Controller/Joystick mapping

[creepybumblebee 10]

I'm having trouble mapping controls to my Xbox Controller and my friend is has the same problem with his flight stick. There are a couple of things I want to be able to do but can't seem to.

1. Mapping double tap, with the keyboard this is possible (e.g. 2x RCTRL) but I can't do this with controller buttons.

2. Mapping fire to axis, at the moment I can map fire to Right Trigger but it doesn't actually fire.

3. Mapping menu/map controls, I can't find a way to assign menu navigation/map control, also I can't find a way to map Esc to Start.

4. Enable/Disable Vibration.

There is a pre-made Xbox 360 controller setting but at the moment this is pretty awful so it isn't an option to use in it's current state. Although the default profile can navigate menu's and fire, it can't be re-mapped or changed in any way. Plus there are some pretty silly control choices (e.g. Right Trigger in helicopters is mapped to both fire and yaw right, making it impossible to yaw right and throwing off aim.)

I know there are third party programs but is it possible to be able to do these things natively? If anyone has had any success please help, this is really bugging me because I cant' fly with M/KB.

[Onehandband1t 1]

Yeah same issue here buddy, will just have to hope that the full release or a future update will sort it out

[Screwby 1]

I just made a simple little Xpadder profile for this. I know it may not cover all of the control but I think it got most of the important ones I hope. I basically had button presses be held down so you can use more functions.

mediafire.com/?4g9tvtj195cum44

(First post, forum won't let me use URLs)

Controls are based off of an Xbox 360 Controller.

Left Trigger: Mouse button 2. Optics and zoom functions.

Right Trigger: Mouse button 1. Fire primary weapon

Hold Left Bumper: Binds Ctrl, Alt. Basically, hold this button down and you can freely look around using the right analog stick, and you can also use the adjust feature so you can use the fluid stances.

Press Left Bumper: Binds C. It changes your combat pace between tactical and normal.

Right Bumper: Binds G. Throws a grenade out.

Press A: Binds space. It's your default action, confirm, and whatever else the space button does.

Hold A: Binds V. It's the hope over things key.

Press B: Binds X. Toggles crouch.

Hold B: Binds Z. Holding the B button down makes you go prone.

Press X: Binds R. Reload

Hold X: Unbinded. I mean to have it so whenever you hold X, you holster your weapon but I forgot.

Press Y: Binds F. Changes firing modes

Hold Y: Binds Ctrl+G. Switches out grenades

Left Analog Stick: Only bound arrow keys so you can navigate through menus. I'd suggest manually binding the control stick through the game so you can have precise movements.

Left Stick Click and Hold: Binds Left Shift. Click and hold the left analog stick to use the turbo mode, such as sprinting and boost. Your default run button in your console casual shooters.

Right Analog Stick: Binds mouse movement. I would say to bind it in game, but there's a weird acceleration glitch occurring where when you're moving diagonally, one axis moves faster than the other.

Right Stick Click: Binds Numpad Enter key. Pressing this switches your view between first person and third person.

Right Stick Click and Hold: Binds /. Switches between optic modes such as when you have a red dot and a scope.

Left D-Pad: Binds Q. Lean left

Right D-Pad: Binds E. Lean right

Up D-Pad: Binds Mouse Wheel Up. Scrolls between the menus and zooms within the map.

Down D-Pad: Binds Mouse Wheel Down. Scrolls between the menus and unzooms.

Press Back Button: Binds J. Opens your journal.

Hold Back Button: Binds M. Opens your map.

Start Button: Binds ESC. Opens the main menu.

While it may not be perfect, I feel as though it feels seamless and I believe this is how the default control schematics should feel like. Take into account that not all of the functions are bound, there's only so many buttons. Nightvision and binoculars aren't bound. Also weapon switching requires you to press A, Up, or Down and use the menu to switch. But the way it is should suffice. Opening the gear menu shouldn't be a problem. Use the right stick to move the mouse cursor around, left trigger for the right click and right trigger for the left click. Hope you guys find it useful.

