Gamepad Modifier Buttons Not Sticking

[BlackSpectre]

I followed @telephone's keybind setup for a gamepad as closely as I could. Most of them seem to work, but I had a lot of trouble with the Right Trigger as a modifer button. Many times it simply would not execute the desired bind and did nothing. Sometimes switching the key name's order in the bind string helped, but now JOY8 (Right Trigger) appears to be stuck executing only "powexec_altslot 5", and it will not do anything else. It will even execute that command by only pressing JOY8 by itelf, and this is after I bound it with "nop". I bounds all 4 modifer buttons with "nop" beacuse they would start executing a command I used for a chord/modifier bind. It's wacky.

 

I've tried unbinding and rebinding, resetting all keybinds, reloading in the keybinds, typing the keybinds manually, restarting the game... and no dice.  I can remove the bind, but when I re-bind it the same thing happens. The whole gamepad binding system seems prone to conflicts with itself. 

 

I have been writing up a page on game controllers at the wiki, and here are the binds I'm using User:BlackSpectre/Testthis3 - Unofficial Homecoming Wiki . The page isn't finsihed because I've had to stop after I ran into this problem. 

 

 

 

 

[UltraAlt]

1 hour ago, BlackSpectre said:

gamepad

 

This link includes the walk-in to the file that can be imported for use of my setup with the Logitech F310

 

 

Edited Friday at 07:35 AM by UltraAlt

[UltraAlt]

1 hour ago, BlackSpectre said:

on game controllers at the wiki

 

I see. You are addressing x-box controllers.

 

This link goes into:

Images of my controller button setup for the Logitech F310

Resolving game controller issues with the Logitech F310

and then my tray setup.

The whole thread is a walk-through of setting up the Logitech F310 and a couple of modifications of my tray setups.

 

It allows for the Logitech F310 to trigger all 10 buttons in the active tray (six click-attack powers per tray, with macros in each tray to flip between tray 1 and tray 2 and trigger healing insps, fast travel [click left stick], and slow travel [click right stick]) as well a buttons for click on the blue hand, target near, target next, auto run, jump. The stick directions are set for moving and adjusting camera angle.

 

 

Edited Friday at 07:35 AM by UltraAlt

[RoselineHill]

 

Navigating gamepad keybinds can feel like playing a frustrating snake game, especially when the Right Trigger goes rogue. I'm experiencing similar binding issues, where certain commands refuse to cooperate. Even after unbinding and rebinding, the problem persists, making me wonder if there's an underlying conflict within the system itself. 

[UltraAlt]

1 hour ago, BlackSpectre said:

I have been writing up a page on game controllers at the wiki, and here are the binds I'm using User:BlackSpectre/Testthis3 - Unofficial Homecoming Wiki . The page isn't finsihed because I've had to stop after I ran into this problem. 

 

after I posted all of this I saw that you had put a link to my thread in guides at the bottom of the page - thanks.

 

I tried using the X-input with the Logitech F10, but that had issues.

The Logitech F310 can be configured so that the game thinks it is keyboard and that seems to get around the weirdness issues of using X-input. 

 

Edited Friday at 07:48 AM by UltraAlt

[UltraAlt]

4 minutes ago, RoselineHill said:

 

Navigating gamepad keybinds can feel like playing a frustrating snake game, especially when the Right Trigger goes rogue. I'm experiencing similar binding issues, where certain commands refuse to cooperate. Even after unbinding and rebinding, the problem persists, making me wonder if there's an underlying conflict within the system itself. 

 

I find that sometimes the Logitech controller goes wonky and I have to alt-tab out of game, swirl the sticks, push the buttons, and then alt-tab back into the game.

This hasn't happened to me for a good while, but it happened to me enough in previous years that found doing the above would resolve it.

[BlackSpectre]

15 hours ago, RoselineHill said:

 

Navigating gamepad keybinds can feel like playing a frustrating snake game, especially when the Right Trigger goes rogue. I'm experiencing similar binding issues, where certain commands refuse to cooperate. Even after unbinding and rebinding, the problem persists, making me wonder if there's an underlying conflict within the system itself. 

I'm pretty sure that's true. I mean, after binding 2 buttons using this bind JOY3+JOY8 "powexec_altslot 5", why would "powexec_altslot 5" activate when only JOY8 is pressed??? Why would "nop" have to be bound to the other modifier keys to stop them from doing similar things? Why would we have to Alt-Tab out of the game and then back in to stop the gamepad from running amok? There's definitely something wrong.

