PC Games

by **Tracie** on Sun May 02, 2004 5:16 am

Is there anyone out there playing actual pc games on their HTPC through Xlobby? I'm not talking about Playstation, (S)NES, ROMS, etc. It's something I've been thinking about for a while, but I'm unsure about the Xlobby part of it.

Anyone, Buehler, anyone?

by **mattdisaster** on Sun May 02, 2004 7:34 pm

I do. For alot fo games you can find no-cd cracks so you dont need to load the cds in to play them. But for the others I usually iso them to my harddrive and set up a daemon script which when opened mounts the iso to a virtual drive and starts up the game (result: diskless gameplay) I set up a database with screenshots and coverart for allt he games, and even went to give some of them ratings and summaries. This is one of my largest projects in the htpc. heh What do you have in mind?

-matt

by **Tracie** on Mon May 03, 2004 5:01 am

Actually, the diskless gameplay was kind of what I was hoping for, since you almost always get autoplay in XP (PITA, I can't seem to find how to totally disable it :evil:

). If I could somehow totally disable that then I'd be okay with needing the discs. Anyway, nothing too elaborate since I don't have that many games that work with XP & I've only got a 30gb hard drive in it. I loaded a couple in last night & they seem to play fine but I'm beginning to see the resolution issue & how limiting it can/will be. Also, I'm wondering about controls. I've got a couple that play fine with just a joystick, but more that are going to require a mouse/kb combo - fps that have lots of commands that you need to access a lot. I don't know how I'll pull that one off.

by **mattdisaster** on Mon May 03, 2004 3:27 pm

The key to fps games with alot of buttons, ither a really really good controller, or a wireless keyboard/mouse combo(I have the gyration mouse and its awesome for couch play).

matt

by **Tracie** on Mon May 03, 2004 6:40 pm

That's kinda what I figured. I have an Airboard right now & have been looking at getting the Gyration for a while, so this may be the excuse that I need. The problem that I ran into was that the smaller keyboards (like the Airboard) have a different layout so it will take a little getting used to.

by **Naylia** on Tue Dec 07, 2004 3:25 pm

Finally got some NES and MAME games up and running and my gf got so frustrated with my airboard that she looked ready to hit me over the head with it. For the NES games the response just isn't as smooth as having that thumb d-pad, and with the buttons they'res just a tendency to adjust a little and push say the 'microsoft' button instead of Crtl or Alt (my A, B). Glad I found this guy...

http://www.sealiecomputing.com/retrozone/

Retrofits old video game systems with usb controllers inside them and you can plug them right into that HTPC!

by **pateruck** on Wed Dec 08, 2004 3:40 pm

You might also want to check out http://www.lik-sang.com. I intend to buy a PSX/PS2-to-USB adapter, then use playstation controllers for my ROM games.

by **mattdisaster** on Wed Dec 08, 2004 4:12 pm

I'm acutally heard those adapters dont work to well in terms of being precise. I got a logitech dual action usb cotroller for li 14 bucks same buttons as a ps2 controller but looks alittle different (all grey/darkblue). Good luck.

-matt

by **pateruck** on Wed Dec 08, 2004 4:14 pm

I was looking at these adapters with the expectation of being able to use the playstation dance mats with stepmania, as well as using the playstation controllers I already have for NES games. I guess I'll have to look into it more before I do anything.

by **gamejester** on Wed Dec 08, 2004 4:17 pm

Yeah, PSx-USB adapters are the way to go.
Without a doubt the PSX controller is the most comfortable to use.
I even have the PSx-Dreamcast, PSx-N64, etc....

Anyway, works great with MAME retro games that require digital controls and also with the latest PC games like The Need For Speed Underground 2 that requires analogue steering with a host of digital buttons (I use all 14 hard digital buttons + both analogue sticks with NFSU2).

Another good source for PSX-USB adapters is eBay.

by **gamejester** on Wed Dec 08, 2004 4:20 pm

The adapters work very well, I have 4 different branded one's, and they are all accurate. You can even plug 2 or more into your PC and 2 players can use them at the same time. They do not even need a driver in Windows XP, just plug and play. They work with any PXS or PS2 controller, that includes the dance mats and other weird and wonderful controllers. Do not work with light guns (obviously).

by **Roscoe62** on Wed Dec 08, 2004 7:27 pm

Hey everyone,

Question 1 : Do the PSX to USB adaptors work with those PSX RF controllers? I imagine if it did you'd need to plug the RF receiver into the PSX-USB adaptor, but I wanted to know whether anyone had tried it.

The next big thing for me is relocating my HTPC in another room so the RF controller option is the only thing that might work for me.

Question 2 : Can these PSX controllers be made to work with non-PSX games? I'm thinking MAME or PC Games. Sorry, this side of XLobby is all very new to me.

by **gamejester** on Wed Dec 08, 2004 10:52 pm

They work by setting the new joypad up as a windows HID device.
This requires no driver and the new controller shows the same as any other game controller.
This means it will work with any game compatible with a windows joystick, that means regular PC games, MAME, SNES emulators, N64, Genesis, etc.......... and yes OSX emulators too!