Yeah, another +1 here. I figure I'd catalog everything I've done so far to get them working since I bought two of them and I'm starting to feel a little burned - I got these specifically because I was really starting to hate the clunkiness of the PS360's I was using for X-Input before. I'm open to any suggestions.
So, starting from literally out-of-the-box: At this point the Pac-Links are not connected to the iPac, and both of their mode switches are set to X360. I have the MS driver for 360 controller support installed. The iPac is running firmware 1.33 that was stock with this iPac (see note 1). My goal is to use the iPac for X-Input only, no keystrokes, directinput not needed. This is on a fresh Windows 7 64-bit install.
- Connected iPac via main USB connection. iPac LED is lit, tested all inputs as keystrokes, all's well, no problems.
- Ran the WinIpac utility and checked the box specified for Pac-Link support and then confirmed that it programmed the iPac with that change. (note 2)
- Unplugged iPac USB connection, attached the P1 Pac-Link, plugged in the Pac-Link's USB connection. (note 3)
- The Pac-Link player 1 LED is lit. I load up my xinput test utility to test.
- The left analog stick readout in the utility shows very erratic numbers when I move the P1 joystick (which is digital). About a second later it stops working altogether.
- No response from any other P1 input in the utility even after reconnection, except the Guide button on the Pac-Link itself.
- Connecting the P2 PacLink causes the button freakout that others have mentioned, as if the P2 Guide button is in a 'normally closed' state. Holding the Guide button down stops the freakout until I let it go, then it resumes.
- I've tried the mode switch button combo that's mentioned to switch from analog stick to d-pad, but it doesn't appear to do anything.
(1) About the firmware, I do see a later version available but I'm not sure which to use, since I can't figure out what's being said on the Ultimarc page regarding Gamepad support. I don't know if that relates to the Pac-Links or not, and whether I should use the version with or without gamepad support (1.34 or 1.44). Does Gamepad refer to directinput support? Which firmware should I be using if I just want X-Input via the Pac-Links?
(2) Some weirdness about that checkbox in the utility: When it's checked and I have the main iPac USB connection plugged in (Pac-Link or no), pressing P1 down (down arrow keystroke) will cause it to repeat forever until I unplug the iPac USB connection. Unchecking that box corrects the problem, and down works normally.
(3) Something I couldn't find an answer on was whether to reconnect the iPac's main USB connection, when using the Pac-Links. I tried everything with and without the USB connection, and there's something weird there - half the time with the Pac-Links attached, the iPac's LED would blink about 15 times and then shut off when the USB is connected.