 

I'm not sure which Microsoft API Homecoming is using, but if it's not the newer GameInput API (instead of XInput), that might have something to do with it? The new (2021) GameInput has a lot more features and capabilities than XInput had, and according to Microsoft it's also 30% less input latency and resource usage. They've had 4 years to iron out the bugs, so it might be time to take the plunge if Homecoming hasn't yet. 

 

 

 

 

Edited Friday at 11:29 PM by BlackSpectre

[BlackSpectre]

16 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

 

after I posted all of this I saw that you had put a link to my thread in guides at the bottom of the page - thanks.

 

I tried using the X-input with the Logitech F10, but that had issues.

The Logitech F310 can be configured so that the game thinks it is keyboard and that seems to get around the weirdness issues of using X-input. 

 

That shouldn’t happen if the game was coded correctly for XInput.  Looks like the Xbox 360 was not a supported device back in 2012. If the Wiki is correct, the right stick didn't even work. So it looks like Homecoming did make some improvements. The right stick now works at least, and homecoming introduced modifier keys as well. The thing is... the way Homecoming has introduced modifier keys looks like a bit of a hack to me. I noticed that a bind like this <code>JOY3+JOY8 "powexec_altslot 5"</code> is translated into <code>JOYMOD1+JOY3 "powexec_slot 5"</code> in keybinds.txt. So with the help of the modifier key slash commands, the game is translating the key names of the buttons into different key names depending on if they were defined as modifier keys or not. I'm not sure if the translation is being done on the fly every time a button is pressed, or if the keys were translated at the time of binding and that's it. I hope the latter.

 

Honestly, I think the standard keys used for modifiers (left and right triggers and left and right bumpers) should be considered modifiers at the start, using the buttons' memory addresses, rather than a key name. Then if a player wishes to bind only the single modifier button, that can be done with a key name... but I don't want to go on talking about things I know very little about. I understand this suggestion would prevent players from using any other buttons as modifier keys, but I'd rather deal with that limitation than having the system be unstable. 

 

Other weird things I noticed... one time Joy7 appeared twice in keybinds.txt. One bound with the "NOP" command that I created, and the other with a command that I had been used in a modifier/chord bind. When I used /unbind on Joy7, it removed the extra command, but kept the bind with "NOP" on it in keybinds.txt  

 

At one time, JOY12 would not appear in keybinds.txt using /bindloadfile, but it did appear when using /showbindallfile. I reset all binds, loaded in the gamepad binds again, and then it showed up in keybinds.txt.

 

So intermittent signs of instability. It's weird.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 01:06 AM by BlackSpectre

[BlackSpectre]

 UPDATE:

 

Today I reset all of my binds using /unbindall. Then I used /bindsave and after the only thing left in keybinds.txt was "KeyProfile Classic" and "UnbindAll". Then I used /bindloadfile to load in the gamepad.txt file below.  Then I used /bindsave to save the new binds to keybinds.txt.

 

Now when I press the Right Trigger (JOY8), it executes the 8th power slot in the Alt tray slot (i.e., powexec_altslot 8 ) whenever I press the button. I did NOT bind that command to JOY8.  I bound "NOP" to that button. However, looking at keybinds.txt, I find the following bind:

JOY8 "powexec_altslot 8"

 

I did NOT create that bind, the system did all by itself.

 

In addition, all of the binds using Powexec_AltSlot are MISSING from keybinds.txt and do not function in game. The system deleted them.

 

JOYPAD_LEFT+JOY8 "powexec_altslot 1"
JOYPAD_UP+JOY8 "powexec_altslot 2"
JOYPAD_DOWN+JOY8 "powexec_altslot 3"
JOYPAD_RIGHT+JOY8 "powexec_altslot 4"
JOY3+JOY8 "powexec_altslot 5"
JOY4+JOY8 "powexec_altslot 6"
JOY1+JOY8 "powexec_altslot 7"
JOY2+JOY8 "powexec_altslot 8"

 

This behavior is CONSISTENT. I've now reset my character's binds and reloaded in my gamepad.txt several times... same result.

