So I’ve had a wired Xbox 360 controller hooked up to my Windows 7 gaming rig for ages now. It works well in most games. I never take for granted how so many games come perfectly pre-configured for the controller, and even show the proper buttons on-screen during gameplay. Up until a few years ago, PC gaming offered little support for controllers, and if they did, you had to memorize which button translated to buttons 1 though 16 on-screen. It was a nightmare. I remember actually having to download an Xbox button graphics mod for Resident Evil 4 on PC just so it told me the proper buttons to press during the intense moments.
Unfortunately, Microsoft seems determined to never update the controller’s driver or even offer any software to speak of. They offer a calibration tool that’s been around since the Windows 2000 era, or earlier, which doesn’t actually have any effect in most games. Microsoft leaves the configuration options in the hands of each game developer, and frankly, most developers offer few options.
Having said that, the most recurring issue I’ve had over the years has been the lack of dead zone options. Dead zone is the circular range of the analog stick that should have no effect on gameplay, ideally the range that the stick can be shook loosely without actually being pressed in any direction by your thumb. You want the stick to “leave” the dead zone once you push it in a direction, down to the nearest millimeter.
The final straw that sent me on my mission to fix this eternal issue was in Sonic Generations. Sonic would randomly run to the left if my analog stick decided to center itself just a hair to the left, which was very often. The Windows calibration tool has zero effect. I even bought a brand new Wireless 360 controller for Windows, and it has the exact same issue.
So I went googling for about 2 hours and tried many “solutions” ranging from strange Japanese alternate drivers like x360wc, to tools that tweak your raw input commands before they reach the game, like DXTweak and Xpadder. x360wc just ends up breaking many games because they no longer recognize your controller as an official Xbox pad. DXTweak had no effect on calibration, much like the official tool Windows comes with. Xpadder is made primarily to remap your controller to send keyboard and mouse commands, and not really to recalibrate anything.
I eventually landed on x360ce. This application is mainly used to fool your games into thinking your third party controllers are actually official Xbox controllers. Its amazing for that purpose, but you can also use it to tweak your 360 pad in many ways. All you do is download the app, extract the exe to the game’s installation folder, and run it. Let it download a profile for your controller, and create any missing files it needs to. From there, configure however you wish. Obviously, this tool is used on a per game basis, but that’s for the best since its not compatible with every game out there.
So, in the case of Sonic Generations and my controllers, I adjusted the x-axis dead zone and unchecked “pass through”, as shown below. Without unchecking that option, it had zero effect. You will notice on the controller’s general tab, that the x-axis text turns red when the stick is pressed far enough to the left (and green when pressed to the right) that the game will interpret that as beyond the dead zone. After adjusting the x-axis dead zone to 35%, the stick would no longer idle in the red text, which told me that 35% was the appropriate setting. Finally, my hedgehog was obeying my whims 100% of the time. I can’t thank the x360ce team enough for their fine work, in place of Microsoft’s laziness.
If you’re in the market for a gamepad for your PC and you want to forgo this nonsense, I’ve heard great things about Logitech’s F510 and F710 pads. They can supposedly mimic 360 controllers at a software level, but they can also be switched to DirectInput mode, and be reconfigured any way you wish. The best of both worlds.
Good article. So far, I haven’t noticed any issues in Sonic Generations while using my wired 360 controller. Though, before I load up the game next time, I might give this program a try, and see how it works for me.
So I have the opposite issue with Dead Space. It has extremely huge deadzones. About 50% of my range is null, which makes analog aiming a complete bitch. Fortunately x360ce has an anti deadzone option which does the trick. I cranked it to 100% and its just about as good as can be, though I still hate how the game prioritizes horizontal aiming over vertical aiming. Increasing vertical anti-deadzone only makes it worse. Cant figure that out…
Nevermind, that broke being able to use both triggers, which means no more shooting. DeadSpace is just a horrible port and theres a giant thread on steam about how both mouse and controller support is practically unplayable.