[Solution Found!] Decent Splitscreen Doom, with 360 controller(s)

[Doomkid]

Note: I posted a thread similar to this over at Doomworld, but since Zanny has a smaller, tighter userbase, I may get more help over here.

Ahh, the way of modern FPS players. Every friend of mine who loves FPS also uses a 360 controller, and couldn't use a Mouse+Keyboard if their life depended on it. But hey, mass marketing has taken it's course and this is where we stand.

Now before I post this, I just want to say I'm a long time Zandronum/Skulltag/Zdaemon/Zdoom fan. The things these engines offer is simply amazing and it's thanks to them that DooM is still as active as it is.

The splitscreen thread on this forum however is deplorable. At least 5 people said it was pointless to play splitscreen Doom, and I couldn't help but ask myself, "Have these people heard of that thing called having friends?" Of course, some were there to simply offer helpful insight as to why it will likely never happen. Fine, we have Doom Legacy for splitscreen support... But.. Just read this. Me [and hundreds and hundreds of other doomers] have spent countless hours looking for a solution to this.

It's no secret that Zandronum [previously Skulltag] has sexcellent joystick support. I mean, I've tried everything from the old SNES-style button layout to the modern 360/PS3 settings, and I have to say, it works like a damn charm. (The triggers may not work quite right, but hey, I'm not a nitpicker.)

With Legacy, you can't map any new functions to your joysticks, so you have to Turn and Walk with the left joystick, and the right joystick doesn't even seem to be recognized at all.

At this point, I've already poured hours and hours of searching for a way to do this, and I finally stumble accross a thread reccomending a "Game Profiler". This allows you to map whatever button or joystick function to an actual key on the keyboard. He reccomended Pinnacle Game Profiler. So, I install it, set up all my directories and whatnot, and of-fucking-course, it crashes on startup, telling me my version of windows is incompatable.. The program is designed for Windows 7, and thats exactly what I'm running... Uggghhh, fuck these damn errors off already!... More time hunting, restarting the computer, re-installing older and newer versions, all to no avail. >:(

Eventually I download 'NeTo Game Profiler' because Pinnacle obviously hates me. I start up the program, and.. It doesn't really make much sense. No way to select a ddevice, no response from my 360 controller whatsoever, only built in Profile being for the spanish version of Max Payne, and no way to make a new profile. Bullshit.

So, here's the end of my tale - I don't want to buy a second computer to play Doom. Wastes power, space, time, money, brain cells etc. Zandronum will never, EVER have splitscreen support [don't even think about asking!] and Doom Legacy just happens to be from the stone age. Game Profilers let me down, and this is after countless hours of slogging through the web.

What I'd like to know is - Has anyone else gone down this road? Is there any solution? [[[Is there some way me and a console-gaming-friend can comfortably play Doom 2 on the same computer?]]]

Anyone who responds to this or even just reads it, thanks for your time. If I find a solution to this, it could be helpful for thousands and thousands of doomers out there, some who don't even know they're Doomers yet. Thank you!!

[one_Two]

Can't you just run two zandro exe's both in windowed mode and then split the controlls up?

[TerminusEst13]

Can't you just run two zandro exe's both in windowed mode and then split the controlls up?

No, because the controls freeze up when one window is out of focus. The graphics freeze, too, if it's openGL.

[one_Two]

Can't you just run two zandro exe's both in windowed mode and then split the controlls up?

No, because the controls freeze up when one window is out of focus. The graphics freeze, too, if it's openGL.

What if you ran them both in seperate virtual machines, wouldn't that make it think it's in focus? Or have I got this completely wrong :/

[Doomkid]

It's all good guys, for the time being, I've found a solution. There is a program called Xpadder - It's a keystroke emulator, and was compatable wih my 360 controller the minute I plugged it in. I just mapped random unused keys (M, N, K etc.) as the right and left joystick controls, and Doom Legacy splitscreen is really easy to set up and play using this.

It's hard to explain but easy to do - If anyone wants this for some oldschool 2 player Dooming (no awesome Zdoom/Zanny mods... sadly. but hey, there's tons of old megawads out there) Download these 2 things: Legacy, and Xpadder. A few minutes messing around, and you'll surely figure it out. I hope this helps anyone who came accross this problem as well, and thanks to BaronOfStuff for pointing me in the right direction. :D

[Luke]

It's all good guys, for the time being, I've found a solution. There is a program called Xpadder - It's a keystroke emulator, and was compatable wih my 360 controller the minute I plugged it in. I just mapped random unused keys (M, N, K etc.) as the right and left joystick controls, and Doom Legacy splitscreen is really easy to set up and play using this.

It's hard to explain but easy to do - If anyone wants this for some oldschool 2 player Dooming (no awesome Zdoom/Zanny mods... sadly. but hey, there's tons of old megawads out there) Download these 2 things: Legacy, and Xpadder. A few minutes messing around, and you'll surely figure it out. I hope this helps anyone who came accross this problem as well, and thanks to BaronOfStuff for pointing me in the right direction. :D

I love to play doom with the controller.

/me thanks Xpadder for these 3 years of comfort.

[spoiler]Forgive me the OffTopic please! :-)[/spoiler]