cejpe Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Zombeaver said @Jason Thank you thank you thank you! I will report back as soon as I get home to test this tonight! I just hope my hunch was correct and that this actually solves the issue... Fingers crossed! So I was hoping that disabling the splash screen would fix the input issue with Steam Link. I woke up earlier than normal this morning, so I thought I would mess around within LaunchBox and how nice of a surprise it was to see a new official release was available, and then a beta! So of course I downloaded both, and was excited to see we could now disable the splash screen! I fired up my Steam Link and connected my wired Xbox 360 controller and.. no luck. It still doesn't work. I use a DS4 with VH and even that (which is for whatever reason recognized as a Steam Controller) isn't able to control BigBox. I've been using a Remote Input app on my phone to 'solve' this issue, but now I'm not really sure where to go from here. I hope you have some more ideas, @Zombeaver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 @cejpe Hmmm... there are a lot of variables so I'll have to mess around with it. I'm assuming you've done the requisite disable/enable of the Steam overlay, control mapping in Big Picture, etc.? Are you using Captain Keeb's (or equivalent) bindings in Big Picture? Are you on the latest firmware beta for the Link? Are you launching Big Box directly via non-steam app or via Launchbox -> Big Box? Even before this update I could get a 360 controller to work with Big Box so long as I was using it with VH. I don't think they've addressed the sound issue that VH + wireless 360 was creating though so I haven't been using it. If you're able to get a controller to work normally when directly connected to the host, there's no reason it should act any differently when used with VH - the host should view either scenario as the same thing. The fact that it thinks it's a steam controller indicates that something is setup wrong. Are you just saying that because it shows a picture of a steam controller in the Big Picture mapping? Because it always shows that, regardless of what type of controller you connect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cejpe Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 @Zombeaver, I did some of those things, but not all. Was a bit limited on time so there wasn't a lot of opportunity to mess around, unfortunately. I've never had an issue getting the wired 360 controller to work with VH either, but was never able to get it working without VH. (In BigBox) I did everything you listed except for the disable/enable of the overlay, and I am on the latest Beta. I don't mean the picture of a Steam Controller. What I mean is that when I connect my DS4 to the Steam Link via BT, and then load up VH on my PC, it views the DS4 as a Steam Link controller. It has certain Steam Link attributes as well. For instance, when I use a DS4 via big picture, I can access specific settings like what controller setup I want to launch certain games/programs with. When using a wireless controller, the only issue I have is navigating BigBox, everything else works as desired for me. Edit: The steam link specific configurations that I mentioned I can access via a DS4 are not available with a wired 360 controller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Yep, it's not working for me either. That's very disappointing :( I did a bunch of experimenting and I've run out of ideas. There's still either something interfering with focus on launch, or their's something weird about Big Box's xinput implementation. The controller does work in LB, but that's not new for me. If it's not working in LB for anyone, it's likely an issue with your controller configuration in Big Picture. I recommend Captain Keeb's bindings for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cejpe Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Interesting. I haven't actually tried using LB with a controller. Have you experimented with Joy2Key or anything similar to get it working? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted January 8, 2016 Author Share Posted January 8, 2016 Sigh, that figures. I didn't have much hope. I'll take a look at some point again and see if anything makes sense. @cejpe, LaunchBox works with a controller all by itself. It's not the best thing in the world, but it does work decently well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 cejpe said Interesting. I haven't actually tried using LB with a controller. Have you experimented with Joy2Key or anything similar to get it working? I use Xpadder which is similar, but it only works if you have VH enabled. Without VH the inputs just go to a specific window so they're never seen by something external like Xpadder or Joy2Key. Jason Carr said @cejpe, LaunchBox works with a controller all by itself. It's not the best thing in the world, but it does work decently well. I'm assuming he means by way of the Link, not just in general. Controller inputs to Launchbox do work through the Link by default so long as you've got your controller configuration setup properly in the Big Picture configuration (setup to function like a 360 controller; this is what the Captain Keeb's configuration does). It doesn't require anything weird like VH or Xpadder/Joy2Key to work. This is part of the reason I thought it was the splash screen that was causing the problem - because the inputs work in LB but not BB. @Jason there's nothing about the way xinput is handled in LB that's different from BB? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted January 8, 2016 Author Share Posted January 8, 2016 Ah, that makes sense @Zombeaver, per the LaunchBox controller support. Per the controller code being different between LaunchBox and Big Box, both LaunchBox and Big Box use the exact same code, pulled from the exact same library. So there's literally nothing different. It's not even duplicated code, so there's zero chance anything *could* be different. The only thing I can figure is that something else in Big Box is interfering with the Steam Link's ability to use the controller. It's pretty odd. One thing to note is that LaunchBox uses traditional Windows Forms as the Windows technology behind it, while Big Box uses WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation), which is a more modern technology than Windows Forms, but it's still been around for quite a few years, since Vista came out. So that could be it, but why the Steam Link wouldn't support WPF is beyond me. My only guess is that there are window focus issues when running Big Box over the Steam Link. Neither LaunchBox or Big Box will take game controller input when the window isn't focused, for obvious important reasons (otherwise Big Box would be doing things while you're playing games). Since Windows Forms and WPF are slightly different technologies, that could be it...maybe, idk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 @Jason Hmmm. Interesting. I'm inclined to think it is indeed a focus issue then - I'm just not sure what would be causing it. Emulators that use log windows do the same thing until they're disabled so I really thought the splash screen was having the same effect. Tonight I'm going to try watching task manager while BB launches to see if I spot anything weird. I wonder if there's a way something like this could be implemented? Maybe with a 10 second delay or something. It should allow you to force focus on a window that you specify. My limited knowledge of