HOW TO: Play with 2 people on 1 keyboard, or 2-4 people with 2 keyboards.

[TurielD]

Hey all.
As a non-controller-owning peasant, I naively bought this game thinking that I could play local co-op by binding a second set of controls to some other keyboard keys and playing split-keyboard, or with an extra USB keyboard.
Needless to say I was very disappointed when I couldn't play this game with someone sitting next to me without a controller, so I spent half a day figuring out a workaround.
I thought I'd share it here:

This method relies on two 3rd party programs which together emulate an Xbox 360 controller through keystrokes:
The first is 'Vjoy', which translates key-presses in to a joystick format. It's available for download here http://www.headsoft.com.au/index.php?category=vjoy
The second is x360ce, which converts the input from other controller types in to data which is recognized as a 360 controller. It is available for download here http://www.x360ce.com/Files/x360ce.zip

Instructions:

1: download and install Vjoy. It may require you to restart your computer.

2: When it has been downloaded, start the application. It will show you a config screen where you can assign keys to certain functions of the 'joystick'.

3: For 2 players, you should fill in the following: http://i.imgur.com/pLztVdx.png
(I'll get to 3- and 4-player setups at the end, but for now this is all you need for basic multiplayer functionality without a controller.)
Finally, click the save .ini in the bottom-left corner, so that you can re-load this configuration anytime you need to start vjoy up.
Now your computer is ready to accept key-presses as if they are some kind of controller. The next step is to trick the game in to accepting them!

4: Download X360ce. It's in the form of a zip, which contains 1 file. Extract that file to your game's base folder. That means put it next to the .exe file, like so: http://i.imgur.com/uRIlYem.png

5: run the x360ce.exe file, which will show this error message: ttps:/i.imgur.com/pMknIke.png
press the 'create' button to auto-generate a .dll file which is needed for the program to interact with the game.

6: If Vjoy is running, or if you start Vjoy, you will then see the following screen: http://i.imgur.com/72UqmZ1.png
just click 'next' to allow x360ce to get a standard config from online to work with Vjoy and then press 'finish'.

7: Set up x360ce to interpret the only buttons which matter: http://i.imgur.com/rVIZEnh.png then save (bottom right).
Test that everything is working, hit the 8456 keys on your numpad (check your numlock!), and the x360ce interface should show movement on the left stick.

8: Close x360ce, and press 'OK' in Vjoy. Vjoy will still be running in the background, but x360ce doesn't need to be running - it will start when the game does!

9: Start Overcooked! If everything has gone as planned, you will now be able to activate a second set of controls by hitting the / key, which is pretending to be the A button on a controller. You can now play with one player using WASD and ctrl/space, and a second player using 8456 for movement and ./;' for AXBY !

To play with 3 players, you'll want to make use of a second emulated controller. this will need to be configured like so:
https://i.imgur.com/Z272MAw.png
https://i.imgur.com/U228jcu.png

That sets up player 3 to control the game with the TFGH and 1234 for the XAYB buttons.
4 players are also possible (perhaps IJKL ansd 5678?) though I haven't tried that yet as I don't have a 4th player around :)

[leirbag]

oooo man thx ... thx, it works, excellent.
Finally I can play with my brother in the same Pc and keyboard.

Ona question you how I can change the buttons... I mean, I have problems with play with ctrl, speace bar and alt.

Thx

[TurielD]

Heya - they actually released a patch which lets you set up 2-players-on-one-keyboard in the base game!

Changing the keys for player 1 is, so far as I know, not possible. It's really *really* meant to be a controller game.

[Lisan Al-Gaib]

i dont know why it doesnt show the control working so.... i dont know what to do

[mecart]

I was about to cry when I found out vJoy controllers weren't working... but thanks to your tip about x360ce, now it seems I'll be able to play with 4 Gamecube controllers with the WiiU Gamecube adapter and its vJoy drivers!!! Thanks Thanks Thanks a bunch! :)

[a.broken.condom]

Hi, just wanted to say thanks for your excellent guide!
Despite the split keyboard 2 player mode being enabled in this mode; my friend was really (really) keen for 4 players to join in for our small Christmas house party tomorrow. With no spare controllers, and only 1 extra spare keyboard, my brain was wondering how to pull it off, but your clever solution has made my/our day!

[Palitaw]

Thank you so much! Ive been trying searching for tutorials and this one worked so well.Now me and my friends can play.thank you again! <3

[ITakeOutTrash]

Originally posted by Sugarglaze:

Thank you so much! Ive been trying searching for tutorials and this one worked so well.Now me and my friends can play.thank you again! <3

Did your's work? mine didnt for some reason

[mckelveyj37]

I got it all set up correctly, and it works when testing in the apps, but then when I load up the game, and successfully add the controller to the game we're playing so it becomes a two player game, my added character is stuck moving to the right. I can press the key to move him left and then he constantly runs left. Doesn't ever stop running in the direction that I tell him to go.

Any suggestions on how to get this part to work?

[CQD]

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the necro post, but I wanted to add our experience with this solution. I initially followed the instructions above without success until I used a newer version of x360ce (14.10 alpha). Then everything fell into place.

We're now able to have 4 players with a combination of overcooked's built in split keyboard and additional players using vjoy+x360ce virtual controllers.

We can also use parsec, so we're able to play on 4 different computers in the house over a gigabit lan without any noticeable lag. The non-host computers each run vjoy+x360ce and show up as controller players via parsec.

We recently added in a real xbox-one controller for our TV, and that works great too. Haven't had any major control issues as described above. Will follow up if we encounter any.

Thanks to the original poster for the help getting this setup!

Ben

[Florence Bishnoi]

does this work if its a windows store bought game?

[swiftangelx]

Guys I have tried this and had lots of problems with x360ce and Overcooked2. I had a few instances of incorrect signals being sent between the controllers.

I havent tested it out yet, but it looks like XOutput replaces both x360ce and Vjoy and looks like its working. Have to test it out on a full 4 player game with everyone mashing the keys, but my initial testing is promising!

Download at https://sourceforge.net/projects/xoutput/

[Maycelee]

Originally posted by swiftangelx:

Guys I have tried this and had lots of problems with x360ce and Overcooked2. I had a few instances of incorrect signals being sent between the controllers.

I havent tested it out yet, but it looks like XOutput replaces both x360ce and Vjoy and looks like its working. Have to test it out on a full 4 player game with everyone mashing the keys, but my initial testing is promising!

Download at https://sourceforge.net/projects/xoutput/

Hi! How did you map the LX and LY axes. Im really having a hard time finding something that would work because for some reason Vjoy stopped working despite it working around a week ago.