There are a couple of things to be said about using WingMan® game controllers and Profiler to play First Person Shooter (FPS) type games. The first thing that should be known is how Profiler works (i.e. generating commands, mouse emulation, polling a game for input, etc). Detailed information about these items can be found in the WingMan® Profiler FAQ. The second thing is to understand that for the most part, FPS type games are not usually designed to make use of these types of controllers (see below for details).
How do I configure my joystick/gamepad for use in first person shooter & strategy games?
In general first person shooters (FPS), strategy, and golf type games are designed with a mouse & keyboard in mind for the game's controls. A small amount of these genres of games do allow for joystick/gamepad input, but the way to enable them varies from game to game. Even when it is possible to use a joystick/gamepad in these type of games, the overall performance may not be as good as with a mouse & keyboard combination. Also, the instructions may not be easy/clear for the typical gamer.
So as a first step, it is always a good idea to check with the game's documentation (or even the game developer) to see if a game does support a joystick/gamepad type controller, and to get details on how to configure the game to use them.
You could also consider to experiment with the WingMan® Profiler mouse emulation feature to determine if you can get a setting that is acceptable for use with the game.
Halo on Xbox™ is a good example of how a game developer can support use of a gamepad in an FPS game. Hopefully more game developers on the PC will implement this type of support in the future for gamepads.
How do I enable mouse emulation on your my WingMan® gamepad?
Mouse emulation options exists only for gamepads. When this option is enabled the driver software does a translation of joystick movement to mouse movement.
WingMan® software allows you to configure a joystick axis to simulate mouse movement. Normally you would configure the X and Y axis of a mini-joystick to report mouse-X and mouse-Y movement respectively.
To configure an axis to report mouse movement :-
Click on the axis in the main Profiler window.
Select the "axis properties" item from the drop down menu list.
In this dialog box there is a drop down list that from which you can select a mouse axis.
Your selection is saved when the dialog box is closed.
The "range" slider control can be used to increase/decrease the amount of mouse movement generated for a given amount of joystick movement.
There are some additional points to consider when using mouse emulation :-
Most FPS games do not poll the joystick so there are no joystick reports generated (and thus no mouse movement generated). If the game does not poll the joystick then you must have another application running in the background that is polling the joystick. You could consider to use the POSWDM utility from the gadgets pages and have it running in the background.
After starting mouse emulation mode you should rotate the mini-joysticks fully to correctly establish the range of movement for your device. If you do not do this then you will find that the cursor may drift even when the mini-joystick is not moving.
As always when creating a profile it is best to experiment with NOTEPAD or POSWDM. See the Profiler FAQ for more general tips on creating an troubleshooting profiles.
Configuring a "dual" mini joystick WingMan gamepad (i.e. WingMan®RumblePad™ for use in a FPS games (i.e. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault).
The following step by step instructions will help you configure a WingMan® game profile to set up mouse movement on a "dual" mini joystick WingMan® gamepad :-
Bear in mind that the mouse emulation will be nowhere near as playable as using an actual mouse/keyboard combination. The fundamental reason for this is because a mouse is a "relative" device, and game controllers such as gamepads/joysticks, are "absolute" devices.
Most of the FPS style games on the market were design with this type of controller in mind. Hopefully numerous game developers will try to follow the "Halo" example of controller setup for gamepads. "Halo" for XBox has probably the most "playable" controller configuration for a FPS style game that we have come across.
Open WingMan®Profiler.
Click on "Select a Game" to choose the profile that you would like to modify. For instructions on creating profiles please take a look at the WingMan Profiler FAQ.
Make sure that the proper device is selected. A "dual" mini joystick gamepad such as WingMan®RumblePad™ should be shown in Profiler. If not, click on "Select a Device" to choose the appropriate device.
Click on "Right Stick X-Axis" -> "Axis Properties". This should bring up the "Adjust Sensitivity, DeadZone, Range, and Mapping" dialog.
Under "Right Stick X-Axis mapped to" click the drop down list and choose "Mouse X-Axis".
Select "OK".
Click on "Right Stick Y-Axis" -> "Axis Properties". This should bring up the "Adjust Sensitivity, DeadZone, Range, and Mapping" dialog.
Under "Right Stick Y-Axis mapped to" click the drop down list and choose "Mouse Y-Axis".
Select "OK".
Click on a button that you would like to assign as the "Left Mouse Button".
Choose "Mouse Left Button".
If you need to assign more mouse buttons to your device, please follow the last 2 steps for each mouse button that you need.
At this point, you may want to load up the game to see if the controls feel ok. If any adjustments are needed, please do the following:-
Open WingMan®Profiler.
Click on "Select a Game" to choose the profile that you would like to modify.
Make sure that the proper device is selected. A "dual" mini joystick gamepad such as WingMan®RumblePad™ should be shown in Profiler. If not, click on "Select a Device" to choose the appropriate device.
Click on the axis that you would like to adjust.
Choose "Axis Properties".
Modify the "Sensitivity", "DeadZone", and "Range" to your liking. HINT: Only adjust these settings one at a time and test the settings to see how it affects your control in the game.
There is also an option for "Invert Axis Polarity" which will reverse the direction on the mini joystick if you prefer.
Click "OK".
NOTE: Once the game starts you will need to move the mini joysticks around its' edges to get the calibration set.