Accessing joysticks by name

[HarvesteR]

Hi,

I've been poking at the FreePIE source again.

I've noticed recently that because of the unhealthy number of input devices I have on my PC, I frequently find myself having to unplug them in order to make devices further on the list visible to games that only support a limited number of devices. However, because of this, the indices for each device frequently changes, forcing me to revise the indices on every game script here whenever I change the connected hardware.

To improve that situation, I tweaked FreePIE to allow me to write a couple of methods to allow finding and storing an accessor to a joystick, by name, like this:

Code: Select all

import harvutil

if (starting):
    global getSidePanel
    getSidePanel = harvutil.get_joystick_accessor("Saitek Side Panel Control Deck", joystick)

    global getPedals
    getPedals = harvutil.get_joystick_accessor("Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", joystick)

#steering
vJoy[0].y = getPedals().zRotation * 16.4 + \
                (getSidePanel().xRotation * 16.4 * (1 + (0.7 * abs(getSidePanel().yRotation) / 1000))) 

#accel/brakes
vJoy[0].x = (getSidePanel().yRotation * 16.4 * (1 + (0.7 * abs(getSidePanel().xRotation) / 1000))) + \
                filters.mapRange(getPedals().y, -1000, 1000, 0, -16354) + \
                filters.mapRange(getPedals().x, -1000, 1000, 0, 16354)

No more fumbling with device indices!

This can't be done in stock FreePIE v1.9.611.0, as joystick devices don't expose their names to python. I've added that field on my GH fork, and created a pull request for Anders to have a look at (whenever you've got time ):

https://github.com/AndersMalmgren/FreePIE/pull/73

Example code on how to use joystick accessors is included in the pull request description. If you want this feature right now, you can check out my fork and recompile. Then set up your game scripts as in the example.

Have fun!

Cheers

[CyberVillain]

Thanks for the idea, I have made a branch were FreePIE takes care of all the plumbing for this, now you can index on position in list or by name

[HarvesteR]

Checked out your branch! That is awesome!

Code: Select all

diagnostics.watch(joystick["Saitek Side Panel Control Deck"].x)

Doing this is now possible!

Many thanks!

Cheers

[CyberVillain]

Glad it worked for you.

You can also do

Code: Select all

pedals = joystick["Saitek Side Panel Control Deck"]
diagnostics.watch(pedals.x)

Our code completion in FreePIE isnt smart enough to help you with code completion on the pedals instance however

[matzie]

I'd really like to make use of this feature, but I'm not experienced with dev on Windows and don't know how to build FreePIE from github. Is there a build / deps doc somewhere I can follow? I'm a Linux devops engineer, reluctantly using Windows for Star Citizen Alternatively if someone could make me a binary installer from the IndexOnJoystickName branch I'd really appreciate it!

cheers

Matt

[CyberVillain]

Im overdue with a new release of FreePIE but my plan was to find time to incorprate the xbox input plugin into FreePIE before release. Give me a sec to build the version with name indexing

[CyberVillain]

Here it is, do not forget to unblock the dll othewise FreePIE will crash

[matzie]

That's brilliant, thanks!

I've been playing with something today that I think will go nicely with this - classes for named buttons on various controllers, to provide syntactic sugar like this:

Code: Select all

class WarthogThrottle(NamedController):
	def __init__(self, joyId):
		super(WarthogThrottle,self).__init__(joyId=joyId)
		self.buttons={
						'micswitch':2,
						'lgwarn':21
					 }

if starting:

	throttle = WarthogThrottle(joyId=2) #this is why I wanted named controller support, as my joyId's change frequently :-)
	stick	 = WarthogStick  (joyId=3)
											
			
if throttle.lgwarn.getPressed():
	diagnostics.debug('Pressed L/G Warn')

vJoy[0].setButton(0,throttle.lgwarn() )   #__call__ in base class delegates to .getDown()

early days for this but I'll post it all soon when I've ironed out a few kinks. Currently making heavy use of functools.partial, which isn't the easiest for new coders to follow but hopefully the point of this is to provide a nice abstraction so we can get on with gaming instead of coding

cheers

Matt

[matzie]

