Gamepad not being recognised if plugged after GameEx has started

[papazark]

Hi

So basically, if I start GameEX, and then plug the gamepad, it's not usable to navigate through gamex interface.

(but if for some reasons GameEx loses focus and regain it, the pad starts working)

feature, bug, known limitation ?

[bkenobi]

GameEx won't use a game pad if it can't see it when it starts. I'm actually surprised that it finds it when you change focus to another program and then return to GameEx. The game pad must be initialized and I wouldn't have expected GameEx to be able to do that after startup.

[papazark]

  bkenobi said:

GameEx won't use a game pad if it can't see it when it starts. I'm actually surprised that it finds it when you change focus to another program and then return to GameEx. The game pad must be initialized and I wouldn't have expected GameEx to be able to do that after startup.

Thanks for the clarification.

Is this technically doable and could be considered as a valid feature request ?

The Gamepad is a wireless Xbox 360 controller, and you need to press the central button on the pad to make it appear in the Gamepad list.

[Paul O'Nolan]

  papazark said:

Thanks for the clarification.

Is this technically doable and could be considered as a valid feature request ?

The Gamepad is a wireless Xbox 360 controller, and you need to press the central button on the pad to make it appear in the Gamepad list.

I'm glad that you posted this. I had been holding off from getting the 360 wireless controller for that specific reason. I have owned both PS2 and XBOX (not 360) > USB adapters, and the Playstation USB adapter will keep the controllers initialized in Windows even when they are not plugged in. I wish that the 360 controllers did the same, but it doesn't surprise me that they won't.

Here's a workaround solution for you. This will give a prompt for you to press a controller button before launching GameEx:

1. Remove GameEx from your startup.

2. Download AutoHotKey (do a google search)

3. AutoHotKey will place a blank script in your My Documents folder, named AutoHotKey.ahk, right-click to edit this script

Delete the entire contents of the script and replace with the following:

MsgBox,0,,Please connect controller and press Button 1 to continue.

IfMsgBox,OK

Run c:\launch.bat

Joy1::Send {Return}

Return

4. Download taskkill (again, do a google search). Put taskkill.exe in the root of your c: drive.

6. Put a shortcut to GameEx in the root of your c: drive. Make sure it is named "GameEx" and not "Shortcut to GameEx"

5. Create a file called launch.bat in the root of your c: drive. Edit the batch file and paste the following:

taskkill /im AutoHotKey.exe

start GameEx.lnk

Sorry if it seems like I oversimplified this for you, but I'm not sure what your level of proficiency is. Then again, if I under-simplified then just PM me and I can help you out.

[Tom Speirs]

Just for info, GameEx rescans for Game Pads everytime after it launches something or when the display is reinitialised. I dont check for new gamepads during the main loop for performance reasons.

[papazark]

  TSpeirs said:

Just for info, GameEx rescans for Game Pads everytime after it launches something or when the display is reinitialised. I dont check for new gamepads during the main loop for performance reasons.

thanks for the clarification and the workaround.

Isn't there a way to get a callback/notification from Windows when a new controller hardware is detected ?

[Tom Speirs]

  papazark said:

thanks for the clarification and the workaround.

Isn't there a way to get a callback/notification from Windows when a new controller hardware is detected ?

There may well be. Ill look into it.

[ralanrocco]

This is just throwing something out there, it may work it may not... I know you are dealing with a 360 controller but I use ppjoy for my ps3 controller on my media center which creates a static joystick profile... I haven't tried this with a 360 controller and do not know if it will work... but is something to try...