Wii Remote with Steam Big Picture Mode?

[Ness_and_Sonic]

With Steam's Big Picture mode having remapping capabilities, has anyone worked on trying to get Wii remote pluses and Nunchuk controllers be used as DS4, Steam controller, or as a generic controller for use in Steam Big Picture Mode? If so, what set up did you use?

[Tank Squirrel]

Yes, xpadder can do it with glovepie.
But you will have to be a very good software engineer.

[Ness_and_Sonic]

Glovepie's not been updated for quite some time and isn't Xpadder a commercial Xbox Controller thing? Wiinusoft gets it to work as an Xbox Controller, but I feel like that doesn't make the most of its potential. I'm actually wanting to rig it up as an official DS4 over an Xbox controller because I figure with the touchpad in the middle, I'd be able to make the most of it from Big Picture Mode. I know there's a newer alternative to Glovepie called Freepie, but I don't know much about how to set it up or use it. The main reason I'm interested in using it with Big Picture Mode is Steam automatically applies binding for each game and it's easy to adjust the binding while playing.

[one of us]

Any of the available options are able to send Wiimote and nunchuk inputs as either generic or 360 gamepad commands. I'm not aware of any software that would output AS a PS4 or SC, and to me that seems like an unnecessary layer when you're gaming on a PC, even when it's for the sake of simplicity. I do suppose it would be nice to directly map to the gyro controls, but there are other ways to do that, and I think in general you're going to want your Wiimote acting as a mouse anyway. I mean every PC game supports keyboard and mouse.
I've personally used GlovePIE and ppjoy for over 10 years, (FreePIE and vjoy are probably as versatile) but ultimately what I think you're going to find is that in terms of gamepad controls, you really only want that handling the analog joystick, (any analog only input really, for games that support it) and the rest sending keyboard and mouse commands.
A strictly gamepad setup is far too limiting, especially considering the fact you have less buttons to work with, and the button layout. The obvious benefit to this is that your IR pointer becomes a very comfortable way to accurately control your PC's mouse with no drifting at all, and gesture commands.
So to (not) answer your question, I'd look at it under a different light. It's the same way anyone well versed with the Steam controller would tell you 'Don't think gamepad, think keyboard and mouse.'
I love Steam's API as well, but when you're using a Wiimote and nunchuk, you're going to want your config at a lower level. Read up as much as you can on the PIE programs and you won't regret it. Most importantly, don't buy software from lunatics. :)

[Ness_and_Sonic]

I do know there are some limitations on the Wii remote and nunchuk in terms of buttons and lack of a second analog stick and triggers, but I did figure the motion controls and IR aiming could make up for it if there was a way to get it fully working as a Steam Controller or as PS4 controller with some of that functionality assigned to the controller's counterpart like the Steam Controller's grips or PS4's touchpad. IR aiming would likely be assigned to joystick mouse in many cases. Trial and error work would be easier with such functionality as I'd be able to just hit the home button and rework the bindings until I got something that worked. It makes me wish the Steam client had native support for it. Anyway, thanks for the advice.

[one of us]

I'll leave my default 'template' as an example here. I know ppjoy probably isn't the easiest route in terms of setup, but would absolutely provide the most functionality and flexibility.

PPJoy1.Digital0 = Wiimote1.B
PPJoy1.Digital1 = Wiimote1.A
PPJoy1.Digital2 = Wiimote1.Nunchuk.ZButton
PPJoy1.Digital3 = Wiimote1.Nunchuk.CButton
PPJoy1.Digital4 = Wiimote1.Up
PPJoy1.Digital5 = Wiimote1.Down
PPJoy1.Digital6 = Wiimote1.Left
PPJoy1.Digital7 = Wiimote1.Right
PPJoy1.Digital8 = Wiimote1.Minus
PPJoy1.Digital9 = Wiimote1.Plus
PPJoy1.Digital10 = Wiimote1.One
PPJoy1.Digital11 = Wiimote1.Two
PPJoy1.Digital12 = Wiimote1.Home
PPJoy1.Analog0 = (Wiimote1.Nunchuk.JoyX*1)
PPJoy1.Analog1 = (Wiimote1.Nunchuk.JoyY*1)

You'll notice that everything is mapped to generic gamepad buttons and axis, but keep in mind that you could also map those inputs to keystrokes or even both at the same time. So the eventual end result of this script on execution is GlovePIE emulating a full generic windows gamepad named 'PPJOY virtual joystick' with 12 buttons and X and Y axis for an analog joystick, all of which you could configure with Steam's API since it now supports generic controllers. You would in your above example config the home button to 'PPJOY virtual joystick's guide button, and when you hit the home button, GlovePIE would tell ppjoy to hit Digital12, where Steam knows now to treat that as the guide.
This is sort of what I mean by that extra layer though, because personally because I only use the analog functions and KB+M for everything else, I'd just quickly change the script and run it again.

