Introducing Dynamic Input Textures: a new feature for controller icons

[iwubcode]

Hey all.  I've been working on a new feature that I call "Dynamic Input Textures".  It allows you to create a resource-pack that responds to a user's change in input!  This was made with Wii games in mind but should work with Gamecube games as well.


How does it work?

The resource pack developer creates one or more JSON files that describe what images to generate for specific input buttons.  The most important piece is specifying a color-key image that might look something like this (Mario Galaxy):



(here I've replaced the 'A' and 'B' icons with color boxes)


The JSON also says how to map a Wiimote/Gamecube button to a specific color.  And how to map a set of user input (keyboard, gamepad, mouse, etc) to specific images that will be used for replacement in the colored boxes.


The full documentation is listed here.  The updated resource pack documentation is here.


But what does it do?

A picture is worth a thousand words, so a video must be worth a lot more!  Below is a short video showing me running Mario Galaxy and changing the input during runtime.  The magenta flashes are a byproduct of reloading the textures.



VIDEO

A traditional resource pack, might hardcode the "A" Wiimote icon to the "A" xbox one button icon and the "B" nunchuk icon to the "B" xbox one button icon. However, what if the user wants to use "B" input / xbox one button icon for the Wiimote "A" button icon? They can't do that. Dynamic input textures allows the user to set their key bindings however they like and generates the texture with the controller icons to match.


How can I help?

I'd like texture pack developers to take a look and give feedback if possible.  Do you think it'd be useful?  What's missing from the documentation?  Please let me know  This is sort of a pre-release to test before merging.


You can download the windows build here. The PR with the code is located here.  Currently the code uses a simple scaling filter but that can be improved in the future. I also only support PNG images at the moment but will likely enhance it to support DDS later on.

[Zombie]

well that's pretty neat

[e2zippo]

That's really nice! I could see this being very useful, well done!

[Hunk_4TH]

Amazing! I was hoping for something like this for DS4 controllers!

[RinMaru]

Whens this going to be released be great to have an xbox one icon pack

[mohanned85]

looks pretty neat
would lobe this for an xbox controller and playstation controller

[iwubcode]

Great to hear such positive feedback! This hasn't been merged yet, it is still under review. Just to be clear, this isn't a Xbox One pack, this is just a feature to enable input texture replacement in realtime in any game a texture pack creator would want (directly in Dolphin). The creator would choose what controller icons to provide. I used the Xbox One icons because they were available on the forums and I liked the aesthetic.

While I wait for the code review to progress, I've been working on a tool to make these packs easier to create. It is located here (Windows only). If you are interested, you can get started by looking at the tutorial.

Disclaimer - I'm not a UI designer so the UI isn't great but it should be good enough to get started. I haven't officially released it yet as I'm still fixing some bugs, making the UI a little nicer, and adding a feature or two. I'll post here again when it's released.

Of course the community is free to make their own tool. This is just an idea!

[calebthegeek]

This is seriously cool stuff! Good work!

[iwubcode]

The latest release of the tool is available:  https://github.com/iwubcode/DolphinDynamicInputTextureCreator/releases/tag/v03.14.20-0 .  Among other fixes, this adds a helpful feature for handling games that have buttons that are in a single texture.  Ex: