Posted: 2/18/2012 8:39 PM
Post subject: USB Controller's use
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Guga
He/Him
Joined: 1/17/2012
Posts: 838
Location: Chile
In 2 to 3 weeks I'm going to start a TAS. And it came out to my mind this question: Is optimal use a USB Controller instead of the keyboard on the TAS? Posting here because anyone who has this question, the answer should be in this topic.
Posted: 2/18/2012 8:58 PM
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Saethori
Joined: 6/26/2011
Posts: 167
The primary values of using a controller, comfort and ease of use, are significantly less valuable to a TAS; you simply won't be TASing in the same manner you'd play, and you will usually require access to more keys than an average controller provides. Additionally, wireless controllers can cause a bit of an issue with dropping button presses, if there's some wireless interference in your house. This is just my opinion, though. Depending on how few buttons your target system actually uses, how many buttons your controller uses, and how comfortable you are switching between controller and keyboard as the need arises, using a controller could be perfectly viable.
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Posted: 2/18/2012 9:15 PM
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Noxxa
They/Them
Moderator, Expert player (4139)
Joined: 8/14/2009
Posts: 4083
Location: The Netherlands
Exotic platforms TASer of 2018 Exotic platforms TAS of 2018 Exotic platforms TASer of 2017 Exotic platforms TAS of 2017 Exotic platforms TAS of 2017 Exotic platforms TASer of 2016 Exotic platforms TAS of 2016 Gameboy TASer of 2013
Personally I prefer to use a keyboard, because then I have easier access to multiple savestate slots for loading/saving. Otherwise I can imagine a decent setup on the Xbox 360 USB controller I have, so it's not as if it's out of the option. (Depends on how many buttons the system you're TASing has, though. It works better for systems like NES or GB because they have less buttons you need to work with). Said controller has helped me out a couple times though, when I needed to press multiple buttons on one frame and my keyboard didn't allow me to.
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Posted: 2/18/2012 9:41 PM
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Ilari
Emulator Coder, Skilled player (1141)
Joined: 5/1/2010
Posts: 1217
Rookie of 2010 New systems TASer of 2010 New systems TAS of 2010
Here's how I map functions to Xbox360 controller when TASing SNES: * Joystick hat up / Right thumbstick up: Dpad up. * Joystick hat right / Right thumbstick right: Dpad right. * Joystick hat down / Right thumbstick down: Dpad down. * Joystick hat left / Right thumbstick left: Dpad left. * A: A * B: B * X: X * Y: Y * LB: L * RB: R * Back: Select * Start: Start * Left trigger: Loadstate selected slot * Right trigger: Frame advance * Xbox: Pause/Unpause * Left thumbstick left: Select previous savestate * Left thumbstick right: Select next savestate * Left thumbstick up/down: Unused * Left thumbstick press: Savestate selected slot. * Right thumbstick press: Readonly/Readwrite toggle. The reason to map dpad twice is to do left+right. Left+Right on joystick hat (same for thumbsticks) can't even be signaled[1]. [1] Left is reported negative, center is reported 0, right is reported positive. So left+right would correspond to number that is at the same time <0>0. Since no such thing exists, left+right is impossiblity.
Posted: 2/18/2012 10:39 PM
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VanillaCoke
Active player (458)
Joined: 12/24/2010
Posts: 297
Location: CT, USA
Mothrayas wrote:
Personally I prefer to use a keyboard, because then I have easier access to multiple savestate slots
This seems like the biggest advantage of using a keyboard. I would choose a keyboard over my 360 controller if it could recognize more than three keys being pressed at a time <_<.
Posted: 2/18/2012 10:59 PM
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RachelB
She/Her
Player (127)
Joined: 12/3/2011
Posts: 1579
I've been doing my tasing with a ps3 controller. I find it significantly more comortable, and still offers just as much control as a keyboard while tasing. I've been tasing gamecube games, which only allows me to (comfortably) map frame advance, play/pause, 2 save states, and load last written state to the controller, so it's a bit annoying having to lean over to my keyboard for other save states, but it works well enough. I'd imagine it'd be even easier for systems with fewer buttons.
Posted: 2/19/2012 3:55 AM
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funnyhair
Player (116)
Joined: 5/13/2009
Posts: 700
Location: suffern, ny
WHen doing something that has 2D graphics, I use a keyboard. 3d Graphics i use a controller. 3d games where meant to be played on a controller that allows for that type of play, so why not
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Posted: 2/19/2012 5:11 AM
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CoolKirby
Editor, Experienced player (608)
Joined: 11/8/2010
Posts: 4012
Exotic platforms TASer of 2014 NES TAS of 2013
I use a keyboard for everything except GameCube TASing. When I'm working on a GameCube game run, I have my Logitech gamepad's buttons mapped like a GameCube controller, with the two joysticks being the Control Stick and C-Stick. I work on a laptop computer, so I'm sitting over my keyboard anyway, so I can press my frame advance button and savestate buttons on the keyboard without changing positions. It helps me to have the gamepad set up like a GameCube controller, since I know the GameCube controller well and I wouldn't know which buttons to press if the buttons were mapped to keyboard keys. I also find this setup comfortable.