Possible autoprofile bug when controller disconnects and reconnects

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jjgalvez
Posts: 2
Joined: 01 Mar 2012, 17:22

Possible autoprofile bug when controller disconnects and reconnects

Post by jjgalvez »

First of all, I want to say I really like your app. I'm using it with some games and to control my HTPC and it works very well.

Recently, however, I think I've found a bug using it on my HTPC. I have the following usage scenario:

I have two apps (APP1 and APP2) and one xpadder profile for each (I'll call them APP1_PROFILE and APP2_PROFILE) to control them with the xbox360 wireless controller. I'm using Autoprofile so that it automatically switches to APP1_PROFILE when APP1 is active, and to APP2_PROFILE when APP2 is active. This works fine at first.

The problem occurs when the xbox360 controller turns off when it has been idle for a period of time. If it turns off when APP1 was active and later I turn it back on when APP2 is active, xpadder will continue to use APP1_PROFILE instead of APP2_PROFILE. To correct this, I have to use the keyboard/mouse to change focus to another program and then back to APP2 (which I'd rather not do).

In my case APP1 is a media player I use to watch movies. During a movie the controller will switch off. When the movie finishes, APP2 (my media center application) automatically becomes active. The problem is that when I turn the controller back on I can no longer control APP2!

Anyway, I don't know if this is a bug or if there's a setting or workaround to avoid this problem. If it's a bug, I hope it's easy to fix :)

Regards

Primal Fear
Xpadder Xpert
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Re: Possible autoprofile bug when controller disconnects and reconnects

Post by Primal Fear »

That's not directly a bug, more missing functionality.
The AutoProfile feature loads the profile when the program gets into focus. If the controller isn't connected, the profile cannot be loaded. And when the controller will be connected while the program is already in focus, there will be no trigger for the AutoProfile feature. Alt-tabbing out and back in, now causes the trigger.

jjgalvez
Posts: 2
Joined: 01 Mar 2012, 17:22

Re: Possible autoprofile bug when controller disconnects and reconnects

Post by jjgalvez »

Is there any chance this capability will be implemented in the future? That is, the capability for AutoProfile to automatically determine which application is active when the controller reconnects?

cloudy_1985
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Location: Finland
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Re: Possible autoprofile bug when controller disconnects and reconnects

Post by cloudy_1985 »

I have a similar issue, but it happens on different situation.

In Windows, at least on XP and older versions, user can determine the first controller from Control Panel -settings, or it will be automatically determined by OS. (For example, user has two gamepads and the other will be primary gamepad.)

Let's assume that user has gamepad(s) for other games, but uses joystick for flight simulators. For the sim to detect joystick as the primary controller, user has two choices: unplug gamepad(s) or go to the Control Panel and set joystick as the #1 controller. The method mentioned first is more convenient, specially, if an USB hub with switches is used. So, let's assume that the user will plug joystick to the hub, switches gamepad(s) off and turns joystick on. Xpadder will detect the joystick and also detects that gamepad(s) are disconnected. Now, the user will start the sim (so, the program will be in focus at that moment), but the profile will not get activated. So, it is needed to exit the sim and flash Xpadder's main window open, before it can start assign profiles automatically to the joystick. Same thing will most likely happen again, when the joystick will be again disconnected and gamepad(s) connected back. This is something I have found out.

Other thing is that (at least on my computer) Xpadder still doesn't unload profiles after program's execution has been ended. As far as I remember, it was mentioned to be fixed in an early version.

Otherwise Xpadder has been working great as usual. It's a long time I have visited here to report any issues. :)

Primal Fear
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Re: Possible autoprofile bug when controller disconnects and reconnects

Post by Primal Fear »

Read the last two sections of my AutoProfile tutorial, they should solve both of your problems.

cloudy_1985
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Location: Finland
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Re: Possible autoprofile bug when controller disconnects and reconnects

Post by cloudy_1985 »

Thanks, the guide is very good and the second problem is gone.

For the first one, I followed the guide and created one entry per controller. It worked partially. It works perfectly if all controllers are connected. Xpadder has kept the first controller selected and at program's execution, autoprofile has assigned correct profiles for each controller.

