Manuel
I would like this small patch merged that adds support for my GreenAsia Inc. PSX to USB converter, so SDL_IsGameController() returns true when using this adaptor.
It's interesting because PSX/PS2 controllers connected using this model won't be detected as gamecontrollers otherwise, only as joysticks.
benjamin.feng
Probable underlying cause: https://bugzilla.libsdl.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3124#c5
"If you download and build the HID Calibrator sample you can see that these are totally legitimate HID devices (except for inverting the Y-axis of joysticks, which is contrary to the HID specification but does make them more compatible with games compiled expecting XBOX controllers)."
David Brady
When I attempted to make a mapping file for Android gamepads, I quickly discovered that most of the ones that I have here show up as the same device (Broadcom Bluetooth HID), meaning that it was impossible to make mappings on Android, since every device looked the same.
This patch will check for the existence of the getDescriptor function added in Jelly Bean, and use it if it's there. The Android Dashboard says that the majority of Android phones should support this function, and doing it this way will not force us to bump up our API version.
Jimb Esser
Note: This is using DirectInput, I have to disable XInput as that causes all but the first 4 controllers to be completely ignored by SDL (I can find no way to reconcile XInput devices with DirectInput devices, otherwise I would make a patch that accepts the fifth and later controllers with DirectInput...). XInput does not seem to have the problem below, only DirectInput.
I plug in 3 identical wireless Xbox 360 controllers, call them J1, J2, J3. Direct Input shows them as having GUIDs G1, G2, G3. I unplug J1, then J2 and J3 show up as having GUIDs G1 and G2! Not so "unique"... I start my SDL app when just J2 and J3 are plugged in, and open J2 and J3. Then I plug in a new controller, SDL sees that now G3 exists, assigns that a new SDL joystick instance ID, which I request to be opened, but G3 at this point is J3, which I already had opened! So I end up with two instances of J3 opened, and none of J1. "Re-"opening G1 would get the actual handle to the newly attached controller, but there's no current way to know this. This is clearly a bug or poor design in DirectInput or my wireless receiver drivers, but is a showstopping bug for my 8-20 player games (as soon as any one controller runs out of battery or goes to sleep and gets turned back on, suddenly things are busted requiring a restart (or, at least, a reinitialization of all controllers - the game can't go on)).
The solution I found is to use HID paths instead of GUIDs to uniquely identify joysticks. GUIDs are still needed to open a controller, however I have added code to re-find the GUIDs for all joysticks whenever a new joystick is attached or removed. This does now require opening of all joysticks (instead of just enumerating them), though if your app, like mine, is opening all of them anyway so that any can press a button to join, that doesn't change much (although perhaps they joysticks should be kept open in this case, instead of closed and re-opened). If your app only ever opens one joystick, this will do more work at startup than it did previously.
Edward Rudd
Device: Logitech Rumble Gamepad F510 in Xinput mode.
Upon opening the joystick the values of the axes are queried via PollAllValues are not actually set on the device all the time.
This can easily be seen in the testjoystick or testgamecontroller test programs,as the testjoystick shows all axes in the center until one 'tickles' the triggers., and the testgamecontroller will show the triggers as 'on' until on 'tickles' the triggers.
Upon further research the culprit is the SDL_HINT_JOYSTICK_ALLOW_BACKGROUND_EVENTS hint. In the default value events are ignored until there is an active window, Thus in cases where the joystick system is initialized and controllers opened before the initial window is created & focuses, the initial values will be incorrect.
Here is my current workaround in the game I'm working on porting..
SDL_SetHint(SDL_HINT_JOYSTICK_ALLOW_BACKGROUND_EVENTS, "1");
SDL_GameController* gamepad = SDL_GameControllerOpen(index);
SDL_SetHint(SDL_HINT_JOYSTICK_ALLOW_BACKGROUND_EVENTS, "0");