 

 

GAMEPAD.txt

Spoiler

JOY1 "+up"
JOY2 "powexec_abort" 
JOY3 "powexecname athletic run"
JOY4 "interact"
JOY5 "nop"
JOY6 "nop"
JOY7 "nop"
JOY8 "nop"
JOY9 "camturn"
JOY10 "face"
JOY11 "menu"
JOY12 "map"
JOYPAD_UP "target_enemy_next"
JOYPAD_DOWN "target_enemy_near"
JOYPAD_LEFT "target_custom_prev teammate"
JOYPAD_RIGHT "target_custom_next teammate"
JOYSTICK1_UP "+forward"
JOYSTICK1_DOWN "+backward"
JOYSTICK1_LEFT "+left"
JOYSTICK1_RIGHT "+right"
JOYSTICK2_RIGHT "+turnright"
JOYSTICK2_LEFT "+turnleft"
JOYSTICK2_DOWN "+lookdown"
JOYSTICK2_UP "+lookup"
JOY6+JOYPAD_LEFT "inspexec_slot 1"
JOY6+JOYPAD_UP "inspexec_slot 2"
JOY6+JOYPAD_DOWN "inspexec_slot 3"
JOY6+JOYPAD_RIGHT "inspexec_slot 4"
JOY6+JOY12  "inspexec_slot 5"
JOY7+JOY5 "Prev_Tray"
JOY7+JOY6 "Next_Tray"
JOY7+JOYPAD_LEFT "powexec_slot 1"
JOY7+JOYPAD_UP "powexec_slot 2"
JOY7+JOYPAD_DOWN "powexec_slot 3"
JOY7+JOYPAD_RIGHT "powexec_slot 4"
JOY7+JOY3 "powexec_slot 5"
JOY7+JOY4 "powexec_slot 6"
JOY7+JOY1 "powexec_slot 7"
JOY7+JOY2 "powexec_slot 8"
JOY5+JOY8 "Prev_Tray_Alt"
JOY6+JOY8 "Next_Tray_Alt"
JOYPAD_LEFT+JOY8 "powexec_altslot 1"
JOYPAD_UP+JOY8 "powexec_altslot 2"
JOYPAD_DOWN+JOY8 "powexec_altslot 3"
JOYPAD_RIGHT+JOY8 "powexec_altslot 4"
JOY3+JOY8 "powexec_altslot 5"
JOY4+JOY8 "powexec_altslot 6"
JOY1+JOY8 "powexec_altslot 7"
JOY2+JOY8 "powexec_altslot 8"
JOY5+JOYPAD_LEFT "say $battlecry $$ emote attack"
JOY5+JOYPAD_UP "local <color white><bgcolor red>RUN!"
JOY5+JOYPAD_DOWN "say <color black><bgcolor #22aa22>Ready! $$ emote thumbsup"
JOY5+JOYPAD_RIGHT "local <color black><bgcolor #aaaa22>HELP! $$ emote whistle"

 

 

KEYBINDS.TXT

Spoiler

KeyProfile Classic
UnbindAll
JOY1 "+up"
JOY2 "powexec_abort"
JOY3 "powexecname athletic run"
JOY4 "interact"
JOY5 "nop"
JOY6 "nop"
JOY7 "nop"
JOY8 "powexec_altslot 8"
JOY9 "camturn"
JOY10 "face"
JOY11 "menu"
JOY12 "map"
JOYPAD_UP "target_enemy_next"
JOYPAD_DOWN "target_enemy_near"
JOYPAD_LEFT "target_custom_prev teammate"
JOYPAD_RIGHT "target_custom_next teammate"
JOYSTICK1_UP "+forward"
JOYSTICK1_DOWN "+backward"
JOYSTICK1_LEFT "+left"
JOYSTICK1_RIGHT "+right"
JOYSTICK2_RIGHT "+turnright"
JOYSTICK2_LEFT "+turnleft"
JOYSTICK2_DOWN "+lookdown"
JOYSTICK2_UP "+lookup"
EXTRAMOD2+JOYPAD_LEFT "inspexec_slot 1"
EXTRAMOD2+JOYPAD_UP "inspexec_slot 2"
EXTRAMOD2+JOYPAD_DOWN "inspexec_slot 3"
EXTRAMOD2+JOYPAD_RIGHT "inspexec_slot 4"
EXTRAMOD2+JOY12 "inspexec_slot 5"
JOYMOD1+JOY5 "Prev_Tray"
JOYMOD1+JOY6 "Next_Tray"
JOYMOD1+JOYPAD_LEFT "powexec_slot 1"
JOYMOD1+JOYPAD_UP "powexec_slot 2"
JOYMOD1+JOYPAD_DOWN "powexec_slot 3"
JOYMOD1+JOYPAD_RIGHT "powexec_slot 4"
JOYMOD1+JOY3 "powexec_slot 5"
JOYMOD1+JOY4 "powexec_slot 6"
JOYMOD1+JOY1 "powexec_slot 7"
JOYMOD1+JOY2 "powexec_slot 8"
EXTRAMOD1+JOY8 "Prev_Tray_Alt"
EXTRAMOD2+JOY8 "Next_Tray_Alt"
EXTRAMOD1+JOYPAD_LEFT "say $battlecry $$ emote attack"
EXTRAMOD1+JOYPAD_UP "local &lt;color white&gt;&lt;bgcolor red&gt;RUN!"
EXTRAMOD1+JOYPAD_DOWN "say &lt;color black&gt;&lt;bgcolor #22aa22&gt;Ready! $$ emote thumbsup"
EXTRAMOD1+JOYPAD_RIGHT "local &lt;color black&gt;&lt;bgcolor #aaaa22&gt;HELP! $$ emote whistle"

