Multiple wireless gamepads

[shroud]

We've been using a Logitech F710 wireless gamepad for all our GameEx games, and really liking it. I think it's time to get a second gamepad so that we can play some 2-player games simultaneously, but I have a noob question as usual...

 

Do you think that multiple usb-wireless controllers are generally recognized without problems in Windows 7, so that they can work together without messing up and being instead e.g. recognized as one?

 

What is a safer choice from this point of view, between buying another Logitech F710 or buying a gamepad from a different brand (although they all seem to work at 2.4GHz)?

[Tom Speirs]

I just looked up this controller and see that it supports both DirectInput and XInput so you really can't do any better. The wireless side of it appears to be an additional layer that windows would know nothing about and it basically just appears to windows like any gamepad controller. However whether two would work together I can't tell you. It still seems to be a supported product by Logitech so why not ask them?

[TAS1981]

Hi

I have had the best success with sacrificing a separate bluetooth dongle and using the SCP drivers by Nefarious to use up to 4 PS3 pads simultaneously. I am not sure if other pads will work but I believe as they support Directinput and Xinput it should work. Thsi means you don't mess with any onboard or other peripheral bluetooth adaptors and the pads have a dedicated connection.

PS3 or PS4 controllers are supported and maybe more. PS3 controllers are pretty robust, good for a wide range of systems and are cheap to pick up on ebay. They do have to be genuine to work though, not the cheap knock off ones.

Thanks

Tom

 

[shroud]

17 hours ago, Tom Speirs said:

I just looked up this controller and see that it supports both DirectInput and XInput so you really can't do any better. The wireless side of it appears to be an additional layer that windows would know nothing about and it basically just appears to windows like any gamepad controller. However whether two would work together I can't tell you. It still seems to be a supported product by Logitech so why not ask them?

 

5 hours ago, TAS1981 said:

Hi

I have had the best success with sacrificing a separate bluetooth dongle and using the SCP drivers by Nefarious to use up to 4 PS3 pads simultaneously. I am not sure if other pads will work but I believe as they support Directinput and Xinput it should work. Thsi means you don't mess with any onboard or other peripheral bluetooth adaptors and the pads have a dedicated connection.

PS3 or PS4 controllers are supported and maybe more. PS3 controllers are pretty robust, good for a wide range of systems and are cheap to pick up on ebay. They do have to be genuine to work though, not the cheap knock off ones.

Thanks

Tom

 

Thank you both!

 

Do you think PDP Afterglow products qualify as "knock off"?  Or are they legitimate?

 

I've found them in our local shop, and thought that maybe getting a separate brand for the second controller would decrease the risk of them being recognized as a single controller. The PDP Afterglow gamepad says it also supports PS3 besides PC, so it's an added benefit. But when I tried to check their website to figure out if it supports X-Input or DirectInput, I cannot find that gamepad exactly, which raises some suspicions: http://pdp.com/en/afterglow/shop/controllers

 

This is the exact model on sales locally: https://www.amazon.com/Afterglow-Wireless-Controller-PS3/dp/B017VLXH3C/ref=pd_sim_63_2/142-5751085-4690920?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B017VLXH3C&pd_rd_r=1GMKWGSJRBWA7DYTPA96&pd_rd_w=a80es&pd_rd_wg=Hgug4&psc=1&refRID=1GMKWGSJRBWA7DYTPA96

[DazzleHP]

In my experience with Windows, if you use identical controllers, for instance 2x360 wired, it will not distinguish between them without 3rd party intervention. It is strange behavior i know, especially considering a lot of recent emulators WILL treat them individually.

[Adultery]

Although emulators will treat them individually, it won't load them in the right order which is annoying. At least to me.

[shroud]

On 8/10/2017 at 6:16 AM, DazzleHP said:

In my experience with Windows, if you use identical controllers, for instance 2x360 wired, it will not distinguish between them without 3rd party intervention. It is strange behavior i know, especially considering a lot of recent emulators WILL treat them individually.

Yeah that's whay I am afraid of... I might eventually go with the different PDP Afterglow controller then, unless you guys tell me that it's a bad one.

[shroud]

15 hours ago, Adultery said:

Although emulators will treat them individually, it won't load them in the right order which is annoying. At least to me.

I had a similar problem when using a wired controller (SpeedLink Competition Pro) and a wireless controller (Logitech F710). I wanted the latter to be treated as "player 1" controller but Windows always defaulted to the other way around. Although at least it with wired+wireless Windows was always able to figure out that they are actually two distinct controllers. The point is that we want to play from the couch  and that's why we should get a second wireless controller.

[shroud]

All right... I went for the PDP Afterglow, and so far everything is working fine No problems with the 2 controllers working simultaneously in MAME, WinUAE, WinVice, Higan and ePSXe. I'll test the rest of my emulators in the following days.

 

Thanks to all of you for the suggestions! Now off to find some good 2-players games to play

[shroud]

Hi all again

 

I am having some problem with the second controller, so I wonder if anyone has any tips.

 

When I boot my Windows 7 PC, the Logitech controller always appears in the known devices list (in Control Panel) even if it's turned off. So all I need to do to start using it, is to just press the wake-up button on the controller itself, and it will connect automatically to my PC.

 

Instead, the Afterglow controller doesn't appear in such list after booting the PC, and in fact it doesn't connect when turning it on. I can see from Device Manager that it is not shown there either. What I need to do each time, is to unplug its wireless transmitter from the USB port and plug it back. Then it is immediately detected, it appears in the known devices list (and in Device Manager under the USB devices), and afterwards it does connect automatically without problem when I wake it up.

 

Drivers are installed and up-to-date for both controllers, but I don't remember if I did something additional when (long ago) I installed the first controller. I wonder if this could be a fault of this specific controller itself, or instead something more general that can be fixed by taking some additional steps in Windows, so that the controller would be detected among the known USB devices every time I reboot my PC.

 

I guess this kind of problem can happen with any wireless device, not just controllers. Have you ever had a similar issue, and how did you fix it? Thanks!