Can I connect a wireless Xbox 360 controller to PC with a play & charge cable?

Question

I have a wireless Xbox 360 controller with its USB charger. Can I use it as a wired controller to play on my PC without buying the wireless receiver for Windows?

And if so, where can I find the drivers for Windows 7 64-bit (if available)?

Asked by WeekendWarrior

Answer

There is no way. Microsoft made it so the Play and Charge Kit only receives power. I believe there is some other data that is sent to the controller as well that someone decoded but there is no data sent to the computer from the controller. I will try to dig up a link.

On the other hand, you could just buy a wired controller, those are about as expensive as the wireless receiver, work on both PC and Xbox/Xbox360, and you'd have an extra controller for a friend.

Answered by Lon Kastenson

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How to use wireless Xbox 360 controller with USB charger on PC

Question

I have a wireless Xbox 360 controller with its USB charger. Can I use it as a wired controller to play on my PC without buying the wireless receiver for Windows?

And if so, where can I find the drivers for Windows 7 64-bit (if available)?

Asked by WeekendWarrior

Answer

There is no way. Microsoft made it so the Play and Charge Kit only receives power. I believe there is some other data that is sent to the controller as well that someone decoded but there is no data sent to the computer from the controller. I will try to dig up a link.

On the other hand, you could just buy a wired controller, those are about as expensive as the wireless receiver, work on both PC and Xbox/Xbox360, and you'd have an extra controller for a friend.

Answered by Lon Kastenson

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How can I use an Xbox 360 controller to play Steam games?

Question

I bought BioShock 2 on Steam in the sale a couple of weeks ago, but I'm better at playing FPSs with an Xbox 360 controller than with mouse and keyboard.

Is there any way for me to use an Xbox 360 controller to play Steam games?

Asked by Chris Salij

Answer

In the Store page of every Steam Game you can check that this symbol is available.

Controller enabled

Usually in all recent games (2-3 years), if a controller is enabled, there are high possibility that Microsoft XBox 360 works and is well supported.

But to be sure I always suggest to take a look to that game specific forum. Most of times there are users that already asked for XBox 360 compatibility.

Answered by Drake

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Does the Xbox windows controller work with directinput games?

Question

I want to buy a Xbox controller with PC receiver.

I know it uses Xinput.

Will it work with old games that use DirectInput?

Asked by Leadri

Answer

I like your question - It's straightforward.

Yes, MSDN provides confirmation that this will work and of the limitations imposed on the Xbox 360 controller when using DirectIput:

The Xbox 360 Controller is properly enumerated on DirectInput, and can be used with the DirectInputAPIs. However, some functionality provided by XInput will be missing from the DirectInput implementation:

• The left and right trigger buttons will act as a single button, not independently
• The vibration effects will not be available
• Querying for headset devices will not be available

I'm not sure if it's clear from their infomation as it is generally targetting software developpers rather than users, but with a default PnP driver for Windows Vista or Windows 7, the controller should use a common driver that will work with XInput when applicable while also pulling up under DirectInput when not - but of course the above limitations will apply under DirectInput. For older versions of windows, the default is usually a DirectInput driver and you would have to seek out the XInput driver.

Using a wired XBox 360 controller, you can use a custom driver such as the dated XBCD to overcome many of these limitations and provide for further customization for the XBox 360 controller under DirectInput. Note that this setup would require that you add a wrapper library to the game directory of games for which you want to use XInput. Commentary on this driver has been almost always favourable from what I've read and it was still being kept up in 2011.

There is a fairly dated (2008, I think) alternate driver for the wireless controller called X360WC, but I have found few clear details as to what functionality it provides with respect to DirectInput - here is the only guide I've pulled thus far. From what I've read, it works well. As this driver comes from a Japanese point of origin, support is a bit sparse.

Answered by skovacs1

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How to use Wireless controller with USB Charger on PC

Question

I have a wireless xbox 360 controller and the USB charger for it. Can I use it to play [wired] on my PC without having to resort buying the wireless receiver for windows?

And if so, where can I find the drivers for Windows 7 64 bit (if available)?

Asked by WeekendWarrior

Answer

There is no way. Microsoft made it so the Play and Charge Kit only receives power. I believe there is some other data that is sent to the controller as well that someone decoded but there is no data sent to the computer from the controller. I will try to dig up a link.

On the other hand, you could just buy a wired controller, those are about as expensive as the wireless receiver, work on both PC and Xbox/Xbox360, and you'd have an extra controller for a friend.

Answered by Lon Kastenson

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How to take a catch in Ashes Cricket 2009?

