Making a PC easy to access and usable with a XBOX control maybe?

willhub

willhub

willhub

Caporegime
Joined
3 Jan 2006
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Location
Chadderton, Oldham
So I'm turning my Xeon 3350 rig with a 7970 GPU into a "media" PC for the bedroom that is soley connected to the TV.

It's replacing an Amazon box that I'm going to flogg. Now my GF will be using it and she's not the best at turning a PC on and getting stuff to work so, anyway to simply fire it up, straight onto desktop no PW and into a full screen media app or tablet mode in Windows and using an XBOX 360 Controller for either of those options?

Thanks in advance
 
SteamOS might be worth a look at. I think it can do more than "just" stream from a Steam PC now, maybe even run some apps like Kodi or similar?
 
Not sure I want to go down the Linux route but it might be worth considering later on, for now something a bit quicker and easier if there is anything suitable that is.
 
My SteamBox runs Windows with Steam set to load on startup into Big Picture mode. Big Picture works perfectly with an Xbox controller. I use Steam to play launch games (of course!) and also to launch the likes of Plex if required.

If you want to get a bit techy then you can have Steam launch immediately on boot up without starting the Windows GUI. Not required but it makes for a neater experience.
 
I have a program called Controller Companion. I bought it from Steam but it works from start up.

You can use your analogue stick to move the mouse cursor and the face buttons to click. It deactivates itself when you launch a game that has controller support and you can choose certain programs to use it in etc.
 
I've got controller companion on looking at Steam, just forgot about it! In the end I realised the problem is within Big Picture mode, setting XBOX 360 Controller configuration, I unticked it, which warned me games wouldn't work with a controller, however launching the game normally not with Big Picture and it works perfectly fine now!
 
Use something like PLEX, or KODI and get a standalone remote for the PC.

It'll boot straight into it, and you can use it with a remote like any DVR. If you want to play games, then use the steam big picture with a XBOX pad. Assuming your GF won't be playing games, you'll be able to do this yourself easily.
 
Had problems with Big Picture and Steam though with games not working such as The Crew, as I have to enable XBOX Controller support then it rekons The Crew doesn't support controller, however, it does work when I disable the support in Big Picture and it works fine.
 
If you ignore the error message and continue to load the game, does the controller work? I play quite a few games that state they don’t support a controller but actually do.
 
Bluecube said:
If you ignore the error message and continue to load the game, does the controller work? I play quite a few games that state they don’t support a controller but actually do.
Click to expand...

Nope, have to disable controller support, very unusual.
 
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