Joystix Pro Update: Price Permanently Drops to $20 (or FREE!)

I just wanted to let you guys know I've been following up with Joystix Pro, and was extremely excited to discover that they've dropped the price to $20!  If you read my previous review of the software, my biggest complaint was the hefty price tag.  Well, they've solved that problem.

Furthermore, they're offering a pretty awesome referral program that will not only get you a refund on your purchase, but will score you some free games if you convince enough people to give Joystix Pro a try.

If you're unsure if Joystix is for you, they still offer free stix for several popular games, including SWTOR.  Give it a shot if you're looking for a more straightforward controller program.

Not Just for SWTOR Anymore!

Hey, folks!  So if you've been to this blog before, you know it started out exclusively as a tutorial for Star Wars: The Old Republic players interested in playing their new favorite MMO with a controller.  Since then, my interest in that particular game has waned, and several people have pointed out the usefulness of this blog for other PC games.  Thus I've decided to change the title to make it more easily searchable for folks interested in PC controller use beyond SWTOR.  More details after the jump.

No More Free Game Booster After June 30th!

Hey, folks! I wanted to give you a heads up and let you know the awesome performance-enhancing program Game Booster is only free for 10 more days! If your system is in need of a performance boost, try out this utility while it's still free.  It helped me a lot with my non-gaming laptop that I've drafted into service.  Check it out!

My Crazy Summer Project

So now that I have an abundance of free time, I've decided that my big summer project is going to be making SWTOR fully interactive, using GlovePIE, a WiiMote, Wii Balanceboard, a Kinect sensor...and whatever other devices I decided to cobble together.

Before the rage, this isn't even remotely meant as a viable means of playing SWTOR...I just want to see if I can do it!

Update: Well, I've already got my Kinect working, and successfully, tested mouse and keyboard inputs using both gestures and voice commands.  It was a lot easier to set up than I expected...timewise, anyway. I had to uninstall and reinstall some drivers before it worked.  My next step is to get the Wiimote and Wii Balance Board working...which will require me to wait a couple of days for my bluetooth dongle to arrive, since my built-in one is being controlled by MotioninJoy.

Last Update: This project's been dead in the water for a while, but not for a lack of trying.  For some reason that damned Wii Balance Board will not stay connected to my computer, no matter which bluetooth dongle or bluetooth configuration stack I use.  If I get inspired or find a new solution at some point, I may try again.  Someday.

Guess Who's Back? (Back Again) Peeps is Back! (Tell a friend!)

Alternate cheesy cliché titles: Peeps Dun Graduated, I'm Baaaaaaaack, and Heeeeeere's Peepsy!

Well folks, after three very painful, grueling years of idiotically trying to pursue a Theoretical Math degree with a wife and two kids, I've finally graduated.  And now I'm back in the game.  You've got questions?  I've got answers.  Let's play!

Also, I'm on Twitter now. Tweet me @PeepsMcJuggs for tech support questions, or follow me @SW_Dad for random celebrity harassment and tales of raising the next generation of Star Wars kids.

Joystix Pro on sale for $20

Hey, folks! No, I'm not back yet...but I wanted to drop a quick line and let you know the Joystix Pro folks have temporarily knocked down the price of their Elite Membership to $20, and are in the process of adding some new features.  That makes Joystix a well-priced, good solution for those of you looking for a straightforward, albeit less robust, plug-and-play option.  Details after the jump.

Peeps is AFK

Folks, I've been delaying this one, but I'm formally dropping off the grid for the next couple of months.  It's my last semester of college, and I've got too much to do with studying and trying to find time for the family to make any time for SWTOR.

In the meantime, if you need any controller assistance, I highly recommend you hit up the forums for your respective programs: there's a lot of folks there that are more than willing to assist with this stuff.  Also, feel free to keep dropping questions in the SWTOR thread: I'm sure other players will be able to help you troubleshoot.

See you guys in a few months!  And happy gaming!

Joystix Pro - an Easy-to-Use (albeit less robust) Controller Option

As this blog has grown, so has the complexity of my configurations.  While I prefer the versatility that XPadder and PGP offer, the bottom line is a lot of you guys just want to be able to just plug in your damn controller and play.

To that end, Joystix Pro's developers recently contacted me to get my impressions on their product as an alternative to XPadder or PGP (with my caveat that I'm not going to hold anything back).   The bottom line is while this is the most expensive and least robust program of the three, it is also by far the easiest, most user-friendly option of the lot.  Details after the jump.

REMEMBER: Joystix Pro must be set to run as an administrator to work with SWTOR.

UPDATE: As of May 2013, Joystix Pro has dropped their price for a full subscription to $20, making it a MUCH more affordable option than previously (and as you'll read below, the price was really my only major complaint).  

Peeps Fixes Your Camera (and other tweaks)

Holy crap.  I did it.  I finally cracked the code on smooth camera controls (with a major shoutout to Errol for helping me troubleshoot my mistakes along the way)!