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 07:44 AM by BlackSpectre

[BlackSpectre]

UPDATE#2

 

I switched the order of the modifer button and the regular button in the bindfile so that the modifier button comes first. So instead of "JOY3+JOY8 ", I loaded in "JOY8+JOY3", and most of those binds showed up in keybinds.txt. However, JOY8+JOYPAD_DOWN "powexec_altslot 4" is missing. Or rather its equivalent, JOYMOD2+JOYPAD_DOWN "powexec_altslot 4" is missing.

 

In addition, now this bind showed up out of nowhere in keybinds.txt:

JOY8 "4""

Note: The 3 quotation marks are not a typo. It's in keybinds.txt just as you see it.

 

It looks like, for some weird reason,  +JOYPAD_DOWN "powexec_altslot  was deleted by the system from JOY8+JOYPAD_DOWN "powexec_altslot 4", and the 2 parts that were not removed where put together to form JOY8 "4"". That would be my guess anyway.

 

And this is now CONSISTENT.

 

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 03:48 AM by BlackSpectre

[BlackSpectre]

Also, if these binds are loaded in they will NOT function at all (but at least they show up in keybinds.txt):

JOY8+JOY5 "Prev_Tray_Alt"
JOY8+JOY6 "Next_Tray_Alt"

but if you switch the key names around, then they work. Like so:

JOY5+JOY8 "Prev_Tray_Alt"
JOY6+JOY8 "Next_Tray_Alt"

 

You might think that the rule of thumb is that modifier buttons must come first in the bind string before any other key names, but the above contratdicts that notion. We can't even infer this rule: "Modifier button names must come first in the bind string. However, if a trigger (joymod) and bumper (extramod2) are used together, the bumper (extramod) must come first in the bind string." Why? Because these binds contradict that rule and yet work just fine:

JOY7+JOY5 "Prev_Tray"
JOY8+JOY6 "Next_Tray"

 

Maybe there's another rule that might work? Maybe.

 

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 03:33 AM by BlackSpectre

[BlackSpectre]

UPDATE#3

 

So... thinking about bind string conflicts and how the strings can be truncated when 2 binds are executed very quickly, it occured to me that maybe if a single modifier button is bound first, it might come into conflict with a modifier/chord button. In my gamepad.txt file, I have all of the modifier/chord buttons at the bottom of the file. Assuming they load in after the binds at the top of the file, I decided to test that and put all of the modifier/chord binds at the top.

 

THAT WORKED! Kinda. Now all the binds show up correctly in keybinds.txt (although JOY8 "nop"  oddly shows up in the middle of the text instead of with the other modifier NOP binds, which indicates to me that something is still wrong).

 

The only problem now is that modifier/chord binds that include the Right Trigger (JOY8) and the D-Pad or Face buttons don't work at all! None of my modifier/chord binds using JOY8 work except for the 2 that use the Extra modifier buttons (i.e., bumpers). 

 

