Joystick settings for Firestorm with Xbox 360 controller

With the new Phototools and Camreatools added to Firestorm v4.3.1.31155, I tried once again to get my old wired Xbox 360 controller to actually be USEFUL in second life. When you plug in your Xbox controller, Firestorm (or any SL viewer) basically has no idea what to do with it. After all Second Life is technically a 3D editor put into a MMO game world. Controllers aren’t exactly meant for 3D editing, but they are useful for 3D gaming, so this is how I was able to get it to work like a standard controller as if playing a First, or Third person shooter.

If you have tried to use it in the past you’ll notice your camera or your avatar will move around very unpredictably.  This is because the axis dimensions in game, are mapped to seemingly random axises on your controller. The viewer will only see 5 of your analog axises.  Both analog sticks for a total of four axises, and both analog triggers are seen as a single axis.  Left stick are axises 0 and 1.  Right stick are axises 3 and 4, and the triggers are seen as axis 2. You cannot configure any of the buttons, shoulder bumpers, nor the Dpad.  However the (A) button is set to toggle flycam on and off, so you can switch from avatar movement, to flycam on the.. um.. fly!

Here is how I have my joystick configuration:

Pitch scale value set as a positive number (as shown above) will give you the reversed pitch (looking up and down) like a airplane flight stick. So with the right analog stick, moving down on the stick looks up, and up on the stick looks down. To revert this, use a NEGATIVE number, this will flip the direction. I found that my controller had a LOT of drift on axis 4,  so i set al my dead zone settings a bit higher than the default.  Also note that axis 5 doesn’t exist on Xbox controller, but I use it on axis I’m not going to use (roll and zoom).  But you may want to change the analog triggers (axis 2) for “roll” so you can get that airplane barrel roll effect as you cam around. For now the analog triggers are used for up/down motion.  When in avatar mode, you’ll fly up and down instead, holding the left trigger while standing will make you crouch. If you crouch and move the left stick you’ll do a sneak walk animation (depends on your AO). While in avatar movement mode, the left analog stick will make you run if you move the stick all the way, if you move it partially your avatar will walk.

Feathering I find problematic. Basically all this does is make your controls feel  mushy, or slow.  When you start or stop moving the flycam/avatar there’s a kind of delay that can either give a nice dramatic slow camera movement (when slider is to the left), or a wobbly flicker of camera (slider towards the right).  This can get really problematic when in busy regions (large population of avatars, heavy script use, etc) when your FPS drops, your camera can get out of control.  If you’re in avatar mode you may find your self bumping into people and end up in weird locations.  So just be careful in busy regions.