New version 4.4 of Xpadder is out

[Nologic]

You can find it at Xpadder.com

Here is whats new:

- Added Advanced Starting Help (lists all the switches)

- Added an option to show taskbar button when minimized (as requested yesterday in the chat window - allows Alt-Tabbing to Xpadder window if it's minimized)

- Added controller link database duplication and corruption checking (also added duplication checking and defragmentation for recents list)

- Added different icons for Xpadder, profiles and controller files in Windows Explorer

- Added name display of .xpaddercontroller files in Windows Explorer (not associated with Xpadder yet though)

- Added profile loading via parameters (double-click a profile in explorer, add the profile name(s) to a shortcut target or start Xpadder from the command line followed by a list of profile names) - this can be done even if Xpadder is already running

- Added shortcut launching. Simply specify the full file name of the shortcut when starting Xpadder and the shortcut will be launched for you when all controllers and profiles are ready (see the Advanced Starting help for more info)

- Added taskbar button flashing when Dialogs are shown (conforms with Microsoft spec)

- Added this: If only one parameter is passed, more than one controller is connected and the selected controller is not number 1 then the profile loads onto the selected controller(!)

- Added Vista shell icons for profile files (XP already had them but they are better now) - still some work to do here (it shows the Xpadder icon instead of the profile icon but I'll alter soon)

- Fixed a bug where Controller Order column in Settings window was too short on Windows XP

- Fixed a bug where extension extraction didn't handle folders with extensions

- Fixed a bug where loading message flicked up if animations were disabled

- Fixed a bug where opening the first profile on the recents list triggered a shutdown database save unnecessarily

- Fixed a bug where parameters opened a profile even if controller was not connected

- Fixed a bug where trimming of controller names from registry prevented controller linking if controller name had leading/trailing spaces (rare but some exist) - this issue is also fixed in v4.3a up on the website now

- Fixed lots of profile opening display bugs (buttons not appearing when they should or appearing when they shouldn't)

- Improved command line parameter parsing (added extension recognition, auto-extensions adding and general trimming)

- Improved command line parsing to include these new switches: /m (minimize), /c (close), /? (help) - descriptions are available in the Help menu (or try "xpadder /?")

- Improved multi-instance support. Running Xpadder while it is already running restores/minimizes the main window instead of giving a warning message

- Improved Path extraction

- Improved path processing and saving for command line profiles

- Improved profile handling code to support all the new features in this and future v4.4 betas

- Improved registry associations handling, speed and efficiency

- Improved Settings Options wording and help

- Improved the profile system again to prevent stray error when loading profile if it was cancelled

- Improved title bar text handling. The Beta indicator is now at the top of GUI and progress text is displayed at the bottom of the GUI (the final style and position is still be worked on, I may even remove the progress text altogether)

- Improved Windows version checking

- Major improvements to the profile handling (again!) leading to less code and a faster core loop

- Moved "Loading Profile" message from footer info box to profile name button

- Open/save dialogs add profile to Recent Documents list

- Re-added the "profile open error" dialogs using the new profile method

- Removed beta save/overwrite confirmation prompts (the beta should now behave exactly like the final version except for the beta version displayed in the top right)

- Renamed all Exit text as Close (right click any taskbar button and it says "Close" not "Exit" - I think "Exit" was an old Windows 3.x/DOS term that I've kept using!)

- Restoring main window or showing Help via parameter brings Xpadder window to front of screen

[mightypeniz]

thanks dude, that app looks great!

[bkenobi]

Awesome! Did you get a chance to play with it yet? I've been thinking of switching over from JoyToKey to XPadder and now that CLI is supported, it's actually an option...

[Nologic]

Actually I haven't tried the CLI yet...even tho I was the one pushing for its inclusion the hardest. *hangs head in shame*

I intend to redo my zinc loader making use of xpadder for every game...so at that point it will be getting hammered.

[bkenobi]

tsk...tsk...tsk...

[Stu1983]

I finally got around to giving this a blast, it certainly a pretty impressive find Nologic, it's so much handier to setup and run than JoyToKey though I already have JoyToKey set up for every emu so I don't know if there's really any advantage in changing

It would be nice if it dectected a change from 1 joypad type to another without having to click the scan button or close and reopen the program everytime, that way I could just have it running in the background all the time and be able to stick a joypad into my cabinet at anytime to play anything

Stu

[yves31]

Hi,

I use joytokey Which works great in my case, is there a good reason why I shoud use this one instead?

Just checking If I'm missing something here...

Thanks,

Yves

[Nologic]

You can check out my half hearted comparison here.

However much like PimpDaddyStu stated...if you got joytokey setup and your happy with it, then there is no real reason to switch over to Xpadder...however I'll be pushing for its use with those new to emulation as I see it as far superior to all other key mappers.

[yves31]

Thanks for the great info