When gamepads are disconnected and joystick is connected, Xpadder will keep the first gamepad selected and autoprofile function can not assign autoprofiles correctly, no matter if "Process non-selected controllers"-option is selected or not. (After doing a lot of testing, it seems that this selection does not work at all.) Controller order has no effect, too. If joystick has been selected manually by using Xpadder's main window, all autoprofile assigments will work again correctly. Same thing happens if joystick will be disconnected and gamepads are connected back. Joystick will remain selected and autoprofile-function will be working correctly again after manually selecting the first gamepad controller.

Primal Fear
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Re: Possible autoprofile bug when controller disconnects and reconnects

Post by Primal Fear »

Okay precondition is that you leave all your controller connected, except of the respective last one. If you take controller out of the order, the others will move up to fill that empty room. So if you remove the first controller, the following ones will now get the profile of the controller that is/was before them.
I have a joystick (#1), a Cyborg Rumblepad (#2) and a Splitfish DualSFX Evolution (#3), in use. The joystick and the Cyborg Rumblepad are always connected and only the SplitFish is usually on my PS3. If I have a Autoprofile entry for all three controller configured, it doesn't matter if the SplitFish is connected or not, all profiles will be loaded correctly.


And about "Process non-selected controllers"
Jonathan wrote:Process non-selected controllers
Process all controllers at the same time. This allows for multiplayer support. If you only have one controller or have more than one controller but only use one at a time then you can safely disable this option. If this option is disabled then only the currently selected controller will be processed.
That means you have to enable it, to use more than one controller at the same time.

cloudy_1985
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Re: Possible autoprofile bug when controller disconnects and reconnects

Post by cloudy_1985 »

It's a lot easier to explain this issue with images. <Default>-watch was disabled during testing, of course. Let's start from the point where everything works perfectly:

Image
From left to right...
1) Two gamepads are connected.
2) Joystick will be added. Let's launch IL-2 Sturmovik and let's see what happens.
3) Gamepads now have correct profiles...
4) ...and joystick too.

This is what I learned from the guide (link above). Having all controllers connected, everything works as expected. Now the issue:

Image
1) Some older games like Red Baron 3D will only detect the first controller (by ID) and there is no in-game options menu for remapping controllers either. (No mods are available for that purpose, too.) Windows XP doesn't actually have as smart method for sorting controllers than 9x had. I know there is a program called JoyIDs for swapping the controller order, but actually it doesn't work for every controller. Somehow, visiting Control Panel will not always give the wanted solution either. Best method in these cases is to disconnect unwanted controllers and leave only the used controller connected, so it will be automatically set as ID #1. Now it's done.
2) Let's go back after running Red Baron 3D: joystick has "untitled profile". Let's leave joystick selected from Xpadder's main window.

Image
1) Let's go back after running Red Baron 3D again: disconnected gamepads have correct profile activated...
2) ...and joystick, too.
3) Let's leave joystick selected from Xpadder's main window, but let's disconnect it and get gamepads connected back. Let's run IL-2 Sturmovik again. After running IL-2 Sturmovik again: joystick still has Red Baron 3D -profile activated.
4) Same with gamepads. Let's leave gamepad selected.

Image
1) Let's run IL-2 Sturmovik again and go back: now the profile is correct...
2) ...for disconnected joystick, too.

I will point another issue, but there would be a simple solution for it. I will suggest it later.

Image
1) Let's add fourth controller to the scene. Joystick will be there at slot three after disconnecting. Gamepad will stay selected.
2) Let's run Colin McRae Rally 2005 and see what happens: gamepads have now correct profiles.
3) G27 profile is now assigned for joystick!
4) G27 has "untitled profile" selected.

I double checked this, too: "Process all controllers at the same time" was ticked during testing above, but after un-ticking it, all controllers were still processed. Tested with both gamepads and both gamepads+joystick all turned on. I have made sure I have the newest version.

My conclusion: Autoprofile-feature is designed in the way that it will assign profiles in user-defined order by the order controllers are listed by user-defined preferred group order, so Xpadder should have no Autoprofile-issues even if disconnected controller would remain selected. I believe this is a bug, or something that has been missed so far.

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