Folks, using Pinnacle Gamer Profiler, I've figured out a way to give you fully adjustable camera control without sacrificing the speed of your mouse pointer's free movement.  Furthermore, these controls allow you to independently adjust how fast the camera rotates vertically vs. horizontal rotation.

Update: I've come up with a couple of XPadder solutions as well, though they're not as robust (details after the jump).

These are extremely advanced settings in PGP, so I advise you to export your current setup to your desktop before attempting this stuff.  That being said, I highly recommend you take the time to explore this profile, as it will make your life so much easier in the long run.  The profile I'm providing after the jump is highly experimental, and is intended as a testbed similar to my XPadder one, so it incorporates a lot of other ideas you might want to look at...I just wouldn't advise that you try to use them all at once.

In my next post, I'll be providing amended details on how to get a PS3 controller to function properly using MotioninJoy and PGP (to include configuring L2 and R2 as axes instead of just buttons), as PGP has proven very finicky when it comes to talking to MiJ.

How much would it suck if free-to-use sites like Blogger no longer existed?

This isn't hyperbole.  US Congress is considering anti-piracy acts that would hold sites with millions - and in some cases billions - of users accountable for the actions of their users.  This can be as simple as a bot posting a link to an illegal download in the comments of somebody's blog.  Websites would either have to employ full-time moderators and security specialists to constantly monitor their users' activities or risk frivolous copyright lawsuits by major media corporations.

You think it's hard to find a job now?  Imagine what it's like when major websites who depend entirely upon user traffic to sustain their business are forced to shut down due to rising operating costs.  Freedom of Information isn't the only thing at risk: can we really afford to increase global unemployment in the name of anti-piracy?

Americans, call and write your congressmen to tell them how you feel.  Then sign Google's petition.  Make the government refocus on the unemployment issue, and stop wasting time on this idiotic legislation.

(Need more info on what this is all about?  Click here.)

Downloadable Files

I've been promising this one for a while, so here ya go: a comprehensive list of files and weblinks featured in this blog.  The profiles offered are intended as examples to help get you started: I highly recommend you tweak them to find a configuration that best suits your playstyle.

XPadder Proof-of-Concepts Profile

After some requests for additional mapping options in XPadder, I decided to create a proof-of-concepts profile that I'm using as a testbed for ideas.  I'll update this post when I come up with new tweaks I want to try.

Everything done here is easily done in PGP as well, but since you're limited to four mappings in that program, I'm sticking with XPadder as my testbed.  Details after the jump.

Updated profiles! New and improved camera controls!

Okay, after someone introduced me to Joystix Pro (which I will blog about soon as another alternative to XPadder or PGP...though I still recommend the latter two), I noticed something they were doing right that I wasn't: instead of setting my right analog to tilt and click simultaneously--which occasionally causes it to unintentionally click on things--why not set a button to lock in the mouse button?  In other words, your right analog is free mouse movement until you tap your mouse button toggle.

So that's exactly what I did, and oh my God why didn't I think of this before?!?!

So here's some new profiles. There's three different styles to choose from after the jump.

HeadbanGER's HandsFree Gaming

I recently discovered a fellow blogger's site regarding hands-free gaming: http://handsfree-gaming.blogspot.com/. If you're looking for/need more versatility in gameplay options, check it out. Also, check out AbleGamers.com for more disability resources. These guys have successfully advocated better accessibility in video games on more than one occasion, and work hard at keeping each other informed on gameplay options.

Peeps' Updated Profile: Explained

After recent discussions motivated me to look over my profiles again, I decided to update them to remove some of the redundancies I'd created that were already covered by my keypad, and take advantage of some of the tweaks offered by Pinnacle Game Profiler.

I also felt it's time to better explain some of my settings, as a lot of the features I utilize are unbound by default.

I've created an XPadder version that's essentially identical to the PGP version (after jamesyfy showed me what I was doing wrong).  My older profiles are still available via previous posts, and I'll create a download page soon with all of this stuff in a single location.  Links and details after the jump.

Side-Topic: Optimizing Windows 7 for SWTOR

SWTOR forum member renegadeimp posted a guide a couple weeks back on how to take all the pretty out of Windows 7 and make low-med range systems run SWTOR ridiculously fast by comparison.  It involves tweaking and/or disabling a lot of system settings and getting deep into the weeds on what services you'll keep running (I didn't go for all the suggested settings, but I did most).

Of course, for those that don't want the permanence of these settings, there's also Game Booster, which takes care of most of the services renegadeimp shows you how to disable.  Game Booster temporarily shuts off the biggest resource hogs not needed during gameplay, then reenables them with the click of a button.

This intrigued me, especially with the resources I'm already sacrificing running two separate programs to use my controller.  And seeing as I play SWTOR on my 2-year-old MacBook Pro, and only use Windows 7 for gaming (and therefore don't care how ugly it looks), I decided to try this out by using both options.

Holy crap.

