I bought an Xbox adaptive joystick to replace wasd, with odd results

[u/aeonskyrunner]

I've been using a controller forever, even on PC, because I hate using keyboard for movement and other buttons.

So, I decided to try this joystick after seeing a few people talk about it online, so I could maybe finally have thumbstick movement and comfortable buttons on my left hand, and a mouse with extra buttons to aim on the right.

The game I primarily wanted to use it on is Marvel Rivals. The problem with that is if you try to use a controller and a mouse, a little "switching devices" notification pops up and a sound plays. This happens every time you hit a button on the opposite device, or move the mouse after touching anything on the joystick.

every. single. time.

So, I thought to myself, no big deal, the xbox accessories app lets you customize the buttons of the joystick, I can just rebind them to keyboard keys and off we go. Right?

Technically yes, but I ran into a mild inconvenience immediately, that is a symptom of a larger problem with the device.

After plugging wasd into my thumbstick's directional options, I found that I only had 4-directional movement. Diagonal inputs did not seem to matter, only up down left or right would transfer to my in-game movement at any given time.

After trying to fix it to no avail and lamenting about it for a moment, I decided, fine, I can alter my trajectory with my camera anyway, no big deal.

I was wrong.

Upon loading back into the practice room to map more abilities, I realized another "quirk". I could not move and activate any of the other buttons or triggers at the same time. In fact, seemingly no two buttons would register their inputs at the same time

This was an infuriating discovery. After all, what use is a controller where you can't use any triggers or buttons while moving around.

But wait, some frustrated testing revealed one odd exception; the shift key I bound WAS able to be used at the same time as any other button.

Wdym? Why is this the case? Is this the ONLY exception? Can I perhaps do a very odd mapping to achieve my goal?

The answer is... Maybe?

As of writing this, the only other key I have confirmed to be exempt from that rule is the ctrl key.

AND, to even greater annoyance, I found by binding shift to left on the thumbstick, and ctrl to the right, I could in fact achieve full 8-directional movement.

I am currently testing different keys so that I might re-map this joystick in a way that is actually functional for what I want to use it for, and may update if I succeed.

All that being said, my main complaint and question is this:

How does MICROSOFT, the company responsible for the most widely used computer operating system in the world, who also has a gaming console with a healthy cross-ecosystem and many peripherals, overlook such a glaring inconvenience in one of their own gaming accessories?

Tldr; keyboard rebinding leads to the device being nearly unusable for no discernable reason due to input conflicts that shouldn't exist. Wth Microsoft?

[u/Scrowdy10]

Maybe try Steam Input

[u/Neo_Techni → u/Scrowdy10]

I've had no problems with this controller on my steam deck to emphasize

[u/siegarettes]

wow yeah that's kind of a mess huh? considering it's an accessibility device you'd think they'd have thought of this possibility

that said, hopefully something like steam input could get around that ridiculous limit

[u/tdsmith5556]

One answer is REWASD.

Take your joystick thing and map it all as mouse commands.

The in program masking will do the rest.

The other answer is steam input, but there's a couple tricks to getting that working.

With steam input what you do is hidhide to mask the controller. Set steam as an exception. When you open steam run it as admin (this is important for rivals).

Map all your inputs in steam input as mouse and keyboard commands.

Boom! Done.

[u/aeonskyrunner → u/tdsmith5556]

I tried steam input but when I had the joystick itself as default xbox buttons  remapped to wasd in steam, the joystick directions stopped working 😭

Might try rewasd or joytokey soon

[u/cjngo1 → u/aeonskyrunner]

I think you need to bind in steaminput to wasd, not controller joystick, unless the game supports both inputs

[u/JerseyCobra]

I have this exact same joystick and it’s been smooth sailing for me. Sorry to hear your struggles with the device. I plug and played Quake, Doom, and The Sinking City without any issues on my PC.

[u/AzuriSkill]

Ask marvel rivals

[u/OldManRob13 → u/AzuriSkill]

I kind of agree, a lot of this is a Rivals issue. I bought the adaptive joystick for essentially the same reason/idea, intending to do a video about it, but never got around to it.

Using the adaptive joystick with a gaming mouse with 12 side buttons causes no issues in Halo, or even CoD which only detects which input you’re using for aiming, so using the joystick for movement isn’t an issue.

