Getting a SpaceMouse Compact to output keystrokes - possible?

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nirurin
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Joined: Thu Aug 19, 2021 8:20 pm

Getting a SpaceMouse Compact to output keystrokes - possible?

Post by nirurin »

So I'm loving my SpaceMouse Compact for Blender, it works really well. Hard to live without it. Which means I keep trying to use it in other programs....

Unfortunately it seems 3DConnex either doesn't roll out the support wagon for their gear very easily. Or, as I suspect its the apps that have to add the support, 3D connex don't make it easy to include the API in an app without significant work (making it not worthwhile for most devs to bother with).

In any case, as a workaround, I figure there must be a way to take the axis-output from the spacemouse, and convert it / remap it into keystrokes, then I can do basically anything I want using a decent remap software. (Something you'd think the spacemouse software included as standard, considering how expensive these things are, but again not really on topic).

So after looking on these forums I've found that there seems to be, or at least used to be, a way to have the spacemouse output as a standard joystick? Though some of the threads are old, and many seem to mention beta versions of a bios that doesn't exist anymore.

So I thought I would try and get some help, as I need to try and make this as simplified as possible. Hopefully someone can help me!

The main thing I'm trying to do for now, is to get the spacemouse to output a particular key combination for each axis direction. I only need the standard X and Y directions, and I'm trying to output them as (CTRL+arrow left), (CTRL+arrow up), (CTRL+arrow right), (CTRL+arrow down). I want this to only happen in a specific app I'm running.

Is this possible?
Appreciate any help you guys can give me with this!
nirurin
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Aug 19, 2021 8:20 pm

Re: Getting a SpaceMouse Compact to output keystrokes - possible?

Post by nirurin »

So I guess this... isn't possible?
archiebald
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Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2018 4:45 pm

Re: Getting a SpaceMouse Compact to output keystrokes - possible?

Post by archiebald »

Totally agree with the frustration - I am just starting down this road for a couple of apps that I want to use my SpaceMouse for and have found various threads here but it is hard going. Haven't tried anything practical yet but will be starting this very evening.

It definitely is possible, but as there is no configuration software, it is necessary to create/edit an XML text file manually for each application that you plan to use. Here is what I know;

With a standard install on Windows, there are are a bunch of sample XML files in
C:\Program Files\3Dconnexion\3DxWare\3DxWinCore64\Cfg
Base.xml is a library of sorts
KeyboardWASDTemplate.xml can be adapted for use in many FPS games.
There are over 100 in total

App profiles for automatically generated configs are saved on your PC in;
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\3Dconnexion\3DxWare\Cfg

Seems that any edited versions must also be saved in that location
jwick
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Re: Getting a SpaceMouse Compact to output keystrokes - possible?

Post by jwick »

A few hints:

Let 3DxSmartUI make a cfg starting point for you.

Do this by opening your game/app, then our GUI (device button, 3Dx systray icon->Settings/properties whatever we call it in your release, or 3Dconnexion Home->Settings).

Change something like turning rotations on/off. This will cause a file specific to your game/application to be written in %appdata%/3dconnexion/3DxWare/cfg.

Once you have that you can edit the XML using the Device/Axis Mouse/Keyboard/Joystick related assignments that you can copy from the Template files under Program Files/3Dconnexion/3DxWare/3DxWinCore/cfg.
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