No really, holy crap.  I went from playing at 1280x800 on medium settings to 1600x1000 on max settings.  And no framerate issues.  Oh good god this is amazing.  I even dialed up the grass and tree quality!  If you guys don't have the most powerful system ever, and you want to improve your performance, at least give Game Booster a shot.

(And for the love of God, set a System Restore point before you try fiddling with your registry!)

Pinnacle Game Profiler works now (with tutorial videos)!

Okay, I figured out what the problem was, and apparently it has to do with how your PS3 controller is configured in MiJ.  Thus, non-PS3 controller users shouldn't have any problems as long as they run PGP as an administrator.

ja_4251 on the PGP forums posted a great tutorial on how to get MiJ properly configured (the only error is you need to have L1 & R1 set as buttons 5 & 6, and L2 & R2 set as buttons 7 & 8.  Then disable the z-axis): http://pinnaclegameprofiler.com/wiki/index.php?title=Motioninjoy_and_PS3_Controller

Video tutorials after the jump.
Part 1: Getting your PS3 controller working in PGP via MotioninJoy.
Part 2: Creating a PGP profile for SWTOR (You can download my SWTOR profile here).

Playing a MMO with a CONTROLLER?!?! Are You Effing Nuts?

No.

Well, I may be a little effing nuts, but that has nothing to do with playing with a controller.

There's this stigma about controllers that has polarized the console vs. PC crowd as heatedly as the Mac vs. PC debate.  And for some games (and some MMOs), it's with a damn good reason.  But SWTOR is not that game.  And playing with a controller is not only feasible, but effective in this game.  I'll explain in detail, and provide counterpoints to several common misconceptions after the jump.

RUN IT AS AN ADMINISTRATOR (and other troubleshooting tips)

If XXXXXX program is not working with SWTOR, make sure you are running it as an administrator.

I've opted to stop answering this question in the forum thread because it's asked far too often.  So I figure I'll create this blog post as a catchall for any time it comes up.

SWTOR runs at the administrator level.  As a result, any program not running at this level will be ignored by it.  Therefore, in order to get XPadder, Pinnacle Game Profiler, MotioninJoy, etc, etc, to work in SWTOR, you must right-click its executable file (xpadder.exe, pinnaclegameprofiler.exe, etc), go to its properties, and under compatibility mode, set it to run as an administrator.

If after you've tried this you're still having problems, ask away.  Just make sure to start your post with "I've tried running (program name) as an administrator, but..."

Note: If you're using MiJ in conjunction with XPadder or PGP, only the latter two need to be run as an administrator.

Update: A few users have noted that they're still having trouble getting XPadder to communicate with SWTOR after following these steps.  Errol has provided these suggestions in the comments:

• Firstly if you have windows running as Administrator and your game is running as Administrator then Xpadder will have to run the same or else windows will block the signals from reaching Xpadder. So then the best thing to do is place the Xpadder directory in the root of the C drive or your desktop or Documents folder.
  
• Secondly if all the above recommendation is so then check and see if there is any other major program that is working when you're about to launch your game because Xpadder will start to emulate the other apps instead of your game.
   
• Thirdly if Xpadder is in the system tray right click on it and choose your controller which should be on the top of the list and then link or choose the game of choice to play, only if you have several other profiles in Xpadder because for some strange reason which I myself don't understand. Xpadder will run another profile to emulate your game. Yes strange indeed but as I said select the profile and then launch the game.
   
• Fourthly if your windows is running with UAC disabled like my own windows 7 x64 and you're still having the same problem to run the game then follow my third option above right click on Xpadder while in the system tray and select your profile. That should resolve your problem/s.
   
• Another item that may cause some problems is if you have not enabled the AutoProfile feature within the options of Xpadder. Then you'll have to enable it because SWTOR is a Launcher and its really executing another file. So you'll need the AutoProfile. Hope that was helpful.

Update 2: There's an issue with using MotioninJoy in conjunction with Pinnacle Game Profiler where PGP will randomly stop reading the controller properly, and refuse to work right afterward.  The current workaround is to set MotioninJoy to run in XBOX 360 emulation mode.  You will lose the ability to map your PS button, but otherwise it works.  I will let you know if/when a better solution arises.

A Challenger Appears: Pinnacle Game Profiler

While up until now, I've been using XPadder for my SWTOR needs, Malloci recommended I consider Pinnacle Game Profiler as a more robust alternative.  While I still have yet to test it out, this program looks very promising (albeit slightly pricier than XPadder).  At least one functional profile has already been created for the game (though its present form needs a massive overhaul...it was configured by someone who has yet to play) Edit: Several well-informed PGP users have notified me that I'm talking out my arse here. Apparently this profile was a collaborative effort by several SWTOR players that game competitively with it. I recommend you check it out and see if you like it.

I will post details on this program later once I have a chance to put it through its paces.

Again, like any other configuration program, this must be run as an administrator to work with SWTOR.