Monday, December 5, 2011

XBOX 360 Controller/Chatpad Installation Instructions

http://media.gdgt.com/img/product/17/dbj/microsoft-xbox-360-chatpad-rwm-460.jpg
More conveniently located than the PS3's, but wires are balls.

I do not have detailed instructions here, as I have not tested this process out myself. Others have confirmed this method works. Let me know if someone is interested in writing up instructions, else feel free to add comments below.

Microsoft offers several official options for hooking up your XBOX 360 controller.  In fact, several games, such as Skyrim, are preconfigured for use with a 360 controller.  Wired controllers can also use the XBOX 360 Chatpad as a portable keypad using drivers linked after the jump.

I must stress this: as of the latest info, the Chatpad drivers only work with the wired "Made for Windows" XBOX controller. THEY WILL NOT WORK WITH ANY XBOX 360 CONTROLLER.
As stated above, you have several controller options to choose from, depending on the equipment you do or do not already have: a wireless gaming receiver so you can wirelessly connect your existing controller, a wireless receiver/controller package if you don't have a 360 controller, or a wired 360 controller exclusively for Windows.  The process for all of these should be pretty straightforward.

Instructions and drivers for installing the Chatpad can be found here. Again, this is a wired-only solution. As stated in the instructions, Windows 7 users will have to boot into unsigned driver mode by pressing F8 at system startup, then selecting "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement." You will have to do this every time you reboot Windows.

KEYPAD NOTES:
  • The keypad functions as a standard keyboard, so its hotkeys will mirror your standard keyboard...without alt or ctrl buttons. If you want some easily accessible hotkeys, the , and . keys are unbound by default in SWTOR.

14 comments:

  1. Can you use a wireless controller that's hooked up via USB charge cable with the chatpad or does it actually have to be the wired controller?

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  2. Thanks for asking that, as I was unaware of the following requirement (as per the wiki):
    "This software currently only works with WIRED 360 controllers. It may only currently work with the "Made for Windows" variant but that should change soon to support normal XBox 360 console controllers as well."

    I'll update the post so there's no confusion. These drivers haven't been updated in over a year, so I don't know if they ever got the standard controller support working.

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  3. when playing swtor with an xbox 360 controller do i still need to us xpedder or pgp for configuring the controller setup.

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  4. thank you Errol for the help. i think iam going to try the PGP

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  5. Hello, I have tried various PGP profiles from your site and I have noticed that there are no mouse clicks? (at least none that I can see) also when rotating the camera, instead of a smooth turn, it seems to snap into the right or left direction. I have tried messing with mouse sensitivity in game and it seems to have no effect.

    I have used a controller for WoW in the past and would love it for swtor.(I tried my previous WoW profile but the camera still seems to snap into right or left)

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  6. The controller that I have is a MadCatz #4716 GamePad. It's supposed to work the same as any XBox 360 controller, but I don't have the chatpad. Are there any drivers that would allow me to use this controller in SWTOR? It does already work in all the other games I play. I don't know why it wouldn't work in this one too.

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    1. Yes, it'll work just fine, as long as whatever software you're using with it is run as an Administrator. Check my downloads section for software options for controller inputs.

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  7. My chat pad goes into my Xbox 360 controller, but doesn't let me type anything... Is there any way I can some how make it work along with my Xbox 360 controller?

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    1. Hey, Christian! I haven't actually tried setting up the Chatpad, as I do my gaming with a PS3 controller and its keypad. The only troubleshooting tips I can provide are the ones above: the drivers only work with a "Made for Windows" XBOX controller. They will NOT work with a regular XBOX 360 controller. It has to be wired, not wireless, and you need to disable driver signature enforcement.

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  8. hey guys wasn't sure where to put this so I read a few threads on controllers here this seems to be the best place.
    I have recently returned to the game in light of patch 4.0 and I was working on a controller scheme for the game right before I took a break. here is what I have using the program xpadder I was able to set up a pretty good( for me anyway ) setup for both combat and non- combat purposes . this is still a work in progress
    (X-BOX 360 Controller)
    Non-combat Mode
    Left trigger - When held down switches lay out to combat. if tapped can be used as Right mouse button
    Left bumper - cover (For smugglers/Agents only)
    Right trigger - left mouse button
    Right Bumper - right mouse button
    select button - map
    start button - main menu
    X button - inventory
    Y button - character sheet
    B button - sheath weapon
    A button - jump
    Left Stick - W S A D Keys
    L3 - target nearest Friendly
    D-pad Left - 1
    D-pad Up - 2
    D-pad Right - 3
    D-pad Down - 4
    Right Stick - Mouse axis
    R3 - Ctrl Key (set as a toggle)

    I know it looks odd but let me explain The reason for the d-pad set too the first 4 hot key slots is so when you play the ship missions you can easily access your abilities in flight. Having the L3 button set to target nearest friendly is so it wouldn't fell off when you switch between Combat and Non-combat modes ( ill get to that in a min.).As for the left trigger its pretty simple when you want to just walk around the fleet and interact with the venders or loot something or mess with your inventory. Just don't use it and the controller will have the controller scheme as noted above. When you hold down the Left Trigger it will change your Controller scheme to combat mode as noted below(note you must keep it held down once released it returns the controller scheme to non-combat mode)

    (X-BOX 360 Controller)
    Combat mode
    Left trigger - keep held down to stay in combat mode also will act as if your holding down the right mouse button as well
    Left bumper - Shift (toggle) so you can switch between tool bar 1 and 2 must be pressed not held
    Right trigger - 5
    Right Bumper - 4
    select button - 0
    start button - ( - )
    X button - 1
    Y button - 2
    B button - 3
    A button - jump
    Left Stick - W S A D Keys
    L3 - target nearest Enemy
    D-pad Left - 8
    D-pad Up - 6
    D-pad Right - 9
    D-pad Down - 7
    Right Stick - Mouse axis
    R3 - ( = )

    with the shift toggle (L1) you have to set the key bindings in game so that your tool bar 2 is bound for pressing shift+1- ( = ) on the tool bar. Where target nearest enemy (L3) that is what I was referring to early so you know in combat mode you can target the enemy but in non-combat mode you target freindlys that's mainly for healers though.
    This should give you a total of 37 or so buttons for swtor with a 13 button controller. Two FULL tool bars to use and still be able to fly your ship missions and your everyday dealings with one profile for the xpadder 5.7
    http://www.mediafire.com/download/a9tk92i9c7d2xmf/SWTOR.xpadderprofile

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    1. Sean, this is a great contribution, thanks! I haven't played in a few years, but I was reviewing comments on the forums, and a lot of folks have been asking for recommendations on how to make this work with the updated starship combat. If you've been retooling your setup, I'd love to be able to repost the lastest and greatest you've got!

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  9. I should probably go through and clean up this site 😂 I'm glad to see people are still getting use out of it. I need to go see what the latest and greatest on this tech is.

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  10. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  11. Question, some comments suggest that a wired controller is needed if you have the chatpad, which implies it may not be required without a chatpad.

    Also, where are the threads for other types of gamepads, such as the Steelseries generic gamepads for computers and phones.

    I have a wired 360 controller (no chatpad) and a steelseries stratus duo wireless. I prefer the latter, but all I can find is 360 and ps3 controller info.

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