Best at what it does, worth investing into

Comments and ratings from buyers of Xpadder
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djnforce9
Posts: 6
Joined: 26 Aug 2009, 17:39

Best at what it does, worth investing into

Post by djnforce9 »

If you are reading this, then I am almost certain that at some point you have been very frustrated with certain games in regards to their lacking gamepad support. This could have been negligence on the game developer's part or perhaps you are into really retro gaming where gamepads only had one or two buttons preventing the game from recognizing the ones on your gamepad you are most comfortable with.

And thus, the idea of mapping keystrokes to your gamepad is born. Prior to Xpadder's maturity as an application, it was rather difficult to find a decent profiler that was both reasonably priced (Xpadder 5.3 and older is free so you can't get better than that) and very functional (I used to use Total Game Control and while it worked well at the time (which was before Xpadder really became what it is today), it had an atrocious interface consisting of long drop down boxes just to select each key and non-portable encrypted profiles). I even remember the first profiler I tried (came with my old Microsoft Sidewinder gamepad) would not let me use "arrow keys" and alphanumeric characters simultaneously. In short, Xpadder gives you the best of both worlds: Low Price + Functionality.

The premise of Xpadder is very simple. First you choose your controller (and preferably an image of it as well to increase ease of use). Then you setup your axis's, triggers, buttons, etc (for buttons, there is an auto-detection function whereby just pressing one will add it for you). Afterward, you can map whatever key (or keys) you want to your gamepad. Xpadder DOES support Xinput so all you Xbox 360 controller owners out there (me included) won't have to worry about not being able to press down both triggers down and have it register as separate buttons (you can even use this in order to fix games that you NEED both triggers at once).

The interface is very simplistic and intuitive (newcomers should have no problems getting themselves set up). Most importantly, it simulates keystrokes on the gamepad just as accurately as if you were using the keyboard itself. However, what makes XPadder so much more special than other similar applications is its creative enhancements. For example, I bet you can't name ONE other that lets you map your controller's vibration effects to an axis or button or that lets you record a series of keystrokes in order to create an exquisite macro for easy sequence execution. The list goes on. Of course there is always room for improvement. For example, it would have been really nice to have is an automatic profile selector when a game is loaded (you can create a shortcut manually though but it is a bit tedious).

In closing, this is definitely one of those "must have" applications. Even if you aren't into retro gaming and/or all your games have controls that work fine. Xpadder can have other uses such as controlling media players like winamp or adding gamepad support to online flash games or even simplifying repetitive keystrokes into a single button.

For those who can't afford the $9.99 for the latest version should definitely locate and download the free version. However, I would strongly recommend everyone else to invest into this as its only going to get better from here.

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