Issue with dual controllers and AutoHotKey

[CADScott]

I have been testing LaunchBox and BigBox with dual wireless Xbox360 controllers recently, and have run into a strange issue with AutoHotKey buttons. I have had no issues with a single controller and can exit all emulators with the Back and Start button combo, and adjust the volume with the Back and shoulder button combos. The issue I have is when I have two controllers attached in BigBox, the hotkey buttons no longer work on the first controller and switch to working on the second controller only. This does not happen when I add the second controller while in LaunchBox, but if I go into BigBox and then come out to LaunchBox the issue persists. The issue continues even if the second controller is switched off while in BigBox / LaunchBox, and the only way to reset it is to restart the PC. I have played with the settings relation to controllers and enabling / disabling all controllers, and selecting different input devices, but none of these settings make any difference to this issue. This is an a Windows 10 64bit machine and I have the latest LaunchBox 5.10 Beta 3.

[Jason Carr]

Hi @CADScott, something like this came up elsewhere and supposedly the solution was to open the Game Controllers Control Panel applet and mark the one controller as the default controller. In Windows 10 it's under Advanced, Preferred Controller. Does that work?

[CADScott]

Hi @Jason, I have played with that as well, and currently I have the first controller selected as the current controller. If I select the second controller as the preferred controller, then the controllers switch in most emulators, which is very confusing! So this means that the controller with the light in the first segment will be player 2 and player 1 is the second controller. It does seem to fix the issue in LaunchBox, but causes problems when switching from single player to dual player. I had issues with a single controller attached and the game thinking that only player 2 was attached, in games such as 2D fighters this meant that I was always on the right side of screen instead of left side as single player normally is.

[Jason Carr]

Ah, sure. There are so many issues with AutoHotkey and game controllers right now due to the MS bugs that I might actually have to re-implement the premium game controller features without AutoHotkey. I'm gonna look into this tomorrow to see if I can sneak it into 5.10. Unfortunately there's nothing I can do to make AutoHotkey work correctly with controllers at this point.

[CADScott]

Thanks Jason, it is not a huge issue at the moment, I normally use the keyboard to exit emulators anyway. If there is a way to fix this in the future, that would be great.

[Jason Carr]

Just put out 5.10-beta-4, which completely replaces the controller AutoHotkey solution with custom code. It should behave the exact same way, but it's now called Controller Automation and it's my custom code instead of using AutoHotkey. Hopefully this fixes the issue? :)

[SentaiBrad]

Jason Carr said Just put out 5.10-beta-4, which completely replaces the controller AutoHotkey solution with custom code. It should behave the exact same way, but it's now called Controller Automation and it's my custom code instead of using AutoHotkey. Hopefully this fixes the issue? :)

When you can't fix what you have, create our own!!!

[CADScott]

That is amazing Jason, was not expecting this to be looked at so soon, many thanks. I will give this a test when I get home tonight. I am unfortunately at work at the moment, and for some reason my workplace frowns upon me playing games while working!

[Jason Carr]

Hahaha, that's what I do and look where it got me! ;)

[SentaiBrad]

CADScott said That is amazing Jason, was not expecting this to be looked at so soon, many thanks. I will give this a test when I get home tonight. I am unfortunately at work at the moment, and for some reason my workplace frowns upon me playing games while working!

I play games FOR work... I guess I am just super lucky. xD

[CADScott]

Jason Carr said Hahaha, that's what I do and look where it got me! ;)

Living the dream, getting paid to play games (Though I doubt you have much time for playing with all the coding and bug squashing you are doing!)

[Jason Carr]

Yeah, depends on the day I suppose. Just got an original Xbox in the mail today (late birthday present), so I have squeezed in a few games indeed. :)

[CADScott]

Jason Carr said Yeah, depends on the day I suppose. Just got an original Xbox in the mail today (late birthday present), so I have squeezed in a few games indeed. :)

Ooo, the original Xbox is probably my favorite console, tied with N64. I have so many good memories of playing some amazing games on that system. I had one when I was at university and had LOTS of time for playing games with friends. I sold mine years ago, and have regretted it since. Hmm, might have to check eBay for one of them before they become rare and collectible! Happy belated birthday by the way!

[Jason Carr]

Yeah, now is the time to collect for Xbox. The games are really cheap and so are the consoles. $2 Xbox games are everywhere.