Half Life and Analog Controllers

[joeyroland]

Hey all,

I recently installed Half Life on my system and on my father's "office" computer.

Is there anyway I can use the analoge joysticks on the controllers?

[Bigjakkstaffa]

...more importantly why on earth would you want to use a Joystick to play an FPS :eek:

Its awkward enough with a gamepad but a joystick would be horrendous, one of the things that makes the PC a greta platform for gaming is the Mouse/Keyboard combo and how well it works in FPS games

--Jakk:t

[bblqj78]

If you cant play with the mouse and keys....LEARN. Playing online with any type of controller will get you 'WASTED' in seconds. Just not reactive enough. A few hours on the mouse and keys and you will be flying!!

[joeyroland]

No, you don't understand....

I want to try and use a Logitech Dual Action Gamepad. It has two analog sticks, (just like PS2), so that I can control the movement commands.

I am really use to it now after playing Halo. And believe it or not, it is a little "cleaner" for me.

You see, God cursed me with chubby hands :(

[cbh]

I tried Counter-Strike on XBox recently in one of the shopping malls and my character got whacked within a few seconds by the enemies.

The gamepad could not be used for FPS games. Even on a console! If the console users are skilled in gamepads, then I got nothing to say about that.

But I'm used to keyboard/mouse combination so I don't really like to use gamepad for FPS games.

:t

[bblqj78]

You see, God cursed me with chubby hands

Get a big mouse....and one of the keyboards with spaced out keys ..hehe:D

[joeyroland]

Well, I was cursed with chubby, sloppy fingers and a shallow pocket.

Plus, I have some controllers with Rumbling ability. Figured I would like to excersice that.

Thanks!

[joeyroland]

Anyone?

[Bigjakkstaffa]

As we've said, keyboard and mouse are the only way to go, gamepads and joysticks are just too disjointed for FPS gameplay and is the exact reason why no one uses em for it, hence no reply

--Jakk:t

[joeyroland]

Well, I am not really getting into that debate right now.... I realize the K/M is just a little better;)

However, someone like my father using that... oh no!

I want to play him on the original half life or counter strike on our LAN. I got him a Logitech Wingman with Rumblepak. Just curious how he can use it if he plays against me.

Thanks for any insight!:D

[joeyroland]

Anyone?

Gamepads for HL or CS?

Bueller.....Bueller...Bueller?

[scoob19]

Youre probably not getting any answers cause nobody ever uses controllers for pc shooters. Ive never actually heard of a pc user using controllers to play a pc fps.

[joeyroland]

That sounds like an answer.... not the one I wanted though :(

Thanks though!:t

[Mann Slaughter]

Never fear "joeyroland".

I can't understand why "mousers" do this.
Instead of just skipping the post since they can't answer the question, they insist that you play the game the way that they do, instead of playing the game in a way that makes YOU comfortable.

For those that don't know, (and obviously, no one who's posted before me does) Half-Life was originally released around the same time and supported the late, great PantherXL joystick, (which to my knowledge is the only joystick specifically designed for use in FPS games.) . The PantherXL was a flight-sim style stick on the right, with a huge trackball built into the base on the left, and an astounding 13 buttons plus a 4-way hat switch.

With the PXL you used the stick for forward/backward and left/right strafing movements, (just as mousers use WASD) and the trackball controlled your ingame view just as you'd use a mouse. The only difference was that the PXL allowed those of us who simply couldn't use the k/m to join in the fun with the rest of you. Believe it or not there are people in the world who simply CANNOT (for whatever reason) use the keyboard/mouse combo.

To joeyroland:

I can't answer you question (I was actually led here by a Google search looking to help a friend play HL with his gamepad) but there's an entire community of people like us who can't use k/m for FPS games where you won't run into "mouser bias". You're welcome to join us there at any time:

http://boards.gamers.com/messages/overview.asp?name=panther_xl

I've already posted there asking the same question you did here. Hopefully we'll both get a good, non-judgemental reply.

Good luck!

[Mann Slaughter]

I found a page on the Web which explained which axis do what in HL as far as joysticks are concerned. Using this info I was able to edit my orginal HL-PXL.cfg and put together the following gamepad configs. I've actually created two: One for those who want to use the D-pad for movement, and another for those who want to use the left analog stick for movement. In both instances "mouselook" is controlled by the right analog stick.

