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X3: Farnham's Legacy > Guides > Xenologer's Guides
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Improved Controller Profile - V2.0
By Xenologer
The standard controller profile lacks some advanced features to truly enjoy piloting a spaceship.
This profile includes advanced steering, ship rolling and enemy targeting as well as quick access to the maps, without losing other functionality.
   
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Created by
Xenologer
Offline
Category: Gameplay Basics, Modding or Configuration
Languages: English
Posted
Updated
11 May, 2021 @ 10:57pm
17 May, 2021 @ 12:47am
529 Unique Visitors
21 Current Favorites
Guide Index
Overview
Improved Controller Profile 
Adding Sector map navigation 
Comments
Improved Controller Profile
After hours of testing i thought i will share my advanced controller profile.




*****************

Left stick - Map to buttons
-> It will require to remap strafing manually, but allows to add universe map navigation

Right stick - no change
A - no change
B - no change

X - Track target (on single click) / Target nearest enemy (on hold)
-> When holding X the target finder turns red and only works for enemy targeting.
Very helpful in battles.

Y - Open Sidebar (on single click) / Owned Property (on hold)
-> Allows fast access Ships & Stations

LB - Break and Revers (on single click) / Freight bay (on hold)
-> Allows fast access to Drones, Marines and other Cargo (It does not interfere with flight)

RB - no change
LTrigger - no change
RTrigger - no change

Start - Sector map (on single click) / Comms (on hold)
-> It also works if you are in your 'property list', highlight a ship/station and press 'start'
and it immediately opens the Sector map
-> Comms and Command Console are very often used, having them on the press of a button is necessary. it does also work from the Sector map.

Back - Select view mode
-> A necessary function to access turrets on capital ships

LStick - Roll left
RStick - Roll right
-> I can not imagine piloting a spaceship without the rolling rudders.

-> ADDITIONALLY: the two sticks can be used in the 'Interface' section for zooming
on the Sector map, these two functions will not conflict.

D-UP - no change

D-Down - Target next object OR for pirating i remap this button to the Cargo bay Hacker

D-Left - no change

D-Right - SETA
-> I found having all the speed settings on the left side much more comfortable.
Especially since you don't use strafing nearly as much as steering.
Being able to steer and using SETA immediately again feels much more comfortable.


Adding Sector map navigation
*****************
Mapping the Left Stick manually and adding Sector map navigation

The map navigation allows to manually place DEFEND and MOVE TO orders on the sector map. That can be extremely helpful if you want to place capital ships in front of a gate.




-> The conflict warning can easily be ignored. As soon as the sector map is open the map navigation is activated. (does not conflict with SETA)

***************** WARNING *****************
Before changing your controller profile make a copy of your standard profile and adjust and rename the new one. If you are satisfied with the changes you can set the new profile as standard in that game-save.

9 Comments
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cplsteel 29 Apr, 2023 @ 11:50pm 
If you're having trouble setting the "hold" bindings - (the confusion posted below)
The "Controls" menu has five sub-tabs, Profile, Controls, Game, Interface, and Controller. (Yes, the "controls" menu has sub-tabs named "controls" and "controller". Xenologer is setting the hold bindings the other tabs, not the "Controller" tab.

....it took me way longer than i'm going to own up to here to figure this out.
Xenologer  [author] 16 Mar, 2022 @ 2:40am 
If it still doesn't work, send me a friend invite and i can send you a short screen capture video. No big deal. It's an awesome game and even more fun to play on the big screen with controller. I hope it helps and have fun... cheers
Xenologer  [author] 16 Mar, 2022 @ 2:40am 
@TheNightOwl i had to shortly install the game again to try it out and it works perfectly well.

let's go through it again.

you loaded up a save-game and navigating to the controls options than:

1. Navigate to the Controls you wanna change. / for this example lets use 'Target next Enemy'
2. Press A to open the next drop down menu -> Add Controls, Remove Controls, Apply, Cancel should appear.
2. press A for 'Add Control' -> the controls window goes empty now. That's the time to assign the new controls
3. Press AND hold X for 3 seconds -> after you release it assigns the 'Hold X' to 'Target next Enemy' -> the window should show the Options for Add,Remove,Apply and Cancel again. Plus a small red warning for conflicting controls
4. Press Apply -> now you should be back in the controls overview with newly assign controls. Be aware that in this example the Controls are conflicting with 'Track Target' -> you can now change 'Track Target' to single X or change whatever you like.
TheNightOwl 15 Mar, 2022 @ 11:06pm 
@kalganid. Thanks for replying but sadly it just doesn't work. Here is what I'm doing -

1. Navigate to the X button, press A, go to custom, press A, go to 'Track target', press A.
2. Returns to main control menu with 'Track target' assigned to X
3. Navigate to the X button, press A, go to custom, press A, go to 'Target next enemy', hold down A for 3-5 seconds, nothing happens. I then press A.
4. Returns to main control menu now with 'Target next enemy' assigned to X

Holding the A button or X button or any button does nothing. Shame.
Xenologer  [author] 15 Mar, 2022 @ 8:08am 
@TheNightOwl try first to assign X to 'Track Target' and than navigate to the option 'Target nearest enemy' and press AND hold (3sec.) X to assign the 'Hold' status.

-> if you don't press and hold X on the first try you will have to reassign the initial 'Track Target' again. hence always go back and check if both controls are still properly assigned.

It is very unintuitive therefore just copy your standard controller profile first and try it out a few times. Try navigating only with your controller (except renaming your profile), so you will immediately notice if something went wrong.
TheNightOwl 14 Mar, 2022 @ 11:04pm 
@kalganid - can you expand on "when you add the new controls in the settings just 'press and hold' a bit longer and it will recognize your input as a 'Hold' option." please? I am having no luck at all with X being two things. Even with holding the button down loads. Never used a controller before for this game.
Xenologer  [author] 28 Jun, 2021 @ 4:12pm 
when you add the new controls in the settings just 'press and hold' a bit longer and it will recognize your input as a 'Hold' option.

it can be a bit tricky at first, if you don't 'press and hold' on the first input, it will simply override your last option..... i hope that helps.
exarch42 28 Jun, 2021 @ 1:45pm 
Hey, I'm trying to use your setup as a base for my own, but I'm having some trouble. For example, reassigning the X-Button to Track Target is no problem, but how do I add press-and-hold functionality for Target Nearest Enemy (or anything else for that matter)? I haven't been able to determine how to add press-and-hold options that aren't built-in with the default options. How do you set these on top of the simple press? Thanks!
Valkeris 12 May, 2021 @ 7:34am 
Great setup, gotta give this a try. I always kept my targeting on the D-pad and Seta on Y.