XBOX One controller hotkey only working with VoiceAttack in focus

[Exergist]

I appear to only be able to use my designated Xbox One controller joystick hotkey to get VA to listen while VA is the active window. As soon as I switch to anything else like Chrome or even the Desktop I can no longer get VA to listen with the Xbox One controller hotkey.

I have no issue getting VA to listen when using the global keyboard hotkey. I also have no issue getting global listening to work using an old PS1 controller as well as an XBOX360 controller. 

Any ideas? Does anyone else experience this issue with an XBOX One controller?

[Gary]

This is very strange.  So, I have a wired XBox One controller, and it is doing the exact same thing you describe.  I switch to another device and it works just fine.  I know for sure this worked before, as I normally test with an XBox One controller (used to be XBox 360).  I tried even with the release version of VA and it was exhibiting the same behavior.  I wonder if there was a driver update that went out that's messing things up

[Exergist]

Well that's a kick in the pants 

I always launch my PC games through Steam, which gives me the option to customize the Xbox One controller configuration. So as a workaround, I can use the Steam Configurator to assign my global hotkey controller button to a keyboard press. Then I can tell VoiceAttack to use that keyboard press as the global listen hotkey for the profile. A little less direct, but at least I get the end result I want.

Hopefully the issue with the Xbox One controller hotkeys not working with VoiceAttack out of focus can be resolved!

[Gary]

As a follow-up, I tried this on Windows 7 and it still works fine over there.  You had mentioned Steam, so I tried killing Steam on my machine and it didn't make a difference.

The search continues.

[Exergist]

Yeah I'm running on Windows 10, so no joy there I guess. Thanks for investigating!

[StephanB]

same problem for me with XBox One Controller and VoiceAttack. It still works with VA in Focus but not with other app in focus. with XBox 360 Controller i have no issues on the same system.
i'm using windows 10 pro

[Gary]

I had written up a, 'solution' for this, however, I inadvertently deleted the post o_O 

I'll post again soon... I have to cull together all the stuff again (@#$%$#@!!!).

[ludovic.bondon]

I put my mark here ! I'd be really interested to know your solution

[Exergist]

Gary previously provided a YouTube link (I'm guessing from the post that got deleted) that I saved to watch later: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76asVtL4gwg&list

[Gary]

Cool!  Yeah... that one. 

I don't have the wireless controller.  What I did was:

Device Manager > Human Interface Devices > Xbox controller > Update Driver Software > Browse My Computer > Let Me Pick >

I made sure, 'Show compatible hardware' was selected, and then double-clicked on the, 'HID-compliant game controller' item under, 'Model'.

After that, everything started to work again.  Of course I can't find the XBox controller in the list any more (it's hidden amongst all the other, 'HID-compliant game controller' items).

[Exergist]

So I tried Gary's method and while it does get VA to always recognize XB1 controller hotkeys regardless of window focus, Steam no longer recognized the XB1 controller. I performed all my testing with my wireless controller plugged into my PC via cable (wireless dongle disconnected).

Following the same procedure Gary outlined, if I change the "HID-compliant game controller" to "HID-compliant device" the result is the same. However if I change it to "XINPUT compatible HID device" (which I believe is the default for the XB1 controller if it is reinstalled to the PC) then Steam goes back to recognizing the controller...but then VA went back to recognizing the controller hotkey only when VA was in focus.

I finally decided to follow the video that I reposted from Gary. These instructions WORKED! Now Steam works with the wireless XB1 controller AND VA's controller recognition hotkey works with the wireless XB1 controller.

Unfortunately if I plug the controller back into the USB cable then VA goes back to recognizing the controller hotkey only when VA is in focus, and the only way to fix this is to repeat the video's procedure. But then this OVERRIDES the changes I made for the wireless controller...which then also goes back to the errant VA behavior when unplugged again.

Soooo long story short, I will be going back and using the Steam Configurator to map my desired controller recognition button to a keyboard keypress combination, and then I'll use that keypress combination as my global VA recognition hotkey. This gets around all the problems and allows Steam to work with the XB1 controller and VA to always recognize the desired controller recognition hotkey. This also gets around the issue of VA identifying a plugged-in and unplugged wireless controller as two different joysticks (requiring the user to reset the joystick hotkeys each time plugging/unplugging occurs).

@Gary: any other thoughts about this issue? The method you found works 100% great for wired XB1 controllers, but switching between wired and wireless causes issues as outlined above.

[Grumpy]

Any more updates to this issue?
I am having similar problems, but the drivers referred to in the youtube video are no longer available.

Any other links to possible drivers?

[Squeeze]

So i tried what Gary wrote but after that the gamepad won't work under Steam and also VoiceAttack still doesn't detect the XBOX One Controller Wireless button presses. I also tried to find another driver on the MS Update Catalog website but the system manager tells me that the best drivers for this device are already installed. Any possibilities left to get the Xbox One Controller work with VA ?

[Squeeze]

i don't understand why this is a driver problem, because Steam does the same with the controller and there's no problem with it...

[Gary]

The way that joysticks are addressed in VA is generic.  That is, all sticks are treated the same using simple mechanisms. No other controller behaves like this, the wired controller works perfectly, there are other apps having the same problem and mucking about with the driver fixes the issue (like you see in the video).  I make the assumption it's a driver problem, but is it clear why I make that assumption?  What Steam game works out of focus with the wireless Xbox One controller?  Maybe I need to talk to those folks. 

[Exergist]

Any further thoughts about this? It would be great to better understand this issue since I feel like it hinders VA adoption by folks who use the XB1 controller for PC gaming. Yes using the Steam Configurator as I previously described is a viable workaround, but not everyone will use Steam or want to mess with the Configurator.

This may be a naive question but how do applications like Steam handle proper wired and wireless XB1 controller input?

[Gary]

This has been addressed in the current beta:  http://voiceattack.com/download

Devices identified as gamepads will now have two choices when assigning a controller:   the named version (for instance, XBox One Wireless Controller) and a new compatibility selection, indicated as Game Controller 1-4.  If your gamepad is not working (like the XBox wireless controllers), select the corresponding, 'Game Controller' from the list.  Because there are users out there that have no trouble with their gamepads (probably not wireless Xbox controllers), there must be two choices (gamepads can't all be treated the same, causing others to have to switch devices - hope that makes sense).