Alt Controller (EN)

German version

Alt Controller is a tool that lets the user define several areas which trigger keystrokes so that he can control games without the need to use a keyboard. Control areas can even beplaced above each other to allow the triggering of several actions at the same time.

Prerequisites

• ability to move the mouse arrow. Headmice and eye-trackers do work.
• Windows scaling must be turned off.
• .NET Framework 4.0 Client (comes with the tool)
• XNA Framework Redistributable 4.0 (comes with the tool)

Functionality

For a first time user Alt Controller may appear a bit overwhelming but the accompanying users manual is thorough and well written which is the reason I won't go into a lot of detail regarding how Alt Controller is used.

Action Areas

In short Alt Controller lets you set up regions that trigger user-defined actions. Regions are created by loading a screenshot of the game in question and painting the rectangular areas with the mouse. The areas may overlap each other with the resulting effect that all actions of areas the mouse-arrow is resting on are performed.

Custom windows

With Alt Controller it is possible (and easy) to create custom windows with buttons that enable you to activate actions like a button that switches Alt Controller on or off. These windows may even consist of several pages which can be switched (just include a button with some kind of ’turn page’ functionality). This is an interesting opportunity to build buttons that send predefined messages into chatboxes of online games.

Demonstration videos

Introduction video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUpIXizxOw4

Creation of custom windows

http://youtu.be/KT1nWIbkBZw

Some advice

• Alt Controller does not recognize keypresses from some on-screen keyboards
• Should the cursor-keys of the number-keypad not work, make sure the NumLock is off.
• Regions (areas) are defined in percentage of the screen, not in pixels. 0,0 represents top-left, 100,100 represents bottom-right.
• Screenshots of the game in question can be made with the game running and pressing Alt and Control simultaneously. Paste it into Microsoft Paint or any other imaging application and save it for further use with Alt Controller.

Website

http://www.gamebase.info/magazine/read/introducing-alt-controller_554.html