x360ce - Transform D-Input Controllers to X-Input

So you got yourself a cheap wireless generic controller like the iPega PG-9099. Using it with your android phone is superb and hassle free but when you use it to play your favorite PC Games, the buttons are a mess. X is not X, Y is  A, Left stick is R2 etc., it's useless! Or is it?

As I have said in my previous post about the iPega Controller, controllers has 2 modes, D-Input mode and X-Input mode. The BT Connection > Windows of iPega controllers are D-Input mode and most latest games only support X-Input mode. What am I saying? Let's define the two modes first.

According to Wikipedia:

DirectInput (D-Input) is a legacy Microsoft API for collecting input from a computer user, via input devices such as the mouse, keyboard, or a gamepad. It also provides a system for action mapping, which allows the user to assign specific actions within a game to the buttons and axes of the input devices. Additionally it handles haptic feedback (input/output) devices. Wikipedia

Whereas;

XInput, an API for "next generation" controllers, was introduced in December 2005 alongside the launch of the Xbox 360. This instruction set provided full support for Xbox 360 controllers in Windows XP SP1 and subsequent operating systems, and is described by Microsoft as being easier to program for and requiring less setup than DirectInput. Wikipedia

Yes X-Input is the new API but it has disadvantages over D-Input, you can go over to https://tinyurl.com/u3jejbu to read about it.

So basically, D-Input is a superb API but is now mostly used for mouse, keyboard and any controller except XBox 360 Controller and since we are gaming on a Windows PC, a Microsoft owned OS which also happens to be the creator of the controller APIs and the XBox itself, X-Input mode will be natively supported by games that supports controllers. 

With that limitation, how do we maximize our cheap wireless controller? Or use our beloved antique USB PS1 and PS2 controllers? Cheap wired controllers? Simple, with the use of the software x360ce and in this post I will guide you on how to configure it.

How to Guide

1. Download the x360ce app depending on your game's architecture. 32bit or 64bit.
2. Extract the downloaded ZIP file to where your game's EXE file is located. For the purpose of this post, I will customize the game, Watch Dogs.
   
3. Connect your controller, for the purpose of this post, I will be using my iPega controller connected via Bluetooth.
4. Open x360ce.exe (for 32bit) or x360ce_x64.exe (64bit). Click create on the first window that appears.
   
5. Click Next > Finish on the next window. It will reappear depending on how many controllers are connected.
   
6. Correct your button mapping by clicking the drop down icon beside the button you want to edit > click on Record then press the correct button shown.
   
7. Some controllers register 2 controllers in the app even though you only have 1 connected, like iPega controllers and this will make your controller 2P. To resolve this, head on to Options Tab and Tick Exclude Supplemental Devices.
   
8. Head on to Game Settings Tab. Find your Game.exe on the left side and if it's not there, go on and add it manually then select it. On the right side, under Xinput Files, tick everything that corresponds to the architecture of your game, mine is 64 bit. Truth is, you only need to tick one here but it's a miss or hit since we don't know what your game will be using. We cover any possibility if we tick them all.
   
9. Click on Controller 1 tab again, Select the game you want to customize above then click Save. It'll look like the app hanged but just look at the counter at the bottom left. If it starts counting again, you can close the app now.
   

You can now try and play your game. Hopefully the controller will now work as it should. 

The creators of x360ce provided a list of compatible games, https://tinyurl.com/r82anzm, though I've been playing some games not listed there and the app works perfectly. Some of them are AC Odyssey and Origins, AOT2, Jump Force and Tomb Raider to name a few. One game I personally knew that this doesn't work was the first AOT. It just won't work, tried everything.

That's it for this post, CIAO!