I got a PSPgo short time ago in hope to play the amazing PSP's library in big screen and using a DualShock 3 in the comfort of my home. But I had some problems about some games using this setup. To be precise, the games I'm talking about are games where you play with the PSP held in a vertical position, forcing the player to play in "Tate mode". One famous example of this case is Star Soldier.
Playing this type of game in a regular PSP is just ok, because the position of the buttons make the experience "more comfortable" (to not say "less painful")... Now, try to play this game using a PSPgo. The position of the buttons make the experience completely painful. Using a DualShock 3 doesn't help so much, because the player needs to put the screen in "Tate" position, and the controls works as if they are "infected" by the "Tate" position.
After some research, I found THIS TOPIC, pointing a plugin, created with efforts of both SULOKU and TOTAL_NOOB. This plugin can remap the functions of the DualShock 3. But the plugin is a little trick to config because it need the user to edit the plugin's .INI file, changing command lines, to remap the commands. So REPREP, the author of the cited topic, created a pre-configured setup of this plugin to help us to play PSP games who uses vertical with the DualShock 3 controls fixed.
I thought it was a definitive plugin for players who uses a DualShock 3 to play PSP games using the PSPgo, but I was far away from a definitive answer.
After that, I keep searching about PSP controls, and I found some situations from past events, like fans asking an updated version of the PSP with a second analog, who lead me about PSP games who make good use of the PS Vita's right analog. I thought it was PSP games who recognizes and make use of the extra analog stick, but IT'S JUST A REMAP. This PS Vita function let the user remap the right analog to have the function of the D-Pad, the PSP's left analog stick, or the buttons.
So I was brainstorming about it and I thought: Why there's not have a plugin for the PSPgo who let us have full config of the DualShock 3, with a intuitive, "easy-to-get-it" popup menu?
I started to evolute this idea until this stage. I call this plugin "DUALSHOCKgo"!!
The features of this plugin could be:
- Popup menu
The user can enter with a special command to call a menu, and set the controls of the DualShock 3 as you like. This way is more intuitive and friendly for anyone to manage than set command lines in a .INI file. A suggestion for a special command to call the menu could be L2+R2+Start, once this command can be reached just with the use of the DualShock 3. As this plugin is dedicated to set the controls of the games, it's convenient to call this menu only in PSP games, not inside the XMB, or, if possible, not even during PS1 games and homebrews. But this limitation can be reversed using other advanced configurations, like editing the .INI files of the plugin and the CFW. - Default config and per-game config:
This plugin could let we set the buttons as we wish, and save the setup as a default config for all games, or save particular configs for dedicated games. With this, we can can enter a default setup for all games, and create specific configs for specific games, even create unmodified/default setups for certain games if there's some case of incompatibility with the plugin. To create the dedicated setups for dedicated games, the plugin can use the game ID to link for it. - Basic and Advanced Command configs:
The menu of this plugin can offer two way to remap commands. By default, the plugin works in Basic Mode config, where we can change the commands with pre-configured setups for the DualShock 3's extra buttons and commands not present in the PSP controls (right analog, L2/R2, and L3/R3). If the user choose the Advanced Config setup, he is free to change every command of the DualShock 3, even the directions of the D-Pad and each of the two analogs. The only safe button to not be able to config is the PS Button, for obvious reasons. - Hotkey config:
The hotkey option let the player create button combinations to a single command (Example: HotKey 1 = Square + Triangle + L). After a hotkey is set, this special command must be set in a dedicated button (Example: L2 = Hotkey 1). Good option to be used in fighting games... - Tate Mode:
When you play games who have the option to play using vertical screen (by option or for by force), the controls of both PSP and DualShock 3 works as if the control was held in "Tate position" too. In this option, the user can fix the DualShock 3's controls when there's the need to play games using vertical screen position, in both Clockwise and Anti-Clockwise positions.
The animation above shows the main menu of the plugin. The options are disposed to be easy to visualizate each option. The animation shows every selection for each option. One consideration to be pointed is the use of the analog function of R2 and L2 buttons in the case of remap these buttons with some analog direction (Example: L2 & R2 = Analog Left & Right). There's a function to the button to enable/disable the Tate Mode... This function will be available if Tate Mode is on, and this function will let the user to swap between the selected command orientation and return with the original commands.
The animation above shows the Advanced Config menu. There's a scroll in this menu because of the number of commands can be customized. The left side of the menu shows the DualShock 3 command you want to remap, and the right side of the menu shows the PSP command set for that DualShock 3 command. If the user chooses to use a default command, that button will be unmapped, or, if the user want, he can reinforce the default command, like set PSP Cross button for the DS3 Cross button. Again, if R2 and L2 are mapped with the analog directions, these commands will make use of the analog feature of these buttons.
The animation above shows the HotKey Config menu. In this sub-menu, we can set the combination for each hotkey. We must check each button where the HotKey will use simultaneously. This function will be very useful for games who ask simultaneous button press to active special functions, like fighting games. After the HotKey configuration are ready, it's necessary to remap a function to use each HotKey.
Ok... That's all I want to show. To finish, I want to make some considerations.
- This is just an idea of a plugin. It's not a release of a new plugin. This topic was created, as I said before, to share my ideas with the hope to someone adopt this idea and make it reality.
- This plugin was designed to be used only with the PSPgo AND with the DualShock 3, once the main purpose of this plugin is to remap the Dualshock 3 functions.
- As both SULOKU and TOTAL_NOOB released similar plugins before this idea (HERE and HERE, respectively), could be interesting to use their source codes to find vital informations, and use them as start point... with permission of their authors, of course.
- I know to create a plugin for PSP requires knowledge and programing work. In other words, it's not an easy task. I hope this topic can be filled with intelligent replies, discussing about the difficult to create such plugin, sharing opinions, and other possibilities, and not with bad and useless critics just to insult people.
- I'm not a kid minded person. I'm very serious about this idea. You can check how I'm serious by looking at the animated GIFs above. I mounted, with passion, dedication and hope, each frame of these animations using Windows' Paint, just to show a visual demonstration of my brainstorms.
- The image of the GIFs was just to illustrate my ideas. It means the menu don't need to be exactly like as showed. But the menu basis was taken from ANOTHER PSP'S PLUGIN. So, there's a possibility to create something similar as was showed.
Thanks for your attention... I hope this topic can give good fruits.
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