Extra controllers go backward in menus?

[Stopdoor]

Hey, so I'm trying to sync up 12 controllers to the game. I have luck up to 11 controllers, but then can't get the game to recognize any of my other few controllers. The most annoying part of it is it seems like any button on one of the "non-synced" controllers makes it go back a menu, or sometimes start the game if I press the wrong button on another controller (easy to get confused with so many).

Does it make sense that extra controllers would cause the game to go back to the previous menu? Makes it a bit frustrating to figure out how to sync the last controller when I'm going back in the menu or accidentally starting the game early.

[Roman]

The cause

This is a limitation of the Unity Engine. It simply can't deal with more than 11 controllers.

I am sorry that you had to go through testing this out. I should probably start an FAQ section on the website. This question seems obvious in hindsight as 11 is right next to 12, but I hadn't thought about this in a while, since I mostly play on one keyboard or touchscreen. I do not know why the 12th controller just sends the two commands you mentioned though, but I do know that it won't be of much use.

What you can do is to have two players use one controller. There is also an option to allow inputs from the joysticks in the options menu. It will allow you to fit even more players than you have buttons on one controller and works best with digital joysticks. It is disabled by default because some gamepads may just keep sending input commands for certain axis, so players will join and leave randomly.

Workarounds

If you want each player to have their own controller, there are three workarounds I can think of.

1.
Give one player a keyboard, or a separate numpad, or similar. Most keys will be accepted as input.

2.
Give one player a mouse. Right and Middle Click will be accepted as input.

3.
More complicated, but maybe more to your liking: Use an additional tool to make the 12th controller simulate keystrokes instead. This may circumvent the 11 controller limitation, although I can not test this myself for a lack of that many controllers. For example, I use the tool DS4Windows to be able to use Playstation 4 controllers on my PC. This tool is also able to map any gamepad button to any key on the keyboard. Which tool you need will be different for each controller / operating system combination. If you tell me which one you use, I may be able to recommend something



Again, sorry you had to test this. I hope one of these workarounds can help you.

[Stopdoor]

Hmm, ok, that's a shame about the engine limit. I've been testing out Obliteracers (which I think uses Unreal engine though) which does 16 players so I was excited to have another use for all the controllers, haha.

Those are some fair workarounds though, I'll probably be able to take advantage of one of them. Glad you've put so much effort into controls and there's still some decent options!

[Roman]

Just checked, Obliteracers seems to be using Unreal Engine 4. Still good to know that it works for them though, I will take this into consideration the next time I have to choose an engine. I was very surprised myself when I learned that this is a limitation, especially since 11 is such an odd number.

[Roman]

Ah just noticed you already spoke of Unreal. They could have chosen less similar names :-)

[Stopdoor]

No problem! 11 is an odd number, for sure. Better than 4 at least!

[perfect_genius]

Будешь портировать с Unity на Unreal?

[Roman]

@perfect_genius

Definitely not worth it at this point :-)

[The Skipper]

What controllers are you using? I have been unable to get more than 4 xbo controllers to work correctly.

[Roman]

This should actullay work, although I have not tested it myself yet. If this is really a problem, I'll try to get my hand on some Xbox controllers. But before I do:

Have you tested if the controllers can be used to add new players in the "Player Select" menu, or have you only tried to control the menus? And if not, can you please try?

The menus handle controllers in a more standardized way, which allows them to know which axis is which, were left and right should be and so on. But that way to handle controllers also introduces limits such as the often seen no-more-than-4 Xbox controllers.

The Player Select screen handles controllers in a more chaotic fashion, where buttons are just buttons and not, for example, A-B-X-Y buttons. The downside is that the buttons can't be properly named in the menu, but the upside should be that the usual limits do not apply, and any type of controller can be used.

If adding players does not work, please also let me know if you use Windows 10 or something older. There may be differences in how many Xbox controllers are supported.

[♡LuisMa♡]

nice