My initial work on this (named controls) is now up on Github here: https://github.com/WastedTruth/ACTools

Things are likely to change a lot in the next few days so consider this a preview

[FrenchyKiel]

its good job..

for the leds of throttle warthog i have found a solution with HIDSHARP to control the led. i put the code on github soon (new plugin inside freepie, plugin named 'warthog')
so no need to use target

[matzie]

Thanks FrenchyKiel, that sounds great and I'm looking forward to seeing your code - though as I'm not really familiar with windows dev or .net etc, I'll probably look to replicate that feature in pure python, using your work as a guide. I was expecting control of the LEDs to be the only thing I'd need TARGET for - not that I'm particularly opposed to it, but I wanted this NamedControllers stuff to work for anything, not just TM kit.

Here's a discussion about my code on Reddit, with a few more comments and examples: https://www.reddit.com/r/hotas/comments ... r_freepie/

[zeeker]

If, i have multiple devices of the same joystick, like two Logitech Attack 3, or some Genius Joystick named "USB 3-Axis 4-Button Joystick" or an adapter for Two or Four Ps2 Gamepads, like the Mayflash, "TigerGame PS/PS2 Game Controller Adapter".

How we can identify them separately in a freepie script code?

[CyberVillain]

You will have to use positional index for those, sorry

edit: Maybe there is some serial number or somethign that we can access, dont know, will check

[HarvesteR]

Devices have instance ids, which (IINM), are unique even if their names aren't. Not sure exactly how to expose that to scripts though, I don't think those ids are peristent across sessions. There are other ids on the device class though, something in there might be what you need.

Cheers!

[Dave_]

Hi all!

FreePie turned out to be very very useful for customizing controls, customize headtracking, have joystick/throttle beeps etc.etc.

I really liked the idea of being able to access joysticks by name instead of an index which sometimes changes but after searching the web i couldn't find a snippet where it's being used with the 1.10 build. The code here results in errors, how do i use the name-indexed joysticks? I'm trying to get it to work with my X-55 stick/throttle, works fine if i index the stick/throttle. I also noticed windows reports different names for the X-55 gear, in device manager the stick is named 'X-55 Rhino Stick' but under Printers and Devices it's listed as 'Pro Flight X-55 Rhino Stick'. Which name should be used (in working name-indexed code)?

[Jabberwock]

Here is some code that works for me:

Code: Select all

GT = joystick["Game-Trak V1.3"]
vJ = vJoy[0] 
diagnostics.watch(GT.yRotation + GT.y)
vJ.x = filters.ensureMapRange(GT.zRotation - GT.z, 500, -500, -16382, 16382)
vJ.y = filters.ensureMapRange(GT.yRotation + GT.y, -2000, 2000, -16382, 16382)

I always use the name given in the controller configuration window. Note though that I am still on Windows 7.

[Dave_]

Thank you!

I'm trying this:

Code: Select all

global stick;
stick = joystick["Pro Flight X-55 Rhino Stick"];
diagnostics.watch(stick.x);

Then i get a System.MissingMemberException 'NoneType' has no attribute 'x'. I can only assume the name is wrong, tried what's in the code and 'X-55 Rhino Stick', 'X-55 Rhino Stick (Bulk)', 'X-55 Rhino Stick (HID)' but those fail. I'm on windows 10 and i don't see any other name for the stick anywhere.

[Jabberwock]

Can you check the registry? For example, the name for GameTrak is here (the last part is different for each controller driver) under the OEMName entry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaProperties\PrivateProperties\Joystick\OEM\VID_0982&PID_0982

I believe it is the source for the names in this window:

[Dave_]

Yes that's it! It was 'Saitek Pro Flight X-55 Rhino Stick', thank you!!

[Jabberwock]

Glad I could help.

So the stick actually functions in the system under three names? With that price tag one might think they would hire a decent software guy...