Having both a control panel and gamepad for modern games and emulators

[fwiler]

I'm running mostly pc games, rpcs3, and xenia.
All games currently work with xbox one controllers. 

I would like to make a 2 player pedestal with joystick and buttons for some of the games, leaving the rest for the xbox controllers.
I was thinking of using an I-PAC Ultimate

My concern is having xbox one controllers hooked up at the same time, and interfering with control panel.
A lot of the games are expecting a gamepad, so I'm assuming that is xinput.

Has anyone mixed both types of controllers at the same time with success?

Not sure if it makes any difference, but I'm running Launchbox/Bigbox for front end.

[Jimbo]

It's just another usb device so I don't see it causing problems. I don't think you need the Ultimate though for a 2 player CP.

[mahuti]

Mixing a game pad and a keyboard input should be fine. Mixing a game pad and a gamepad encoder will cause problems. I mix the game pad and keyboard encoders. Ultimate IO or IPac as a keyboard encoder mixed with game pad based joysticks.

[Howard_Casto]

To expand on what he's saying gamepads tend to get their order mixed up in windows and it can be difficult to fix sometimes. 

[KenToad]

You should be able to use wireless controllers without worrying about reordering, as long as the wireless controllers only show up in Windows when you activate them. The 8bitdo wireless dongles have problems with ordering because they show up as controllers even when the controllers are not activated. So, to get the correct order, you need to plug and unplug the dongles in the order that you need them to be. Wired controllers have this same problem. If you leave them plugged in, they tend to get reordered every time the computer reboots. Obviously, this issue can happen when you have a wired encoder that uses Windows gamepad inputs.

The two types of dongles I use that have eliminated issues with controller ordering are the official Microsoft Xbox 360 controller dongle for Windows and the Mayflash PS3 dongle (in dinput mode). Each dongle supports up to four gamepads and you never have to worry about reordering because the controllers aren't seen as gamepads until you activate the actual controllers. So, the first controller you activate will always be the first controller in Xinput or dinput mode. I just leave both dongles plugged into USB ports and activate whatever controller I need for a given situation. As long as you only have one gamepad encoder, that should always be ordered as the first device and your controllers can be mapped as the next devices without worrying about ordering.

In practice, I use the PS3 controllers in dinput mode for console emulators that don't need force feedback and demand a decent Dpad. I use the 360 controllers for Steam games or MAME games that use analog inputs and force feedback.

[fwiler]

Thanks for the replies, this helps.

The only reason I was looking at the ipac ultimate was that rgb element built in, and that you can load custom configs for controller when game launches, for either keyboard or xinput.
I don't mind using an alternative, but I keep running into limited outputs for 2-player, eight button each, plus Start, Menu, Coin, Pause, Exit.  Meaning I would have to buy multiples of whatever I'm looking at, unless someone has a decent input encoder and also lighting controller in mind.

I've thought about non rgb, which I would prefer, but I think for ease of use, it would be good for the kids, if the buttons lit up according to the game.  Plus for games that give instructions (like most newer fighting games), color coding would be beneficial.

[mahuti]

https://www.adafruit.com/product/4518

I do like those. 12.50 for enough connections to run  1 joystick and  12  arcade buttons... but not the 13 you mention.

They also have a hookup for Pimoronis plasma buttons which, sadly (in my opinion) are only good for mounting on plastic or metal, and are flat or convex... something like that... just not concave like I would prefer. You might be able to run similar daisy chained LED buttons, but I haven't tried hard enough to find any compatible ones yet. The cool thing is that they're addressable and just require a PNG pattern. If I could find addressable LED convex buttons
that could be wood panel mounted i would get those things in a heartbeat. Meantime I still like those little encoders.

[Howard_Casto]

The two types of dongles I use that have eliminated issues with controller ordering are the official Microsoft Xbox 360 controller dongle for Windows and the Mayflash PS3 dongle (in dinput mode).

I'm going to have to strongly disagree with this.  You might have less problems with them, but they still aren't problem free.  For example sometimes a 360 gamepad will get "stuck" when disconnecting and that available slot will be permanently taken up until you reboot.  Like if it's joystick id was 1... it get's stuck and when you plug it back in (or turn it back on) now slot one is taken so your gamepad shows up in slot 2.... It's not always a big deal for modern games but emulators usually need a set joystick id. 

There are apps that can help but the only fool proof way to eliminate joystick troubles is to not use joysticks. 

[KenToad]

The two types of dongles I use that have eliminated issues with controller ordering are the official Microsoft Xbox 360 controller dongle for Windows and the Mayflash PS3 dongle (in dinput mode).

I'm going to have to strongly disagree with this.  You might have less problems with them, but they still aren't problem free.  For example sometimes a 360 gamepad will get "stuck" when disconnecting and that available slot will be permanently taken up until you reboot.  Like if it's joystick id was 1... it get's stuck and when you plug it back in (or turn it back on) now slot one is taken so your gamepad shows up in slot 2.... It's not always a big deal for modern games but emulators usually need a set joystick id. 

There are apps that can help but the only fool proof way to eliminate joystick troubles is to not use joysticks.

I have never had that issue when using the official microsoft dongle. Is that the device you're using?