Just an FYI: I didn't try these controls yet with vehicles. So I don't know how well they would work together. Also, I wouldn't recommend enabling the built in control scheme, it just messes it up. Only bind the movement keys to the left stick. Also, I didn't add force feedback to this profile. I know some people prefer not to have it.

[Kr3v 10]

Nice config Screwby, I'm also working on a profile for my dualshock 3. Before trolls come, I have to play the game with a controller because of some form of RSI in my right arm, and as a fan of ArmA since OFP, no chance that I skip this game ! :)

Some questions concerning your profile (I can't view/test it) :

- Is there any conflict between the adjust command and the free look one ? Especially while moving, and strafing.

- What about the breath control action ? It seems really useful in ArmA 3.

- Do you have different moving speeds on the left joystick ?

- Does the "hold" command of xpadder work fine, or do you have to tweak it ? I hope there is no conflict with the "press" command.

Thanks. I have binded the left trigger on a second xpadder set, with the gps, binoculars, watch... I'll post my profile when it's polished.

Edited March 6, 2013 by Kr3v

[ricogs400 1]

I found it to be the same setup as Arma2. I had to map each movement and look direction to the sticks, which I think should be default. There should be predefined stick settings = Left stick for movement, right stick for look. Myself, I use the xbox360 controller in left hand for movement and dpad/left buttons, and the mouse in the right hand for aiming/mouse buttons. Same as for Arma2, it gives me better control.

I can't find a way to get Esc/Pause to the Start button either.

Haven't tried the Right trigger/Fire since I use the mouse for that, but I'll try it later. It didn't work for me in Arma2 either, so I'm assuming most of the control issues are carryovers.

KR3V, I do get diff speeds on left stick, slight forward walk, full fwd jogs, and I use L3 for Run/Fast forward

Edited March 6, 2013 by ricogs400

[Kr3v 10]

I really like your profile screwby, I have modified my whole one. I made some changes, and still have to test it, probably tonight.

HOLD X : Change optics. You binded it to R3.

R3 : Toggle Iron sight

Left trigger (Left bumper for me) : Toggle Zoom. If held, Hold breath

Select : Toggle Compass. If Held, toggle gps.

Start : Toggle Map. If held, toggle diary. I'll probably change diary with something else.

PS/Xbox button : ESC.

Hold Left and Right D-PAD : Evasive.

And NOW things begin.

Edited March 6, 2013 by Kr3v

[creepybumblebee 10]

That Xpadder profile looks pretty good, but Xpadder isn't free, and it would be nice if this functionality was built into the game. If this isn't fixed I'll probably end up getting Xpadder or something similar but for now I'll hold out for in game customization.

@Screwby, if you can bind to the Xbox guide button maybe bind night vision (click toggle) and binoculars (hold toggle) to it.

[Kr3v 10]

If I remember, the Xbox button doesn't work on PC, even with xpadder. Maybe there's a trick to enable it.

But you can add a second xpadder profile on the grenade button (while holding it), and bind the NVG, Binoculars, Zeroing and other stuff on it if you want to. If there's a problem with the grenades, unbind it and rebind it on the second profile (button A or Y seems to be a good choice).

Edited March 6, 2013 by Kr3v

[creepybumblebee 10]

After a quick google search apparently Xpadder can bind to the guide button, so as long as you aren't using Steam big picture or GFWL it should be fine.

[Aliendistrict51 1]

Can Anyone please do a video/details on how to setup a controller for the arma 3 please? I have a bad back and can't use the keyboard and mouse all the time sitting up! The controller is partically working but not fully functional! Thank you and please do this for me cause this will help me out and other's in the gaming community!

[nicolasroger 11]

Option->controls->controllers->enable ?

[Aliendistrict51 1]

Option->controls->controllers->enable ?

I know you can enable it! But how to setup the full functional setup?

[slodin 10]

I have the same question..