[Ness_and_Sonic]

I think I might have found a script for Wii remote and nunchuck a while ago, but I had some trouble getting it working. Couldn't get it to detect anything with Freepie and VJoy. I'll take another look at it and compare it to your script to see if I can get anywhere with it.

[one of us]

If you're set on FreePIE keep in mind that that's a different scripting language entirely, with a different gamepad engine. (vJoy, not PPJoy)
Also as far as I know, FreePIE never figured out support for the IR camera, just the gyroscope.. and that's a dealbreaker for me. I could be wrong. But yes vJoy would essentially do the same thing.

[Ness_and_Sonic]

Guess I'll look into seeing if I can find Glovepie and see if I can get it working with vjoy and Windows 10, then. My concern is a number of old programs can be a bit iffy over time.

[one of us]

That's honestly a legitimate concern here, especially should you choose the GlovePIE and PPJoy route. vJoy will not work with GlovePIE, and while GlovePIE apparently will work on Win 10, I cannot personally guarantee that PPJoy would work along with it.. but in my opinion it is absolutely worth trying for it. I'll admit I'm also curious of the results, heh.
The PPJoy driver requires test signing certificates (on Win 8 it forces Windows test mode) but I also remember having to go back to 0.8.4.5 for one reason or another. There is plenty of information on the blog and is even open source now, so catch yourself up and good luck.
This is graveyard-ware we're dealing with though so be prepared for searching through Wayback Machine for information and scripts. To be fair, as perfect a PC controller the Wiimote is, we are now dealing with legacy hardware here. You also can't do IR triangulation to eliminate gyro drifting when you put the camera on the ass end of the joycon either. :)

https://pastebin.com/15iZsWhv

There are other GUI based options as you know. Justin Keys just added very basic IR pointing to both of his programs, Touchmote just pushed a fix for Windows 10.. that said, they don't yet offer nearly the kind of control you have with PIE.

[Ness_and_Sonic]

I was able to find this: https://github.com/AndersMalmgren/FreePIE/wiki/Reference
It looks like IR tracking is in it judging on the variables there.

[one of us]

https://github.com/AndersMalmgren/FreePIE/issues/136
https://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=139&t=18342

[Ness_and_Sonic]

My concerns about Glovepie and PPJoy are mentioned here: http://vjoystick.sourceforge.net/site/index.php/forum/5-Discussion/373-vjoy-and-glovepie
I looked at Glovepie in a hex editor to see if I could find anything about Vjoy in the code, but closest I got was PPjoy.

[one of us]

Also completely legitimate reservations. Carl seems to struggle with separating his work from his political views, and from what I've seen that's even got him kicked off of a number of projects. The Wii remote on PC scene has had a number of rather eccentric individuals over the years. *cough*
Politics aside, the check he put into GlovePIE is easy to bypass, fwiw. I personally still default to it because when you know what you're doing, it offers far more.

[Ness_and_Sonic]

While the regionlock was implemented for one incredibly pathetic reason, that wasn't my concern. It was mentioned that PPjoy is unstable in Windows 7. I get this feeling it wouldn't be much better in Windows 10 64-bit. As a result, I'd rather avoid PPJoy if possible. I just wish I knew if Glovepie was compatible with Vjoy without needing to install PPJoy in some manner. Vjoy isn't mentioned in the exe at all Glovepie's code.

[one of us]

I see. Well I can only speak to my own experiences to where I would flat out disagree with it being unstable on Windows 7, as that's mostly what I've used it with on several different hardware setups. That said, again we won't know how it works on 10 until someone tries it out. GlovePIE isn't compatible with vJoy at all. You could try running both at the same time as long as functions don't interfere, but honestly that's gonna be a bigger pita than disabling signature enforcement and maybe a manual driver installation.
Maybe I'll round up some of the scripts I've written as examples of how powerful and flexible PIE is. If you're not looking for any adventure however, there are other options on the table that support the camera.