Quite honestly, the GM2 Action Pad and Mouse is one of the best original ideas for gamers that I have seen so far this year. Also, Saitek is constantly posting new Game Profiles that can be downloaded from their website. These Game Profiles, found on the Product Companion Disc, are pre-configured controller settings for specific games like Half-Life, Homeworld, Baldur’s Gate, Hidden & Dangerous and Unreal Tournament, just to name a few ( very few, compared to what’s on the disc). Then again, if you are like me and you don’t want to program your own controls, Saitek is there to help with their SGE Game Profiles. This means that just about any game can played using the GM2.
Using the exact same software that Saitek uses for many of it’s gaming peripherals (see Saitek X36 Flight Control System), the Saitek Gaming Extension permits players to assign keyboard functions to the Action Pad for your customizing needs. What really puts the sizzle on this hot little number is the programming software. That’s right! Just like Burger King says, "You can have it your way!" You can continue using your favorite mouse right along with the Action Pad.
If you just cannot bear to part with your precious mouse, then don’t. Great idea, as it offers more control without having to utilize the keyboard. However, Saitek has enhanced the wheel mouse idea by strategically including a hat switch that can be easily accessed with your thumb. The Game Mouse is basically your standard 3-button wheel mouse. Turn the resistance on, and you now have a handy throttle. Underneath the Action Pad is a switch that allows you to turn the wheel resistance on and off. It has seven well placed, easy to reach buttons, one hat switch and a wheel that can be used for strafing. The Action Pad is an ergonomically designed, one-handed game controller. The GM2 is essentially a combination of Saitek’s GM3 Action Pad and GM1 Game Mouse. Now restart your computer and plug the Action Pad into a USB port.
Just pop the Product Companion Disc into your computer’s CD-ROM, then install the game controller drivers and the Saitek Gaming Extensions software.
For instance, the POV Hatswitch in the top center of the joystick is not counted in the 34 as it is recognized in the config.ini as JOYPOV0UP, -RIGHT, -DOWN, and -LEFT, but can only be assigned manually in the config.ini and not in the config menu.Īnywho, with my digression and roundabout way of writing, the real question again is: is the reason that JOYBUTTON32 and JOYBUTTON33 don't show up in the config.ini (all other buttons have, even those I haven't assigned or couldn't assign in the menu) the fact that VO has a limit to the number of buttons it can have assigned per controller?ĮDIT: I am going to manually add them in and assign them to some binds and see if they work, as a test.Installing the GM2 is as easy as pie (what the heck does that mean, anyway? Making fresh pie is never easy. There should be a JOYBUTTON32 and a JOYBUTTON33, right? Just to note, not all of these are assignable in the config menu, but are assignable from the config.ini. Inside VO they are labeled as JOYBUTTON0 through JOYBUTTON31. Is there a limit to the number of buttons VO recognizes in joystick configuration? On my Saitek X52, counting the mode switch (recognized as 3 buttons) and two of the three POV Hatswitches (4 buttons each), there are a total of 34 buttons.