PC Gaming

[victr]

Can someone tell me how to get the dual action game pad to work on my macbook. The computer recognizes the device but there is no driver to download. What's up?

[jefferis]

Do me a favor and Gamepad Companion  and see if you can get it to work. I can't. I have a demo that says it is expired, even though it is new.  I presume you are on an Intel Mac?  Only version 2.4 is supposed to work.  I've tried on my new Intel and my old G5 and the demo does not show the pad, but I can't tell if it is because it is expired or if it is not compatible. I've emailed the owner of the software, but he never responded... 

[CharlesB]

It's cause our gamepads are HID. That means they integrate directly with the OS and the game itself. That also means the game has to support gamepads. Which game are you attempting to use with this?

[jefferis]

Call of Duty 2 and 4. Neither work.

[CharlesB]

Unfortunately, we've noticed that the mac versions, like the PC versions of CoD, do not support gamepads. We're looking into solutions for the average mac user here, but there are 3rd party applets that might work for you at this time. Mind you, I can't specifically recommend someone else's software, but this is something worthwhile to check out.

[jefferis]

You may not be able to recommend them, but can you list them?  The only one I can find is Gamepad Companion and USB Overdrive, but the first doesn't recognize the pad and the latter is limited in how many buttons it can recognize from what I've heard... the joysticks don't work properly... 

[CharlesB]

Hrm, both of those developers do not seem to be actively continuing development. From your tone, it sounds like you haven't tried USB Overdrive, but I would suggest at least a download as I've heard a lot of positive reports about it. There's also something out there called HIDWizard 1.0, but I have no exeperience with that application.

[jefferis]

What does HID stand for ?  You'd think someone with a modicum of programming skills could figure out how to do it.. 

I'll try those two today, and if it works I'll report back, otherwise I'll return the Dual tomorrow.

Jeff  

[jefferis]

I installed HID Wizard, but it is only supposed to support Input Sprockets. That is old tech and I couldn't get it to show up.  I was able to use USB Overdrive but unfortunately, it is almost unusable for a FPS... You can use the joysticks to turn (left stick)  and look up and down (right stick), although that is difficult with the two sticks, but you can't turn, look, aim AND MOVE. You'd need 3 hands to do all the motion a free mouse movement does: 1 to operate the hat to move, 2 for the joysticks to turn and point.

To work correctly as an FPS controller, the left stick would have to act both as a movement controller and pointer, [or  if you could move the DUAL pad around in the air to change your point angle, it would work, but I guess the Dual has no gyro to mimic a mouse movement].  The cursor control, if turned on in USB Ov, turns off the movement on the left joystick. So you just get a slow moving, almost uncontrollable cursor movement with the left stick, and to point and shoot, you need a fast moving, precisely controlled cursor movement. You can only get one or the other: a cursor mover or movement mapped to keyboard keys... 

The good news I guess is that USB OD will work with the Logitech, but not with a First Person Shooter.  It does not have a way to set a joystick to mimic a mouse's directional turning  movement.  :-(   Too bad, because if it did that, it feels nice in the hand.