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Using controllers with Primal Carnage

By dinosauriac

A guide that aims to make using gamepads easier, with an in-depth look at how to fully customize your setup.
Be sure to check the Controller Problems section for tips on how to fix and avoid issues.

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Created by

dinosauriac
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Category: Gameplay Basics, Modding or Configuration

Languages: English

Posted

Updated

2 Jan, 2013 @ 10:09am

20 Dec, 2013 @ 11:45am

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Guide Index

Overview

Supported Controllers

Solving Controller Problems

What the buttons do

Changing your setup

Custom Control Scheme download

Comments

Supported Controllers

Primal Carnage officially features partial support for the Microsoft Xbox 360 gamepad. Once your wired controller is connected, it should automatically be detected by your system and the game will recognise it once you enter a match. If using a wireless controller, you will need to have set up your wireless receiver beforehand.

Although the 360 controller is the only officially supported gamepad, any controller will work with Primal Carnage, so long as it is set up to emulate a 360 pad. For instance, if you want to use a PlayStation controller with the game, you can use the MotionInJoy tool which fools your PC into thinking your DualShock / Sixaxis is a 360 controller.

MotionInJoy:
http://www.motioninjoy.com/download

Support page for 360 controller on PC:
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/p/xbox-360-controller-for-windows#support

Solving Controller Problems

Please note that because Primal Carnage does not have full controller support yet, there are a number of issues that can arise from using a gamepad...

The menus in Primal Carnage are currently unresponsive when using a controller.
You need a mouse at hand to select your class and navigate the main menu.

Upon entering a match, you'll often start in a sort of "fly mode" with no weapon.
Press right click or right trigger to bring up the class select menu
A less important issue, but can cause confusion:
When you fire the Trapper's pistols, left trigger fires the right gun,
and the right trigger fires the left[/b] gun. [/list]

IMPORTANT:
Changing settings using the in-game options menu will cause the right analog stick to stop working.

If this happens, you can fix the issue by finding and deleting your Config folder, located here: Steam\steamapps\common\primal_carnage\PrimalCarnageGame\Config
And then verify your game files with Steam.

What the buttons do

Primal Carnage supports the 360 gamepad and has a control configuration already set up for you to jump in and play. Other gamepads can be used with the help of programs such as MotionInJoy or Xpadder. Here are some diagrams I made of the default control layouts, click to enlarge:

General controls

Dilophosaurus layout

Tyrannosaurus layout

Novaraptor layout

Pteranodon layout

Carnotaurus layout

Changing your setup

To change controller settings, look in this folder:
C:\programfiles(x86)\steam\steamapps\common\primal_carnage\primalecarnagegame\config

All of Primal Carnage's configuration files are in here, the ones relating to controls are "DefaultInput.ini", and "PrimalCarnageInput.ini".

Inverting the camera controls

It's fairly easy to invert your controls, and is the one tweak that doesn't involve editing config files. Start up Primal Carnage and open the developer's console. Do this by pressing the chat button (default Y on your keyboard) while in a match. Delete any text that's there already and type: "invertmouse 1" without the apostrophies. That will invert your setup for both mouse and controller.Simply type "invertmouse 0" to disable inversion.The game should remember your setting the next time it starts as well.

Remapping the Buttons

You can alter your control scheme by editing the file "DefaultInput.ini"
Open it with Notepad and scroll down to find the controller bindings at the bottom. There are some strangely labelled commands- the most interesting are GBA_NextWeapon and GBA_PrevWeapon. For some reason, they control zooming the camera as a dinosaur. I usually map them to the D-Pad for convenience.

Controller sensitivity

To change the stick responsiveness, you need to edit "PrimalCarnageInput.ini."
Open it up in Notepad, you will see in the first five lines "lookupscale" and "lookrightscale."
Changing "lookupscale" affects vertical look speed, while "lookrightscale" adjusts horizontal speed.
[Thanks to Jomofo for finding this].

Edit "lookupscale" to over 300 and "lookrightscale" to anywhere from 400 to 600. The higher values will make looking around with the analog stick much more fluid, especially when playing as human.

You will likely have to make any edits all over again whenever a patch for the game is released, so backing up your config files might be a good idea.

Custom Control Scheme download

I've created my own custom control scheme, which adjusts the button layout for comfortability and features some of the tweaks found in the community.

Download available from the Primal Carnage forums:
http://forum.primalcarnage.com/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=7551

Unzip to the "Config" folder of Primal Carnage, REPLACE the old files.

The new scheme mainly effects the dinosaurs, giving you greater control over their camera.
The only thing I changed on the human end of things with this config was to swap the use button with the reload button. I adjusted some settings to have better controller sensitivity as well, although you can increase it even more as detailed above.

20 Comments

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Talos91 9 Mar, 2024 @ 8:46am

seems they changed the controller api to sdl, the game used to use xinput.

DoodleHappyDavis 14 Apr, 2015 @ 2:42pm

I just got my controller, and everything works except he attack buttons. Can u help?

TheOriginalBYRD 1 Aug, 2014 @ 6:20am

im using a controller but run/crouch doesnt work

cdnman007 4 Feb, 2014 @ 1:20pm

and im trying look right scale to 700, 600 is a little slow after you get use to it.

cdnman007 4 Feb, 2014 @ 1:18pm

thanks for using my post, in part of your guide.

ElDoubleYou 30 Sep, 2013 @ 6:35am

i like

Astral_Nomad 22 Jul, 2013 @ 5:05pm

I use Xpadder personally... I find it easier to use..

dinosauriac [author] 20 Jun, 2013 @ 5:25am

@Arkael
Try using the custom control scheme I made. It's possible that the keybinds for the controller just aren't set up properly. If that doesn't work, delete your "Config" folder in the Primal Carnage folders then verify your game files using Steam.

Garde 20 Jun, 2013 @ 4:31am

hello, i have a problem. I've an xbox controller and i can't play with, i can just move and jump...

dinosauriac [author] 24 Mar, 2013 @ 12:33pm

@BlueStripes If you changed anything in the in-game control menu then it could be the cause of the problem, since it's the most common issue with Primal Carnage and controllers.

So it's either that, or something to do with your MotionInJoy config. Make sure to have setup PS3 controller as an Xbox gamepad by ticking the Xbox 360 controller emulator option and clicking Enable.

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