Question

I'm using an Xbox 360 Controller for Windows to play Ashes Cricket 2009. I figured out the controls except that I don't understand how to take a catch.

Let's say I'm on the fielding side. When the ball is in the air and a fielder running to take the catch, the camera moves behind the fielder, a circle is drawn around the ball, and "E" is shown on the screen. This means that pressing E on keyboard would take the catch (I didn't try it though). But I don't understand what I should press on the Xbox controller. I tried several buttons, but couldn't figure it out.

Anyone knows how to take the catch?

Answer

"E" means Enter, so press the Enter key to catch.

You should also know that there's a specific time you should press it. You'll see a circle higlighting the ball in three different colors: Red, orange and green.

If you press when it's red, you'll definitely drop the catch. If it is orange, you may or may not catch. If it's green, this is the right time to press enter to win the catch!

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How can I identify a counterfeit Xbox 360 controller?

Question

I recently bought a Wired Xbox 360 controller from Ebay, and I'm trying to figure out whether it's counterfeit.

It's two-tone black and gray, which according to Wikipedia means it's probably the Elite edition of the controller.

Here's what makes me suspicous:

• There's no breakaway cable near the USB port (Microsoft's term is Inline Cable Release), the cable is one piece from controller to USB port
• The cord is about 7 feet long
• The hologram sticker on the back says "Microsoft" but doesn't have the real Microsoft logo, there's no slice taken out of the "o" in "Micro"

Here's a number of details that are correct, as far as I can tell:

• The "Microsoft" logo etched on the top of the controller is correct, it has the split "o" and connected "ft"
• It seems to work correctly when plugged into my computer
• The front of the controller matches this image exactly
• At the USB end of the cord, the grey wider plastic piece you're intended to pull on has the little nub on top. (You can see what I'm talking about in this picture, the nub is to the left of and below the first "w" in the watermark)

I know pictures would probably be helpful, I'll work on taking some.

Answer

Microsoft has changed the looks of its controllers over time.

For instance, my original wireless controller from my Elite looks identical to the images you showed, and says Microsoft twice on the top of the controller (one hologram, one etched in).

My newer wireless controller, that came with the Wireless adapter for Windows, is all black, and only has the hologram on the top with Xbox 360 etched in the top.

On both controllers, the hologram is right above the battery pack, so it may be located in a different location on a wired controller.

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Does Xbox 360 USB controller work out-of-the-box on Windows/Linux/Mac?

Question

I'm planning buying a wired USB Xbox 360 controller, but I would like to know a bit more about it before actually buying.

Most (all?) USB controllers identify themselves as USB HID (Human Interface Device), which allows them to be auto-configured and work right away, without installing any drivers. It also has the advantage that USB HID devices will (or should) work on any operating system.

But how about the Xbox 360 controller?

• Does it identify itself as USB HID?
• Does it work on Windows without the need of special drivers? (or did Microsoft "cheat" a little by shipping the driver together with Windows?)
• Does it work out-of-the-box on Linux and Mac OS X?

---

EDIT: Okay, I've bought the controller. Some additional info:

• The controller uses a vendor-specific (0xff) device-class, which means it requires drivers in order to work.
• It works out-of-the-box on Windows 7 and Linux. It requires drivers on Mac OS X and Windows XP. See the answer below for more information.

Answer

In Windows it works out of the box, but if you install this software the Xbox 360 will display a battery indicator on the screen.

In Ubuntu, the Xbox 360 controller works flawlessly with xpad. (I've tried this successfully with a wireless controller)

In Mac, I've found a driver here, but I haven't tried it because I don't own a Mac myself.

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Can I use the Xbox 360 Headset for game sounds instead of voice chat?

Question

I recently picked up a cheap-o Xbox 360 wired headset (one that plugs into the wireless XBox 360 controller I use). I'm not an Xbox Live Gold member, and so I don't need chat features or anything - mostly what I'm looking for is to be able to hear the game's audio with the volume on my TV turned down. However, the headset doesn't seem to emit any of the game sounds. So far I've only tried it with Fable II.

Is this a result of my stinginess? If I pick up a better headset will I be able to use it to listen to the game sounds? Or is this somehow related to the game - do only some games send game audio to the controller? Or am I crazy to think that I'll be able to hear game audio through a headset connected to my XBox 360 wireless controller?

Any help or advice appreciated!

Answer

Sorry to disappoint, but the headphone jack on the controller is for voice communications only. Game sounds, music, etc. are all played through the display device (tv/monitor).

To get the audio from the Xbox to your headset you'll need some sort of converter cable/connector that turns the red/white connector that goes to your tv to the jack that you have on your headset.

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