I enabled the controller..but I can't map the keys..(or I don't know how to..because clicking on the buttons doesn't do any good)

I actually only want the controller to work for helis..nothing more...

[nicolasroger 11]

Well in arma 2, once you enable the controller, you can them simply bind those new keys like you would do to any normal keyboard keys.

For helis, select "show: helicopter movement" and bind keys from your enabled controllers.

I haven't tried it in arma 3 alpha yet though.

[smithcorp 0]

Seems a bit flaky.The game would only recognise a few buttons on my X52.

Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk 2

[Placebo 28]

Merging with an existing similar thread.

[BurntByHellfire 1]

well, ive been mapping my 360 controller to arma, and luckily they allow me to do this, i could even map my right thumbstick to aim the weapon in a way it would allow me to inverse the axis.. no problem here either, but mapping my thumbstick to a mouse and then using the mouse in the game just works out smoother when using a controller

i used xpadder to add a little bit more control with the mapping on certain things.. for example, arma 3 lets me use my left thumbstick for moving at varying speeds depending on how far im pushing the thumbstick, and one thing i used xpadder to do was to auto-sprint when my thumbstick reaches the full forward position so i didnt need a seperate button for this

what else i was able to do is map the lean side-to-side function to the controller as well by holding the left thumbstick clicked in i can then tilt the thumbstick side to side a small distance to lean, and a bit further to walk sideways while leaning.. what else i mapped in with xpadder is being able to zoom in with the left trigger pulled a small distance, and then bring up the optics when its pulled further... another thing i needed xpadder for was crouching and standing up, kind of annoying i couldnt use the same button to stand up as i used to crouch... so what i added was a timer to xpadder so if i tap the B button, ill stand, if i hold it for just a split second ill crouch, and if i hold it just a tad longer ill go prone... i also mapped the stand up button to be pressed the same time the sprint is initiated so ill automatically stand up when i wish to run... and lastly with i did with xpadder is when i hold the left bumper i can inch my way up or sideways to look over the top of something

there are some issues that could be addressed though, but this would have to come from the developer end of this game, and that would be allowing the crouch and stand to be a simple tap of the button and prone occur with just a moment of holding it, certain interface tweaks would help with using a controller, for example when i hit the A button to open a bag, for now i use up/down on the d-pad to select what id like to click on first... having some sort of context priority or specifically which part of a vehicle im looking at to determine which seat i get into or what i access would be a big help, or being able to click on something with multiple options first, and then having a selection come up i can simply use the thumbstick to select with

of course.. the UI for looking at the inventory or pulling up the map/gps could be good too, using the left thumbstick to move around the map would be very helpful... i still havent mapped out what the other buttons on the D pad do yet, and with some of these tweaks the d-pad in soldier mode could be used to bring up other less important functions to the controller, like holding one direction on the d-pad which would then allow me to use my thumbstick to look around if im prone with a sniper rifle and dont actually want to move my body to look somewhere else (so less likely to be seen)

the final issue im having which im sure could easily be fixed is the fact that some of the infantry controls interfere with vehicle controls, i mean.. certain control schemes id like to have in a vehicle mess up control schemes set for a soldier... when driving a vehicle, id like to be able to use the triggers to move forward and back, or if i try to map the ability to look around with the thumbstick itll take away my ability to aim the rifle as infantry.. but i could map this to the relatively unused d-pad anyway

---

i understand some of these may have already been fixed in various patches, if they are then ignore this, but what im trying to do is make this game much, much more controller friendly because there are a people that are a bit more casual and would prefer to sit back in a chair and play, or people who have issues with mouse + keyboard... for example i have hands that are quite large, that ive also sustained damage to when i was younger which makes keyboards the most incredibly uncomfortable thing i could ever use... i have no issues with the mouse, in fact id be willing to use one if i could still use my controller for the left hand which is completely mappable with some of these ideas ive mentioned plus a mouse with a few extra buttons for a mouse/controller type hybrid setup

[simjedi 10]

There is a pre-made Xbox 360 controller setting but at the moment this is pretty awful so it isn't an option to use in it's current state

This may be a dumb question but did you disable the profile so it becomes customizable? I have done this and am able to map Helicopter controls with no problem. That's all I use it for though.

