X3TC controller D-pad stops working properly

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Majestik
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat, 15. Mar 25, 23:42

X3TC controller D-pad stops working properly

Post by Majestik »

I encountered a strange bug where the D-pad stops functioning properly and ignores the fact that the Sidebar is open. Instead of allowing me to navigate the Sidebar menu, it's controlling the ship (example: D-pad DOWN initiates docking instead of navigating down in the menu) This makes it incredibly frustrating and difficult to navigate the Sidebar as the only buttons that work are B, A and D-pad UP. Outside of the Sidebar, eg. flying the ship etc. and navigating the settings menu the controller works fine. Except... the controller will stop working entirely if you try to change the controller bindings while this bug is present. (More Info added in the Note below)


Game version: X3TC (Steam) version 3.4 2017
Controller: PS4 Wireless

Playing through Steam with PS4 support enabled. (Steam emulates it as an Xbox360 controller and the game detects it as such. That's normal behavior)


I was able to replicate this bug in 2-ways:
1st Way: Play as Terran Defender doing missions. At some point you will be asked to dock at Orbital Patrol Base (sector: Jupiter). (It's not specific to the mission. It can happen at any station dock.) As soon as I undocked, the controller D-pad bindings stopped functioning correctly. (Reloading a previous save, repeating this process consistently caused the bug.)
2nd Way: Save game while docked at any station. Exit game and launch it again. Load save. D-pad broken. (Inconsistent)


Here is how I fixed it (temporarily):
- (in-game) Settings > Controller
- re-bind each individual controller action, including the sticks and save the changes.
Mine were always set to default so I literally just had to re-assign them to default again. Even if the binding itself didn't visually change in the settings, it somehow fixed the bug.

NOTE: This fix only works until the next time you load a save file and undocking breaks it again. Then you have to repeat the process.



NOTE #2: When rebinding the controller actions, make sure you don't rebind the B button first, as that will somehow prevent all controller bindings from functioning except the B button. If you messed up and changed B first, you will have to use a mouse & keyboard to finish rebinding the controller actions.
Last edited by Majestik on Fri, 11. Apr 25, 14:03, edited 1 time in total.
Majestik
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat, 15. Mar 25, 23:42

Re: X3TC controller D-pad stops working properly

Post by Majestik »

Update #1: Issue seems to be related to saving/loading controller bindings, since rebinding them temporarily fixes the issue. I played with it for a few days and loading a save file would always break the controller after undocking. I made sure that the profile file on the disk drive had read & write access.

I'm assuming that the game changes your controls when undocking to put you from "station interaction mode" into a "flight mode" and that switch doesn't account for the fact that while flying, you also have Sidebar access.




I've stopped playing with controller now, mainly because aiming is much easier with a mouse. I'm not expecting a fix for this but if anyone wants to play with a controller, just remember to rebind all your actions when it breaks.

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