If you don't have one (and you should) Use Notepad to create a text file called "autoexec" in your Sierra\Half-Life\valve directory.
After you're done, or if you already had one and add this line:

exec gamepad.cfg

If you created the autoexec using Notepad after saving you may need to change the extension from .txt to .cfg

In the same directory use Notepad to create another text file name this one "gamepad.cfg" (Again you might have to change the extension from .txt to .cfg)
Open the gamepad.cfg using Notepad and do EITHER of the following:

If you want to use the D-Pad for movement in the game copy and paste the following into your gamepad.cfg:

================================================== ===============
// Dual analog gamepad for moving in the game using the D-pad
// Place this file in your ..\Half-Life\valve directory
// Make sure it is named gamepad.cfg
// You will need to assign button functions in the Games Control menu
//Old Gamer aka Mann Slaughter - 29JAN04

joyname "Dual analog gamepad"
joystick "1.000000"
//+jlook

joyadvanced 1.0 //turns on advanced axes variables
joyadvaxisx 0 //sets joystick left & right to strafe left & right
joyadvaxisy 0 //sets joystick forward & backward to forward & backward
joyadvaxisz 2 //sets throttle to not used
joyadvaxisr 4 //sets rudder to not used
joyadvaxisu 0 //sets trackball left & right to be relative look left & right
joyadvaxisv 0 // sets trackball forward & back to be relative look up & down

// if you wish to invert the trackball so that Downward movement looks down
// change joypitchsensitivity from -0.25 to 0.25

//controls the speed of looking up & down
joypitchsensitivity 0.75

//sets trackball to a zero dead zone looking up & down
joypitchthreshold 0.2

//If you wish to flip your Assassin 3d or Panther over and put the buttons on the top change
//joyyawsensitivity from -0.5 to 0.5 and change joypitchsensitivity from -0.25 to 0.25

//controls the speed of looking left & right
joyyawsensitivity -0.75

//sets Trackball to a zero dead zone looking left & right
joyyawthreshold 0.2

//Ramp up speed, higher numbers = get to full forward speed faster
joyforwardsensitivity -1.0

// If your joystick will not stop and stand still increase the joyforwardthreshold
// and joysidethreshold to .15 or .20
//sets the dead zone for the joystick forward & backward
joyforwardthreshold 0.1

//Ramp up speed, higher numbers = get to full strafe speed faster
joysidesensitivity 1.0

//sets the dead zone for the joystick side to side
joysidethreshold 0.1

// turns on mouse look
+mlook

//turns on the Trackball
joyadvancedupdate

//you can set buttons inside the game or create your own config files. refer to text files included with game.
//You'll need to set the movements for the D-pad (Forward,backward,strafe) from within Half-Life using the game's custom control options.
================================================== =======================



If you want to use the left analog stick for in-game movement copy and paste the following into your gamepad.cfg

================================================== =======================
// Dual analog gamepad for using both stick in-game
// Place this file in your ..\Half-Life\valve directory
// Make sure it is named gamepad.cfg
// You will need to assign button functions in the Games Control menu
//Old Gamer aka Mann Slaughter - 29JAN04

joyname "Dual analog gamepad"
joystick "1.000000"
//+jlook

joyadvanced 1.0 //turns on advanced axes variables
joyadvaxisx 3 //sets joystick left & right to strafe left & right
joyadvaxisy 1 //sets joystick forward & backward to forward & backward
joyadvaxisz 2 //sets throttle to not used
joyadvaxisr 4 //sets rudder to not used
joyadvaxisu 0 //sets trackball left & right to be relative look left & right
joyadvaxisv 0 // sets trackball forward & back to be relative look up & down

// if you wish to invert the trackball so that Downward movement looks down
// change joypitchsensitivity from -0.25 to 0.25

//controls the speed of looking up & down
joypitchsensitivity 0.85

//sets trackball to a zero dead zone looking up & down
joypitchthreshold 0.2

//If you wish to flip your Assassin 3d or Panther over and put the buttons on the top change
//joyyawsensitivity from -0.5 to 0.5 and change joypitchsensitivity from -0.25 to 0.25

//controls the speed of looking left & right
joyyawsensitivity -0.85

//sets Trackball to a zero dead zone looking left & right
joyyawthreshold 0.2

//Ramp up speed, higher numbers = get to full forward speed faster
joyforwardsensitivity -1.0

// If your joystick will not stop and stand still increase the joyforwardthreshold
// and joysidethreshold to .15 or .20
//sets the dead zone for the joystick forward & backward
joyforwardthreshold 0.1

//Ramp up speed, higher numbers = get to full strafe speed faster
joysidesensitivity 1.0

//sets the dead zone for the joystick side to side
joysidethreshold 0.1

//Turns on mouse look
+mlook

//turns on the Trackball
joyadvancedupdate

//you can set buttons inside the game or create your own config files. refer to text files included with game.
//You can set buttons for the D-pad (Next/Previous weapons) from within Half-Life using the game's custom cofiguration options.
================================================== ===========================


It's a simple matter to tweak the movement and looking speeds by editing the .cfg and inverting the look Up/Down movement. Just read the .cfg and make changes accordingly.

I've also noticed that I wasn't able to make changes "on the fly". If you edit this .cfg you'll need to restart Half-Life before the changes will take effect.

Enjoy!
:D