Windows 8 on a big telly + Wii remote.....The ultimate experience !

Arm73

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Hi there.
I recently wrote my experience with Windows 8 and how much I like it, but now, I'll like it even more !

Last year I was toying on my older laptop with GlovePie and other similar application + a Blue tooth dongle, in order to use my Wii remote on my PC.
I was very successful and created several script to use my Wii remote in MAME as a steering wheel + controller with tilt functionality all in one.
I also created nice scripts to play games such Descent on the PC with a full motion capable Wii remote or CCpro.

But enough of that.
I also downloaded and tried out some other programs capable of using the Wii remote as a mouse to control Windows 7, and such programs were " Wiimouse " and " Wiinremote" and they worked really well, provided I used my Wii sensor bar along with it, and in order to power that, I had to power on my Wii as well.
It wasn't the best solution, but then I only intended to try it out, and honestly controlling Windows 7 with a Wii remote can be quite challenging, even though those programs did an excellent job at customizing the remote functions, still the on screen icons were too small to really make it an enjoyable experience...

Enter Windows 8......
-Yes, it's optimized for touch screen, and it has large, clickable icons ( check ).
-It's entirely usable without a keyboard at all ( check ).
-It has a side bar with large icons to perform search and other basic windows functions ( check ),
-It has a virtual on screen keyboard !!!! ( check ).

Are you following me ?
Tonight I'll try to install " Wiimouse " and " Wiinremote" on my Windows 8 laptop ( I hope they work, they should because they worked on W7 ), hock it up to my HDTV with the HDMI cable, switch on the Wii sensor bar ( I still have to get me one of those cheap wireless one, but that's not a problem ) and sit back on the couch and experience the ultimate Windows 8 experience !!

Did Microsoft really think of this ? ;)
 

DCG

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I still like 7 more :/
It looks more professional and the configurations are a tad easier to acces.
(for me)

I guess you could call 8 a bit of a hybrid, as it features a lot of touch capable stuff, but also a tad of the old desktop.
 

Arm73

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I still like 7 more :/
It looks more professional and the configurations are a tad easier to acces.
(for me)

I guess you could call 8 a bit of a hybrid, as it features a lot of touch capable stuff, but also a tad of the old desktop.

I love W7 as well, but try to control it with a Wii remote......

W8 looks just like it might have been born for it, without making any sacrifice you could have full control with the Wii remote alone and the right key combinations mapped on the Wii remote buttons...I can't wait until tonight, I'll try it and I'll post a tutorial.
 

Devin

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This is awesome. Have Windows 8 myself, and I did this with my laptop's integrated bluetooth adapter. Works alright on Windows 8, but I'll need to use my sensor bar.
 

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A great idea! Im going to try now. The sensor bar would be a problem though, I have a wired one :/.
Okay It worked for the most part. I used "WiinRemote" and enabled the Sensor bar so the wiimote can move the cursor more actually for the most part it worked :), however when the wiimote goes out of the sensor bars reach it sometimes jumps, well at least for me.
 

Arm73

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You wouldn't believe it, but I'm playing Super Hang On with my Wii remote acting as a steering wheel.....with MAME on Windows 8!
Like I said, I created all in one script which maps the cursor to the d-pad and the most important navigational keys to some of the Wii remote buttons with help of B as a shift key ( like Home button = ESC but if B is hold down then is TAB for the config menu and so on ) plus I mapped the joystick horizontal and vertical axes to the tilt function of the Wii remote and I'm able to steer some games with motion controls !
Again, all of this happened a year ago, and it was great fun !
My only regret, is that I never managed to create a successful script to use the Wii remote as a light gun in MAME , because it seems mame uses a different type of hook on keyboard and mouse which doesn't allow directx devices to be recognized, so no hope of emulating the mouse in game , but still buy installing the unsigned PPJOY drivrers I was able to have the wii remote recognized as a joystick in mame.

A good solution to use the Wii remote as a mouse in windows 8 would be to buy a 3rd party wireless sensor bar , they can be found very cheap online or at gamestop's I believe.
Once you do that, you can really enjoy windows 8 on a big telly without the need of a mouse or keyboard, the Wii remote as an " air mouse " plus some strategically mapped windows shortcut keys and the standard on screen virtual keyboard should give you all the control you need to navigate the OS.
 

no_chocobo

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I've been working on some custom GlovePIE scripts specific to steam games, would anyone be interested in sharing scripts?

