Playing Emulator Games On TV

Emulators are great! You can play your favorite games and never worry about your console breaking down. But why play the games on your computer when you can play them on a TV just like playing on the console itself. I can show you how to get set up on that and show you a setup so all you have to do is turn on the computer, pick up the controller and sit down and never have to get up again until your done playing. And this setup will enable you to record footage, take screenshots and toggle the FPS display with Fraps or the emulator recording features through your controller. I personally use Fraps since its great for any PC game and you can get Fraps at the Fraps website.

This setup will enable you to do the following...
-Hook your PC or Laptop to a TV screen
-No more keyboard and mouse needed. Fully enable controlling the computer with your controller right when you log into Windows.
-How to setup a On-Screen Keyboard
-How to record footage, take screenshots, and toggle the FPS display with Fraps or through the emulator recording features.

1-Go to hookpctotv website and from there get setup and see what you need for cables and connections.

2-Once you set up the PC and have the PC display on your TV screen adjust the emulator resolution settings for the best quality on your TV (Optional)

3-Set up a controller through the emulator (Recommended since playing with a mouse and keyboard on the couch isn't ideal)

(If you want to not ever use a keyboard/mouse when you set up and switch games, switch console emulators or record footage and take screenshots from your controller on the couch follow these steps below.)

4-Download Xpadder at the Xpadder website. This will cost you roughly $10 but it depends on your country. Buy Xpadder and download it and I advise you backup the Xpadder program so in years to come you will never have to buy it again.

5-Install Xpadder. Run Xpadder.exe and click start and choose the language and set up the program.

6-Plug in your controller that you will use for player 1.

7-In Xpadder click on the controller icon and go to new

8-If your controller has a D-Pad go to DPad and check off the enable box(es) (Ex:I have one D-Pad on my Xbox 360 Controller)

9-If your controller has triggers go to Triggers and check off the enable box(es) (Ex:I have two Triggers on my Xbox 360 Controller, LT & RT)

10-Go to buttons then press the button on your controller you want to use for exiting the game and back onto the emulator/computer desktop. If you want to use the "exiting the game" button as a trigger or on the D-Pad then skip this step. (Ex:I am using a Xbox 360 Controller and want the Start button to be used to exit the game so I press the start button on my Xbox 360 Controller).

11-Go to buttons then press the button on your controller you want to act as a Left Click on the mouse. If you want to use the "Left Click" button as a trigger or on the D-Pad then skip this step. (Ex:I am using a Xbox 360 Controller and want the Trigger (RT) to be used as a Left Click so therefore I skip this step).

12-(Optional-If you want to record footage/snap pictures using fraps or the emulator recording features by pressing a button on the controller then do this step) Go to buttons then press the button on your controller you want to use for capturing video/taking screenshots. If you want to use the "capturing video/taking screenshots" button as a trigger or on the D-Pad then skip this step. (Ex:I am using a Xbox 360 Controller and want the Back button to be used to capturing video/taking screenshots so I press the back button on my Xbox 360 Controller).

13-(Optional-If you want to Toggle the FPS counter using fraps or the emulator recording features by pressing a button on the controller then do this step) Go to buttons then press the button on your controller you want to use for Toggling the FPS counter. If you want to use the "Toggling the FPS counter" button as a trigger or on the D-Pad then skip this step. (Ex:I am using a Xbox 360 Controller and want the D-Pad Left and D-Pad Right button to be used to Toggling the FPS Counter so therefore I skip this step).

14-Go to sticks and enable the stick/joystick you want to use for the mouse. If you want to use the D-Pad as the mouse then skip this step. (Ex:I am using a Xbox 360 Controller and want the Right Joystick to be the mouse so I enable the Right Joystick).

15-Click OK and click on the Save icon and save this .xpaddercontroller file

16-On the Joystick/D-Pad you want to use for a mouse. Click on the upper square and select Mouse Move Up as a command. Click on the left square and select Mouse Move Left as a command, Click on the down square and select Mouse Move Down as a command, Click on the right square and select Mouse Move Right as a command.

17-Click on the wrench icon by the Joystick/D-Pad and select mouse settings. I recommend you set the emulation speed to 50 on both. You may adjust this if you find moving the mouse too slow/too fast.

18-Click on the Button/Trigger/D-Pad button you want to act as a "Left Click" command. (If your unsure which square it is just press the button on the controller and it will light up in Xpadder.) Then select Left Mouse Button (1) as a command.

