(Update: 01/07/19) Pinnacle Game Profiler emulation - PS2/3/4 and XBone bindings

Emulate your keyboard with a PS3, PS4, and XBone controllers and get playing wtihin ten minutes with PGP. XBox emulation comment within. [Note: Written with mild sleep deprivation.] (Updated 10/25/18 with a new download link.)

Foreward: In Which I Ramble

Update: 01/07/19
It has come to my attention that the reason why there is little response to inquiries to Support is that the owner/developer of this software has actually passed away - this event occurred in April of '18.

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So, first thing's first. A bit of a "forewarning", as it were. The emulator does start out with a 20 day trial, but with how quickly and easily I got mine set up I vowed to purchase it as soon as the time ran out. (Turned out I wound up not playing FF8 for three months then came back and purchased it because no way in hell am I playing with any other emulation method, let's be real here.)

Once the trial runs out, it's a one-time payment of 19.99 BY DEFAULT, but currently there is a "sale" going on that you can get it AND a license for Padstarr both for 5.99$USD.

To be honest, I went into this expecting adware. I mean... big, shiny red sale button? Big warning flag for me.

Then I downloaded it. Played with it for ten minutes trying to figure it out. Then spent an additional 15 figuring out how to modify the configuration I found before making my own. Easiest controller emulation I've ever used. No fighting with drivers, settings, changing USB ports... God I hated having to fight with the XBox emulator.

This emulates your keyboard from your controller. Assign a letter on the keyboard to a button on your controller.

That's it. Easy ♥♥♥♥♥♥' peasy.

So! Onward!

Part 2: The Meat of it: Download, Installation, and Setup

1: Download

So. To get this nifty little program, go here and hit the Download button.
http://pinnaclegameprofiler.com/download

If you're at all uncertain that it may be an ad on there that you're clicking instead, I was the same way. Just hover over the button and make sure it's the right one.

2: Installation:

Go ahead, run it, and install it. You know how to do this! Steam's installed, you're probably using either Firefox or Chrome instead of IE, Edge, or Safari. Hell, you could be using Chromium on Linux/Ubuntu or Opera on whatever else as well. You know what you're doing.

3: Setup

So run the program. You'll see something similar to this image


Click the Game Profiles in the top right


Hit Edit Configurations


From here you can either edit the controller by clicking on the contents in brackets, such as [ A ] for example, or you can do the following:

Hit the little speech bubble at the top, where it says Toolbox or just hit F5 and you can go through each of the controls this way.



Oh, and did I mention it finds your controller automatically when you plug it in? You don't have to do any searching or anything? Yeah, that's really amazing, imo.

Part 3: Final, Importing Profiles and Modifying Launcher Keybinds

Importing, or how this is STUPID easy

SO, to import a controller profile, we'll use the one I have set up. It plays REALLY close to the current configurations that FF8 has in the launcher and I'll include a screenie of that as well here, just so you know how things need to be modified.

So, first, here's a link to my profile off my Google Drive since I can't attach files other than images and videos. (I know; SUPER sketchy. If you'd like I can email it out to you instead.)
UPDATE: Now includes PS3 and XBone binds!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oRSd2KfL58Tnnil1FS1HjiugVOVSsHDi/view?usp=sharing

Second, here's how you Import a profile:

Click the Import button on the Game Profiles screen:



From here, hit Import, find the file, and hit Okay. It's just like uploading a thing.
Once you've selected the Item, choose a Profile Name and hit OK. I'm just doing FF8 to make it easy.


From there, it'll give you a new screen and it's mostly "I'M PRETTY SURE I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING." Feel free to uncheck whatever controller box you want, BUT KEEP THE ONE THAT SAYS "FFVIII stick remap". THAT'S WHAT I'M USING WHEN I PLAY THE GAME. Also, you'll want to keep the command set data checked.


Hit OK and you'll have this nice little message. Hit OK again. We're NEARLY done.



So, from here, you'll notice a big gold warning sign under Profile Information. We need to set it up to the game so when we want to play, not only will it launch our game for us, but it'll also let us use the emulation.

