Big Box - Setting Up 360 Controller To Do Everything

[jrusso4587]

Hi all, Now that I have all 30+ of my systems set up, working and looking fantastic, I want to set up my PC to my TV, relax on my couch and enjoy Big Box without the need for a keyboard at all (except maybe to launch it). Ideally, I would like to do everything with just an X-Box 360 controller. By everything I mean while in game: 1) Exiting games and going back to the Big Box menu 2) Saving states 3) Loading states 4) Selecting save states (optional) 5) Fast forward (or whatever the emulator calls speeding up the game) Currently I have to have a "Cheat Sheet" and a wireless keyboard next to my couch to do this, but it's not ideal. I know a lot of this is dependent on the emulator and some are harder than others to do, but before I go ahead and start messing with anything (and potentially screwing up something important), I thought I would check in with the experts and see what others have done to make the experience with Big Box as keyboard-free as possible. Please keep in mind when responding that I am a COMPLETE noob when it comes to this topic, so I would literally need to be told step by step on how to do this. The main systems I use right now are PS2 (PCSX2), Gamecube / Wii (Dolphin), PSP (PPSPP), Saturn, Gameboy Advance and SNES (RetroArch). A video from Brad on doing this would be awesome, but not sure where this fits (if at all) in the schedule. Otherwise, any detailed instruction on how to do this would make my overall experience with BigBox so much better. Thanks to all in advance since I can tell this community is very responsive and easy to communicate with. Joseph

[SentaiBrad]

Well there really isn't a 1 size fits all solution, as you've probably already found out. Some emulators will allow you to remap controls and emulator functions to controller buttons, but most don't let you do combinations. Your best bet would be software that takes keyboard or mouse inputs and lets you assign a controller input to that instead. Xpadder is a popular one and I am unsure if Joy to Key is a good one, but I have seen it recommended.

[jrusso4587]

Thanks Brad. I kinda figured that X-Padder or Joy2Key would come up. I guess what would be good to know then is it what other Big Box users are going with and if so, maybe post their X-Padder or Joy2Key profiles so we can share them. If not, what are people gaming on the couch with? Also before going all over the internet and YouTube, are there any links to websites/videos that can explain how to use X-Padder or Joy2Key with specific emulators so a noob like me could follow?

[niglurion]

I know what you want and it's exactly what i was searching for months. I think i found the solution ;-) I'm not at home and can't tell you exactly what I have done for every emulator right now but I'll try to make you a tutorial when I get home. For questions 2-3-4 and 5, it's directly in each emulator GUI. Nothing very complicated. But for some, you'll have to use - as Brad said - a software like xpadder. Personnally, I use Antimicro, an open source software, clean and easy to use. Fast forward / save / load / screenshot and more, it's easy to configure on a 360 controller. You can add it as additional apps or in a batch file. Exit an emulator/game is really easy with Bigbox or launchbox, you can enable a shortcut in options with AutoHotKey. I've set start + select. Everything works fine, for each emulator you quote. So if you want to, i can take some screenshots to illustrate all that :)

[jrusso4587]

Thanks so much niglurion. That would be perfect. I know X-Padder is the most widely known and used, but if there is a clean alternative like you say, I would be happy to use that also. So if you could post a tutorial on how to: 1) Set up Antimicro to use with a few emulators (probably can set up the rest when I get the hang of it) so I can simply save/load/fast forward. The rest (i.e. screenshots) is just icing on the cake. 2) Using Big Box to set up the 360 controller to exit the emulators via a combination of buttons (i.e. start/select) or via a long button press. I would really like to think that many others like me have these questions and would benefit from this. Jason has made a fantastic piece of software that works great on the PC and for the most part, on the couch. Making it so that anyone could do this, to me, seems like the next logical step, even if it is not the complete solution for every system. Thanks again. Joseph

[niglurion]

