One common question I see with HAWKEN is how to use other controllers. Part of this issue is that HAWKEN was written with the Unreal 3 Engine and has it set to only use XBOX360 controllers. There are notes in it for what would have been PS3 controllers, but PS3 controllers do not naturally work in Windows very well. This was a problem I faced in getting my Steel Battalion controller to work, but with the power of the Internet, there exists a project that solves this problem.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS TUTORIAL ASSUMES YOU HAVE A WORKING JOYSTICK COMPLETE WITH INSTALLED DRIVERS. DUE TO THE VAST NUMBER OF CONTROLLERS, I CANNOT WRITE A TUTORIAL ON HOW TO SET THAT UP.

The XBOX 360 Controller Emulator (shortened to x360ce) is a program/plugin that allows most games that only accept the XBOX360 controllers to use other joysticks by emulating an actual XBOX360 controller. While this would mean you would have to understand HAWKEN's controller layout, you could in theory use ANY controller to pilot your mech.

HAWKEN's controls are fairly straight forward, with the left stick moving you around and the right stick aiming. Remember that the sticks also act as buttons so pressing the right stick is akin to middle clicking (by default settings) and clicking the left stick is how you spot an enemy for your team. The trigger buttons respond to the Primary and Secondary weapons of your mech (left trigger fires the weapon mounted on your left and the right trigger fires the weapon mounted on your right), and the shoulder buttons are for jumping and boosting. For everything else, refer to the above diagram.

First thing you will need to do is download x360ce on its website (links below) and extract it in to where you installed HAWKEN. To find this easily, go to your Steam Library and right click on HAWKEN and choose Properties. In the Properties Window, click on the Local Files tab. From there, click on "BROWSE LOCAL FILES..." and a window will pop up viewing HAWKEN's files.

From the local folder, go into the Binaries folder and then Win32 from there. You should see a lot of .dll files. This is where you want to put the x360ce.exe file. Once you have the x360ce file, you will also want to download and extract the xinput1_3.dll from the updated 32-bit libraries for x360ce. This fixes a bug involving the trigger buttons not being accessible, which would mean you can't fire. Once you have the two files in the Win32 folder then it is time to setup x360ce to your controller!

When you run x360ce for the first time, it will ask if it is okay to create a settings file. This is required to operate x360ce so click Yes. The next window that pops up will check to see if someone else has made settings for your controller for HAWKEN, which you can go ahead with and click Next or Cancel out and make your own settings. You may get another pop-up regarding x360ce's version not matching the library. This is okay and you can ignore this warning.
Once you are at the main screen, you will see an XBOX360 controller with many dropdown menus. Each dropdown menu refers to each button or axis on the controller you can assign one of your controller's actions to.

Let's start by setting up the Left Stick of our virtual XBOX360 controller. From the dropdown menu labeled 'Stick Axis X', select Axes and then Axis 1, which typically refers to the main X axis of your controller. If this is set up correctly, then you should be able to move your controller left and right and see the green pointer on the left stick of the virtual controller move along with your movements. If it is moving, but for a different action on your controller, then continue to go through the other axes until you find the one you want set for the strafing of your mech. If the controller is grayed out, then click Save in the lower right corner of the window and close x360ce. Launch it again and it should be fully visible.

In the event you find the axis is inverted of what you want, then select Inverted under the Axes menu. Inverted will read your controller's actions backwards for that axis only, which can be useful for flight sticks on the Y Axis.

What if your controller only has two axes (X and Y) and you want to use buttons for the left stick? The last 4 options on the left side refer to Stick Up, Left, Right, and Down. In this case, you can select Buttons and choose the button that matches your desired input. If you need help with this, you can bring up the Game Controllers Properties window in Windows from your control panel and view the properties of your controller. From there, you can see all the numbered buttons flash when they are pressed, which can help you configure the virtual controller easier.

For the other buttons (X, Y, B, A, Trigger, etc), select Buttons instead of Axes to see all the buttons you have available for your controller. Again, if you need help with this, you can bring up the Game Controllers Properties window in Windows from your control panel and view the properties of your controller. From there, you can see all the numbered buttons flash when they are pressed, which can help you configure the virtual controller easier. Continue setting up all your buttons and axes until you see the controller responding exactly how you want it.

Once you are done, click the Save button in the lower right corner. You can launch x360ce at anytime to change your settings as you use them.

After you have setup your controller with x360ce, it is finally time to launch HAWKEN. Ensure that x360ce is not running and run HAWKEN as usual. You may get the warning about x360ce's version not matching the library and this is okay, so click Okay to remove the dialog. Afterwards, the intro videos should play and everything should run as normal.

Once you are logged in, be sure to run a training mission to ensure the controls are exactly as you would prefer them. I would recommend using Team Deathmatch to make testing faster (as it is the easiest to exit). Once you select your mech (which still requires the use of a mouse and keyboard), you should be able to move your mech around with the settings you have configured. If you are having trouble firing your weapons, ensure you configured them correctly in x360ce and ensure you are also running the latest 32-bit libraries from the x360ce website, as HAWKEN is a 32-bit game.

If everything works, then congratulations! You have tamed HAWKEN into accepting your controller's inputs to pilot your mech! If you liked this tutorial, then be sure to check my Steel Batallion Controller tutorial which also uses x360ce.

• x360ce Website[code.google.com]
  
• x360ce Download[x360ce.googlecode.com]
  
• x360ce Updated 32-bit Libraries[x360ce.googlecode.com]
  
• Steel Batallion Controller Tutorial

Controls:

• Up/Down - Move Forward/Back
  
• Left/Right - Turn Left/Right
  
• A - Jump
  
• B - Primary Fire
  
• Start - Secondary Fire
  
• Select - Ability