Disable the profile then hit "Ok" then go to where you customize every other keybind.

Edited March 18, 2013 by SIMJEDI

[specta3 1]

You have to bear in mind OP Arma was never designed to be played with a game pad and its Impossible to do every thing you need to do with a game pad in this game .And that's why you wont ever get full controller support

But you can use your incentive and design a profile for your controller that suits you and your play style. I find it works fine for infantry and its great for flying and tanks etc

But you will never get the accuracy you get with a mouse.And you will always need a keyboard and mouse by your side for your inventory and command system and map .

I have used this profile for Arma2 for over a year and its what works best for me .

There are the my controller images for a full list of commands

1 Infantry

http://imageshack.us/f/580/arma3infantry.png

Press start to alternate between the two

2 Vehicles

I find you dont often need to press the night vision button so i did not map it , same with vault being on the dpad as you dont use it often .If you hold the right dpad down for 2 seconds your binoculars come up.

The hard thing about these programmes is finding the sweet spot with the dead aim , you can configure this in xpadder .Alot of the profile come down to your own personal preference and play style.

You should get xpadder , they have a community there and they have hundreds of profiles already made for games .You will always encounter problems in the PC community when you mention the word controller as some people see it as a thread to there play style.As for me i play most of my games on a 50" plasma that is at the bottom of my bed , so i like to relax and immersion is more important to me that pixel sniping.

Quite happy to use K/M for strategy games etc but i just cant be arsed when it comes to other games.

Edited March 18, 2013 by specta3

[BurntByHellfire 1]

listen... im tired of hearing this "arma was never designed for a controller and its impossible to do everything with a controller" crap... because its a false statement, people who say this have never tried to map a controller properly, and ive been able to map EVERYTHING to the controller in a very intuitive way leaving nothing out, so its a lie passed around by people that underestimate what a controller is capable of doing... heck you eliminate 5 buttons by using a single thumbstick for movement alone, the analog triggers can be used to map a few optics related buttons, and most of the keys are duplicates or not necessary when analog comes into play

in short... yes, ive mapped EVERYTHING to the controller, the only issues i have relating to it are UI related and i cant imagine BI wouldnt make a few UI and control tweaks to make it 100% controller friendly because theyre really going to be alienated a lot of people if they dont... since its only a few minor tweaks that would be necessary to make this 100% controller compatible, ill simply not play arma unless those modifications are made, theyd lose me as a customer and many other people i know especially since i know for a fact it CAN be completely mapped to a controller

and you know... as much as these mouse/keyboard guys try to convince others it cant be despite never having tried to do it themselves, im wondering who theyre trying to convince a keyboard absolutely must be used, me? or themselves?

[paragraphic l 2]

Making a case for controllers is easier if you don't come across so hostile.

So far I've managed to get most keys replaced on my controller, ongoing process since ARMA1 (2006).

I've used tools like xpadder, but it isn't necessary I believe. With the default x360 keys as they are recognised by windows/arma I manage to do most actions.

What is necesarry for 100% usage is to allow for proper UI controls.

The gear menu is not usable with a controller right now.

Do I see an easy way to change this? Not sure, you can do it like Elder scrolls games, but the game just doesn't pause and online this would be a HUGE disadventage.

What else? Well you need to make compromises.

I don't have the room on my x360 controller for a dedicated 'step over/vault' key for example.

*This could probably be solved by BIS making it a conditional action instead, but it is a lot of work I recon.

How about the new stances with the modifier key. I couldn't figure that one out on the controller yet either.

So it's fairly obvious that if you want to play with a controller you have to make compromises AND have to be really creative to get the most out of your keys.