KEYBINDS.TXT

Spoiler

KeyProfile Classic
UnbindAll
EXTRAMOD2+JOYPAD_LEFT "inspexec_slot 1"
EXTRAMOD2+JOYPAD_UP "inspexec_slot 2"
EXTRAMOD2+JOYPAD_DOWN "inspexec_slot 3"
EXTRAMOD2+JOYPAD_RIGHT "inspexec_slot 4"
EXTRAMOD2+JOY12 "inspexec_slot 5"
JOYMOD1+JOY5 "Prev_Tray"
JOYMOD1+JOY6 "Next_Tray"
JOYMOD1+JOYPAD_LEFT "powexec_slot 1"
JOYMOD1+JOYPAD_UP "powexec_slot 2"
JOYMOD1+JOYPAD_DOWN "powexec_slot 3"
JOYMOD1+JOYPAD_RIGHT "powexec_slot 4"
JOYMOD1+JOY3 "powexec_slot 5"
JOYMOD1+JOY4 "powexec_slot 6"
JOYMOD1+JOY1 "powexec_slot 7"
JOYMOD1+JOY2 "powexec_slot 8"
EXTRAMOD1+JOY8 "Prev_Tray_Alt"
EXTRAMOD2+JOY8 "Next_Tray_Alt"
JOYMOD2+JOYPAD_LEFT "powexec_altslot 1"
JOYMOD2+JOYPAD_UP "powexec_altslot 2"
JOYMOD2+JOYPAD_DOWN "powexec_altslot 3"
JOY8 "nop"
JOYMOD2+JOY3 "powexec_altslot 5"
JOYMOD2+JOY4 "powexec_altslot 6"
JOYMOD2+JOY1 "powexec_altslot 7"
JOYMOD2+JOY2 "powexec_altslot 8"
EXTRAMOD1+JOYPAD_LEFT "say $battlecry $$ emote attack"
EXTRAMOD1+JOYPAD_UP "local &lt;color white&gt;&lt;bgcolor red&gt;RUN!"
EXTRAMOD1+JOYPAD_DOWN "say &lt;color black&gt;&lt;bgcolor #22aa22&gt;Ready! $$ emote thumbsup"
EXTRAMOD1+JOYPAD_RIGHT "local &lt;color black&gt;&lt;bgcolor #aaaa22&gt;HELP! $$ emote whistle"
JOY1 "+up"
JOY2 "powexec_abort"
JOY3 "powexecname athletic run"
JOY4 "interact"
JOY5 "nop"
JOY6 "nop"
JOY7 "nop"
JOY9 "camturn"
JOY10 "face"
JOY11 "menu"
JOY12 "map"
JOYPAD_UP "target_enemy_next"
JOYPAD_DOWN "target_enemy_near"
JOYPAD_LEFT "target_custom_prev teammate"
JOYPAD_RIGHT "target_custom_next teammate"
JOYSTICK1_UP "+forward"

JOYSTICK1_DOWN "+backward"
JOYSTICK1_LEFT "+left"
JOYSTICK1_RIGHT "+right"
JOYSTICK2_RIGHT "+turnright"
JOYSTICK2_LEFT "+turnleft"
JOYSTICK2_DOWN "+lookdown"
JOYSTICK2_UP "+lookup"

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 12:20 PM by BlackSpectre

[BlackSpectre]

Next I tried putting the Right Trigger AFTER any other button names in the binds, but then none of them appeared in keybinds.txt except for JOY5+JOY8 "Prev_Tray_Alt" and 
JOY6+JOY8 "Next_Tray_Alt"  . 

 

I also tried swapping the modifier buttons around with /controller_modifiers 8 7, and although the Right Trigger now worked, the Left Trigger stopped functioning. So it seems like a problem with the /controller_modifiers command.

 

Ok. The Left Trigger is simply not working as a modifier key. DPadLeft+Rtrigger behaves as if only Rtrigger was bound.  I tried these settings:

/controller_modifiers 7 7
/extra_modifiers joy5 joy6 joy8

to see if I could get the Right Trigger to work as an Extra Modifier button, but that didn't work either.

 

So then I tried a different combination.

/controller_modifiers 5 7 
/extra_modifiers joy6 joy8

This allowed both triggers to work, but now the Left Bumper didn't work. Ok. The problem is definitely the  /controller_modifiers command.

 

What if we got rid of /controller_modifiers completely, and just used /extra_modifiers for both triggers and bumpers? So I tried:

/controller_modifiers 21 22 
/extra_modifiers joy5 joy6 joy7 joy8

IT WORKED!!!!!! ALL BINDS AND BUTTONS ARE WORKING CORRECTLY!!!!! EUREKA!!!

 

Holy crud, this was a real headache!

 

I set the /controller_modifiers to JOY21 and JOY22 because I've never seen any weird key or button name for those pop up when testing in the game's Options--> Keymapping tab, and it's best to get the controller modifiers out of the way just in case they cause trouble in the future. Additionally, the buttons on an XBox Wireless Controller only go up to JOY12. However, I have seen JOY24 and JOY25 pop up in the Keymapping tab over the years. Just FYI. 

 

********************************************************************************************************************************************************

So to sum up how I got the gamepad binds to work on my Xbox Wireless Controller...

 

1) Reset all keybinds (/unbindall). Then use /bindsave to overwrite keybinds.txt. This is to clear keybinds.txt of any button names that have been previously tagged as modifier buttons (i.e., JOYMOD or EXTRAMOD). We don't want those loading in from somewhere to accidentally mess things up. Alternately, you can go through keybinds.txt yourself (located in C:\Games\Homecoming\Setup\Live\ ) and delete all modifier binds you find, then save the file.

