For those of us with multimonitor set ups that enjoy playing computer games from the comfort of a couch when it just makes the most sense to be playing a game with a controller, there is a lot of hassle involved in the process. We must switch our primary display by opening screen resolution and selecting our new display. Switch our sound output which is easily an annoying 5 click process if you have a sound coming from your TV space instead of your computer speakers. I am writing this quick guide to show you not only how to do this with hotkeys, but also the most amazing freeing thing in the world to do, switch all these things with the controller you are going to be using.
Needed software:
MotioninJoy (ps3 controllers only)
I start trying to work this out when I realized how cool it is to hold down the Xbox/PS3 button on your controller and steam big picture mode just starts up. I realized that I had to make it so I could perform all the necessary rituals to getting it all set up for to even jump to big picture mode on just one device, saving me walking time and just feeling real cool about booting a pc game.
The first application to install will be SoundSwitch, quick and easy to install, with simple settings. Just check mark the devices you wish to cycle through with it. Here you can also set a hotkey; I have mine set as CTRL+NUM1 so let’s just use that for the time being.
MakePrimaryMonitor is easy to set up but not as straight forward. After downloading and installing it you create a shortcut for it and place it on your desktop. Now when you click that short cut it will switch the display to wherever the cursor is so what we do now is set up a hotkey in the shortcut mine is set to CTRL+ALT+NUM1. This will allow us to have our mouse cursor on the screen we want to be primary without having to have a shortcut on each display while also skipping any clicking.
Now that we have setup these hotkeys it’s time to use AutoHotKey to create a script that will translate our control presses to these actions. While it is running if you hit ctrl+e it will pop up a notepad with some basic information about the script and how it is your default one. Using the hotkeys we have previously set up you can use this script to code the controller to act exactly as we need.
Joy9::
Send {LControl down} ; Hold down the l control key.
KeyWait Joy9 ; Wait for the user to release the joystick button.
Send {LControl up} ; Release the l control key.
return
Joy10::
Send {LAlt down} ; Hold down the l alt key.
KeyWait Joy10 ; Wait for the user to release the joystick button.
Send {LAlt up} ; Release the l alt key.
return
Joy5::
Send {Numpad1} ; sends a numpad1 keypress
Return
In these cases joy9 and 10 are the left and right stick respectively, while Joy5 is the L1 or left bumper button. Double check your controller properties and just press buttons to see what numbers light up to do this with any controller or any button you desire.
From this point we need a way to set the mouse cursor to whatever screen we need it at with relative ease and no mouse interaction, in this case we will use SwapScreen. One of many helpful tools from the dual monitor tools but we shall be focusing on its application on cursors. In the options under the cursor tap you shall see a few options and we want Move cursor to next screen. I have set this to CTRL+NUM0 this will instantly jump your cursor through a cycle of your displays. Other useful features I find are locking cursors to the screen and resistance I highly recommend fiddling around with all the SwapScreen settings. Now when we can edit our script as before
Joy6::
Send {Numpad0} ; sends a numpad1 keypress
Return
Here joy6 being the right bumper.
Autohotkeys is the only application that does not have a autostart setting built into it but its an easy fix, in your my documents you should find the AHK you have been editing for the script, copy that and paste it into your startup folder so it instantly loads these hotkey scrips
Now you can sit down on your couch, Hold down the left stick and press L1/LB to the right sound, then press the R1/RB til the mouse is on the desired display, hold down the left stick and the right stick while pressing the L1/LB button to set it as your main display and finally hold your guide button to open big picture mode from steam. Then get really mad when far cry 3 launches you into uplay.
For those with a PS3 controller who want to do this I suggest getting the software MotionInJoy. It has the capabilities of emulating an Xbox 360 controller which is very preferable for a lot of pc games now a days anyways. The MiJ wiki has a lot of good advice about what Bluetooth adapters work with the controller, and will generally be cheaper than buying a 360 controller with adapter. I currently have this bluetooth dongle from trednet which is about $20.
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