Grinding on MapleStory for many hours at a time is hard on the hands when using a keyboard - it's probably a pretty good way to develop RSI. People have speculated that native joystick support might be coming, but personally I wouldn't hold your breath for it. In the meantime, we have JoyToKey. This little program polls your joystick, and translates those movements into keystrokes which are sent to the game.

Setting it up couldn't be easier. First, you'll need a joystick or gamepad which is compatible with Windows. If your PC doesn't have a gameport, you'll need to get a USB gamepad. You can also get a PS2 adapter, which will allow you to connect a Playstation controller to your PC. If you're comfortable with a PS2 controller, this is by far the best option.

Plug your controller in, and Windows should recognize it. If it's a gameport model instead of a USB model, you may need to add it manually. Either way, open up the Windows Control Panel, then open the Game Controllers panel. If your joystick doesn't show up here, you're kind of on your own. If your gamepad came with a CD, look for instructions on it. Otherwise, try clicking add, and finding the best match.

Moving on, double click the entry for your controller. Under the Settings tab, click Calibrate, and follow the instructions. Ensure you're holding the controller as you normally would when playing, because in some cases the angle of the joystick can mess with it! Once this is completed...

Under the Test tab, play with pressing the buttons on the controller, and watching how the test widgets change. This gives you an indication of what button numbers on the joystick correspond to logical button numbers assigned by Windows. They frequently match, but every now and then you have an oddball joystick where they don't. You may also have buttons which aren't numbered, such as the press-down buttons on many analog sticks on "Dual-shock" style gamepads. Make note of what fires what. Dismiss the control panel when you're done.



Next, download (see bottom of this post) and unzip JoyToKey. Put it someplace it won't get deleted and can make a few files (for configurations), and I like to make a shortcut of it in Startup so it'll start when your PC does. If you haven't already, start JoyToKey.

If your d-pad showed up as a point of view hat in the Test window, you'll need to Enable POV in the Preferences tab. While you're here, you may also want to ramp up the threshold a bit, I set mine at 35% for a starting point. This stops you from randomly walking up/down ladders if you happen to have the analog stick slightly forward or backward. If you only have a gamepad, this isn't important.



Now, go through and assign keys to each joystick button by double clicking it. The program is pretty self explanatory. For attacking buttons, you may wish to set autofire. This enables you to hold the button down, instead of pressing furiously. This, in and of itself, isn't abuse in the eyes of Nexon/Wizet - you can do this by holding a key down anyway. However, I'd suggest against setting the autofire any higher than 16/s, which is usually the repeat rate for most PCs' keyboards.

While you can do it, I also don't recommend making JoyToKey click the mouse. Auto-clickers are against the MS terms of service, and JoyToKey can be an autoclicker. You don't want to end up in the banhouse, you just want to play with a controller.

Once you're done assigning keys, minimize JoyToKey. It'll disappear to a small icon in the system tray, where you can easily forget about it. Start MapleStory, and experiment with your configuration - I recommend someplace safe like the Free Market. Enjoy!

Links

• jtk379en.rar
• Search eBay for USB Gamepads