Guide 05

Controls

How keyboard input reaches a game that only understands a PS2 pad: Enter in menus, keys whose meaning depends on the screen, the Numpad 1 caveman fix, and a main menu that THUG2 doesn't think is a main menu.

GoalThe classic Tony Hawk PC keyboard layout (THUG1's, which THUG2 PC players know by heart), working in menus, while skating and in Create-A-Park.

1Everything becomes a PS2 pad

The engine reads DUALSHOCK 2 style raw data: two bytes of active-low buttons, four stick bytes, twelve pressure bytes. Keyboard and controller both fill one sPadState, which is packed into that format.

excerptWn32/Code/Plat/Sys/SIO/p_siodev.cpp

// Buttons are active low
m_data.m_control_data[2] = 0xFF;
m_data.m_control_data[2] ^= pad.select ? (1 << 0) : 0;		// PS2 'Select'.
m_data.m_control_data[2] ^= pad.start ? (1 << 3) : 0;		// PS2 'Start'.
m_data.m_control_data[2] ^= pad.dpad_up ? (1 << 4) : 0;		// PS2 'DPad Up'.
...
m_data.m_control_data[3] ^= pad.triangle ? (1 << 4) : 0;	// PS2 'Triangle'.
m_data.m_control_data[3] ^= pad.cross ? (1 << 6) : 0;		// PS2 'X'.

// Xbox black & white buttons (bits 0 and 1)
m_data.m_control_data[20] = (pad.black ? (1 << 0) : 0) | (pad.white ? (1 << 1) : 0);

Training, keyboard only: W to push. — Training, keyboard only: W to push, Num 2 to crouch and ollie.

2Enter, Space, Escape: the other path

Menus also read a typed-character buffer (SIO::KeyboardRead), which is how Enter/Space choose and Escape backs out or pauses. SDL events feed it; mapping those keys to pad buttons as well would fire twice.

excerptWn32/Code/Plat/Sys/SIO/p_keyboard.cpp

case SDL_KEYDOWN:
{
	SDL_Keycode key = event.key.keysym.sym;
	bool repeat = event.key.repeat != 0;
	switch( key )
	{
		// Only let held-down keys repeat where that's useful
		case SDLK_BACKSPACE:	s_add_make( vKB_BACKSPACE ); break;
		case SDLK_UP:			s_add_make( vKB_UP ); break;
		case SDLK_RETURN:
		case SDLK_KP_ENTER:		if( !repeat ) s_add_make( vKB_ENTER ); break;
		case SDLK_ESCAPE:		if( !repeat ) s_add_make( vKB_ESCAPE ); break;
	}
}

3Sample the context when a key goes down

Numpad 2 is ollie while skating, accept in a menu and "place" in the park editor; Numpad 7 is nollie when skating and "lower" in the editor. The context is captured on key-down and kept until release, so a key held across a menu opening doesn't change meaning halfway.

excerptWn32/Code/Plat/Sys/SIO/p_siodev.cpp

static InputContext get_input_context( void )
{
	// Same checks the front end uses to decide whether Enter is "choose"
	if( s_object_exists( Crc::ConstCRC( "keyboard_anchor" )))
		return vCTX_TEXT_ENTRY;
	if( s_object_exists( Crc::ConstCRC( "current_menu_anchor" )) || s_object_exists( Crc::ConstCRC( "dialog_box_anchor" )))
		return vCTX_MENU;
	...
	if( p_editor && p_editor->EditingCustomPark())
		return vCTX_PARK_EDITOR;
	return vCTX_GAME;
}

struct sContextKey
{
	bool			held;
	bool			pressed;	// Went down this frame
	InputContext	context;	// Context at the time the key went down
};

4Fix the caveman

Numpad 1/3 pressed L2/R2, which is not how you get off the board on an Xbox build. They're the Xbox Black/White buttons, which live in a byte the PS2 format doesn't have, and only reach the game when the device is in digital mode.

