Cheat code macros?

[snarls]

I will preface this by the following disclaimer: I'm not 12 and have little patience when pulling a Frank Underwood and unwinding after a long day at work - meaning,I'm not ashamed to admit I rely on cheat codes every now and then to enjoy a game to its fullest.

I'm using (mostly) Xbox 360 wireless controllers for my emu GameEx setup.

So lets say I'm a bit tired after work and have 3 helicopters, 30 cops and 5 cars chasing me down and I accidentally set myself on fire with a molotov cocktail, which kills my armor and leaves me with a sliver of a bar of health to get out of there. So it's times like that when I could use a hand getting the timing right to quickly enter R1,R2,L1,X,L,D,R,U,L,D,R,U.

Is there a way I can program my select button to be such a macro - that would enter those gamepad button presses for me (something preferably with the ability to tweak timing of the button presses)??

Such a utility must exist - right? I bought Xpadder- but just use that to play keyboard only dos games on my controller and assume it cant do that....?

Do any of you guys rely on cheat codes?

thanks for any ideas...

P.S. This is a great idea for a GameEx feature - store cheat codes with each game and some how throw a heads up overlay onto any emu that lets you pick a named cheat code from your game pad into the game. Probably impossible to develop, but a guy can dream though...

[DazzleHP]

This can be done in Xpadder but you will need to map keyboard keys to your gamepad buttons first. Then click your select button, click Advanced (bottom right) check "auto-add pauses" and type out your cheat combo

Better yet, have left thumbstick select set 2(while held) then on set 2 you can have all the cheat macro's mapped - all available at 2 clicks!

-EDIT- You can edit the timings too, but i find it easier to alter the timings first, then check "auto add pauses" - it saves a lot of time if you're going to map all cheat macro's

[snarls]

This can be done in Xpadder but you will need to map keyboard keys to your gamepad buttons first. Then click your select button, click Advanced (bottom right) check "auto-add pauses" and type out your cheat combo

Better yet, have left thumbstick select set 2(while held) then on set 2 you can have all the cheat macro's mapped - all available at 2 clicks!

-EDIT- You can edit the timings too, but i find it easier to alter the timings first, then check "auto add pauses" - it saves a lot of time if you're going to map all cheat macro's

hey thanks for the help - but can you clarify a bit?

I thnik I tried what you said but I'm not having any luck. I was also getting keys interfering with GameEx's interface when scrolling through the menu the letters jump to different games when xpadder is on with this test of what i think you said.

Is there a way to do it without mapping to keyboard keys? Like can I just make it so holding down select runs R1 R2 L1 X Left Down Right Up Left Down Right Up ?

Or are you saying I have to map R1 to some keyboard key etc then use those keyboard keys in the Advanced Xpadder section? becuase then those keys intefere with gameex and pcsx2 and the macro doesnt work in game despite the keys (related to the buttons) showing up in notepad when I test it there.

thanks for any help

[DazzleHP]

Or are you saying I have to map R1 to some keyboard key etc then use those keyboard keys in the Advanced Xpadder section? becuase then those keys intefere with gameex and pcsx2

That is correct. I'll give you a step-by-step as this sort of thing can get a bit confusing if you've never done it before

1. Use Adultery's Xpadder plugin! This will load your profile only when you launch PCSX2 so as to not mess with GameEx navigation

2. You will need to map every button required for the cheat combo as i have done here:

3. Choose a button for your macro, here i chose the X button on set 2 and chose left thumbstick to select set 2 (while held):

4. Click the button then Advanced in bottom right, check "Auto Add Sequence Pauses" and type out the cheat combo on your keyboard:

As you can see R1 is T, R2 is Y, L1 is R etc. So in my example, you hold left thumbstick (which selects set2) then press X on the controller

5. IMPORTANT! Now that you have set keyboard keys to your pad you MUST configure PCSX2 to match your xpadder profile! So in my instance i will need configure PCSX to use:

N as X

M as Circle

J as Square

K as triangle

etc

etc

Hope that's a bit clearer and if you need any further assistance don't hesitate

[KRC]

Do any of you guys rely on cheat codes?

I think the last time I used cheat's was on the NES in the 80's with a Game Genie, I think I was getting frustrated with Bionic Commando, ahhhhhh memories.

I think at the end of the day it's up to the user if they want to use cheat's or not.

[Adultery]

If I was thinking of cheating, most emulators have game genie/pro action replay/hex editor support, so I can't see myself using a key combo. Unless it was for, say, a Mortal Kombat fatality or Street Fighter combo or something.

