Author Topic: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!  (Read 16961 times)

Downsider (OP)

  • Posts: 39
The GPD win appears to be polling controller inputs at under 20hz? In games like Super Smash Bros. or other platformers where you hold a button to jump higher, it's impossible to do certain actions.

With Fox in Super Smash Bros. Melee, you have to release your jump button within 3 frames (48ms) to do a shorter jump. It's IMPOSSIBLE on the GPD Win's controls. You can do it with the keyboard, just not the gaming controls, which implies the polling rate on the controls is worse than 20hz! That's completely unheard of, it's really bad.

Is there a way to increase the polling rate?
« Last Edit: November 06, 2016, 08:10:50 pm by Downsider »

jabz

  • Posts: 28
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #1 on: November 08, 2016, 01:58:00 am »
I think this issue needs more attention, considering the primary use of the device is gaming.

Downsider (OP)

  • Posts: 39
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #2 on: November 08, 2016, 02:09:43 am »
I agree, it's terrible.. I hope it can be fixed with a patch..

jimboton

  • Posts: 35
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #3 on: November 21, 2016, 09:31:34 am »
I honestly don't know why this isn't being talked about, it's a BIG issue.

I wondered why I was finding the dash chain in Hyper Light Drifter so hard to pull off in the Win, this is probably the reason.

What Downsider is saying is true, game inputs (though maybe not the sticks) are indeed polling every 50 ms, that's 50 ms of added input lag in a worst case scenario, unacceptable on a gaming device.

It's easy to check using for instance: http://www.passmark.com/products/keytest.htm

Try to press any keyboard key for the shortest time possible. You'll find that you can get it to as low as 17-19 ms duration suggesting it's updating every 16 ms (60 hz). Not great but not too terrible either. Now do the same for any of the face buttons. You probably won't be able to get it below 55 - 57ms. WTF? Seriously, terrible isn't an exaggeration.  Who thought it was a good idea to cut some corners in something so important to how games feel and play as are the controls on a device made for playing?


RetroVortex

  • Posts: 118
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2016, 12:14:59 pm »
I have noticed the polling rate lag.
You want a game to test it with that will prove it: Skullmonkeys
Try and do a running jump off a small platform.
Normally it's simple to do, even with a wireless 360 controller, and even on the XD I can do it, but on the Win it's hard to pull off for some reason.

Maniac

  • Posts: 421
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #5 on: November 23, 2016, 03:53:28 pm »
Wish I had my win to actually notice this :( still out for repair.

shinkamui

  • Posts: 395
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #6 on: November 23, 2016, 09:43:13 pm »
its definitely noticeable in a lot of games.  Was playing salt and sanctuary the other day, it seemed unresponsive, especially when trying to do the parry, got to adjust the timing earlier.  Minecraft you can notice hte buttons not responding quickly, when i try and stack items on the table, they don't always register.  Street fighter 3 and alpha 3 its very difficult to pull of special moves, though i attributed it to the dpad.  Its not always registering the presses, so i assumed it wasn't making contact every time with teh switch.  Might be this polling issue.  Is there a tool that can be used to definitively test?

skelton

  • Posts: 6894
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #7 on: November 23, 2016, 09:58:34 pm »
I think it depends on the game and how is programmed. I am playing ninja blade that has qte events where you need a perfwct timing to do them, and i have no problems at all.
Any how, maybe gpd can release a new driver for the controllwr i guess. If that wwre an android device it would be fixed easily in kernel, but i have never written a windows driver.
I had some issues the first days making especial moves with dpad, but after some use i notice it more mushy, like the xd dpad, and i can do special moves very easily now.
Retired

shinkamui

  • Posts: 395
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #8 on: November 24, 2016, 12:40:47 am »
I think it depends on the game and how is programmed. I am playing ninja blade that has qte events where you need a perfwct timing to do them, and i have no problems at all.
Any how, maybe gpd can release a new driver for the controllwr i guess. If that wwre an android device it would be fixed easily in kernel, but i have never written a windows driver.
I had some issues the first days making especial moves with dpad, but after some use i notice it more mushy, like the xd dpad, and i can do special moves very easily now.

