything works fine except for altitude, altitude won't find my controller:



anyone has the answer to this?

[nostrich]

A couple people here asked me about getting my pad working with Altitude in OS X. Seems like I got lucky in getting my pad to work. Wish I could say how. For what it's worth, I'm using OS X 10.6.2, and playing Altitude through Steam. Some incompatibility in OS version may or may not be at fault, but that seems like a long shot, since I know those drivers work a few OS versions back, and the drivers themselves seem to be installing properly for wolf and drunkguava. So I think Altitude must be the cause, somehow. Are you guys playing through Steam? Maybe there's some difference between the native version and the Steam version that the devs missed.

Here's what I told wolf and drunkguava, for anyone else with similar problems: google Gamepad Companion (you'll have to pay for it or steal it) and install that. It will let you map gamepad buttons to the keyboard. It will work exactly the same as native controller support, Altitude will just think you're using the keyboard. It's kind of a pain in the ass to set up, but it's preferable to using the keyboard, especially if you're on a Macbook like I am. And it will be invaluable for any other games you play that don't have gamepad support (as so few on OS X do).

Kind of curious why nobody else can get their pads to work, though.

[wolf'j'max]

gamepad companion doesn't work on our Imac 10.5.8..
version 2.0.3 doesn't work
version 2.0.4 doesn't work

[nostrich]

Originally Posted by wolf'j'max

gamepad companion doesn't work on our Imac 10.5.8..
version 2.0.3 doesn't work
version 2.0.4 doesn't work

I'm not surprised. That was released back in the Jaguar (10.2) days. The latest, and only version that will work on 10.5+ and any Intel Mac, is 2.4.

[wolf'j'max]

eeuuhh sorry i meant v2.3 and v2.4

[nostrich]

Can you be more descriptive about why it doesn't work? What kind of error is it throwing up?

[wolf'j'max]

v2.3:

i can install it, but when i go to preferences this error comes up..

you can't open the preferencespanel 'gamepad companion' because this facility can't be used on an intel-mac.

v2.4:

when i downloaded it and try to open it this error pops up:

application can not be accomplished. this application can not be opened.

(the translations aren't perfect, because my mac is in dutch since i am dutch.)

[nostrich]

Not sure what to suggest. It's not an application though, it's a preference pane, that should be accessible from System Prefs. You should probably e-mail Gamepad Companion's support and ask them. And 2.3 won't work, btw, 2.4 is the only one that works on intel Macs like yours.

[wolf'j'max]

yeah it says it can't open the installer on an intel mac =[

[drunkguava]

get 2.4 it works on intel macs. that's what i just got.

it's a pain in the ass though. i think i might give up, the d-pad is terribad like mentioned but the analog stick is too sensitive it brakes and/or accelerates when i turn too often... i dunno. maybe you'll be better with it than me, but i think that once you learn with a keyboard it may be too difficult to switch.

[nostrich]

Originally Posted by drunkguava

get 2.4 it works on intel macs. that's what i just got.

it's a pain in the ass though. i think i might give up, the d-pad is terribad like mentioned but the analog stick is too sensitive it brakes and/or accelerates when i turn too often... i dunno. maybe you'll be better with it than me, but i think that once you learn with a keyboard it may be too difficult to switch.

True. Takes a little getting used to -- why, oh why, can't the triggers register as buttons rather than axis? -- but you do get used to it. Lowering the sensitivity a little in the controller preference pane helps, too.

[wolf'j'max]

ehh, 2.4 doesn't work, i can't install the preference.