Brawlhalla 8 players

[GYMMER]

let me ask you guys for a help. You know there's Brawlhalla (http://store.steampowered.com/app/291550/?l=portuguese) which THEORETICALLY could support up to 8 players local. However, as the game relies on the XInput API, the game is unable of detecting more than 4 controllers; I've searched a lot on the forums and Internet some way to bypass this, as this game would be a great addition on our list. Maximum i've got was 5, with the fifth player on keyboard

However, according to the DEV:

"8 player local works as long as you can get the controllers to register on your PC. By default Xinput only allows 4 controllers but there are a couple of different approaches around that.
If you search online for how to get more than 4 controllers working you'll turn up a few different routes. Hopefully one will work well for you!"


so THERE IS a way!! Has anyone figured out that??

[monokoma]

wow I did not know that Brawlhalla supports up to 8 players, i'll do some tests in the next few days! How do you connect the controllers to your PC? I'm not sure, but it could be possible to connect 8 xbox 360 controllers starting with 4 wireless ones (thanks to the adapter), and then connecting 4 USB ones

[GYMMER]

I generally use 4 wireless xbox controllers (on one USB receiver) and 4 wired controllers on one USB HUB for most games. But in this case it's not a matter of how many controllers are connected, the game will always recognizes a maximum of 4, regardless of how many controllers are actually connected to the PC. This is because the game uses XINPUT, which is only able to support 4 conrollers simultaneously. However, like the developer said, there are other ways to bypass this limit, but I just can't figure out. I know Brawhhalla does have native support for a few different controllers other than Xbox controllers , perhaps is this the answer? no clue, but I want to play this game SO HARD with a large group =/

[GYMMER]

On main menu, select "Couch Party", then under Settings, set Max Players to 8

Screen:

https://postimg.org/image/dpb01subh/gifs upload[postimage.org]


https://postimg.org/image/dpb01subh/

[tbare598]

If you can connect at least 4 of the 8 controllers via DirectInput, you can get around the limitation. I don't know what kind of wired remotes that you are using, but some non-xbox remotes that I've seen, have a switch on the back, where you can switch the input from XInput to DirectInput

[GYMMER]

Hey Tbare that's a nice idea! Do you know the model or brand of any of these controllers? If anyone here could test this scheme, please share with us the results

[tbare598]

I may have spoke too soon. I know that for most games that you have to use DirectInput for any game past 4 players, but it seems after some testing, that for Brawlhalla, they seem to be coding controllers by controllers specfically, and not by the XInput/DirectInput APIs. Which can be noted when you go into the controller settings while using different types of controllers, also if you check their release notes, they will provide details about which controllers that they are now supporting. I have 360, Xbox One, and Logitech K series remotes. The Logitech K series remotes have a switch on the back of them that allow you to switch between DirectInput and XInput. When switched to DirectInput, Brawlhalla will not detect any controllers plugged in, and when it is switched to XInput, I can only get one of my Logitech controllers to register with Brawlhalla.

[monokoma]

I also did some test with my controllers, while with other games i'm able to mix wired / wireless controllers to play with 8 players (max 4 wireless, max 4 wired), this does not work with Brawlhalla :( Some other games have an option to switch on / off XInput and that usually could help to recognize more than 4 Xbox 360 controllers, but unfortunately there is not this kind of option in this game.

[GYMMER]

It should be really simple for the developer to give as a DirectInput option, maybe we should open a thread in the forums? Not so many people are requesting it there, perhaps they'll hear us. I've got some developers changing their mind by my own just by requesting on the forums (for example, Swordy, Obliteracers and Blast Brawl 2, all of them they added DirectInput after I requested it personally) What do you guys think?

Well for the time being there is a workaround, but you'll need two PCs for it. Just connect 4 players on the first and another 4 on the second one, then choose to play over the Internet. You won't even need a second screen to play (only for charater selection), as everybody can look at the same single screen (as long as there is no laggy connection)

[monokoma]

I'd say it never hurts to ask! :)
Maybe i'll open another topic about this, but do you know if it could be possible to connect 8 wireless Xbox 360 controllers using 2 different receivers on the same PC?

[GYMMER]

Yes, it is! Each receiver recognizer 4 controllers max. But watch out, from the fifth controller and beyond, lights remain off on the controller, even when connected. Best way to check is to go to "Devices and Printers" on control panel, there you can check if all of them are recognized as you connect them

[monokoma]

Interesting, I will probably try to buy a cheap receiver, as at the moment I have 4 Wireless pads, 2 wired pads and 2 broken wireless pads that still works using the usb cable, but still need the receiver to connect to the pc

[supersmo]

This is what I've learnt so far...
Read this in order to not go down the same path and waste your time ;-)

Controller config shows max 4 gamepads

The controller config will display 4 gamepads even if more are detected.

Max what I have achieved so far

4 XInput gamepads + 1 Saitek P380 + 1Keyboard

For some reason I can't use more than 1 Saitek P380 controller because even if they are detected by the game all "Saitek players" are controlled by one of the game pads.

Input technology analysis

The game uses both XInput and DirectInput. XInput controllers are accessed through XInput API and filtered out on the DirectInput side. (So we're limited to 4 controllers just as GYMMER already pointed out.)

The game uses AS3 controller support framework which as far as I know doesn't have support for using DirectInput to access XInput devices.
The Brawlhalla team have a lot in their roadmap but adding native controller support hasn't been ruled out.

