mapping buttons with various games

[jfsypeck]

I just got my x3i today and was having problems with games recognizing the buttons on the right of the unit (home button and wifi). The problem is most games see that the dell has 6 buttons (voice and wifi count as 2 buttons) and it only recognizes buttons 1-4, which leaves out the home button. Seeing that i use my left hand with the joypad, i need all the right buttons i can get. I hope this made sense but I cant play games good if i dont have access to the home button. any help would be great.

[deftech]

That's a problem with button-mapping on the X3. On most PPCs, the four program buttons (calendar, contacts, inbox, home) are Button 1, Button 2, Button 3, Button 4. Then the record button (and any others) are usually Button 5, Button 6, etc.

However, on the X3 Dell has them labeled from Button 1 - Button 6 starting with the Record button and ending with the WiFi/WMP button. Like this:

Record (1) -- Calendar (2) -- Contacts (3) -- Email (4) -- Home (5) -- WiFi/WMP (6)

This causes issues for both games and apps alike, if the game/app supports button-mapping.

Dell should really reconfigure this with a patch or in the next ROM update to something like this:

Record (5) -- Calendar (1) -- Contacts (2) -- Email (3) -- Home (4) -- WiFi/WMP (6)

Now whether or not they'll actually update it is another question. if enough people present this to them as an issue, then hopefully it will be taken into consideration!

[jfsypeck]

Thanks for the response. Im probably going to return it then. I bought 4 games today, Kursk and Chopper alley-you cant use the home button at all. darxide and anthelion, you can remap how you like, although the on screen indicators are still off. What a real poor design if you ask me. It's a shame because otherwise I like it. I guess Ill go with the ipaq 2215. Thanks again, Joe.

[jfsypeck]

do you think there is a program out there that can remap the buttons?

[deftech]

Originally posted by jfsypeck
do you think there is a program out there that can remap the buttons?

I haven't personally seen one. Before you return it, let me play around tomorrow and see if I can find a way to code anything that will remap buttons. I'm not sure if this will be accessible via an application or not, but definately worth investigating.

As I said though, it is definately correctible via a ROM patch/update by Dell. They've put out patches for small things like this in the past, so hopefully they will for the button mapping as well.

[jfsypeck]

i appreciate that. Thanks for looking into it. Joe

[Cosworth]

Jordan - had any luck with this problem yet?

I tried a bit of registry patching, but only managed to swap buttons outside of programs like PDAwin and total remote. It seems these programs use hard coded references to the buttons.

/Keld

[MrKlaatu]

Vito ButtonMapper

Vito seems to be down at the moment, try one of these links until they're back up.

#1

#2

[deftech]

Originally posted by Cosworth
Jordan - had any luck with this problem yet?

I tried a bit of registry patching, but only managed to swap buttons outside of programs like PDAwin and total remote. It seems these programs use hard coded references to the buttons.

/Keld

Sorry for not posting back sooner.....completely forgot.

You are correct in that most software maps buttons to the virtual key codes. Unfortunately, these are assigned in the hardware itself, and cannot be changed.

[Cosworth]

Originally posted by deftech
Sorry for not posting back sooner.....completely forgot.

You are correct in that most software maps buttons to the virtual key codes. Unfortunately, these are assigned in the hardware itself, and cannot be changed.

Does this mean the application has to be patched i.e. modified with a hex editor? (assuming the publisher doesn't want to change the program)

/Keld