Android layout, D-Pad issue

[Toompirow]

Hi,

I just bought the emulator and one thing that prevent me from having fun is the D-Pad, which is a problem that doesn't exist on modern games using that kind of controls.

The issue
So here is the issue : I would miss the direction I wanted to press like 1/3 of the time. Just because I'm watching the screen, not the controls. The issue is due to the fact the controls position are fixed but we (players) aren't robots programmed to press perfectly at the right position everytime ^^.

Possible solution
So here is how most of the games with a D-PAD like control are : they use an analog joystick instead of a D-PAD.

Why does it Work ?
Because the joystick requires a touch and then "slide".
It means each time I would press the joystick, where I press become the origin of the joystick and then the direction is naturally given as it should with the mouvement of my thumb, until I remove it.

But the DS only have a D-Pad !
Sure but with the direction of the joystick it's very easy to translate it to a 4 or 8directional D-PAD

The Question
Now that the context is given : Is there a way to get that behavior in the app or could it be implemented ?

Thanks !

[dsattorney]

Why not adjusting the layout to make the D-Pad larger? Apart from that feature being a thing, it leaves space for your thumbs to press the directions you want.

[Bluebard]

Why not adjusting the layout to make the D-Pad larger? Apart from that feature being a thing, it leaves space for your thumbs to press the directions you want.

But if we do that diagonally will not work...

[kaikun97]

If you mean a dynamic joypad like what some mobile games use, then no Drastic DS doesn't have that feature yet. If the touch controls are not ideal for you, you could try a bluetooth phone controller or something similar as Drastic supports those.

You could also try experimenting with the D-Pad Touch-Region modifier in the Virtual Controller settings.

But if we do that diagonally will not work...

Diagonals still work as the D-Pad's touch region is a square, so tapping the blank area between the directions, even when the D-Pad is large will count at diagonals. You can modify how this works with the same setting I mentioned above.

[Toompirow]

Why not adjusting the layout to make the D-Pad larger?

Because I don't think the main issue is the size. (Let's not talk about the visual obstruction of big layout ). The main issue is that I don't know exactly where to press if I don't look at the D-Pad which isn't convenient..

If you mean a dynamic joypad like what some mobile games use, then no Drastic DS doesn't have that feature yet. If the touch controls are not ideal for you, you could try a bluetooth phone controller or something similar as Drastic supports those.

You could also try experimenting with the D-Pad Touch-Region modifier in the Virtual Controller settings.

Yeah I think that's totally it. Well, I knew about the Bluetooth controller but I find it counterproductive to use one when the main phone's advantage is to be portable.

I've seen there is a way to create layout skins. Is there eventually a way to customize it's behavior with a bunch of code lines ?

[kaikun97]

Why not adjusting the layout to make the D-Pad larger?

Because I don't think the main issue is the size. (Let's not talk about the visual obstruction of big layout ). The main issue is that I don't know exactly where to press if I don't look at the D-Pad which isn't convenient..

If you mean a dynamic joypad like what some mobile games use, then no Drastic DS doesn't have that feature yet. If the touch controls are not ideal for you, you could try a bluetooth phone controller or something similar as Drastic supports those.

You could also try experimenting with the D-Pad Touch-Region modifier in the Virtual Controller settings.

Yeah I think that's totally it. Well, I knew about the Bluetooth controller but I find it counterproductive to use one when the main phone's advantage is to be portable.

I've seen there is a way to create layout skins. Is there eventually a way to customize it's behavior with a bunch of code lines ?

The layout skins currently are just cosmetic. There is a Lua scripting engine in Drastic but its more or less geared towards running lua code with games, it has a bit of documentation on the in-app help guide but I don't know much else past that.

[Toompirow]

Alright thank you, I might look into it when I get time

[Eddie1zthc]

Hi,

I just bought the emulator and one thing that prevent me from having fun is the D-Pad, which is a problem that doesn't exist on modern games using that kind of controls.

The issue
So here is the issue : I would miss the direction I wanted to press like 1/3 of the time. Just because I'm watching the screen, not the controls. The issue is due to the fact the controls position are fixed but we (players) aren't robots programmed to press perfectly at the right position everytime ^^.

Possible solution
So here is how most of the games with a D-PAD like control are : they use an analog joystick instead of a D-PAD.

Why does it Work ?
Because the joystick requires a touch and then "slide".
It means each time I would press the joystick, where I press become the origin of the joystick and then the direction is naturally given as it should with the mouvement of my thumb, until I remove it.

But the DS only have a D-Pad !
Sure but with the direction of the joystick it's very easy to translate it to a 4 or 8directional D-PAD

The Question
Now that the context is given : Is there a way to get that behavior in the app or could it be implemented ?

Thanks !

i know this is old thread but i was having the same issues i.e having to keep my eye on the d-pad as my thumb kept drifting away, this can really put a dampner on the gaming expeeience & even make you not want to play some of your favourite games, i searched & searched with no "fixes" working, changing sizes, sensitivity etc, but i was determined to fix this without having to use an external controller, so anyway, i got this "bright" idea (hehe) when i found an old screen protector that i never used, cut out the shape of the drastic d-pad & stuck it on, omg the difference it makes to the gameplay, no longer does my thumb drift away or do i have to keep looking at d-pad, so simple yet effective.
thought id throw my experience in there as iv read pages & pages trying to find a fix for this & have never seen anyone thats done/suggested this, so there it is, the easiest fix & the only thing that made the drastic d-pad actually feel like a d-pad.