SS2: 360 gamepad?

[6637bcf70f7ecMr Rayford]

Is there a way to configure a 360 game pad to work woth SS2, I need to improve my console FPS skills.

[6637bcf70fa10Kolya]

I have no idea. It might be possible if you find a software that emulates the stick as mouse movements. But you'd still miss a lot of keys. SS2 isn't an FPS. It might be easier to just train on a console FPS game and come back to SS2 when you're bored of the mindless fun.

[6637bcf70faedMr Rayford]

good point

[6637bcf7101adR-800]

good point

Is there a way to configure a 360 game pad to work woth SS2, I need to improve my console FPS skills.

Mr Rayford, you're in luck.  Not only is there a way to use your Xbox 360 controller with System Shock 2, but there is actually a rather phenomenal little program that lets you use your 360 controller with literally any app that knows how to receive keyboard or mouse inputs of any kind.  This program is called Xpadder, and it's really hard to believe how amazing it is.

http://www.xpadder.com/download.html

Xpadder is especially useful with older games that cannot have their key configurations remapped, or don't have much support for joysticks or other sophisticated gaming hardware.  What Xpadder does is simply map keyboard and mouse inputs to the Xbox 360 controller.  Anything you could ordinarily do with either the keyboard or the mouse (or both at once) can be mapped to the 360 controller.  There are even features that let you hold, toggle or switch to other pre-mapped keysets at the touch of a single controller button, vastly expanding the number of functions that you can get out of your controller, if you're clever enough to work out a really good setup.  Just the fact that you can map the mouse directions to an analog stick is amazing enough, especially since I can't seem to find any software programs anywhere that allow me to remap general mouse functions to any other input device directly.

This simple and tiny program runs in the background, and is active as soon as you open it (or load a new profile).  No further initiation is required.  It's ready to go.

I was pretty excited to discover this tool, because it was tremendously helpful to me for making SS1's control scheme truly playable.  Since it was initially developed by a gamer just like the rest of us, I suppose the usefulness of the program should come as no surprise to anyone.  But I just can't get over how much it turned my frown upside-down after discovering how useless the default Windows drivers were for the 360 controller.  It became the solution to all my problems. 

R-800 

[6637bcf7102deMr Rayford]

That program is amazing. I have a usable layout for SS2 on a 360 controller, but it's kind of impractical to play the whole game on a controller. Things like hacking become really hard to do on the fly. But, it doesn’t override you bindings so you can switch between your controller and keyboard when it's necessary. If you want, I could upload it, see what you guy's think of it.

[6637bcf7107a8R-800]

That program is amazing... but it's kind of impractical to play the whole game on a controller. Things like hacking become really hard to do on the fly...

Mr Rayford,

I know exactly what you mean about the seeming impracticality of playing a mouse-intensive game like SS1 or SS2 with nothing but a controller.  Foregoing the mouse altogether seems to make things harder, rather than easier, since an analog stick doesn't seem to be very intuitive when attempting critical pointing or selecting functions.

I've been experimenting with Xpadder on SS1 and 2 for a long time now, and my solution to this problem, which would appear very messy to an outside observer, nevertheless works quite well.  What I basically did was find a way to keep the mouse, and use the controller to forego the keyboard instead. 

What I do is hold the controller in my left hand and use the mouse in my right.  The mouse is used as a standard mouse would be in any modern FPS on PC, for free-looking, shooting, etc.  Since the Xbox controller is only held in my left hand, however, it means that the buttons on the right side of the controller are effectively lost to use (to be precise, X, Y, A, B, and the right-side bumper and trigger). This solution would be clearly unacceptable to any console enthusiast, I imagine.  Yet it's actually quite relaxing to be able to sit in a lounge-like position relative to the monitor, knowing that the keyboard needn't move with me.

I don't expect anyone else to find my solution to be a complete or satisfactory one, but it's amazing how the versatility of Xpadder can allow you to take only the left half of an Xbox 360 controller and map just about every vital function to it for a game as sophisticated as SS1 or 2, such that your other hand can still be used for the mouse.

This is what I meant in my previous post when I mentioned that one would need to be clever enough to come up with a really good setup.  I discovered that designing a suitable mapping configuration with Xpadder can be extremely challenging, requiring a lot of planning beforehand and testing afterward.  In the case of SS1, I had played through 3/4 of the game before I finally found a control scheme that I could live with.

Ironically, the challenge of designing a workable control scheme, with the goal of getting maximum functionality out of a minimal number of controller buttons, would become a game in itself, almost more challenging than the actual games with which it would be used.  I imagine that some people wouldn't have the patience for this rather involved procedure.  But I found it rather exciting just having the option to try a new approach to solving serious control issues in a game like SS1.  Xpadder allowed me to simulate mouse-looking in SS1 with the Xbox 360 controller.  That alone made it worth using.

I'm really glad that you think the program is amazing.  Try checking out its advanced mapping functions sometime. 

R-800

[6637bcf7108cfBattleBrat]

R800 you're a GOD!!! THIS PROGRAM IS SOOOOO AWESOME!!!!
I just kicked a few bucks their way.