Updates to the installer and the website have been among this weeks top accomplishments. Many bugs have been removed from the installer to make it more streamlined especially with upgrading. The site has a new downloads section that is still in progress that will keep a running change-log as well as ability to download older versions.

InputMapper now has the ability to notify users of newer versions, so make sure to update to that so you dont miss any important changes.

First connected devices will now get a popup wizard to walk through the basics of getting the profile created and a output driver selected.

Sorry it has taken so long to put out another in depth update. As you may have gathered, things have been a little crazy over here. Now that things have calmed down, I’d like to fill you in on a couple very cool new features coming to IM.

The first one isn’t new to IM in general, and in fact is a pretty core feature that unfortunately has been missing for a while as other pieces of the application had to fall into place and be finalized first, but emulated keyboard and mouse output is back and is running smoother than ever.

The next one is something that people keep showing up and begging me for and is often confused with the above. It has been for a long time just out of my reach due to some limitations with my understanding of input device API’s, but at long last I have cracked the keyboard and mouse as a INPUT device egg! That is right, very soon you will be able to use your physical mouse and keyboard to play PlayStation Now and Xbox Remote Play games. This comes with the caveat that many fundamental differences go into how a game responds to input between different devices like a controller vs a mouse, so dont expect to click a button and get the same experience as a true kb/m game, but with some tinkering using the numerous mapping connectors you may be able to come close.

On top of application changes, a lot has been going on with the site as well. You may have noticed the server shitting its pants last week;

Apparently something broke during the upgrade and everything is past the point of no return. The hosting company “escalated the issue to a higher tier”, so I’m sure their top janitor is on the case….

— 🎮 InputMapper (@InputMapper) November 1, 2019

We did finally get things sorted and are now running smoothly and on a up-to-date CentOS install again. There are also some front end changes coming to the site, mostly focused on the downloads section. I am in the middle of writing a downloads plugin that will allow version histories so if a important feature breaks users can roll back to a previous version. Also part of this will be automatic updates coming to 1.7 just like 1.6 had.

• Made news fetching a non UI blocking method to combat issues that were apparent during server outtage.
• Tweaks and performance optimizations to the mapping and state modifier loop.

It’s been teased for a couple weeks, but I think it is ready for release now, the new UI is now available for testing.

More things have been updated such as adding the option to switch between the advanced mapping view and the mapping UI (on properly configured devices). I have also swapped the data rate graph out for a less CPU intensive one. many other various performance changes have been made as well as some bug fixes for the Dualshock 4.

• Updated Mapping UI
• Changes to settings UI layout for readability
• Updated various settings controls
• Updated Profiles tab
• HidGuardian check now performed at startup
• Updated mapping classes

I have been spending a LOT of time on polishing as many rough edges as possible. There is still work to be done for sure, but the effort is already easily visible.

One of the toughest things people had a hard time coming to grips with in InputMapper 1.7 vs previous versions and even DS4Windows, was the way the mappings looked as a result of the generic nature of devices in IM 1.6 due to the wide variety of devices supported. The idea of using “overrides” in place of a straightforward this-to-that approach made people apprehensive. Some because they didn’t understand the reasons behind doing it this way, others because it was different; and different is bad. Well I am happy to say that after much blood, sweat, tears and booze; I have finally developed a way to bring the UI point and click style of mapping back to InputMapper 1.7, and it’s better than ever.

Among other things that have been polished are the settings themselves. Fonts and layouts have been made more appealing and descriptions have been added to most settings to help those that are unfamiliar. The profiles tab has been re-worked to move the profile list into the tab header making for a more open main window (helpful for the new UI based mapping). And a new setting that hides advanced settings from those just looking for a basic experience has been added.

• Rate throttling removed;
  This was old code left in place accidentally to debug high CPU usage. The actual cause was found but the throttling was mistakenly left in place. Device input should now be more “fluid”.

Ads have been removed from the latest version of 1.7, still working on making a system that will allow for 1.6 to be ad free.

Been spending a lot of time this week going through some of people biggest complaints with IM and coming up with plans to address them, and among the two are the ads (though I honestly don’t get the big complaint), and the ease of use. So since ads are gone it’s time to focus on the ease of use, and one of the biggest changes to that will be the mapping UI. For strongly typed profiles (meaning it is built for a specific input device type and a specific output device type) gone will be the old “mapping overrides” list where you have to select from drop downs and lists. Instead will be a UI much like what IM and our branch of DS4Windows had in the past where you select a control by clicking it and easily choose what you want it to map to.

• Possible bug-fix for controller re-connection issues after abrupt disconnect https://beta.inputmapper.com/forum/inputmapper-1-7/controller-disconnects-but-remains-connected/
• User avatar fixed
• Ads removed

InputMapper will be going ad free for everyone in the very near future. No account needed, just no more ads.

I am still working on adding cloud functionality so users can share and download profiles that they create for games. Sharing a profile on the site will be behind the donation barrier, still only $2 and all current donors will have the ability automatically. This is for 2 main reasons; first, donation status is the hands down best bot protection for allowing upload of content to the site. Odds are if you have given the site money, you are not a spam bot. Second, the load on the site from within the application will mostly be for cloud purposes so it seems fitting that the cost associated be tied to the same functionality that creates it. The manual download of profiles from the site will likely be free for everyone since using the site helps generate revenue through the ad’s on the site.

1.6 and earlier will not be as easy to remove ads from, but I can make it so that any attempt to log in with even a fake account will be met with a donor status credentials within the application.