Gamepad Connection Events

General Feedback & Requests
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1

What is the recommended way to detect gamepad events? I’m thinking of the following scenarios:

  • Gamepad is connected and gets disconnected
  • Gamepad is disconnected and gets connected

Also, battery level would be nice. I’m interested in Windows only.

2

I’ve looked through the source and can say that events for gamepads connecting/disconnecting do not exist. XInput has an XInputGetBatteryInformation call that isn’t plumbed. There’s also no way to query the number of detected gamepads. There’s quite a lot missing here.

3

I did find a way to poll whether an Xbox controller is connected, although it may make your eyes bleed with terrible programming practice… (this needs to be implemented in C++)

At the top of your CPP file, add:

#if PLATFORM_WINDOWS
	#define private public
	#include "Runtime/Core/Public/Windows/WindowsApplication.h"
	#include "Runtime/Core/Private/Windows/XInputInterface.h"
	#undef private
#endif

Then implement a function to return whether an Xbox gamepads are connected:

bool XboxControllerConnected()
{
    #if PLATFORM_WINDOWS
    	if (FSlateApplication::IsInitialized() && FSlateApplication::Get().GetPlatformApplication().IsValid())
    	{
    		TSharedPtr<FWindowsApplication> app = StaticCastSharedPtr<FWindowsApplication>(FSlateApplication::Get().GetPlatformApplication());
    		if (app.IsValid())
    		{
    			TSharedPtr<XInputInterface> x = app->XInput;
    			if (x.IsValid())
    			{
    				for (int i = 0; i < MAX_NUM_XINPUT_CONTROLLERS; i++)
    				{
    					if (x->ControllerStates[i].bIsConnected)
    						return true;
    				}
    			}
    		}
    	}
    #endif
    	return false;
}

Huge disclaimer here though:
This is not a good/sustainable/safe approach to solving this problem. Use at your own risk, and know that future updates of the engine could easily break this.

4

Lol, yes my eyes are bleeding, but at least it’s something that works for now.

5

This solution worked for me, but I opted for the engine change at the link below because it relies less on the dark arts.

6

Thanks for the update - that’s definitely a better solution if you are willing to compile your own engine

7

Here is possible solution, only tested on windows so far.

File - New C++ Class
Choose parent class - Blueprint Function Library, hit next
Give it a name (for example GamepadDetection)

GamepadDetection.h

#pragma once

#include "CoreMinimal.h"
#include "Kismet/BlueprintFunctionLibrary.h"
#include "GamepadDetection.generated.h"

/**
 * 
 */
UCLASS()
class PROJECTNAME_API UGamepadDetection : public UBlueprintFunctionLibrary
{
	GENERATED_BODY()
	
public:
	/* Check if gamepad is connected at Runtime. */
	UFUNCTION(BlueprintCallable, meta = (DisplayName = "GamepadConnected"), Category = "System Information")
		static bool IsGamePadConnected();
	
	
};

GamepadDetection.cpp

#include "GamepadDetection.h"
#include "SlateBasics.h"

bool UGamepadDetection::IsGamePadConnected()
{
	auto genericApplication = FSlateApplication::Get().GetPlatformApplication();
	if (genericApplication.Get() != nullptr && genericApplication->IsGamepadAttached())
	{
		return true;
	}
	return false;
}

Then finally uncommment/enable slate module depenecies within your projectname.Build.cs and reboot you editor before hitting compile.

YourProjectName.Build.cs

// Uncomment if you are using Slate UI
PrivateDependencyModuleNames.AddRange(new string[] { "Slate", "SlateCore" });

Now you have a node inside blueprint to check if the gamepad is connected,

8

If you connect to the FCoreDelegates::OnControllerConnectionChange delegate then you can be notified whenever a gamepad is connected/disconnected. Just make a function with the following signature:

void OnControllerConnectionChanged(bool bIsConnected, FPlatformUserId UserID, int32 UserIndex);

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