Gamepad?

[ToddMcF2002]

Anyone try to map a USB gamepad in OpenGL mode?  I have not tried it but I've been animating a character for my son to play with and he'd be better off on the Saitek than the keyboard.

I was thinking about making some kids games but without gamepad support it will be sorta tough.  Ideas?

[ToddMcF2002]

OK, I knew about the lwjgl Mouse support and should have checked for USB controller.  I guess that's where my homework lies...

[Mr.Marbles]

this might help:
http://lwjgl.org/wiki/doku.php/lwjgl/tutorials/input/basiccontroller

[Remo]

I've worked with jInput and it works. Here's the source code from my asteroids project. Hope it helps you getting started!

Here's jinput homepage also: https://jinput.dev.java.net/

Code Select Expand


package asteroids;
import net.java.games.input.*;
/**
*
* @author Remo
*/
public class JoyManager {
    private static final int NUM_BUTOTONS = 6;
    private Controller controller;
    private Component[] comps;
    private int xAxisIdx, yAxisIdx, zAxisIdx, rzAxisIdx; // for the x- and y- axes
    private int buttonsIdx[];
   
    /** Creates a new instance of JoyManager */
    public JoyManager() {
        xAxisIdx = -1;
        yAxisIdx = -1;
        zAxisIdx = -1;
        rzAxisIdx = -1;
        buttonsIdx = new int[NUM_BUTOTONS];
        for (int i = 0; i < buttonsIdx.length; i++) {
            buttonsIdx[i] = -1;
        }
        Controller[] cs = getContollers();
        controller = findJoystick(cs);
        System.out.println("Using "+ controller.getName() + ":" + controller.getType());
       
        comps = controller.getComponents();
        getComponentsIndicies(comps);
    }
   
    private Controller findJoystick(Controller[] cs) {
        Controller.Type type;
        int index = 0;
        while(index < cs.length) {
            type = cs[index].getType();
            if (type == Controller.Type.STICK) break;
            index++;
        }
        if (index == cs.length) {
            System.out.println("No Joystick found!!! Closing Asteroids.");
            System.exit(0);
        }
        return cs[index];
    }

    private Controller[] getContollers() {
        ControllerEnvironment ce = ControllerEnvironment.getDefaultEnvironment();
        Controller[] controllers = ce.getControllers();
        return controllers;
    }

    private void getComponentsIndicies(Component[] comps) {
        if (comps.length <= 0) {
            System.out.println("No components found for Joystick");
            System.out.println("Aborting asteroids.");
            System.exit(0);
        }
        int numButtons = 0;
        Component c;
        for (int i = 0; i < comps.length; i++) {
            c= comps[i];
            if (c.getIdentifier() == Component.Identifier.Axis.X) {
                xAxisIdx = i;
                System.out.println("Found X Axis. Component number: " + i);
            }
            if (c.getIdentifier() == Component.Identifier.Axis.Y) {
                yAxisIdx = i;
                System.out.println("Found Y Axis. Component number: " + i);
            }
            if (c.getIdentifier() == Component.Identifier.Axis.Z) {
                zAxisIdx = i;
                System.out.println("Found Z Axis. Component number: " + i);
            }
            if (c.getIdentifier() == Component.Identifier.Axis.RZ) {
                rzAxisIdx = i;
                System.out.println("Found RZ Axis. Component number: " + i);
            }
            if (isButton(c)) {
                if (numButtons == NUM_BUTOTONS) {
                    System.out.println("Found too many buttons. Ignoring the rest.");
                }
                else {
                    buttonsIdx[numButtons] = i;
                    numButtons++;
                    System.out.println("Found Button. Component number: " + i);
                }
            }
            else {
                System.out.println("Unknown component. Ignoring.");
            }
        }
        if (xAxisIdx==-1 || yAxisIdx == -1 || buttonsIdx[0] ==-1) {
            System.out.println("Could not find enough components to launch Asteroids. Aborting");
            System.exit(0);
        }
        if (zAxisIdx == -1) System.out.println("Could not find Z Axis.");
        if (rzAxisIdx == -1) System.out.println("Could not find RZ Axis.");
        if (numButtons < NUM_BUTOTONS) System.out.println("Not all buttons were found.");
    }
   
    private boolean isButton (Component c) {
        if (!c.isAnalog() && !c.isRelative() && c.isNormalized()){
            String className = c.getIdentifier().getClass().getName();
            if (className.endsWith("Button")) return true;
        }
        return false;
    }
   
    public void poll() {
        controller.poll();
    }
    public float getXAxis() {
        return comps[xAxisIdx].getPollData();
    }
    public float getYAxis() {
        return comps[yAxisIdx].getPollData();
    }
    public float getZAxis() {
        if (zAxisIdx == -1) return 0f;
        return comps[zAxisIdx].getPollData();
    }
    public float getRZAxis() {
        if (rzAxisIdx == -1) return 0f;
        return comps[rzAxisIdx].getPollData();
    }
    public boolean fireButtonPressed() {
        return ((comps[buttonsIdx[0]].getPollData() == 0.0f) ? false : true);
    }
   
}


And here's how I used it in the game:

Code Select Expand


package asteroids;
import com.threed.jpct.*;

/**
*
* @author Remo
*/
public class CameraManager {
    JoyManager joystick;
    public float speedx = 0f;
    public float speedy = 0f;
    public float sens;
    public SimpleVector direction;
    private Camera camera;
    private Camera skycam;
   
    /** Creates a new instance of CameraManager */
    public CameraManager(Camera camera, Camera sky) {
        joystick = new JoyManager();
        this.camera = camera;
        skycam = sky;
        sens = .001f;
    }
   
    public void moveSpaceship() {
        //skycam.setPosition(new SimpleVector(0f,0f,0f));
        speedx+= joystick.getYAxis()*-sens;
        speedy+= joystick.getXAxis()*sens;
        if (speedx > .1f) speedx = .1f;
        if (speedy > .1f) speedy = .1f;
        camera.rotateCameraX(speedx);
        skycam.rotateCameraX(speedx);
        camera.rotateCameraY(speedy);
        skycam.rotateCameraY(speedy);
        SimpleVector oldCamDir = camera.getDirection();
        camera.moveCamera(oldCamDir, joystick.getZAxis() *-10);
    }
   
    public void pollJoystick(){
        joystick.poll();
    }
   
    public boolean fireButtonPressed(){
        return joystick.fireButtonPressed();
    }
   
    public void incSens() {
        sens += .001f;
        System.out.println("Sensibility multiplier:" +sens);
    }
    public void decSens() {
        sens -= .001f;
        if(sens < 0) sens = 0f;
        System.out.println("Sensibility multiplier:" +sens);
    }
}


[ToddMcF2002]

Thanks guys that helps alot!

[ToddMcF2002]

So I finished implementing the Gamepad last night and I ended up using the LWJGL wrapper.  I noticed that I have to put JInput on my classpath so I suppose I could have used the attached code from Asteroids.  I like the getComponentsIndecies() call especially.  Maybe I'll switch to JInput directly later.  Thanks for the code.

I must say I was pleasantly suprised about how easy this was to implement - compared to say OpenGL custom cursors.  I still get the shakes just thinking about trying to replace cursors.