i have 2 monitors, 1 kb&mouse & controller on the other monitor.
ill play games with my girlfriend, but if i decide to alt tab out or do something else than have it how its setup, the input wont stay in that game. how can i do this?
did you try checking sk’s continue rendering feature for the game ?
that normally allows the game to continue rendering in the background and gamepad input can stay on the game
also, make sure steam input is disabled for the game in the steam client…
beyond that, you may also block specific input to the game:
well i just rechecked, its coming up as a raw input, im using a xbox one controller in usb.
huh ? raw input could show up in the sk cp menu simply from moving the mouse…
did you check, and by check i mean enable, sk’s continue rendering feature ? as shown in the first screenshot i posted
and did you ensure that steam input is not enabled for the game ?
yeah i made sure both of them were checked. i had it that way before i posted here, but if im doing something on the other screen her inputs will take over.
made sure both of them were checked ? you mean you had sk’s continue rendering enabled for the game and you had steam’s steam input enabled for the game ?
having steam input enabled for a game was known to prevent the game from getting gamepad input while in the background (or when you click outside the game) despite having sk’s continue rendering feature enabled, so steam input needed to be disabled for the game in the steam client.
that said, I just tested with a game and the game is still keeping gamepad input after i click on another window on another monitor if i got sk’s continue rendering feature enabled for the game; even if i have steam input enabled for the game. i guess some steam update made this work at some point.
Edit: actually it appears that sk had an update to workaround that issue with steam input so that the game could still retain gamepad input even with steam input enabled…
however, if it’s still not working for you and you had steam input enabled for the game, i’d suggest to try with steam input disabled for the game in the steam client and/or ensure that you’re using a recent version of special k.
also, you didn’t say what game this was… but it could be that it’s something with the game too…
sorry forgot that i posted this here. so its any game. and it seems to really only have the problem when i have windows settings opened, or something specially from the windows system itself.
like anything that has winui (i think thats what its called, i havent checked anything more than just whats visible, like looking for classes or process names.
also when this was going on, it might have changed from the time i first started the thread but, steam is usually not running.
so heres a scenario, my girlfriend will be playing a game, like hollow knight or deaths door or any of them, doesnt matter the title, gamepad input will eventually bleed out of the process (her game) and if i happen to open settings, her inputs will usually change some setting in settings…
im at a loss, ive tried every type of configuration possible, ive read the faqs,wikis,source code and i cant figure it out…
hmm i kinda wish you had given those details sooner…
in your first post in this thread, you said “input wont stay in that game” and, after you said that, i thought you meant that the game wasn’t retaining gamepad input while it was in the background… and sk’s “continue rendering” feature can allow a game to retain gamepad input in that case
but i see what you’ve described in your last post here is a different situation…
it’s also not something caused by sk.
in fact, the game “hollow knight” is a game that continues rendering in the background and retains gamepad input while some other window is focused.
the game “hollow knight” doesn’t really need sk’s “continue rendering” feature, but yeah if you open or click on windows 11’s settings window or some other winUI window… and press the buttons or arrows on an xbox controller… the gamepad input is going to apply to the winUI window too; not just the game. i can reproduce it too.
basically windows has some gamepad support for uwp/winUI windows (such as windows 11’s settings window) and it’s enabled by default.
anyway, i believe now that what you want is for your gamepad to be disabled for winUI windows (but still work with games…)
that can be done in the windows registry, so… you may want to backup your registry… and then you could download, double click on, and use this “disable_gamepad_for_winUI_or_uwp.reg” file that i’ve created:
disable_gamepad_for_winUI_or_uwp.reg (347 Bytes)
and if you want your gamepad to work again with the winUI windows, you could download, double click on, and use this “enable_gamepad_for_winUI_or_uwp.reg” file that i’ve created:
enable_gamepad_for_winUI_or_uwp.reg (334 Bytes)
this is what those .reg files have:
you can also right click those .reg files and select “Edit in Notepad” to see what’s inside
but basically by default people may have this:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Input\Settings\ControllerProcessor\
and if you double click on and use the “disable_gamepad_for_winUI_or_uwp.reg” file, you’d get this in the registry:
it creates a new ControllerToVKMapping key and adds the Enabled data item with a value of 0
and it can take effect basically right away (without needing a pc restart). you could test your gamepad in windows 11’s settings window and see that your gamepad input is no longer applying there or in other winUI windows…
after that, if you double click on and use the “enable_gamepad_for_winUI_or_uwp.reg” file, you’d get this in the registry (the “Enabled” data item / value gets removed):
which basically right away (without needing a pc restart) allows gamepads to work again in uwp apps / winUI windows (such as windows 11’s settings window)
you can do it manually yourself or use the .reg files that i’ve attached; up to you…
oh and, while i’ve created the .reg files i’ve attached here, the registry solution was actually given by a microsoft engineer / posted in microsoft’s changelog and the windows insiders blog some years ago:
https://github.com/microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml/issues/1495#issuecomment-745586048
Changes and Improvements
- Based on feedback, (GitHub issue #1495) we’re adding an option to disable automatic controller-to-virtual-key mapping for UWP apps. If you have a need to do this, add the following registry key, with a DWORD value of Enabled set to 0:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Input\Settings\ControllerProcessor\ControllerToVKMapping.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-insider/active-dev-branch#changes-and-improvements-17
I believe that can give you what you want. it works for me at least on windows 11.
i don’t believe that registry method posted by microsoft works on windows 10.
for windows 10, there’s another registry approach you could try that someone else posted (involving getting your gamepad’s ID first etc):
https://github.com/microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml/issues/1495#issuecomment-1407745758
or this third-party tool could work:
https://github.com/BlueAmulet/XInputUWPFix
but keep in mind the page for that XInputUWPFix tool mentioned that it uses a global hook that anti-virus or anti-cheat software may complain about…
so, instead of that XInputUWPFix tool, the registry approach might be best.
to recap…
games may continue rendering in the background and retain gamepad input (some games may do that on their own. the game “hollow knight” does that on its own for example; otherwise, you could also enable that behavior with sk’s “continue rendering” feature).
however, at least windows 10/11 has some gamepad support for uwp/winUI windows (such as windows 11’s settings window) and it’s enabled by default. clicking on such a window while someone else is using a gamepad with a game that’s in the background may result in the gamepad input applying to the winUI window too; not just the game.
if you want gamepad input to be disabled for winUI windows, you can use my disable_gamepad_for_winUI_or_uwp.reg file
(and my enable_gamepad_for_winUI_or_uwp.reg file if you want to re-enable the gamepad input for winUI windows)
or follow the steps to do it yourself through the windows registry…