 

2) Set /control_modifiers to use buttons that will actually never be pressed/used (such as Joy21 and Joy22). For example,  /controller_modifiers 21 22.

 

3) Use /extra_modifiers to assign all triggers and bumpers as modifier buttons. For example, /extra_modifiers joy5 joy6 joy7 joy8.

 

4) When using modifier/chord binds, Controller Modifiers (JOYMOD) must be written first, at the beginning of a bind string. Extra Modifiers (EXTRAMOD) come second, and all other key/button names come third.  The following sequences work fine: JOYMOD+EXTRAMOD, JOYMOD+ButtonName, EXTRAMOD+EXTRAMOD, and EXTRAMOD+ButtonName. Note: Whether JOYMOD+JOYMOD works is unknown at this time since JOYMOD2 is currently inoperable. 

 

5) Place all modifier/chord binds at the top of any bindfile being loaded into the game (before any single button binds). 

 

 

Edited Monday at 09:28 AM by BlackSpectre

[BlackSpectre]

The patch notes for Issue 27 Page 1 (November 2020) state:

Quote

The up-to-four 'Extra Modifiers' are just additional inputs (either keys or buttons) that can be treated as modifiers when no other modifier is pressed. So for example, you could do /extra_modifiers LBumper RBumper to make the bumpers modifiers on your XInput gamepad. You could then use (for example) LBumper+Joy1 as a /bind (but also still be able to use LTrigger+LBumper as a separate bind).

This does not appear to be the case. The above seems to be saying that a bind such as EXTRAMOD1+EXTRAMOD3 would not work... but it does.

 

What it should state is button names assigned as Controller Modifiers (JOYMOD) must come before buttons assigned as Extra Modifiers (EXTRAMOD) in the bind string for the bind to execute as intended.  And Extra Modifiers (EXTRAMOD must come before single Key/Button names. So EXTRAMOD2+JOYMOD1 will not work, but JOYMOD1+EXTRAMOD2 will work.

 

Looks like the XInput API was added to Homecoming in 2020. The new GameInput API was released in 2021. Just throwing it out there, but this might be the cause of some of the problems. 

 

That said, the whole gamepad system seems to be a bit unstable, necessitating restarting the game when it goes awry. Things like the mouse cursor dissapearing or zooming in and out not working while in virtual mouse mode, extra modifier buttons not working until the left analog stick is moved, etc.

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 10:03 AM by BlackSpectre

[BlackSpectre]

On 9/5/2025 at 12:20 AM, UltraAlt said:

It allows for the Logitech F310 to trigger all 10 buttons in the active tray (six click-attack powers per tray, with macros in each tray to flip between tray 1 and tray 2 and trigger healing insps, fast travel [click left stick], and slow travel [click right stick]) as well a buttons for click on the blue hand, target near, target next, auto run, jump. The stick directions are set for moving and adjusting camera angle.

Now that I've re-created @Telephone's gamepad binds, I see what you mean. Their gamepad binds can only activate power slots 1-8 and inspiration columns 1-4. It's a huge limitation not being able to use power slots 9 or 0, or inspriation column 5. I'm now gong to take a much closer look at your binds, UA. I might not recommend @Telephone's binds at the wiki afterall. I need a set of gamepad binds that work for as much of the game as possible as a starting point for players. 

 

Quote

 

I tried using the X-input with the Logitech F10, but that had issues.

The Logitech F310 can be configured so that the game thinks it is keyboard and that seems to get around the weirdness issues of using X-input. 

 

 

Honestly, I think that a controller whose buttons emulate keyboard keys might be the better way to go right now. I bet there's some software that could do it. OK, I'll start looking for it...  

 

UPDATE: Wow, that was fast! I already found some apps that will turn gamepad buttons into keyboard buttons:

 

For Xbox controllers only:

Xbox Accessories app (free)

 

For all controllers:

AntiMicroX (free)

DS4Windows (free)

JoyToKey (paid)

reWASD (paid)

 

There's some that can supposedly be used on a Mac too:

Enjoyable (free)

Gamepad Mapper (paid)

Joystick Mapper (paid)

AntiMicroX (free)

 

I haven't tried any of them so I can't recommend any of them. Double check whether or not the app supports your specific gamepad.

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 12:10 PM by BlackSpectre
OMG! So many typos! All the time!!! LOL

[UltraAlt]

On 9/5/2025 at 9:24 PM, BlackSpectre said:

I did NOT create that bind, the system did all by itself.

 

I'm assuming that you are using the Options>Controls>Game Controller option to recognize your controller.

