Macro/analog question

[LogicBomb]

mostly likely the Viking does this, but i wanted to make sure...
if i create a macro that only utilized shoulder buttons, face buttons, and/or stick presses, will i be able to uses the analog sticks to move/aim while the macro is playing? or does the macro disable analog function during playback?
also, say i only program a macro on the face buttons. can i still press and activate other buttons when the macro is playing, or does it disable all buttons till the macro is finished. thanks.

 

[odingalt]

Yes, in your example, only the buttons that you have programmed into your macro will 'take control' of the buttons. The other buttons, joysticks (analog) and triggers (analog) that you don't add to your macro can still be used normally.


In fact you can play up to five macros simultaneously. Things will get a little messy if you have two or three macros try to use the same thing.. but if you want one macro to do something with x,y buttons and another macro to do something on the trigger and a third macro to do somethign on the LED's (just an example) then you can play all three at the same time. Or play the first macro and then start the second macro in the middle of while the first macro was playing.

 

[LogicBomb]

wow, thats ridiculous! thats some master coding right there. :shock: thanks!

 

[odingalt]

Yeah it just gets messy like I said if you have Macro 1 take control of your left analog stick, and then Macro 2 also tries to take control of your left analog stick, they'll fight over it and the output will end up a combination of the two and screw up your macro.

Basically, the microcontroller we use on our modchip has 5 built in hardware timers... so every time you go to play a macro, the microcontroller just opens up one of those hardware timers.

 

[LogicBomb]

ok one more question. i was just reading another post. if i program a macro to be triggered from a shoulder button, will that shoulder button be disabled, and only fire off the macro? in other words,if i program x,y,x to RB, will the controller still press RB, plus the macro?
because if it doesnt disable the RB, then programming a macro directly to a button is basically useless.
the mayflash adapter i have disables the button being programmed so it doesnt conflict with the macro..

 

[Krier023]

The controller cannot disable buttons, so like you were saying if you programmed a macro to the rb, rb will always be pressed and override the macro. even if it was an x,y,x macro it would be rb,x,y,x. but the way to fix this is you could assign the macro to one of the six tact switches.

 

[LogicBomb]

well that seriously happens the viking's abilities. whats the point of being able to assign a macro to any button, if the button in question still outputs its stock signal? i wonder how hard it would be to disable the button from the controllers output signal, but still attached to the macro chip. so if pressed, it only outputs the macro. and in this case, you could use the macro editor to re-assign its origional purpose. thats how the software/hardware shoulda been designed.

 

[odingalt]

well that seriously happens the viking's abilities. whats the point of being able to assign a macro to any button, if the button in question still outputs its stock signal? i wonder how hard it would be to disable the button from the controllers output signal, but still attached to the macro chip. so if pressed, it only outputs the macro. and in this case, you could use the macro editor to re-assign its origional purpose. thats how the software/hardware shoulda been designed.

This rule does not apply to the analog triggers and the analog joysticks. The modchip has total control over the triggers and joysticks while the macro is playing, and overrides any input the user may try to do while the macro is playing. Unless you specifically insert gaps in your macro where the user can take over.

i wonder how hard it would be to disable the button from the controllers output signal

This could physically be accomplished for all the buttons except the thumbstick press-down - that would take some old fashioned cutting, jumpering and re-soldering - designing such an addon would add a cost of about $40-$60 to our existing macro mod chip (that's design and production cost, and doesn't include retail markup for profits). We would be talking about a modded controller that costs somewhere in the $260-$300 range which we thought was too much for the market to accept.

The problem here is we're really a pretty small shop. We have about maybe 3,000 customers right now total. We have maybe 200-300 customers using our macro controllers so far. We produce the mods in such small quantities (anything less than 10,000 in manufacturing is basically considered a short run) it's hard to produce them economically. :cry:

You're right though, in this kind of proposed setup we could have allowed more remapping and button overrides. Except you wouldn't be able to remap sticks and triggers. But you would be able to swap say X,Y,B,A,start,guide,select, and the four D-PAD buttons. You would not be able to remap joystick, joystick presses, triggers, with the design I am visualizing.

 

[LogicBomb]

well i would think that if you designed an adapter instead of internal hardware, you would save alot of money in production costs. not to mention that you wouldnt even need the software. the only downside is no tact switches. in that case you could sell tact switch kits to broaden a controllers capabitlites with the adapter. but not neccesary
all the adapter would need is:
static macro recording, with the ability to adjust interval rate between macro steps.
real-time macro recording, with the ability to adjust the speed of the macro after recorded.
turbo on any button, with the ability to adjust trubo speed after assigned.
button remapping.
multi profiles.. remebered even after the adapter is turned off.
shift button states; the ability to to make a button become a shift button (a virtual tac switch)... in other words, all macros are disabled until the shift button is either toggled, or held down. -- instance. i have a macro recorded to R-Trigger; R-Trigger does its normal action. I hold down digital pad left (my assigned shift button in "hold mode") the press R-Trigger. the macro is fired off.
the shift button's stock signal output can either be disabled via the adapter, or will output its stock signal as well, so there are alot of options with shift mode that will help when configuring for different games.
i have a ps2 mayflash adapter thats been out for ten years, and it does 1/2 these things.
http://www.mayflash.com/psps2/ps2031/ps2031-1.htm
you could even make the adapter universal for both xbox and ps3 controllers.
wich brings me to ask why you did not comment on my post about a ps3 version? you have no interest in anything ps3? :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
anyway, i know a way to broaden your sales of the viking. but if you wanted to broaden sales even more, the adapter is the way to go. ill pm you with details.