Can I complete missions using only a controller, yes. But I have to use my mouse to start the mission in the first place.

Would it be awesome to play ARMA with only a controller starting from launching in Steam's Big Picture mode, Hell yeah.

Edit: Noticed one major ommision here; I mostly play as FPS. So 1st person running, driving, flying, diving. But not commanding. If I do it is online over mic with coop buddies. So this actually is still a really limited part of the game which I've tried and image it being even less than optimal with those instances. Using the map, placing markers, waypoints. Giving orders to different team members. No I do not seeing that happening either. And I guess that is what a lot of people seem to forget, that arma also needs to somehow cater to that audience and functionality.

Edited March 18, 2013 by ParaGraphic L

[BurntByHellfire 1]

i have the modifier key mapped just fine and i do have extra buttons i can map step over too, also have the lean mapped, and i sprint automatically when im in the full forward position, with a couple UI tweaks i can easily free up a few more buttons... so theres PLENTY of buttons on the 360 controller, anyone who says it cant be done simply doesnt know what theyre talking about as theyre most like the mouse/keyboard elitist type that gets offended on the thought of using a controller.. but thats their hangup.. ill continue stomping them online at their own games and sit back and be comfortable doing it...

as for the mic simply have a hands-free feature that will automatically open voice communication when a certain threshold has been met in the volume of your microphone (talking), such as what they do on console games and it works quite fine, there really doesnt need to be a button for any game for this unless the game was made before 2000...

the key to making the controller work very well would require xpadder, and with this you can set up advanced control schemes you just cant do in arma 3 itself.. for example, pull the left trigger a small distance and it brings up the aiming down the sight, pull it a bit further and you zoom... for the sake of making this more stable, and not have your zoom distance fluctuate whenever your finger slightly moves, with xpadder you can set up certain "zones" for different levels of zoom

instead of using the d-pad left and right to lean as someone mentioned, i simply move the left thumbstick left and right while clicking it in.. xpadder allows you to press one button and while its pressed turn your entire controller into a different control scheme to access even more functions, so while holding the left bumper my left thumb stick then becomes a stance modifier, as the left bumper then brings up a list of less important functions... because the goal here is to have the majority of your moving, shooting, and general infantry work be easily accessible... as i seriously doubt you need to bring up the map or compass while someones literally shooting at you mapping these to the face buttons while that left trigger is pressed is quite easy as it essentially doubles your buttons/axis'

i would just assume make the A button the button you need to step over objects, and for now while that left trigger is held it becomes the button to access something, allowing the d-pad to select the item i wish to select... of course, simple UI tweaks would eliminate the need of this entirely by allowing the A button to handle both functions by default based on whether or not im actually facing a container, and allowing me to click on a container AND THEN select specifically what i wish to access would make it a lot simpler, more intuitive, and easier to use

so really, theres a LOT you can do with a combination of the games configuration settings and xpadder is a definite must to make this work, so to make the game itself natively gamepad friendly i would like to see them implement some of these features into the game control configurations themselves and make those few UI tweaks and i think with that they could easily build a default xbox 360 control scheme that wouldnt need to use the keyboard for ANYTHING.. unless of course you wanted to type a text message in which case theyll want a keyboard anyway

im more than willing to help BI work on an intuitive default controller setup for this game that wont leave anything out and be simple and easy to use, having virtually no learning curve of the control scheme for people that use controllers on other FPS games but ive done about all i can do on my end, its all up to them to make those tweaks to the UI to make it more controller friendly, and expanding the customizability of the controls

lastly, im also working on using a one-handed controller for my left hand that will include an analog thumbstick, analog trigger, bumper, a few face buttons and a D-pad to use with a mouse to have the comfort and intuitiveness of the controller with the precision of the mouse

[skydive 1]

Does anyone know of a way to copy / import the XBox 360 Controller profile from ArmA 2 into ArmA 3? I liked the mappings in ArmA 2, but the ones in ArmA 3 don't make sense in addition to not working well at all with flying helicopters / planes. Is there a file somewhere that can simply be copied to the ArmA 3 directories to resolve this or is it something the devs should be made aware of to correct somewhere along the line?