Is that correct?

 

If my memory is correct, the game is automatically trying to respond to the controller in the way that thinks it should be setup versus how you want it setup.

That is one of the reasons that I decided to bypass the game "seeing" the controller completely, and setting up so that it functions like a keyboard as far as my computer is concerned.

[UltraAlt]

On 9/6/2025 at 7:30 AM, BlackSpectre said:

Honestly, I think that a controller whose buttons emulate keyboard keys might be the better way to go right now. I bet there's some software that could do it. OK, I'll start looking for it...  

 

With the F310, it's just a switch on the bottom of the controller.

 

 

 

 

Switching it to "D" mode makes the computer think it is a keyboard.

 

[BlackSpectre]

That's pretty cool UA. I'm going to try to translate your binds into a XInput format for a non-keyboard emulating gamepad (I might need your help, I'll let you know). I figure I'll get that done first, and then branch out to keyboard emulators after. This has been a pretty big project. I've already worked about 2 weeks on it, so the forum posts I've run across about players wanting to use a gamepad but giving up in frustration is completely undersandable. Especially now that I'm aware of all the bugs and weird quirks. 

 

I've been scouring the forums for gamepad bind configurations, and based on the few I found, it appears the gamepad binding systems used to behave differently... even as little as 1 and a half years ago.

 

1) The the gamepad bind string hierarchy wasn't an issue. A Controller Modifier key did not need to come first in the bind string when using a modifier chord key/button bind, with Extra Modifiers needing to be second. Nor did modifier/chord binds need to be placed at the top of the bindfile. So a lot of my free time yesterday was spent going through those bind files and switching button names and binds around in the bindfiles. The modifer/button hierarchy can be worked around, as long as you're aware of the issue. It's a hassle compared to what little was required before. It's actually not a super painful change. Players can work with it.

 

2) Also since people's bind files utilized all 6 modifiers, it's not unreasonable to assume that the /Controller_modifiers command worked without issues 1 1/2 years ago or less too. Something's happened between now and then that has made working with gamepads excruciatingly difficult... if you don't know how to navigate around all the problems. 

 

One thing is becoming very clear... the more modifier buttons you have, the more binds you can have on your gamepad, and since gamepad's have so few buttons/keys compared to a keyboard and mouse, losing the second Controller Modifier to the bug is a big hit. The loss of that one controller modifier costs the gamepad user 23 different key combinations. Just consider the fact that gamepads need at least 20 binds just for 2 trays of powers, whereas a keyboard/mouse user doesn't need any for 9 trays of powers. All they have to do is click on the power slots. So, the fact that /Controller_Modifiers is bugged is a pretty bid deal.  

 

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I also updated the wiki with the new knowledge and undstanding that I've gained. The pages for /controller_modifiers, /Extra_modifiers, and /controller_vmouse are all updated. 

 

I'm still working on my Game Controllers Setup article, but I need to settle on what bind configuration I'm gong to use as the initial base setup for new players. I'm tempted to just leave it as is with @Telephone's bind setup as the default, but that's the lazy way out. That said, it's not as easy as it sounds. There are a lot of different ways to go. One player has in their bind configuration about 30 different button combinations that are supposed to be used for individual power binds like /powexec_name "fly." Although it's workable, using a bind setup that needs to be reworked for each character is not the best in my view. A setup that is versitile enough to be used for every character without needing to customize it is probably more useful/important. At least on this score, @Telephone did a good job.

 

Just deciding on what button or button combination activates a travel power is a big deal because its location on the gamepad has to be considered along with all of the other requirements for gameplay.  The biggest problem I'm wrestling with right now is settling on the way that powers are activated, but I have to consider combat mechanics along with it. That means taking targeting, inspiration use, and movement into consideration, in addition to button location and efficiency of use, is important. Wish me luck.

 

[UltraAlt]

9 hours ago, BlackSpectre said:

This has been a pretty big project. I've already worked about 2 weeks on it, so the forum posts I've run across about players wanting to use a gamepad

 

Most of them I've run across want to use the X-box controller. I don't have one, so never bothered trying to fight one to figure out how use it.

 

I've been using a controller since day-1 that started playing which was like a week before Issue 2 dropped and the Rularuu Invasion Event 2004 happened.

The first logitech controller I had only had one shoulder button/trigger on each side. I don't remember how long it was before I switched over to using the F310, but I've been using it ever since.

 

Originally, I didn't use the right stick to toggle view. Everything was so flat in CoH, that I didn't need to move my camera often before when the Hollows or CoV came out. Then there was more change in height so changing camera angle became frequently necessary. However, I didn't reconfigure my stick settings before the Sunset.

