DescentBB

I've been playing a bit of D3 with my Cyborg Evo lately, and I can't seem to minimize the sticks deadzone in D3. I use the deadzone 0.0 command line parameters, I also created the appropriate ctl file with a deadzone of 0.0, and it still has a rather sizeable deadzone. I've examined the actual stick movements in the sticks control panel applet, and the stick has no physical deadzone, which means the fine movments I want the stick to track are there, it's just D3 isnt picking them up.

You are sure you used the -deadzone0 0.0 and -deadzone1 0.0 command line exactly? I wonder if there isn't some other deadzone in the directinput api that gets applied before it gets passed off to D3. It is possible you might be able to find it in the cyborg evo driver/control panel if it has one (or whatever bundled software comes with it). Otherwise perhaps there is some registry keys you can dig up and modify to remove it.

Krom wrote:You are sure you used the -deadzone0 0.0 and -deadzone1 0.0 command line exactly? I wonder if there isn't some other deadzone in the directinput api that gets applied before it gets passed off to D3. It is possible you might be able to find it in the cyborg evo driver/control panel if it has one (or whatever bundled software comes with it). Otherwise perhaps there is some registry keys you can dig up and modify to remove it.

I am using both the deadzone 0 and deadzone 1 commands in my shortcut. And like I said, I've looked in the game controllers panel and in the properties page for the cyborg, I can clearly see my evo moving when it's in the area d3 thinks is deadzone. It works perfectly in D1 and D2 rebirth as well.

Try setting up a ctl file for the stick. Go to the Game Controllers control panel and write down the exact name of the stick (eg. for a 3DPro w/ converter it would be "Microsoft SideWinder 3D Pro (USB)"). Using notepad, create the file evo.ctl in the same directory main.exe is located and add these lines:

name=Evo_Name_from_Game_Control
deadzone=0.0

For a 3DPro this would look like:

Grendel wrote:Try setting up a ctl file for the stick. Go to the Game Controllers control panel and write down the exact name of the stick (eg. for a 3DPro w/ converter it would be "Microsoft SideWinder 3D Pro (USB)"). Using notepad, create the file evo.ctl in the same directory main.exe is located and add these lines:

name=Evo_Name_from_Game_Control
deadzone=0.0

For a 3DPro this would look like:

Code: Select all

name=Microsoft SideWinder 3D Pro (USB)
deadzone=0.0

That was the 2nd thing I tried, in addition to the deadzone 0 and 1 command line args. Like I said, the stick has no physical deadzone. The slightest bit of movement is enough to make the crosshair move in the game control panel, or in descent 1 or 2 rebirth. I'm guessing at this point it's simply a hardcoded limitation in D3's code.

Nope, something outside D3 is creating the deadzone. I'm running D3 w/o one using my 3DPro.

Grendel wrote:Nope, something outside D3 is creating the deadzone. I'm running D3 w/o one using my 3DPro.

Well, any ideas? I've got the ctl file, the deadzone arguments, and the stick shows no physical deadzone in the game controllers panel. So what the heck is creating it?

Try the -alternatejoy and/or -directinput command line options. IIRC I use the latter.

Grendel wrote:Try the -alternatejoy and/or -directinput command line options. IIRC I use the latter.

So far I've tried no argument, and -directinput. I'll give alternatejoy a shot.

I have the same problem (not with a Cyborg Evo though) and always figured it was coming from inside D3, since the deadzone isn't there if I poll the joystick with joyGetPosEx.
I didn't consider that a different way to read the input might be used by D3, so now I did a little more testing.

The deadzone seems to be applied after scaling with the sensitivity in D3. Increasing the sensitivity inside of D3 could get the ship from stand still (at 1.0) to turning, if a constant input signal right at the edge of the deadzone (for sensitivity 1) was sent by the joystick. This wouldn't happen if the deadzone was applied outside of D3.

It looks like for some of us the -deadzone0 command line only works with values bigger than 0.1.

I figured most people have the problem, so I don't use a work around for it in multiplayer. The way I deal with it in singleplayer is to use the PPJoy virtual joystick driver to feed D3 a deadzone compensated input. It's also nice for recalibrating the joystick during the game which with the way mine drifts is necessary.
With a good joystick the difference between 10% deadzone and none is pretty noticeable.

is there actual mechanical slop in the stick?

Since d3 uses information directly from the calibration configured in microsofts controller applet

Ask yourself this simple question

What drivers for the joystick are you using, windows default or the actual customized evo drivers provided to override the generic windows drivers

This will solve your issue, or at least identify your non-Microsoft joystick issue