Hit Edit at the top (I'm recycling a screenie)


So you can try to use the Steam icon to find the game as this screenie shows and it'll fill in everything for you


Or go ahead and paste this info into each of the following sections:
Basic Tab: Associated File (or url): steam://run/39150
Advanced Tab: Default File: steam://run/39150
Advanced Tab: Launch File: steam://run/39150
Advanced Tab: Detect File: steam://run/39150
Advanced Tab: Work Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\ **** (or whatever your default Steam folder is in)
Advanced Tab: Hook Path: steam://run/39150

Then double check these options in Settings:
Launch as persistent profile
Apply profile to other executable files in the same location ****
Apply acceleration to analog joystick movements
Reset any active event steps on config hot-swap
Pending event steps [. . .]
Do not cancel [. . .]

Launcher Keybinds, or how we make sure this doesn't ♥♥♥♥ up

And that's it! You're good to go! Free to play! Just remember that 20 day trial I told you about in the opening. Like I said, I thought it was bull crap, but it wound up being SO. PAINLESS. I about wanted to cry with joy at how simple it was.

Closing

Had to have a title.

Anyway. Please let me know how I can make adjustments to this so it's not nearly as god-awful as it is currently. I'm sure I'll wake up and say "Oh dear lord I should have gone to bed at 5 when I said I would, not two hours later."

So yes, feedback is appreciated. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Until then I'm going to go to bed.


Happy gaming!

[Princess Tomato]

@Starhammer
Start > Type in Event Viewer and, uh... Maybe these? I barely understand how to read it myself. Pretty much look for events in the 1-2 minutes you launched PGP.
Custom Views > Administrative Events
Windows Logs > Application + Security
Applications and Services Log > Hardware Events (this is a stretch)

Beyond this I... I really got nothing else :( I think you already tried a system restore? I really don't know...

[Starhammer]

Yeah, tried compatability, running as admin, also running with compat for Win7 & Win8. No discernable difference.

Ok, this is one of those areas where I'm a total noob. I have no idea how to check my event log.

[Princess Tomato]

OH. I'm sure you tried this, but compatibility mode???? and running as admin???

[Princess Tomato]

@Starhammer
Well damn. That's the weirdest thing. If you try to boot it and check your event log for that timeframe, does anything come back about it? =\ (I swear to god if this turns out to be an nVidia issue, I'mma be mad.)

[Starhammer]

The link worked, but the only solutioon I really found on it was setting the calender to Dec 25, 2015. That didn't seem to help others, and didn't do anything useful for me. It did something at least, in that Pinacle recognized that the clock was set wrong, and gave me an error message telling me to fix it before Pinnacle could start, hahah.

[Princess Tomato]

@Starhammer
Agreed. That's what was some hope was, but I'm guessing it didn't really pan out...

Did the first link work for you at all?

[Starhammer]

Well damn. I suppose he can hardly be held accountable for lapses in customer service if he passed away. I hope the family finds a way to sell the patent/business to someone who can further develop it. Thanks for the help.

[Princess Tomato]

After further searching, I uh... I found part of the reason the forums have been AWOL and there's been little to no support, though the thing stays on sale all the time...

Bob died in April '18.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:-NOesInA6egJ:pinnaclegameprofiler.com/forum/showthread.php%3F33669-Pinnacle-Rob-is-offline-Administrator-Developer-Obituary+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[Princess Tomato]

@Starhammer
Yeah, I don't blame you :I I only fiddle with the registry in places that I am familiar with (VERY specific things for work).

At an even further stretch... Maybe nuking your previous install of Windows by using Disk Cleanup?

Before you do that, try this...
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:cybzRfbaGSkJ:pinnaclegameprofiler.com/forum/showthread.php%3F31930-PSA-FOR-THOSE-HAVING-CRASHES-ON-WINDOWS-10-OPENING-Pinnacle-OR-Padstarr+&cd=12&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[Starhammer]

Ah, AV. That makes sense. I'll have to tinker with Defender and see if I can make any difference through it. Not getting my hopes up. I don't think it's any lingering issues from a previous install, since the problem began with a fresh install of Win10, so there should be nothing previous in existence. Sadly, I'm nowhere near confident enough in my skills to mess with registry stuff most of the time, so that path is out :/

If you think of anything that may help, I'd appreciate a heads up. For now I guess I'm just going to settle for Controller Compainion, though it doesn't allow for most of the more complex things I did with PGP, and can't tell the difference between Champions Online, Star Trek Online, or Neverwinter, since they all use the name "Gameclient" for the active program...

Almost enough to make me want to just give up on videogames and save money by never needing internet again.