Face Button Pressure - PS3 Controller (Gamepad)

[anon33978006]

Hi Everyone,

Question: Is there any way to utilize the button pressure sensitivity on a PS3 controller (or equivalent)?

Details: On the right face button (Circle), I’m trying to get a half press to trigger something and a full press to trigger something else.

Attempts: I tried setting up two entries for the button under Axis Mapping. Each entry has different scales attached (Half Press: 0.5 and Full Press: 1.0).

Results: Unfortunately, when I debug that button’s input during gameplay, it jumps from 0.0 straight to 1.0.

Any insight is appreciated!

Thanks,

[AnadinX]

Hey Zach, those face buttons are digital, so they are only on or off. The only analogue buttons are triggers and if I remember rightly the PS3 shoulders are also analogue (might be wrong there), the Xbox 360 has analogue triggers and digital shoulders.

The best you can do is a timing thing, short hold and long hold - you only have to go over a small time such as 0.5s - this is how you’d do variable height jumps etc.

[Zarkopafilis]

Hardware axes, such as controller joysticks, provide degrees of input, rather than discrete 1 (pressed) or 0 (not pressed) input. That is, they can be moved to a small degree or a large degree, and your character’s movement can vary accordingly. While these input methods are ideal for providing scalable amounts of movement input, AxisMappings can also map common movement keys, like WASD or Up, Down, Left, Right, to continuously-polled game behavior.

From: docs

All the face and shoulder buttons are digital like Anadin stated. The only stuff that behave as analogue are the sticks and maybe the triggers in some platforms. I am not sure wether analogue input for triggers is supported though.

[anon33978006]

@Anadin;526903

Hey , those face buttons are digital, so they are only on or off. The only analogue buttons are triggers and if I remember rightly the PS3 shoulders are also analogue (might be wrong there), the Xbox 360 has analogue triggers and digital shoulders.

The best you can do is a timing thing, short hold and long hold - you only have to go over a small time such as 0.5s - this is how you’d do variable height jumps etc.

@Zarkopafilis;526911

From: docs

All the face and shoulder buttons are digital like Anadin stated. The only stuff that behave as analogue are the sticks and maybe the triggers in some platforms. I am not sure wether analogue input for triggers is supported though.

Hey Guys, thanks for the input(so punny). I’m such a nerd.

Actually, the PS3 controller has analogue face buttons, I think they switched over on the PS4. Though, I suppose they could’ve switched from analogue to digital on the newer PS3 models.

Anyways, I’ve been using my old PS3 to play PS2 games and the face button pressure functionality is there and working. I actually have the same PS3 controller working on my PC as well. This leads me to believe that I just need Unreal Engine to recognize these capabilities. I may dive into the source code and see if I can find anything. I’ll let you know what I come up with.

Thanks again,

[Zarkopafilis]

@Zachareasy;527070

Hey Guys, thanks for the input(so punny). I’m such a nerd.

Actually, the PS3 controller has analogue face buttons, I think they switched over on the PS4. Though, I suppose they could’ve switched from analogue to digital on the newer PS3 models.

Anyways, I’ve been using my old PS3 to play PS2 games and the face button pressure functionality is there and working. I actually have the same PS3 controller working on my PC as well. This leads me to believe that I just need Unreal Engine to recognize these capabilities. I may dive into the source code and see if I can find anything. I’ll let you know what I come up with.

Thanks again,
Zach

Can you show us any game as an example that does use this functionality? Also, when playing on PC with a PS controller, I believe that you need to map all the keys to xbox controls in order to maximize compatibility.
Keep in mind that UE4 is cross-platform oriented, you can’t have such input that doesn’t work without every controller, you probably need to dive into sony’s API and do it yourself, as well as test on a ps4…

[AnadinX]

Blimey! I do remember this now. the PS3 did have analogue face buttons. I think like s couple of MGS games might have used them. Dropped on PS4 and I have never seen any way of detecting them in UE4, I would think you would need to code that in yourself - good luck!

[anonymous_user_e61ecb23]

@Zarkopafilis;527422

Can you show us any game as an example that does use this functionality?

Both DualShock 2 and DualShock 3 had pressure sensitive buttons.

Metal Gear Solid 2 on PS2 used it. You’d hold down the Square button lightly to raise your gun in first person, and then press all the way down to actually fire it.

Pretty sure MGS3 on PS2 had similar functionality. Also the Grand Theft Auto games of that generation used it too, with acceleration and braking.

I think I actually remember seeing this on a lot of sports games from the PS2/PS3 days. Things like Madden, Fifa, MLB The Show… basically different methods of power for kicking, throwing, hitting balls.

But yes, they removed the feature for DualShock 4.

[anon33978006]

@Zarkopafilis;527422

Can you show us any game as an example that does use this functionality? Also, when playing on PC with a PS controller, I believe that you need to map all the keys to xbox controls in order to maximize compatibility.
Keep in mind that UE4 is cross-platform oriented, you can’t have such input that doesn’t work without every controller, you probably need to dive into sony’s API and do it yourself, as well as test on a ps4…

@;527600

Both DualShock 2 and DualShock 3 had pressure sensitive buttons.

Metal Gear Solid 2 on PS2 used it. You’d hold down the Square button lightly to raise your gun in first person, and then press all the way down to actually fire it.

Pretty sure MGS3 on PS2 had similar functionality. Also the Grand Theft Auto games of that generation used it too, with acceleration and braking.

I think I actually remember seeing this on a lot of sports games from the PS2/PS3 days. Things like Madden, Fifa, MLB The Show… basically different methods of power for kicking, throwing, hitting balls.

But yes, they removed the feature for DualShock 4.

Thanks for the examples! Like said, I’ve played a few games where a half press of the RH Shoulder button would ready your weapon or something similar. I’ve been digging into the Unreal source code and have some leads! I have a good feeling I’ll figure it out soon!

You make a good point Zarkopafilis, this game will just have to remain on PC/Mac for now! Thanks for all the replies fellas!