Ok, let's go. --------------------------------- 0 - Be sure to set everything you can within every emulator. Per example, you can use L3 in lilypad.dll as turbo. --------------------------------- 1 - Next, a third party software like Xpadder. I personally use Antimicro, a program – made by Travis Nickles – which can map any keyboard/mouse key to a gamepad. It's easy to configure, open source and works under Linux or Windows. https://github.com/Ryochan7/antimicro. Here's what it looks like with a 360 controller: The purple button (RS stick) was activated at the time of the screenshot. Just press the button you want to bind, click on it, and choose the keyboard key you want. You can make some combinations, turbo key, and so on. Free, fast and easy, isn't it ? :) Its biggest flaw it's that you can't assign a keyboard key to two-buttons-press (start + select per example). One button = one key. I think Xpadder can do that, if you really have to. On the opposite, you can assign two-keyboard-keys to one button, this is useful for Dolphin. In my case, I use default settings and made a profile for every emulator/use. An example, with ePSXe - Left Stick click for F4 (Fast Forward) and Right Stick click for Printscreen because they are rarely used: If you want to use savestates / loadstate, just set the gamepad as you wish. Example: L3 to F1 (save), R3 to F3 (load). Depending on which game you play and which plateform, you can even assign shortcuts to the right joystick (left, right,...). Just be imaginative :) For PS2, it's a bit more complicated because all the buttons are used. Concessions... --------------------------------- 2 - Now, how to run Antimicro before big box? 3 solutions: manually, with additional apps or with a .bat file. Manually, nothing complicated, just launch it and choose the right profile. With Additional Apps, you have to do it for every game you want antimicro (or xpadder, anything you use). In your "Edit Game" window, add the application path and use these command-lines for the right profile :

--profile "F:\path\to\antimicro\profiles\epsxe.gamecontroller.amgp"

Don't forget to check the "Automatically Run Before Main Application" box. You can add a .bat file (mine is exit-antimicro.bat) to run on exit with "taskkill /IM antimicro.exe" in order to get rid of it on exit :) It's a good solution, but It's not working every time. I don't know why. But you may be luckier than me ;) . The last one, mine, it's a bat file for every emulator. Can't be done with retroarch (again, I do not know why, but RA crash on startup). I use these command-lines (you have to run it, not emulator.exe):

@echo off :: antimicro start F:\path\to\antimicro\antimicro.exe --profile F:\path\to\antimicro\profiles\ppsspp.gamecontroller.amgp :: PPSSPP start /wait E:\path\to\ppsspp\PPSSPPWindows64.exe %1 --escape-exit :: close antimicro on exit "F:\path\to\exit-antimicro.bat"

Set it as your "Emulator Application Path" and you're good. You have to create a batch file for every emulator. It's not time consuming and can be done in a couple of minutes (you can find the command lines on this forum ;) ). --------------------------------- 3 - Exit a emulator within Launchbox/BigBox is easy :D. Options > Input > Gamepad/Joystick > AutoHotKey tick the the box and set a main button (mine is Button 7) and others if you want. With that, i can exit with start+select ;-) --------------------------------- 4- In a nutshell:

• Make your own shortcuts within emulators
• download antimicro or a similar program (xpadder, joytokey, pinnacle game profiler,...).
• Make new profiles or a global one for the last shortcuts you can't set in emulators.
• Make a batch file to run antimicro + emulator and close it on exit (or run it manually, or with additional apps)
• Set your AHK shortcut within launchbox options.
• done!

I hope I have not forgotten anything :D

[jrusso4587]

Wow niglurion. You certainly didn't disappoint. Thank you sooo much for putting in the effort as there is a lot here to digest and will take some time, but I am sure I will learn a lot from this. My initial thought on Antimicro is that the fact that it cannot do button combinations is a deal breaker for me since I can't use it with the PS2, GameCube or the Wii (well maybe the Wii depending on the game). I think it would be fine for the others where there are available buttons. My issue is that I know I would accidentally press the L3 and R3 at the worst time and ruin my game by saving or loading in the wrong spot. I will start with X-Padder and search for videos to walk me through it. Thanks again niglurion. I appreciate. Again, if anyone else wants to share their xpadder profiles or tips for how they setup their configuration, I would love to hear it. Joseph

[niglurion]

You're welcome And yes, Xpadder is probably more suited to you. Anyway, it's the same thing. You know now how to integrate it. Good luck, and if you find some tips, feel free to share. I take everything

[Jason Carr]

Just wanted to say thanks for that awesome tutorial @niglurion. Very much appreciated. :)