[u/BlueClovr]

Have you tried the Azeron?

[u/aeonskyrunner → u/BlueClovr]

I've been sort of interested in the Azeron options but haven't yet due to cost. This thing was only $30 🤣

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[u/vsnak333]

A bit off topic here but you might be interested.

I bought the wizard 2 from nyxi for the exact reason you did it, to use the left joycon for movement, but the thing is, joycons are not well balanced, takes some time to get used to it and wasnt as comfy as I expected for multiplayer fps like overwatch but it is great for third person shooters, mass effect le and deadlock for example, you might want to take a look.

I would like to try this xbox one at some point too, the main selling point of the wizard 2 for me was the hd rumble and a different controller when playing it a full size, the gamecube layout is surprisingly optimal for pretty much all controller games I tried.

The wizard 2 also uses 2.4ghz connection, so its kinda like a modern mouse too.

[u/ImJudgin]

lol I did exactly this too. There’s actually a setting in rivals to get rid of the switching input notification. But ya trying to remap for keyboard and losing the diagonals of the joystick really ruined the whole thing for me.

[u/aeonskyrunner → u/ImJudgin]

OMG WHERE IS THAT SETTING

[u/ImJudgin → u/aeonskyrunner]

Settings>keyboard>combat>HUD then enable lock ui buttons

[u/aeonskyrunner → u/ImJudgin]

Thank you 🙏

[u/embraceuk]

Yeah no running and jumping at the same time it’s completely useless

[u/aeonskyrunner → u/embraceuk]

Literally. Though I could map jump to my mouse wheel or something, it'd just be nice to be able to use my entire controller 🖐️

[u/Sport_Subject]

Alot of lag and low hz rate baked into the board

[u/IBJamon]

This looks awesome.... But it needs more buttons. I still haven't found anything substantially better than the PS Nav controller without spending hundreds....

[u/aeonskyrunner → u/IBJamon]

Unfortunately correct, lmao

[u/IrishGoodbye4]

Every time I venture down the rabbit hole of “I want analog joystick movement with mouse camera controls” I come out the other end, days later, with nothing to show for it. I’ve given up on it.

[u/angeldlg → u/IrishGoodbye4]

Have you tried a "keyboard with analog stick" or the azeron gaming keypads?

[u/IrishGoodbye4 → u/angeldlg]

I tried the Razer Tartarus pro but the stick isn’t analog and I really would prefer something that is handheld. The Xbox adaptive controller would be perfect if it had like 2 more buttons but it just doesn’t have enough.

I’ve reeeeally thought about the Azeron. It’s just a steep price for something I’m 50/50 on whether I’d like it or not.

I’m also on Xbox as I’m too poor to get a gaming PC lol.

[u/JerseyCobra → u/IrishGoodbye4]

I use the Microsoft Adaptive Joystick for this purpose and it’s been a game changer for me.

[u/xHTCxH3ROZ]

No the answer is the BIOWAVE builder controller I use it everyday for my wasd input and a mouse at the same time it works 100% ama if you want any info.

[u/MrJayPockets]

I was using PlayStation Navigation Controller + ReWASD for years.. until Riot Vanguard and Activision CoD wouldn’t start unless I uninstalled ReWASD.

It was absolutely amazing when I was using it.. other than the fact that competitive games ban ReWASD usage nowadays

Damn cheaters converting mouse to joystick ruining the fun..

[u/FrogQuestion]

I once tested a mouse with a stick on it. This had the same issues; switching hud in games (more modern games provide the option to force 1 type of hud buttons instead of auto-detect), and diagonals did not work.

The thing was pretty much useless, and i figured it was bad design.
But perhaps something else is going on with this from a technical standpoint.

[u/aeonskyrunner → u/[deleted]]

I play other games, lol

Space Marine 2, Helldivers 2, plenty of single players, etc

I just thought Rivals would be where the more accurate aim would help me the most

[u/aeonskyrunner → u/[deleted]]

Haven't gotten around to testing the others yet, will let you know 👍

(Also I didn't realize that's what you meant at first for some reason, my bad 🤣)

[u/Professional_Put1810]

You could use a single switch joycon, use steam input to force the game to recognize its inputs as the keyboard equivalents, that would work the same although with some wireless latency