How to play android games with a trackpad/keyboard or mouse?

[jebus197]

Hi how can I play games on the Matricom Midnight MX2 with a wireless usb keyboard and mouse/touch pad, or any device with no touch screen?

I have a Microsoft All-in-One Media Keyboard with USB Integrated Multi Touch Track Pad : http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00K2SY902/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1'>http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00K2SY902/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And a Logitech K400 Wireless Touch Keyboard: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-K400-Wireless-Touch-Keyboard/dp/B005LDLQXG/ref=sr_1_6?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1413296397&sr=1-6&keywords=logitech+wireless+keyboard+and+mouse'>http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-K400-Wireless-Touch-Keyboard/dp/B005LDLQXG/ref=sr_1_6?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1413296397&sr=1-6&keywords=logitech+wireless+keyboard+and+mouse

Of the two the Microsoft Keyboard is probably the most useful, as the trackpad supports full multi-point touch functionality, whereas the Logitech keyboard only has two finger, up, down, left right and single finger 'tap to click' functionality.

The problem is of course hardly no Android games at all were made for keyboard and trackpad functionality.

I have tried USB/BT joystick centre and Tincore Keynapper. However, both of these seem to require some extent of touch interaction with them to set them up. I don't think there is an assumption that someone will try to set them up on a non-touch enabled device.

Besides which they both seem freakishly complex and may require several hours to try to set up, if that is you can get them working, which as I said might not be straightforward in a non-touchscreen device. To be frank I would rather not have to spend hours configuring keyboard/mouse and track-pad support. I just want to plug and play if possible.

I wonder if the guys at Android X-86 have resolved this? If they have, I wonder why  the Matricom folks don't something? This seems like something that should be enabled by default.

To be clear Keyboard and mouse support do work in Android itself, but just not in any games I have tried. One of the biggest attractions about Android is of course fun games!

[jebus197]

93 views and not one reply? Is this impossible to do or something?

[techbeck]

  On 16/10/2014 at 19:20, jebus197 said:

93 views and not one reply? Is this impossible to do or something?

 

This any help?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qob8YuAqyUo

http://www.pocketables.com/2012/05/use-a-keyboard-and-mouse-to-play-games-on-android.html

 

 

You can also use bluetooth controllers to play games on Android.  I also used to use my old ASUS Transformer, connect to me big screen via HDMI, and play games using a BT controller.

 

And PS, I got all this info in literally 1 minute by doing a web search.

[jebus197]

Yes well done. But if you read my post at all, you would note that those are exactly the two apps I tried and why they won't work in this usage scenario.

  Quote

I have tried USB/BT joystick centre and Tincore Keynapper. However, both of these seem to require some extent of touch interaction with them to set them up. I don't think there is an assumption that someone will try to set them up on a non-touch enabled device.

 

People's attention spans really are getting shorter I think. It used to be said that people struggled to read anything beyond 5 lines of text. More recently that was cut to one. Now it seems some folks struggle to read beyond the title, lol.

[Anibal P]

Get a proper bluetooth keyboard and mouse, good luck getting any more help with that attitude you got there 

[techbeck]

  On 19/10/2014 at 02:48, Anibal P said:

Get a proper bluetooth keyboard and mouse, good luck getting any more help with that attitude you got there 

 

(Y)

[huangjunwei]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.locnet.gamekeyboard2&hl=en&referrer=utm_source%3Dgoogle%26utm_medium%3Dorganic%26utm_term%3Dgame+keyboard&pcampaignid=APPU_1_R2DQVbe2L8OTuQTVjYLgBg

this app is as simple as it can get.... 

There is another app called "mouse and key to touch" but it seemed to have gone off the shelf of Google play store, cause I can't find the app anymore.... 

[PGHammer]

  On 14/10/2014 at 17:25, jebus197 said:

Hi how can I play games on the Matricom Midnight MX2 with a wireless usb keyboard and mouse/touch pad, or any device with no touch screen?

I have a Microsoft All-in-One Media Keyboard with USB Integrated Multi Touch Track Pad : http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00K2SY902/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1'>http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00K2SY902/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And a Logitech K400 Wireless Touch Keyboard: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-K400-Wireless-Touch-Keyboard/dp/B005LDLQXG/ref=sr_1_6?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1413296397&sr=1-6&keywords=logitech+wireless+keyboard+and+mouse'>http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-K400-Wireless-Touch-Keyboard/dp/B005LDLQXG/ref=sr_1_6?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1413296397&sr=1-6&keywords=logitech+wireless+keyboard+and+mouse

Of the two the Microsoft Keyboard is probably the most useful, as the trackpad supports full multi-point touch functionality, whereas the Logitech keyboard only has two finger, up, down, left right and single finger 'tap to click' functionality.

The problem is of course hardly no Android games at all were made for keyboard and trackpad functionality.

I have tried USB/BT joystick centre and Tincore Keynapper. However, both of these seem to require some extent of touch interaction with them to set them up. I don't think there is an assumption that someone will try to set them up on a non-touch enabled device.

Besides which they both seem freakishly complex and may require several hours to try to set up, if that is you can get them working, which as I said might not be straightforward in a non-touchscreen device. To be frank I would rather not have to spend hours configuring keyboard/mouse and track-pad support. I just want to plug and play if possible.

I wonder if the guys at Android X-86 have resolved this? If they have, I wonder why  the Matricom folks don't something? This seems like something that should be enabled by default.