diffWn32/Code/Plat/Sys/SIO/p_siodev.cpp · THUG1 port

@@ -292,13 +292,17 @@ void Device::read_data ( void )
-	// Shoulders: Numpad 7/9 nollie+spin left / switch+spin right, Numpad 1/3 get off board.
+	// Shoulders, as on the Xbox pad (the game runs with its Xbox controls): Numpad 7/9 are the left/right
+	// triggers, which press L1+L2 (nollie + spin left) and R1+R2 (switch + spin right).
+	// Numpad 1/3 are Black/White, which get on and off the board (caveman).
 	bool l1 = held_outside_editor( kp7 ) || kp9.HeldIn( vCTX_PARK_EDITOR );	// Editor: raise
-	bool l2 = held_outside_editor( kp1 ) || kp7.HeldIn( vCTX_PARK_EDITOR );	// Editor: lower
+	bool l2 = held_outside_editor( kp7 ) || kp7.HeldIn( vCTX_PARK_EDITOR );	// Editor: lower
 	bool r1 = held_outside_editor( kp9 ) || kp3.HeldIn( vCTX_PARK_EDITOR );	// Editor: zoom out
-	bool r2 = held_outside_editor( kp3 ) || kp1.HeldIn( vCTX_PARK_EDITOR );	// Editor: zoom in
+	bool r2 = held_outside_editor( kp9 ) || kp1.HeldIn( vCTX_PARK_EDITOR );	// Editor: zoom in
+	bool black = held_outside_editor( kp1 );
+	bool white = held_outside_editor( kp3 );
@@ -351,8 +355,8 @@ void Device::read_data ( void )
-	// Xbox black & white buttons, unused on keyboard
-	m_data.m_control_data[20] = 0;
+	// Xbox black & white buttons (bits 0 and 1)
+	m_data.m_control_data[20] = (black ? (1 << 0) : 0) | (white ? (1 << 1) : 0);
@@ -665,6 +669,11 @@ Device::Device(int index, int port, int slot)
+	// Analog events are converted from the buttons (Inp::Data::ConvertDigitalToAnalog), which is also
+	// what turns the black & white button bits in m_control_data[20] into events. In analog mode
+	// m_control_data[4..] would be copied over the events as is, where [20] lands on a stick value instead.
+	m_data.m_button_mode = vDIGITAL;

switch_control.q: Xbox_Trigger = {{ Press , Black , 10 }}. Four words of script, one afternoon of reading pad bytes.

5Know where you are (THUG2 edition)

Deciding "menu or skating" leans on a few checks: is a menu focused, is the game paused, is the game mode the front end. THUG1's front end is a game mode with is_frontend = 1. THUG2's main menu is a level (load_mainmenu) in an ordinary game mode, and its modes don't have is_frontend at all. The engine read the missing value into an uninitialised int, the stack said "yes", and every level counted as a menu: the grind key grabbed and the grab key ground. Now a missing value is "no", and the main menu level counts as a menu by name.

diffWn32/Code/Plat/Sys/SIO/p_siodev.cpp · 0694250

-	if( p_skate->GetGameMode()->IsFrontEnd())
+	// THUG2 has no front end game mode: its main menu is a level
+	if( p_skate->GetGameMode()->IsFrontEnd() || p_skate->m_cur_level == Crc::ConstCRC( "load_mainmenu" ))
 		return vCTX_MENU;

The whole hunt is in chapter 5.

6The default layout

Key	Skating	Menus	Create-A-Park
W A S D	move	move	move selection
Numpad 2 / 4 / 6 / 8	ollie / flip / grab, talk / grind	accept / – / – / back	place / rotate / rotate / delete
Numpad 7 / 9	nollie, spin left / switch, spin right	–	lower / raise
Numpad 1 / 3	get off / back on board	–	zoom in / out
Z X C V	camera	–	camera
P	change view	–	–
Enter / Escape	chat (online) / pause	accept / back	place / pause

All of these can be changed now: Keyboard settings.

FOR EDUCATION PURPOSES ONLY. Screenshots are captured from the port running the reader's own copy of the game. The diffs are trimmed to the interesting lines (unchanged context is cut, marked ⋯); the repository has the full changes. Paths are relative to the THUG2/ folder.