[snarls]

Thanks so much Dazzle, I really appreciate you taking the time to make some screenshots and the step by step!! I am using the xpadder plugin, but it crashed on me when I went into configure so Im not sure i was using it right. I was just running xpadder before gameex andthats probably why the menus were messed up. I also didnt do step 5 before. If I do that, will I need to set this up (create a xpadder profile) for every PS2 game I'm using? Will mapping to keys slow down any latency or anything for rhythm games etc? Thanks though, I will try this and let you know how it goes....

I'm playing GTA San Andreas at 4x res - I'd forgotten how funny this game was - nice to play my old disc on my computer looking better than it ever did in composite video on the real ps2. And I dont mind using cheat codes when I'm not playing anyone- it opens up a whole new world of mayhem in this game (dont think game genies exist for ps2?) But i think i recall a device I had for an old Sega game gear or something which was an adapter between the device and the cartridge...

[DazzleHP]

I also didnt do step 5 before. If I do that, will I need to set this up (create a xpadder profile) for every PS2 game I'm using?

The Xpadder Plugin has a choice of whether to load one master profile for each emulator, or specific profiles for each game

Will mapping to keys slow down any latency or anything for rhythm games etc?

I haven't noticed any myself but i only map the buttons (as you can see), whenever i can i leave the sticks blank so they are read as sticks It's been a while since i messed with PCSX2 so i'm not sure if you can do this but in MAME you certainly can.

And I dont mind using cheat codes when I'm not playing anyone- it opens up a whole new world of mayhem in this game

Absolutely! One of the best things about the GTA series is that moment when you've done almost everything and it's time to spawn a tank, infinite ammo and go nuts on dem bihatchi's!

[snarls]

...

Hope that's a bit clearer and if you need any further assistance don't hesitate

Hey Dazzle,

Hope you dont mind a belated follow up:

I'm still having trouble with this. Particularly how it all fits together. PCSX2 as far as I know either accepts gamepads with the LilyPad controller plugin OR keystrokes only with the Twinpad controller plugin - I think you can only have one active at a time. And the only reason to use Xpadder is to do the combo sequences. but it seems if i use it, then I have to use Twinpad in order to do your step #5 which means that all that analog control of the sticks is lost if i map them to keystrokes?? I mean it doesnt control as nicely when mapped to keybd as it does when using the native gamepad analog controls-

so, is there a way i can control pcsx2 with gamepad, but still send combo gamepad sequences to the game by some method like holding L3 and pressing X? I even looked into any program that can map say the keyboard "1" key to a gamepad sequence and I cant find anything at all that does that. There are a million apps that make joysticks do keystrokes, but not so many that make a keystroke send a sequence of gamepad button & dpad presses to the gamepad. The ones I did find seem to use PPjoy and ppjoy takes over windows Joystick #0 (my main gamepad) as a virtual joystick so the real hardware one doesnt work as joy #0 in windows. i need something that doesnt replace my gamepad while it simulates gamepad sequences because I still want to control pcsx2 with my xbox gamepad without that extra layer of translation which ruins the analog feel.

Hope I'm being clear with my dilemma. Any ideas, because I cant get your solution to work. Thanks!

its mostly because in a jam in the game I'm not fast enough to reliably enter the cheat combo...

[DazzleHP]

PCSX2 as far as I know either accepts gamepads with the LilyPad controller plugin OR keystrokes only with the Twinpad controller plugin - I think you can only have one active at a time. And the only reason to use Xpadder is to do the combo sequences. but it seems if i use it, then I have to use Twinpad in order to do your step #5 which means that all that analog control of the sticks is lost if i map them to keystrokes?

That unfortunately is why i put my disclaimer of "I'm not sure whether you can do this in PCSX2". It's unfortunate you can't tbh but the only options you have right now is to map EVERYTHING as keyboard strokes, have your macro's available as one button presses and lose stick accuracy, OR keep your pad as a pad and manually punch em out on the fly If it's any consolation the codes become easier with practice - i remember punching out the "no police" while simultaniously driving Practice makes perfect hehehe

-EDIT- I will give my thoughts on this: GTA (and i've played em all from 1-4 and the inbetweens) really doesn't need accurate input for driving/getaways. You can do just aswell with tapping your pad as you can using "analogue" movement with a bit of practice. If we were talking about a sim, Forza for example i would call you crazy for even contemplating it but we're not so... your call

[snarls]

thanks anyway for the reply.

Oh well I had hoped that wasn't the case. I'll keep on the look out for another utility or something since I don't wanna give up the analog sticks...