Killing the sixaxis dead zone

[exxos77]

For all of you who play with either the analog stick or motion sensing, how do you cope with the dead zone? For those that might not know, that's the spot around the center of the range of motion that is "unresponsive": moving the stick inside the dead zone is like not moving at all.

Now I've been playing wipeout 2097 with the d-pad for a long time, but the day I tried HD with the sixaxis motion sensing, I knew I could not change back. For me, sixaxis steering is what makes the game. I love it that much.

And then, there is the dead zone. It isn't the controller's fault, sixaxis motion reports (as well as the analog stick) is silky smooth when viewed on my PC. It also changes in size when you adjust the sensitivity in-game, forcing me to play at 100% sensitivity in an attempt to make it smaller. But most importantly: it's a feature of game that *serves no purpose*, apart from annoying me!

So with a bluetooth dongle, a linux PC and a few days of hacking, I killed it. And as I expected, it's much better. I can now go *straight* without sweating at higher speeds. I'd like to beg Studio Liverpool for a "no dead zone" option in the control settings, but I really don't know how to do that.

Ideas?

[sny]

Welcome to the forums, exxos77!

Very interesting subject... I always thought the dead zone is inherent in the Sixaxis controller, which is why I gave up on my approach on doing very subtle BR motions with the analog stick and very small adjustments of how I hold the controller to nose up/nose down. It annoys me to no end as well, and makes any spot on a given track very difficult where a combination of either barrel rolling+pitch, barrel rolling+airbrakes or pitch+airbrakes are required. Now that you mentioned it, I do recall the dead zone being significantly smaller in the case of LittleBigPlanet for example, where it's much easier to tilt your Sackboy's head with the sixaxis motion controls.

I hope SL are reading this and decide to add an option to eliminate this dead zone, those of us that are used to subtle controller inputs would be ever so grateful.

[subtotal]

hi exxos - you play using full motion control ? - me too

[exxos77]

hi exxos - you play using full motion control ? - me too

I guess that makes two of us, then.

I knew that few people liked sixaxis steering, but I kind of thought that quite a few people used the analog stick, and thus were concerned by the dead zone problem.

As a side note, it's a shame the ship doesn't respond instantaneously to analog (stick or sixaxis) input. But then, that would put the d-pad crowd at too great a disadvantage.

[Amon]

I used to use motion controls for some times when hd came out. I remember progressing in the campaign using it and winning al races at flash speed, but moving on it became impossible to do good with it and switched to analog driving. The problem was in the deadzone AND imput lag for me. I'd pay bucks to have motion controls competitive at Rapier speeds.

[asdfffdsa]

Could you post a small tutorial on how to remove the analog stick dead zone? Or were you only able to find a solution for this with the sixaxis? I've read the dead zone isn't as bad on the DS3 controllers, but I'd still like to see the difference. I'm an analog user in Wipeout HD, so this is of big concern to me.

[XBARNSTERX]

Analog motion pitch all the way dont no this dead zone, guessing might have sometime to do with when barrel rolls decide not to work, but i haven't had this problem for a long time

[exxos77]

Could you post a small tutorial on how to remove the analog stick dead zone? Or were you only able to find a solution for this with the sixaxis?

My method works for the analog stick as well as for the motion sensors. I'll get a tutorial ready within a few days. In the meantime, you'll need a Linux installation (or a live CD) and a USB bluetooth dongle based on the Broadcom chip. Mine is from Connectland, but I believe all the cheapest dongles are based on that chip. I have also tried with a dongle from TnB (based on a CSR chip), but I can't get this one to work yet.

I've read the dead zone isn't as bad on the DS3 controllers, but I'd still like to see the difference. I'm an analog user in Wipeout HD, so this is of big concern to me.

As far as I can tell by looking at the bluetooth packets, both the original sixaxis and the DS3 don't have any dead zone whatsoever. The dead zone comes either from the joystick driver inside the PS3 or (more likely) from the game itself.

[asdfffdsa]

Awesome! Linux is all I use (so much better for software dev), so I was hoping I wouldn't have to install Windows again. I think I've got a bluetooth dongle somewhere around here.

I'll be looking forward to your tutorial!

[exxos77]

By the way, you should have a look at the tutorial that had me started:

http://www.pabr.org/sixlinux/sixlinux.en.html

It explains how to connect the controller by bluetooth under linux.

[exxos77]

There goes the tutorial:

http://www.corbac.com/page43.html

Be warned: it's not for the faint of heart.
But it has potential.

Of course, if you run into problems or have questions, I'll be watching this thread.

[MR-RICO84]

I use full motion control and have to say I find no dead spot. Just wish they had made the motion control trophy a gold medal and made people complete a tournament with it. That kind of practice would really have brought a lot of people into a very sparsly populated fold.