AHK is just via fiddling with things in LB though - I've never used it standalone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cejpe Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Sorry I wasn't clear in my last post. I know that LB supports controller usage I just meant that I've never tried to use it alongside Steam Link. Something I was wondering about. If the issue is something to do with focus, then shouldn't alt-tabbing out and back in solve that issue by giving it back to BB? Another thing, when I first launch BB from my Steam Link, I am able to control BB, but only for a split second. AHK could probably be used to create a temporary solution though. Something utilizing this. Say "if BigBox is focus, then when dpad down is detected send keyboard down" I might look at tinkering with that idea when I get home, although my experience with AHK is pretty limited. One last thing, @Zombeaver if you're using Xpadder and have your game pad buttons mapped to keyboard controls such as up, down, left, right, etc. Then I don't understand why it wouldn't control BigBox ESPECIALLY when you're using VH. Perhaps there is an issue with controller detection within BigBox when VH is used, or when used with the Steam Link in general. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 cejpe said ...shouldn't alt-tabbing out and back in solve that issue by giving it back to BB? No. The Link (or just Steam's In-Home-Streaming to be more specific) hooks into a specific application when one is launched in Big Picture. It doesn't end/change until that application is closed. If other things pop up as part of the launch process it often causes problems - log windows, launchers, etc. cejpe said Another thing, when I first launch BB from my Steam Link, I am able to control BB, but only for a split second. I've noticed this as well. Not sure what to make of it to be honest. cejpe said If you're using Xpadder and have your game pad buttons mapped to keyboard controls such as up, down, left, right, etc. Then I don't understand why it wouldn't control BigBox ESPECIALLY when you're using VH. Perhaps there is an issue with controller detection within BigBox when VH is used, or when used with the Steam Link in general. I'm not using Xpadder through the Link because I'm not using VirtualHere through the Link either. I use Xpadder on the host when I'm actually playing on it, not when I'm using the Link. Xpadder does work on the Link if you use VH as does BB navigation, but until they fix the sound problems caused with a wireless 360 controller + VH, that's not an option for me. If you're using a wired controller, you should just use VH and you should be fine. Again, if you have VH setup correctly, your experience should be indistinguishable from just straight up plugging a controller into the host and using BB; so as long as you can plug a controller into the host and navigate BB, you should still be able to do it through the Link as long as you're using VH. If that's not the case, you've got something setup incorrectly. Steam Link -> VH disabled -> using wired or wireless 360 controller: Launchbox navigation via controller and/or keyboard works Big Box navigation via controller does not work but keyboard does work Xpadder does not work Steam Link -> VH enabled -> using wired 360 controller: Launchbox navigation via controller and/or keyboard works Big Box navigation via controller and/or keyboard works Xpadder works Steam Link -> VH enabled -> using wireless 360 controller: Launchbox navigation via controller and/or keyboard works Big Box navigation via controller and/or keyboard works Xpadder works Frequent sound popping/audio problems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cejpe Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Interesting. You've obviously had a lot of experiences with the Link and many different configurations. It's a bit mind boggling why some work and others don't, isn't it? When I get home I'll attempt to use Steam Link with VH and my DS4 via Xpadder and see if I have the same audio issues. It seems like the desired functionality is just barely out of reach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 Believe it or not, @WhiteGoblin figured it out: https://www.launchbox-app.com/forum/troubleshooting/big-box-doesnt-see-controllers-connected-to-steam-link#p9215 Apparently it's simply DirectInput vs. XInput. Seems silly that the Steam Link would only support XInput for games, but that seems to be the issue. I'll look to see how difficult it would be to get XInput added. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Jason Carr said Believe it or not, @WhiteGoblin figured it out: https://www.launchbox-app.com/forum/troubleshooting/big-box-doesnt-see-controllers-connected-to-steam-link#p9215 Apparently it's simply DirectInput vs. XInput. Seems silly that the Steam Link would only support XInput for games, but that seems to be the issue. I'll look to see how difficult it would be to get XInput added. I'm confused. Is this not what I already asked two months ago? That's why I asked if it was using Xinput... Dinput basically never works with the Link. It doesn't work in Retroarch, 4DO etc. Xinput does. Zombeaver said The only thing I can assume is that Launchbox isn't actually using Xinput? Everything that I've tested with In Home Streaming that actually uses Xinput (or even hacked/patched Xinput support ala ePSXe) has worked flawlessly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 Well, apologies if I overlooked it and/or got confused. The trick is that apparently the Steam Link has multiple "modes" with different features supported for each. Or something. Idk. It was all confused because it supposedly worked in LaunchBox but not in Big Box. Since they both used the same code...that didn't make any sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 New beta is out to fix an issue with the EmuMovies metadata downloading. I'll likely wait a couple days to see if any more bugs appear and then put out another quick official. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted January 10, 2016 Author Share Posted January 10, 2016 Just put out the official 5.7 release to fix that EmuMovies bug. Kept getting notifications about people running into the bug so felt the need to push it out. In better news...I'm currently working on videos in the sidebar in LaunchBox. I have them working, just ironing out the kinks, so you can expect a new beta with videos in the sidebar soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GatoSoft Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Wow! We'll have videos in the sidebar! YAY! :D It's a feature I've been waiting for a long time. ^_^ I hope you soon can add YouTube support, so I could free up lots of gigabytes in videos and add even more videos to my games. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 GatoSoft said Wow! We'll have videos in the sidebar! YAY! :D It's a feature I've been waiting for a long time. ^_^ I hope you soon can add YouTube support, so I could free up lots of gigabytes in videos and add even more videos to my games. :D Well that was a hypothetical. There is no promise that we can get it in, let alone it working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GatoSoft Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Oops... I think I misunderstood about all the YouTube thing. Anyway, I was only suggesting but I've expressed myself terribly. Sorry... ^_^U Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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