[Cr4z33 1]

I just made a simple little Xpadder profile for this

Thanks mate I just got Xpadder and now flying helicopters in the Alpha is way better (although the sensitivity of pitching is too high)!

[doveman 7]

i have the modifier key mapped just fine and i do have extra buttons i can map step over too, also have the lean mapped, and i sprint automatically when im in the full forward position, with a couple UI tweaks i can easily free up a few more buttons... so theres PLENTY of buttons on the 360 controller, anyone who says it cant be done simply doesnt know what theyre talking about as theyre most like the mouse/keyboard elitist type that gets offended on the thought of using a controller.. but thats their hangup.. ill continue stomping them online at their own games and sit back and be comfortable doing it...

as for the mic simply have a hands-free feature that will automatically open voice communication when a certain threshold has been met in the volume of your microphone (talking), such as what they do on console games and it works quite fine, there really doesnt need to be a button for any game for this unless the game was made before 2000...

the key to making the controller work very well would require xpadder, and with this you can set up advanced control schemes you just cant do in arma 3 itself.. for example, pull the left trigger a small distance and it brings up the aiming down the sight, pull it a bit further and you zoom... for the sake of making this more stable, and not have your zoom distance fluctuate whenever your finger slightly moves, with xpadder you can set up certain "zones" for different levels of zoom

instead of using the d-pad left and right to lean as someone mentioned, i simply move the left thumbstick left and right while clicking it in.. xpadder allows you to press one button and while its pressed turn your entire controller into a different control scheme to access even more functions, so while holding the left bumper my left thumb stick then becomes a stance modifier, as the left bumper then brings up a list of less important functions... because the goal here is to have the majority of your moving, shooting, and general infantry work be easily accessible... as i seriously doubt you need to bring up the map or compass while someones literally shooting at you mapping these to the face buttons while that left trigger is pressed is quite easy as it essentially doubles your buttons/axis'

i would just assume make the A button the button you need to step over objects, and for now while that left trigger is held it becomes the button to access something, allowing the d-pad to select the item i wish to select... of course, simple UI tweaks would eliminate the need of this entirely by allowing the A button to handle both functions by default based on whether or not im actually facing a container, and allowing me to click on a container AND THEN select specifically what i wish to access would make it a lot simpler, more intuitive, and easier to use

so really, theres a LOT you can do with a combination of the games configuration settings and xpadder is a definite must to make this work, so to make the game itself natively gamepad friendly i would like to see them implement some of these features into the game control configurations themselves and make those few UI tweaks and i think with that they could easily build a default xbox 360 control scheme that wouldnt need to use the keyboard for ANYTHING.. unless of course you wanted to type a text message in which case theyll want a keyboard anyway

im more than willing to help BI work on an intuitive default controller setup for this game that wont leave anything out and be simple and easy to use, having virtually no learning curve of the control scheme for people that use controllers on other FPS games but ive done about all i can do on my end, its all up to them to make those tweaks to the UI to make it more controller friendly, and expanding the customizability of the controls

lastly, im also working on using a one-handed controller for my left hand that will include an analog thumbstick, analog trigger, bumper, a few face buttons and a D-pad to use with a mouse to have the comfort and intuitiveness of the controller with the precision of the mouse

I tried using modifiers in Xpadder for a bit but found that it's too hard, for myself and my friends anyway, to remember all the different combinations, i.e. Hold Left Stick+A for Map, Left Stick+B for GPS, etc so we just use voice control now as it's so easy to just say "Open Map", "Open GPS", etc. I encourage everyone, whether using a controller or not, to have a look at VAC http://www.dwvac.com/

Anyway, if you've got some good xpadder profiles perhaps you'd care to share them like Screwby kindly did?