Skelton, I wonder if its not that you've just adjusted your timing to succeed.  I can do the moves when i change my timing, but if i go back and forth from my pc to win, Im off.  I think it may not be a bad dpad design, but if this polling stuff is true, it would be WAY easier to fix.  There are some hex edit guides on speeding up the default polling rate for all usb devices, but getting GPD to respond with a specific fix would of course be 1000x better than randomly trying something with no insight.  Im definitely happy you can do the moves on your win without issue, but i hate playing with analog which is what im stuck with at the moment.  This thing is frustratingly close to being a near excellent gaming handheld / umpc / gamepad combo.  Just silly stuff like the mouse/keyboard firmware mapping, the keyboards physical lack of centering, the dpads mush, the slighly unresponsive controls, the heatsync / fan debacle...  *Sigh*  The lack of QC here even makes me think it could literally just be that some people got better microcontrollers for the gamepad than others, or in fact different revisions of that firmware....

baconstrip

  • Posts: 5
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #9 on: November 24, 2016, 02:34:55 am »
I've actually noticed some difficulty when playing Super Meat Boy, and I assumed it was just me not being used to the device...

If this is really a problem, you're saying it wouldn't be a HARDWARE issue?

shinkamui

  • Posts: 395
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #10 on: November 24, 2016, 03:19:03 am »
I've actually noticed some difficulty when playing Super Meat Boy, and I assumed it was just me not being used to the device...

If this is really a problem, you're saying it wouldn't be a HARDWARE issue?

Entirely depends on how the gamepad portion was designed.  If they used a separate microcontroller to handle the gamepad it could be an issue with the code there, which could be fixed if they opted to provide a firmware updating interface.  The windows usbdevice.sys driver also contains polling information about how frequently the system should request updated data from the device, so if thats the problem in their gamepad driver, thats also easily fixed with a new driver or hex edit.  Its also possible they did something completely different or when printing the board didn't bother with an interface to the gamepad microcontroller, in which case, yea, we need new mobos.  Hundreds of different ways to skin a cat in this game, though I spent a little time building a trackball gamepad from scratch, so I'm hopeful they left themselves a back door like i did.  I haven't even opened this thing, nor do i plan to if i can avoid it, so just blind speculation based on my experience here.  We'll need commentary from GPD, and they haven't been as forthcoming when it comes to "problems".

bchliu

  • Posts: 19
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #11 on: November 24, 2016, 04:27:51 am »
I agree with this post. Basically didnt really occur to me about the sensitivity until I started to play Racing games on both native and XB Streaming to find that the controls are pretty laggy. I'm gonna try doing the XBOne Streaming again tonight onto my GPD Win but use a proper USB XB controller into the USB port to see if it makes a difference.

jimboton

  • Posts: 35
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #12 on: November 24, 2016, 08:59:30 am »
I have noticed the polling rate lag.
You want a game to test it with that will prove it: Skullmonkeys
Try and do a running jump off a small platform.
Normally it's simple to do, even with a wireless 360 controller, and even on the XD I can do it, but on the Win it's hard to pull off for some reason.
Yeah, the running jump off a platform is s typical situation where this would be felt. Of course you can adjust and just jump a little earlier... on a more forgiving platformer this will probably not be the source of much frustration, but I don't see myself getting very far in something like, say, Super Meat Boy (which I finished way back when). Which is a pity because that game runs otherwise beautifully in the handheld.

its definitely noticeable in a lot of games.  Was playing salt and sanctuary the other day, it seemed unresponsive, especially when trying to do the parry, got to adjust the timing earlier.  Minecraft you can notice hte buttons not responding quickly, when i try and stack items on the table, they don't always register.  Street fighter 3 and alpha 3 its very difficult to pull of special moves, though i attributed it to the dpad.  Its not always registering the presses, so i assumed it wasn't making contact every time with teh switch.  Might be this polling issue. Is there a tool that can be used to definitively test?

