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Xidi improves the gameplay experience when using modern XInput-based controllers (such as Xbox controllers) with older games that use DirectInput or WinMM to communicate with game controllers. In more technical terms, Xidi provides both DirectInput and WinMM interfaces for games to use and communicates with XInput-based game controllers natively using XInput, translating between the two interfaces as needed.

Xidi is implemented as a library that games should load instead of the system-supplied versions. As such, it is a very localized fix: no installation is required, and no persistent system-wide changes are made.

Key Features

• Fixes issues encountered in older games, such as broken analog controls, phantom button presses, or complete failure to commmunicate with the controller. Without Xidi these issues can come up in DirectInput-based or WinMM-based games when used with an XInput controller.

• Enables customization of game controller behavior, including simulating keyboard key presses. This can help make controls more intuitive and bring full controller support to games that only implement partial controller support.

• Allows controllers to be changed while a game is running. Older games do not normally support this, but with Xidi controllers can be plugged in, unplugged, and swapped seamlessly during gameplay. Without Xidi this would require exiting and restarting the game.

Limitations

Xidi is not useful if:

• A game already uses the XInput API to communicate with controllers. These games would not benefit from Xidi.

• The problem arises with controllers that are not XInput-based controllers. Xidi will not communicate with non-XInput controllers.

• The problem arises from an older non-XInput controller being used with an XInput-based game. This is the inverse of the problem Xidi solves, for which solution like the Xbox 360 Controller Emulator is needed.

What to Expect in a Game

XInput identifies controllers by player number rather than by specific controller device (i.e. player 1, player 2, and so on), and Xidi therefore does the same thing. The system determines the assignment of controller device to player automatically, and these assignments may change as controller devices are plugged into and unplugged from the system. Some controllers such as the Xbox 360 controller indicate the assigned player number directly on the device, so it is easy to determine which controller is assigned to which player number.

If a game supports explicitly specifying a controller device to use, then Xidi virtual controller devices with names similar to "Xidi Virtual Controller 1" will be visible during the configuration process. Each such controller maps to the XInput controller of the shown player number. These Xidi-supplied controllers would need to be selected during configuration in order for the corresponding XInput controllers to be used in the game. Any non-XInput controllers would still be available for selection during the configuration process, but all XInput-based controllers would be exposed only through the Xidi-supplied controllers.

On the other hand, if a game does not allow a specific controller device to be set during configuration, then generally whichever controller is assigned to player 1 would automatically start working in the game. Games that support multiple controllers would additionally work with other controllers in ascending player number order. However, note that there are some caveats that apply to games of this type. For more information, see questions and answers.

A game that binds to Xidi virtual controller devices, either automatically or via explicit configuration, will support seamless controller changes. If no controllers are plugged in when the game starts, simply plugging in an XInput controller will cause it to start working. The same holds for adding additional players to a running game or for swapping controllers already in use.