 

After being without CoH for a while, I started playing DCUO. It seemed very necessary to be able to change the camera angle on the fly, so I set up a DCUO profile (very different configuration with DCUO than CoH other than moving and the travel powers) with the camera angle adjustment on the right stick.

 

When I joined Homecoming, I took my old CoH profile and edited the sticks to my new configuration and left everything else the same.

Basically, I set all my game controller profiles for other games to work as much like the way I use the controller for CoH as possible.

 

How much time did I put into that? No idea.

But I can say, that I don't think it took me more than a half hour to say - "this isn't user-friendly" when trying to work with games that want to configure controller "their way" .... which was not the way I wanted the controller configured (made no sense to me at all) - and started looking for how to avoid games from "seeing" the controller altogether so that I could tell the controller what I wanted to do and it would "fake out" the game into believing that it was seeing a keyboard instead of a controller.

Setting up the commands took longer then assigning them to buttons. And there was some testing to make sure I was creating commands in a way that the game would respond to correctly in a few cases.

 

9 hours ago, BlackSpectre said:

I've been scouring the forums for gamepad bind configurations, and based on the few I found, it appears the gamepad binding systems used to behave differently... even as little as 1 and a half years ago.

 

Based on what you have said earlier, no doubt it is on the Microsoft end and not on the CoH side.

 

It seems that Microsoft often wants to change things because someone that works for them high enough up decides that "this works better for me" regardless of what users have been used to doing for years. Maybe the new way is easier for a new user, but why ruin/change the experience for a long time customer/user?

 

And, so we again go back to, "making the controller act look like a keyboard" to the system to avoid so-called "improvements" to pre-configured controller software.

 

9 hours ago, BlackSpectre said:

Just deciding on what button or button combination activates a travel power is a big deal because its location on the gamepad has to be considered along with all of the other requirements for gameplay.

 

Each player is going to have to decide what makes the most sense to them.

Since I'm already using the sticks for moving and changing camera angle, it just made sense to me to have the travel powers in the stick buttons.

 

Since my controller configuration is always turning on the lesser travel power (which I always locate in active tray slot 0)with the right stick button and the greater travel power (which I always locate in active tray slot 9) with the right stick button, it doesn't make any difference which character I'm playing ... the right stick button will always turn on my (whatever kind of sprint, hover, combat jumping, etc.) and the left stick button will always turn on my (START fly power, fly, superspeed, super jump, etc.)

 

I mainly play flipping active tray from tray 1 to tray 2, so powers with positional clicking go in tray 3 if combat powers and in other trays if they they don't need to be used on-the-fly.

Teleport and powers [that activate on a clicked location] would go in tray 3 or another tray so that I would be ready with my right hand off of the controller (my left hand is always on my controller unless I'm typing messages) and on my mouse to be able to activate the power and click on the screen where I want the power to teleport me to/activate.

 

10 hours ago, BlackSpectre said:

That means taking targeting, inspiration use, and movement into consideration, in addition to button location and efficiency of use, is important.

 

The only insps that I activate from my controller are my heal ones.

I don't just let anything drop in to my insp tray in most situations and I set my insp tray up before combat.
The first column on the left (f1) is always breakfrees (or a greater resist effect insp).

The third column on the right always has at least 2 awakens in it. (I generally always get the https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Physician_Badge day job power early on and have started getting the https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Temporary_Power:_Resuscitator S.T.A.R.T. power as part of character set-up when I bring a new charcter into the game for the first time).

The rest are all healing insps - mainly respites which I can activate on-the-fly with the controller.

I don't have to use the resist effect insps all that often (when it comes down to it) so I just take my right hand off the controller, hit f1, and then put my right hand back on the controller. I know where it is, I can trigger it pretty quickly, and still be able to move to move forward/backwards/side-to-side/jump with my left hand while getting my right hand back onto the game controller.

At this point on most of my characters, I block all insp drops other than the heals and resist effect insps (through the S.T.A.R.T. vendor as well as activating team insps - which would require hitting f-keys or mouse clicking to activate as my heal bind doesn't active team insps - saving those for that "rainy day" when the team really needs them)

 

I understand other players make use of all/any insps that drop in their tray. I just don't find that as useful the way that I play.

 

10 hours ago, BlackSpectre said:

Wish me luck.

 

Good luck and keep at it. 

 

Way more people are going to be trying to use X-Box controllers to play CoH than there will be trying to use an old-school Logitech F310 which is modeled on a Playstation 2 controller configuration.