Thread: CONTEST: Xbox Chatpad Driver Challenge

The play and Charge kit, if I remember correctly, doesn't transfer data over the cable at all, and it still requires the wireless receiver to be used with windows.
Also, i know all too well the annoyances of playing games with the dpad, and just how finicky it can be. But for text editing, I'd prefer having more than the current left and right arrows. I'll try and figure out xpadder after work today, but i like the toggle ability present in the drivers, and don't want to give that up.
Thank you for the reply, and as always, keep up the good work.

So I haven't had a chance to read everything in the past 30 pages yet but I think I was supposed to respond to some questions - though they may be old news by now.

1) GAFBlizzard has pretty clearly won - please send him the money
2) I fully support use of some of the funds for wireless development
3) I fully support Child's Play - they are an excellent charity and it is very kind of you to donate the proceeds
4) I fully support development of an 64-bit driver (though I am currently on 32-bit) because we're all headed there eventually and that will help this project stand the test of time - the appmart/small contribution approach to a signed driver makes sense to me

I'll get to reading and catching up on all the excitement now! Yeah for Chatpad Drivers!!!

OK, after some major tweaking, I've got some semblance of decent mouse control with XPadder, but the only downside that I can see with using xpadder, is that you will permanently lose the use of a button on the controller if you want a toggle button.
If you could set the guide button as usable in xpadder(which microsoft won't let anyone), it'd be no big loss, as I doubt anyone really uses the guide button for anything.
Myself, I've set the Back button as a one-way toggle to controller mode, so I have to reselect mouse mode after I've finished playing a game, but it's only a 3-4 second inconvenience. Overall, the xpadder/chatpad driver combination works well, with right thumbstick as scrollwheel(including click), 4 button mouse, and dpad as arrow keys, and true analog sensitivity for mouse control, it's working wonderfully, and it frees up the people button for a windows key. So far, so good.

Just a suggestion, is there any way to make a virtual button for the guide button that would be mappable in something like xpadder? It would alleviate my lost button problem when using xpadder for mouse emulation.

As always, great work, and I look forward to any updates.

Originally Posted by crouchingrat

Just a suggestion, is there any way to make a virtual button for the guide button that would be mappable in something like xpadder? It would alleviate my lost button problem when using xpadder for mouse emulation.

As always, great work, and I look forward to any updates.

I can handle the guide button because I have direct controller data access, but I can only make it do my own mapped events, not pass it on to XPadder in any way that I know of. If XPadder supports some sort of keyboard bind, like Ctrl-Alt-F8 (for example) to trigger something, then you could try mapping the guide button to that. With the latest controller drivers the Guide button may always bring up that little overlay, though. I haven't messed with an option to optionally disable that behavior.

You guys know the newest revision of the 360 Controller has a much improved DPad right?
It is wireless only though.

I refuse to go back, the old dpad makes me cry

As for the guide button to xpadder, I don't really see the point of that?
When is binding to keyboard keys not enough?
And I can only imagine how trying to add an extra 'gamepad button' would mess with xinput.
Doesn't seem worth the effort.

I do agree that the overlay popup needs to be optionally disabled though, it can make you lose focus on a window.

Using the guide button to toggle mouse mode would enable full use of the controller in games, and still give you the ability to alt-tab out of the game and surf the net, without ever setting down the 360 controller, or losing access to a button.

I fully understand what a nightmare it would be to add a new button event to the guide button, and just how much xinput would suffer if you tried to pull it off, and honestly, it's probably not worth it, given the multitude of problems that would be likely with that solution.

And on the overlay from the newest drivers for xbox360 peripherals, my guide button will never cause an overlay to appear, as I refuse to install a driver that adds nothing of value to a wired 360 controller. As i learned growing up: "If it isn't broken, don't fix it".

I posted this request for the driver on the Xbox accessory forum.

"Xbox 360 Chatpad - PC Drivers"

Xbox, Would you please consider providing PC driver(s) for the Xbox 360 Chatpad? I called MS support regarding this matter and was redirected to Xbox support. The tech I spoke with on your support line told me that the Xbox corporate office would review my request if I posted it here. As an Xbox Chatpad owner who uses my Xbox controller to play MS games on my PC, I could definitely benefit from being able to input text with my Chatpad while playing my PC games. There are many people who would very much like to see this become available too. Thank you in advance for your response. Others who would also like to see this driver become available, please chime in!

Originally Posted by GAFBlizzard

For those asking about plug and play stuff, I don't know how the devices communicate internally, but I am guessing that it still shows up like normal wireless + base controllers. Can anyone with such a kit confirm by posting a device manager screenshot with any appropriate categories expanded (like HID devices, game controllers, common controllers, wireless base, whatever)? Thanks. If that's the case, then it will have to wait for wireless support.

I no longer have access to my brother's play n' charge kit, but data is certainly not passed over the cable. It only provides power. On numerous occassions I had the dog rip the cord out of the xbox or pc and had no interruption of gaming. This leads me to infer the wireless controller is doing as it has always done. TBH, it also makes perfect sense from a design standpoint. Connecting 2 pins for just power is probably a lot easier than rerouting all the relevant button presses out the cable.

Originally Posted by Naylia

I no longer have access to my brother's play n' charge kit, but data is certainly not passed over the cable. It only provides power. On numerous occassions I had the dog rip the cord out of the xbox or pc and had no interruption of gaming. This leads me to infer the wireless controller is doing as it has always done. TBH, it also makes perfect sense from a design standpoint. Connecting 2 pins for just power is probably a lot easier than rerouting all the relevant button presses out the cable.

What you say is true Naylia, the plug and play kits do not transfer any data, it is solely for power purposes. One positive of having the kit though (if anyone plays FFXI or FFXIV you will know whhy it's important) it will stop the controller for timing out and turning off after 15mins.