19-Click on the Button/Trigger/D-Pad button you want to act as a "Exit the Game" command. (If your unsure which square it is just press the button on the controller and it will light up in Xpadder.) Then go to advance. And do the following

Click the yellow square (Add Release Zone)
Click the purple square (Add Pause)
Click the yellow square (Add Release Zone)
Select the last yellow Square in the cycle and set the time to 5.00s
Select the empty square to the right and click on the green square (Add Hold Zone)
Press the Esc key
Click OK
Exit the keyboard window

20-(Optional-If you want to record footage/snap pictures using fraps or the emulator recording features by pressing a button on the controller then do this step) Click on the Button/Trigger/D-Pad button you want to act as a "Record Footage/Take Screenshot" command. (If your unsure which square it is just press the button on the controller and it will light up in Xpadder.) Then go to advance. And do the following

Click the yellow square (Add Release Zone)
Select the yellow Square in the cycle and set the time to 0.01s
Select the empty square to the right and click on the purple square (Add Pause)
Click the yellow square (Add Release Zone)
Select the last yellow Square in the cycle and set the time to 2.00s
Select the empty square to the right and click on the green square (Add Hold Zone)
Press the F11 Key
Press the F12 Key
Click OK
Exit the keyboard window

21-(Optional-If you want to Toggle the FPS counter using fraps or the emulator recording features by pressing a button on the controller then do this step) Click on the Button/Trigger/D-Pad button you want to act as a "Toggle FPS Counter" command. (If your unsure which square it is just press the button on the controller and it will light up in Xpadder.) Then go to advance. And do the following

Click the yellow square (Add Release Zone)
Select the yellow Square in the cycle and set the time to 0.01s
Select the empty square to the right and click on the purple square (Add Pause)
Click the yellow square (Add Release Zone)
Select the last yellow Square in the cycle and set the time to 2.00s
Select the empty square to the right and click on the green square (Add Hold Zone)
Press the F10 Key
Click OK
Exit the keyboard window

22-After click on the Save icon and save this as anything you want. (Ex:I saved it as Emulators)

23-Click on the wrench icon at the top right corner by the help icon. Under Options make sure that the "Start with Windows (auto-minimized)" and AutoOpen last used profile is checked off and click OK.

24-Open up the emulator and make sure that the hotkey for exiting the game is the Esc key (Many emulators have this as default)

25-(Optional-If your using the emulator recording features then do this step) Enable the emulator video recording feature, taking screenshot feature, and toggle FPS feature. Make sure the hotkeys are the following

F10-Toggle FPS
F11-Take Screenshot
F12-Take Video

26-(Optional-If your using fraps then do this step) Open fraps and ensure that "Run Fraps when Windows starts" is check off. Then ensure that the following hotkeys in fraps are correct

F10-Overlay Hotkey
F11-Screen Capture Hotkey
F12-Video Capture Hotkey

27-Go to the Windows Start menu->All Programs->Accessories->Accessibility/Ease Of Access and then drag the On-Screen Keyboard onto your desktop. (Use this program when you want to type with your controller and your using the TV as a display)

28-Thats it!

Now make sure you always running Xpadder in the back round and you can enjoy emulator games on a TV with ease and without getting off the couch (Except for turning the computer on). If your console emulator is in compatibility mode make sure Xpadder (and fraps) is in compatibility mode also. If new versions of windows you may need to turn off the User Account Controls so Xpadder will launch automatically and Fraps wont act all funny. To do this go to the Windows Start menu->Control Panel and in the search box type uac and set it to never notify. Then next time you launch Xpadder you will need to uncheck the "Always ask before operating this file" box.

If you want to use Pinnacle Gamer Profile instead of Xpadder and want to enable the Steam Overlay while playing your games go here and each folder that is named after an emulator will have some sort of Xbox Controller setup or Nintendo 64 Controller setup. I made them easier to setup since you don't need to create the file now and only need to download it and import it and Pinnacle Gamer Profiler is a better program than Xpadder.

Can we do it with Chromecast?? It would be very nice!

You could get yourself a Raspberry Pi and load something like RetroPie or RecalBox and plug it into your TV. Pretty cheap option.

meh just pc/notebook also pads and this http://a.allegroimg.pl/original/01/5.../28/5361972842 i buyed long time ago its called vga to s-video conventer but can also use composite this thing gets power from usb 5v and with my ati catalyst detect tv i buyed also scart audio video cable it has jack 3,5 for conect to sound card and composite you just plug in to scart then plug composite to conventer and just like i say last step plug jack to pc tada im dont need mini pc like Raspberry Pi of course if you have svideo out put in your video card you just plug in cable easy right >_> <_<