Map XInput gamepads to virtual joysticks?

vJoy
Doesn't work. If you're interested in why read on...

vJoy is detected as "Gamecube adapter for WII U" and doesn't work with more than 1 vJoy.
I contacted the developer and this was the response:
"vJoy isn't going to work. The reason it only detects one instance is because the Mayflash GameCube controller adapters, which use vJoy, get interpreted incorrectly by AS3's controller support framework (which we use for controller support). Regardless of how many controllers are actually plugged into the adapter, it will always think the max number are plugged in, e.g., if it's a 4 port adapter, it always thinks there are 4 controllers plugged in. This normally wouldn't be a problem, but there's a bug where every controller it thinks is there reads from the first port. So, sticking with the 4 port adapter example, controllers plugged into ports 2-4 all do nothing, and the controller plugged into port 1 acts like 4 controllers. Because of all that nonsense, the game intentionally ignores the extra vJoy devices that the adapter makes and acts like there's only one controller."

PPJoy
Isn't detected by the game.
With the developer's help I've tried to get the information needed to add PPJoy support to the game but it isn't working... The dev said he might try to install PPjoy on his computer and see if he can get it working on his end.

Options not explored

XBCD
If you have wired Microsoft XBox360 controllers you can install an alternative driver called XBCD. That way your controllers will only work under DirectInput. This could be a way of getting more than 4 XBox360 controllers to work with Brawlhalla, but it hasn't been tried as far as I know.
If someone tries XBCD remember to revert to the original drivers or use X360ce to make the controllers work with games requiring XInput.

Controller issues

Just for reference, here's a link to the official gamepad support page:
Supported Controllers / Having Controller Issues?

Hopfully native input support with ability to turn off XInput will be added some day...

[GYMMER]

Supersmo, that's a real research you did! Thanks for putting a lot of effort into solving this issue. It seems there's no solution for the time being other than using 2 PCs

[supersmo]

I got 8 controllers working!

Brawlhalla has issues with controllers of the same type. If there is a collision one controller will control multiple characters. It also has issues with XBox controllers being connected first.

Here's a recipe that works for me:
Disable Steam Input because Steam Input makes your controllers appear as XBox controllers to the game.
Connect controllers of different types. Max 1 of each type and not XBox controllers.
Start the game. Start an offline lobby and increase room size to 8.
Test that the controllers work and that none of them control 2 players.
Start 4 XBox controllers.

Some interesting findings:
* It treated a virtual DS4 controller different from a real DS4 controller so I could have both without collision. I checked in the device manager and saw that the product IDs (PID) were different, so it could be that controllers with different PID are treated as different controllers. In that case you could have e.g. official DS4 controllers with different version numbers and they would be treated as separate controllers.

* After I plugged in 4 real XBox360 controllers I was able to connect a real XBox One controller too. I couldn't do the same trick with virtual XBox360 or virtual XBox One. Maybe someone else has better luck.

* You can use reWASD to turn your controllers into emulated:
XBox 360
XBox One
DS4
DS3
Switch Pro

Example configuration I got working with 8 controllers:
* reWASD emualted DS4
* reWASD emualted DS3
* reWASD emualted Switch Pro
* Real DS4
* Start Game
* 4 XBox 360 or 4 XBox One. (These could probably be rewasd emulated ones too.)

I don't have all of my controllers at home so I can't test:
* If the older DS4 is treated as a different controller compared to the newer DS4.
* How XBox X/S controllers work in the mix. I only have XBox One controllers at home.

Hope this helps people get more controllers working. Depending on which controllers you have available and if reWASD works with your controllers your milage may vary. I heard someone got reWASD to emulate controllers even though reWASD said the controller wasn't supported. I only have supported controllers so I can't help you with that though.
Good luck!

[Engoni]

Originally posted by supersmo:

I got 8 controllers working!

Brawlhalla has issues with controllers of the same type. If there is a collision one controller will control multiple characters. It also has issues with XBox controllers being connected first.

Here's a recipe that works for me:
Disable Steam Input because Steam Input makes your controllers appear as XBox controllers to the game.
Connect controllers of different types. Max 1 of each type and not XBox controllers.
Start the game. Start an offline lobby and increase room size to 8.
Test that the controllers work and that none of them control 2 players.
Start 4 XBox controllers.

Some interesting findings:
* It treated a virtual DS4 controller different from a real DS4 controller so I could have both without collision. I checked in the device manager and saw that the product IDs (PID) were different, so it could be that controllers with different PID are treated as different controllers. In that case you could have e.g. official DS4 controllers with different version numbers and they would be treated as separate controllers.

* After I plugged in 4 real XBox360 controllers I was able to connect a real XBox One controller too. I couldn't do the same trick with virtual XBox360 or virtual XBox One. Maybe someone else has better luck.

* You can use reWASD to turn your controllers into emulated:
XBox 360
XBox One
DS4
DS3
Switch Pro

Example configuration I got working with 8 controllers:
* reWASD emualted DS4
* reWASD emualted DS3
* reWASD emualted Switch Pro
* Real DS4
* Start Game
* 4 XBox 360 or 4 XBox One. (These could probably be rewasd emulated ones too.)

I don't have all of my controllers at home so I can't test:
* If the older DS4 is treated as a different controller compared to the newer DS4.
* How XBox X/S controllers work in the mix. I only have XBox One controllers at home.

Hope this helps people get more controllers working. Depending on which controllers you have available and if reWASD works with your controllers your milage may vary. I heard someone got reWASD to emulate controllers even though reWASD said the controller wasn't supported. I only have supported controllers so I can't help you with that though.
Good luck!

wow, good job. Will try rewast. I have a few games that needs the same solution!
I wish steam just had this solution natively!