You can use the one I posted. It's a bit old but will register face button presses if the gamepad is set to mouse mode. It tells you for how many milliseconds you pressed the button, if you try to make it as short a time as you can you'll be able to get it to the high tens of milliseconds for keyboard presses (at which point you are probably limited by your own fingers not the polling rate) but no lower than 50 ms for the face buttons. There may be a better/easier method but I'd say it's proof enough, unless someone can provide an alternate explanation for this result. The tool also measures directly the polling rate of the mouse (in this case, the stick) and that (thankfully) seems to be 125 Hz.

skelton

  • Posts: 6894
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #13 on: November 24, 2016, 09:37:31 am »
I think it depends on the game and how is programmed. I am playing ninja blade that has qte events where you need a perfwct timing to do them, and i have no problems at all.
Any how, maybe gpd can release a new driver for the controllwr i guess. If that wwre an android device it would be fixed easily in kernel, but i have never written a windows driver.
I had some issues the first days making especial moves with dpad, but after some use i notice it more mushy, like the xd dpad, and i can do special moves very easily now.

Skelton, I wonder if its not that you've just adjusted your timing to succeed.  I can do the moves when i change my timing, but if i go back and forth from my pc to win, Im off.  I think it may not be a bad dpad design, but if this polling stuff is true, it would be WAY easier to fix.  There are some hex edit guides on speeding up the default polling rate for all usb devices, but getting GPD to respond with a specific fix would of course be 1000x better than randomly trying something with no insight.  Im definitely happy you can do the moves on your win without issue, but i hate playing with analog which is what im stuck with at the moment.  This thing is frustratingly close to being a near excellent gaming handheld / umpc / gamepad combo.  Just silly stuff like the mouse/keyboard firmware mapping, the keyboards physical lack of centering, the dpads mush, the slighly unresponsive controls, the heatsync / fan debacle...  *Sigh*  The lack of QC here even makes me think it could literally just be that some people got better microcontrollers for the gamepad than others, or in fact different revisions of that firmware....
I usually play in my pc with a bt controlller, So maybe I am used to that. Or at least in the games i play I don't notice it. I suppose they issue is more noticeable in some games than others.
Retired

SacaSoh

  • Posts: 85
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #14 on: November 24, 2016, 02:41:01 pm »
Does the polling rate is low in every mode (Dinput/Xinput/Mouse)? Hope there is a way to fix it, as a polling rate this low (50ms) would totally break the use of the device in many games.

Edit: can any of you guys test this (it's a program that change mouse and xbox360 polling rates)?
« Last Edit: November 24, 2016, 06:02:17 pm by SacaSoh »

Velgus

  • Posts: 3
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #15 on: November 25, 2016, 03:36:44 am »
Edit: can any of you guys test this (it's a program that change mouse and xbox360 polling rates)?

I haven't figured out a proper way to check the polling rate of the controller modes. As a note though, the polling rate on the mouse-mode of the GPD Win is normal - it functions fine with the default polling rate of 125Hz.

jimboton

  • Posts: 35
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #16 on: November 25, 2016, 08:12:53 am »
Edit: can any of you guys test this (it's a program that change mouse and xbox360 polling rates)?

I haven't figured out a proper way to check the polling rate of the controller modes. As a note though, the polling rate on the mouse-mode of the GPD Win is normal - it functions fine with the default polling rate of 125Hz.

Yeah, but only the sticks. The buttons (both face and shoulder buttons) are still 20 Hz while in mouse mode.

RetroVortex

  • Posts: 118
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #17 on: November 25, 2016, 08:29:14 am »
As a little test I plugged in a wired 360 controller today and tested Skullmonkeys again.
I got world three before I died (game is pretty hard anyway, especially on a little screen). It was much easier to play. I could kill like three enemies in a row and adjust my landing, do some mild footsies.

I could barely do a running jump on the gpd controls. So I know there is some sort of noticeable input delay.

fidelis1

  • Posts: 71
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #18 on: November 25, 2016, 01:43:46 pm »
Is this even something that could be fixed via a software/firmware update or is this likely a hardware issue? @kendyzhu777

SacaSoh

  • Posts: 85
Re: Increase polling rate for GPD Win controls? It's REALLY SLOW right now!
« Reply #19 on: November 25, 2016, 02:04:28 pm »
Edit: can any of you guys test this (it's a program that change mouse and xbox360 polling rates)?

I haven't figured out a proper way to check the polling rate of the controller modes. As a note though, the polling rate on the mouse-mode of the GPD Win is normal - it functions fine with the default polling rate of 125Hz.

But did you test the program? As I said, it changes the polling rate of the xbox360 controller, so maybe (if it's a software issue) it will help.

 

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