Joystick or Gamepad

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Shandon Loring
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Joystick or Gamepad

Post by Shandon Loring »

Has anyone ever found a suitable Joystick/Gamepad that works for SL/Opensim??

Yes I have the SpaceNavigator, great for videos and what not, but I'm really looking for something with a D-Pad for moving (instead of keyboard) and maybe a few extra buttons for LookUp/Down, Fly, etc...

I got the Logitech F310 with promises from Firestorm gang that it would work, but it doesn't, and all the links they provided are non-functional.
Anywho... suggestions?

Thanks all!
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Re: Joystick or Gamepad

Post by Graham Mills »

I don't have a gamepad but would be interested in trying one.

I assume you've seen this (not directly applicable, I know):

https://support.logi.com/hc/en-us/artic ... mepad-F310
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Re: Joystick or Gamepad

Post by Shandon Loring »

Thank you Graham!
No I had not seen that page, the page the FS references is on Logitech site but borked, the site you provide has links that work!
Yay!
Thank you
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Re: Joystick or Gamepad

Post by Graham Mills »

Please let us know if you have any success with it.
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Re: Joystick or Gamepad

Post by Graham Mills »

I managed to borrow a PS3 controller and had modest success mapping keys to controls on Win10 using either Antimicro or AntimicroX, both from Github. Not quite SpaceMouse levels of finesse I suspect but I was at least able to walk and fly in good order.
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Re: Joystick or Gamepad

Post by Graham Mills »

I should add that I got better results with AntiMicroX than I did with the default game controller settings under the Move & View option in Preferences. On the other hand game controllers are a bit of a mystery to me so YMMV.
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Re: Joystick or Gamepad

Post by Graham Mills »

I ended up buying (somewhat arbitrarily) a cheap PS4 controller. Avatar control works fine via AntiMicroX as previously and you can get a pseudo-flycam effect by making your avatar invisible.

You can also use the flycam option in the Move & View option under Preferences although some fiddling with values may be required (setting X, Y, Z scales to 10 was a useful start for me with the SpaceNavigator settings). I doubt that anything approaching SpaceMouse accuracy is attainable (at least by yours truly) although I note XBox controller presets are provided in SceneGate.

Instructions for use of the flycam:

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Flycam
https://wiki.firestormviewer.org/fs_joystick

Tutorials on machinima production (the first is dated but I found some of the others useful)

https://vimeo.com/98659455
Last edited by Graham Mills on Sat Jan 07, 2023 4:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Joystick or Gamepad

Post by Graham Mills »

Perhaps worth noting that you can program AntiMicroX to emit combination keystrokes by selecting the controller button, pressing the first key and then opening the advanced menu which allows you to add additional keystrokes (select a slot so it shows ... and then press the desired key).

So, for example:

Ctrl+Shift+U toggles the UI
Ctrl+Alt+F toggles flycam mode assuming it has already been enabled in Preferences.

The Super button emulates the Windows button and can therefore be used to initiate recording using the Xbox Game Bar (Super+Alt+R).

You can also use it to emit chat although I've yet to figure out how to do this in a single step so Enter (to start and end chat) and the chat string are presently mapped separately.

Finally I mapped the D-pad to the mouse so I could move the cursor and press the left shoulder button to emulate a left-click on a prim and hence activate a script or a sit. By default the cursor movement is rather coarse.

Further explanation for advanced features https://github.com/AntiMicroX/antimicrox//wiki
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Re: Joystick or Gamepad

Post by Graham Mills »

As well as controlling the avatar and camera, the onboard freecam menu can also be used to manipulate and examine objects, e.g. a molecular model.

In SceneGate I enabled Automatic position for Build/edit on the Move & View menu in Preferences and the Build option (only) in the Control modes section of the joystick/freecam sub-menu. I also set RenderHighlightSelections False in debug settings so native appearance was preserved apart from the usual build axes (not sure how you remove them).

I was then able to move the object to and fro and side to side using the left joystick. Moving it up and down with the right joystick (left-right axis) was accompanied by rotation. The remaining axis was unused.

Not sure how useful this is but curiosity value if nothing else.
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Re: Joystick or Gamepad

Post by Shandon Loring »

This is actually really neat Graham!! Well done. Following your progress closely. Rad!!
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