My only regret, is that I never managed to create a successful script to use the Wii remote as a light gun in MAME
I have a GlovePIE script that I am using for controlling the mouse with the Wii remote, doesn't use PPJoy at all. Perhaps give that a try? I never thought of Wii Remotes for lightgun games, sounds like a good solution for my next MAME cabinet :D
 

Arm73

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I've been working on some custom GlovePIE scripts specific to steam games, would anyone be interested in sharing scripts?


I have a GlovePIE script that I am using for controlling the mouse with the Wii remote, doesn't use PPJoy at all. Perhaps give that a try? I never thought of Wii Remotes for lightgun games, sounds like a good solution for my next MAME cabinet :D
Thank you. but unfortunately, mame uses some weird hooks to look up keyboard or mouse strokes.
I think it's called row input. vs direct input which is managed by glow pie.
Either way, I managed to play some light gun games in mame only simulating a joystick input, the wii remote mouse emulation works in windows but doesn't do anything in MAME, even versions prior to 0.117 ( which is when they changed to raw inputs ).
So yeah, too bad, but there is still so much it can be done !

I did some wonderful script to control Descent on the PC just with the Wii remote and it worked really well !
If anybody has any questions or willing to sharing tips, I'm willing too ;)
 

Elrinth

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W8 sucks ass because:
My laptop can install it. But I can't use the HDMI out to my TV. There are no compatible display drivers for my laptops primary graphics card (Nvidia 330M), so it defaults to the secondary Intel (onboard gfx), which doesn't have the HDMI out :(

Will probably have to reinstall W7 again soon, because it looks like Sony ain't releasing any drivers anytime soon.

Update:
Seems there was some advanced options you can fiddle with and disable driver signature requirement. This helped me install a custom driver made by some forum user. Now my display adapter works correctly atleast. There's probably a few other things you could fix with this.

Well display adapter works, but hdmi sound doesn't work.. GG.
Also I clicked update on nvidia drivers, since then there is constant black screen. BG :(
 

no_chocobo

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330m doesn't have win8 drivers?? ill take a look for some when I get to my home pc, my 630m loooves win8. I remembr when I was using win8rtm I found some beta drivers from nvidia, maybe that will work?
 

simphax

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Dear fellow Wii lovers!
I had this idea myself a while ago and I tried a mouse simulator, but there are many disappointments in the sense you can not use a mouse the same way as a touch screen, such as the on screen keyboard is not available and you can not "swipe to scroll".
But behold, I bring you Touchmote, a multi touch emulation software for your Wii remote so that you can navigate Windows 8 Metro interface the way it is supposed to work! I agree with Arm73, it is really The Ultimate Experience, it feels like Windows 8 was made for this!
I have released a beta on www.touchmote.net completely Open Source for everyone!
 
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Arm73

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Dear fellow Wii lovers!
I had this idea myself a while ago and I tried a mouse simulator, but there are many disappointments in the sense you can not use a mouse the same way as a touch screen, such as the on screen keyboard is not available and you can not "swipe to scroll".
But behold, I bring you Touchmote, a multi touch emulation software for your Wii remote so that you can navigate Windows 8 Metro interface the way it is supposed to work! I agree with Arm73, it is really The Ultimate Experience, it feels like Windows 8 was made for this!
I have released a beta on www.touchmote.net completely Open Source for everyone!
That sound great !
I'm at work now but I'll definitely will try that out.
By the way, on my Windows 8 I have an icon which I click on to bring out a virtual keyboard.
I didn't try it with the Wii remote specifically but it works fine with the mouse .....
 

simphax

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That sound great !
I'm at work now but I'll definitely will try that out.
By the way, on my Windows 8 I have an icon which I click on to bring out a virtual keyboard.
I didn't try it with the Wii remote specifically but it works fine with the mouse .....
Please do and return with how it goes :) Feel free to post bug reports on GitHub if you encounter a recurring error.
Yes I have seen the on screen keyboard but I think it is only available on the desktop and not the metro apps, also you can not do edge-swipe gestures with a mouse which turns out to be quite delightful to use
 

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