Key2Joy solutions for PC games?

[ArcadiusMaximus]

Hello All,

I have been out of the arcade scene for a bit but I'm looking to get back into adding some PC games to my arcade cabinet. So much has changed since I last dove into it that I wanted to see what the best possible solution for my situation would be. I'll try not to write a novel.

I am looking to add a few multiplayer PC games to the mix. A few of them do not allow you to edit keybindings. Since I'm using 2 ipacs (4 player mame setup) this isn't going to work. What I would like to do is create 4 virtual gampads in a program that would auto launch and close when a specific games starts and exits. Is there anything similar to Joy2Key that emulates game pads? It seems to be outdated now. I would need the 'script' to only launch on specific games as I have other PC Games that allow alternate keybindings and are working fine.

Lastly a few of the games require a boat load of buttons (almost 8) now to use special moves, inventory items, etc. Would it be possible to create profiles with some sort of hotkey funtion? In other words (A) would be punch, ( would be kick, (A)+( would be special or use item. I would assume it would need to be something like when buttons (A)+( are pressed it = Button ©. Basically here is what I would like to happen if possible:

1) Create virtual gampads (xbox controllers?) to turn keyboard presses into game pad buttons.

2) Load those profiles/ program for specific games on start up.

3) Close those profiles/ program on game exit.

4) If possible create hotkeys to allow for expanded button configurations and moves.

Thanks for taking the time to help if you can. I'm not looking for a hand out or anything. I'm pretty good at researching if I know what to look for. So don't feel obligated to leave me a 10 page tutorial unless you want to . Thanks !

[Agrajag]

I don't use it myself, but I think VJoy might be what you're looking for:

http://headsoft.com.au/index.php?category=vjoy

[DeLuSioNaL29]

X360ce. Period. 90% of games work on it. (But not Injustice).

[ArcadiusMaximus]

X360ce. Period. 90% of games work on it. (But not Injustice).

I looked into x260ce, but I didn't see how I could map keyboard strokes to the emulated 360 Pad. Did I miss something? Thanks

[brolly]

I don't use it myself, but I think VJoy might be what you're looking for:

http://headsoft.com.au/index.php?category=vjoy

This. It's also fully supported by HyperLaunch so you can have profiles per system, game, etc. that will auto-load and unload when the game starts and closes.

[ArcadiusMaximus]

This. It's also fully supported by HyperLaunch so you can have profiles per system, game, etc. that will auto-load and unload when the game starts and closes.

vJoy looks promising however it looks like it only supports a maximum of 2 players. I have a 4 player setup. ive been searching since I posted this and im thinking there may not be an answer for my particular setup. Thanks everyone.

[brolly]

What PC game requires you to use 4 gamepads without any keyboard support?

[ArcadiusMaximus]

What PC game requires you to use 4 gamepads without any keyboard support?

Right now I'm trying to get TMNT: Out of the shadows to work because the Arcade mode would be tons of fun on a cabinet. I tried to get Castle Crashers at one point, but I hit the same road block last time. The problem as I see it is a combination of a few different factors (correct me if I'm wrong please). (1) These games don't let you (easily) redefine keyboard controls to a custom layout. (2) Even if you manage to edit the default controls, it usually only works for 1 or 2 players if you are lucky ( SFIV comes to mind). In the case of TMNT: OotS you cannot program each players controller layout individually. In other words which ever way you set up the controls for player players 2,3, and 4 will use the same scheme. So my thoughts were if I could set up 4 virtual xbox 360 pads via windows and map each players controls (using 2 ipac controllers) to game pad buttons, I should be able to press 'enter' and have TMNT: OotS read the press as 'a' or something similar. Had I known what I know now I probably would of just hacked 4 usb xbox controllers and called it a day , oh well.

I really appreciate everyone's help so far. Thanks.

[brolly]

Ok, not sure if I got it all and you'll correct me if I'm wrong, but that doesn't seem nothing out of the ordinary to me and you should be possible to get it working with your ipacs unless direct input won't work in those games which usually isn't the case.

Assuming you will only be able to use 2 players on the keyboard, you can use VJoy to create 2 virtual gamepads that you'll use for players 3 and 4. If you can use player 3 and 4 with the keyboard you can simply use xpadder or joy2key to map your gamepads to keyboard keys.

Now about player 1 and 2, if the game doesn't allow you to redefine keys simply remap the keys using the AHK mapper that's built into HyperLaunch. This way you can change your whole ipac configuration through remaps on a per game basis.