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Why 'switch', just accept input from all input sources you want enabled.

I've seen setups with multiple mice, keyboards and trackballs.

I remember that almost all dreamcast games (that I've played) would accept input from whatever you plugged in, be it controller or keyboard/mouse or both at the same time in some cases.

psi29a wrote:Why 'switch', just accept input from all input sources you want enabled.

The issue is mainly with the UI. A UI designed for keyboard+mouse won't necessarily work well with a controller, and vice-versa. Plus you may get errant input from the device you're not using if it still accepts input from it.

I like how Linux/X11 handles things and it too can get errant input from another device.

Like I said, select the inputs you want from the menu, there could be an enumerated list. I've seen this done in some games on steam like Serious Sam 3 where if you have a controller plugged in, it asks you if you want to use it. I was using my mobile with the DroidPad app.

I agree with you though that this thread isn't about sixaxis, but about controller support in general and how tie that into the UI. A worthy post 1.0 goal in itself I think.

Chris wrote:The issue is mainly with the UI. A UI designed for keyboard+mouse won't necessarily work well with a controller, and vice-versa.

True, but it's not all or nothing. It's entirely possible to do controller support in parts, getting it working for actual gameplay first and leaving UI matters for later. In other words, UI design being hard shouldn't be an impediment for stuff that has nothing to do with UI. Yeah this wouldn't do much for folks who want to game from their couch, but it'd be a start.

And it's not like Beth themselves actually designed separate versions of the menus for different platforms.

psi29a wrote:Why 'switch', just accept input from all input sources you want enabled.

Most games "switch" for two reasons:
1. so they can give relevant prompts for available actions. Morrowind doesn't really do this for gameplay, but it's pretty important for menus where the options aren't yes/no or ok/cancel.
2. so they can filter out spurious analog input due to, eg, a thumb stick being slightly off center while using mouse, or tiny mouse movement because you bumped the desk while using a controller. Both problems are solved by requiring input of a certain magnitude before it switches "modes."

I'm actually presently working on controller integration, although it's taking a while (mostly because the xbox controller is a fickle beast, and I'm trying to support every possible configuration). I'm not working on a mouseless interface though, someone who has access to the xbox version of morrowind can work on that so they can copy it.

Digmaster wrote:I'm actually presently working on controller integration, although it's taking a while (mostly because the xbox controller is a fickle beast, and I'm trying to support every possible configuration). I'm not working on a mouseless interface though, someone who has access to the xbox version of morrowind can work on that so they can copy it.

Controller support shouldn't be very hard, since we already have a layer to abstract input types and SDL2 already supports controllers. It's just a matter of hooking it all together.

As for the UI, a simple stop-gap solution would be to have one of the analog sticks (and/or dpad) move the mouse cursor and have a couple buttons act as left/right mouse clicks. At least until someone with more experience with controller-based UIs can make something better.