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I am not sure if this is the correct place to post this, but after looking at the forum topics it makes the most sense to post here.

I would really love to see gamepad support implemented in OpenArena. I am a fanatic when it comes to the use of gamepads and I play only one game regularly, and that is Nexiuz. Mainly for its gamepad support. If you could add in gamepad support or perhaps, tell me how to port the gamepad part of the Nexiuz source to the OpenArena source, that would be sufficient as well. I am a hardcore linux fan and when it comes to finding quality, open source games with gamepad support your S.O.L.

Thank you,

Lucian

Game pads are supported by default by the Quake3 engine. Just plug it in, go to your controls section, make sure the "Joypad" option is switched "ON" and there you go, just set up you're controls and you're set to go. I do however recommend to not play with a controller being that you will be at a major disadvantage if you play against any experienced players.

There's also a great lack of auto-aim, so playing it with a bot with a skill higher than I can win will not be fun

Think that it's mostly used for movement and not aiming. Some people prefer pads instead of WSAD.

i can't imagine i'd every stop using keyboard and mouse, but it's interesting to see what gaming is like for the console jockeys. i've got a generic pad with twin joysticks, so i plugged it in to see what it did with openarena. the left hand joystick controlled backwards, forwards, turn left and turn right, but nothing else worked. ideally i'd have left and right on the left hand joystick control strafing instead of turning and i'd use the right joystick to control looking.

anyone got any config files for joystick setup?

I would highly recommend using an external program to map a controller, like XPadder (http://www.xpadder.com/), for something like OA. XPadder and similar other programs have extensive controls, such as dead zones, turbo, rumble, toggle switches, and far more that OA (and many other games) simply don't have.

I'd suggest sticking to mouselook in OA, but you may try holding a controller with your left hand, much like the FragFX PS3 controller (http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/03/fragfx_alt.jpg).

To add to this, I use a program called JoyToKey (Google It) which works great. There are a lot of options out there.

How's about having a kind of Doom style auto-aim for gamepads, so that it automatically aims up or down, but doesn't affect how left or right your aim is? This would keep it skill-based, but make it playable with gamepads.

Combine this with a control for "look up 15 degrees" (or down) and that might work well, because you could use those on R2 or L2.

IIRC Q3:  Arena was very playable on the Dreamcast without auto-aim

i find the idea of using a gamepad in oa very interesting. i'm a mouse and keyboard man myself, but i have friends who are console gamers and i really struggle when i play console games with them. if i could use my usb gamepad with oa i could get a bit of practise in.

having usb gamepad support in oa would be nice, but failing that it might be possible to get the gamepad to interact with linux's x-server. the buttons on the keyboard could be bound to the mice buttons and various keyboard keys and the analogue joysticks could have the same effect as moving the mouse. one major benefit of this would be that it would work with any game played on linux.

anyone heard of this being accomplished?