To be clear Keyboard and mouse support do work in Android itself, but just not in any games I have tried. One of the biggest attractions about Android is of course fun games!

As long as the device itself is supported by the operating system, you can certainly use it there (and this is STILL the case with Android-x86).  I have RUN Android-x86 both via virtualization and bare-metal on my own hardware.  The biggest prboel I have had with gaming on Android is games in particular being written specifically for ARM - I have never (as in ever) had an issue with games that are supported by both x86 and the Google Play Store for Android for x86 using either keyboard or mouse.  The issue is far easier for apps (than for games) - however, that is the fault of developers - not Android.  There is absolutely zero reason why a game that supports touch can't support keyboards, mice, trackpads or touch-pads - with OR without touch support being present.  (Bejeweled 3, for example, has supported touch from the beginning - despite that it dates back to Windows 7 - which did NOT support touch-screens by default.  In fact, you could use touch and other control options at the same time - which is something I personally have done.)  The issue is device-specific coding by developers (whether it be CPU-specificity, or device-specificity) and is something that I have whacked Android developers for repeatedly - going back to Ice Cream Sandwich - which was supposed to stop those sorts of shenanigans.

[PGHammer]

  On 16/10/2014 at 19:20, jebus197 said:

93 views and not one reply? Is this impossible to do or something?

It's not impossible to do at all - in fact, there are several ways to do so.

In addition to BlueStacks itself (which is quite capable of playing most Android games OR apps - the App Player includes the Google Play Store and runs on Windows 7 or later or OS X Mavericks or later) there is BlueStacks AppCast, which runs on your source device and streams your game or app to BlueStacks on a target BlueStacks AppPlayer.  My BlueStacks Player install is on a quite ordinary (no touch screen) desktop that runs Windows 10 Pro and can run any game that my tablet can - in most cases, the game has better performance in BlueStacks than it does on my tablet.  (The Tab2's A7-30 is based on the MTK8382 - a MediaTek derivative of the ARM octo-core big.LITTLE 4+4 design (quad-core CPU+quad-core GPU) popularized by similarly-designed ARM CPUs from Qualcomm (SnapDragon 8xx) and Samsung itself (Exnyos); other licensees include AllWinner (Visual Land) and AMD.  My desktop is driven by an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU and nVidia GTX550Ti -  both of which date back to Windows 7 - and uses a Microsoft Wireless Keyboard 6000 V.2.0 (same age) and a generic WIRED USB mouse (HP OEM).) I think the issue is lack of interest by most users.

[pudnik]

  On 05/09/2015 at 01:27, PGHammer said:

It's not impossible to do at all - in fact, there are several ways to do so.

In addition to BlueStacks itself (which is quite capable of playing most Android games OR apps - the App Player includes the Google Play Store and runs on Windows 7 or later or OS X Mavericks or later) there is BlueStacks AppCast, which runs on your source device and streams your game or app to BlueStacks on a target BlueStacks AppPlayer.  My BlueStacks Player install is on a quite ordinary (no touch screen) desktop that runs Windows 10 Pro and can run any game that my tablet can - in most cases, the game has better performance in BlueStacks than it does on my tablet.  (The Tab2's A7-30 is based on the MTK8382 - a MediaTek derivative of the ARM octo-core big.LITTLE 4+4 design (quad-core CPU+quad-core GPU) popularized by similarly-designed ARM CPUs from Qualcomm (SnapDragon 8xx) and Samsung itself (Exnyos); other licensees include AllWinner (Visual Land) and AMD.  My desktop is driven by an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU and nVidia GTX550Ti -  both of which date back to Windows 7 - and uses a Microsoft Wireless Keyboard 6000 V.2.0 (same age) and a generic WIRED USB mouse (HP OEM).) I think the issue is lack of interest by most users.

NK...I kinda have the same problem as, and greatly sympathize with, jebus197. Unlike teckbeck, I googled for over half an hour with dozens of keywords and I could find NOTHING on a reliable solution to the problem below.

According to a member of the Android-x86 team, there is a known issue that the GUI won't work very well when Android-x86 is run as a virtual machine under VMWare.

I am trying to run Android-x86 4.4 R3 as a virtual image under VMWare Fusion 7.1.2. I am running VMWare Fusion on a 15-inch MacBook with the following stats:

<ul type="disc">
    <li>I7 CPU</li>
    <li>16 GB RAM</li>
    <li>NVIDIA 512 MB Graphics</li>
    <li>OSX Yosemite 10.10.5</li>
</ul>

The GUI will run, but I have no mouse pointer, many screens are black, and like I said I googled and googled everywhere and could't find any listing of equivalent trackpad gestures that simulate touchscreen gestures. The MacBook's arrow keys seem to work - but not much else.

Is there a workaround - like a list of shortcut keys or something - that we can use until the Android-x86 team fixes the issue...?

Best,

John Bonifas

P.S. The only rules I could find are the ones posted here:    https://www.neowin.net/forum/guidelines/       ...I pored over these rules, and to the best of my knowledge this post has not broken any of them. If I have, I apologize. This post contains no images, no copyrighted software, no discussions about copyrighted or pirated software, does not contain any swear words, does not promote hate or racism, and I have not purposely attacked anyone. I have simply stated the facts. I am not a hacker, spammer, advertiser, or duplicator. "[A] Neowin [Administrator] reserves the right to change or alter these rules at any time and [his/her] word [or perception of you ] is final."  [salutes] no problem - if I suspect that a post might break any of these rules, I'll be sure to PM an Administrator with a preview of the potential post first before posting.