Pen tablet support

[ShadowLord]

Since I do not know if this is a bug, a missing feature or simply a problem with my setup I'm posting this in the forums instead of the bug-report system.

For a few weeks now, I've been using a Wacom Graphire 4 pen table to combat some wrist problems. Recently, I tried using it with ScummVM, but it does not work properly.

The mouse cursor is very sensitive to motions in the pen, and it lacks any significant resolution (it makes 'jumps' about as large as the 'cross' pointer).

I believe this is due to the way ScummVM processes mouse commands. I arrived at this conclusion because ScummVM doesn't accept the absolute positioning, normalyl used by the tablet. In other words, placing the pen on a specific location doesn't make the cursor jump to a specific location.
Whether these problems are due to incompatibility between the absolute positioning software of my tablet, or due to some none-standard adressing mode used by ScummVM, I can offer no answer.

A bit more relevant info about my setup:
Wacom Graphire 4 tablet (A6, classic).
Default Wacom software installed and running fine (the software has explicit support for DirectX).
A Logitech G5 which works perfectly in ScummVM (so this is not a general mouse pointer problem).
ScummVM running in fullscreen mode using hq2x filtering, all other settings are the default.
1280x1024 TFT screen (video card is in fixed aspect ratio mode, to prevent stretching due to the non 3:4 apsect ration of the monitor).

Does anyone here know if this incompatibility with my (and possible other) pen tablets is:
* By design and cannot be supported due to the type of used input adressing
* By default because no explicit support has been built in
* By misconfiguration of either ScummVM or my tablet on my part

Tnx,
ShadowLord

[clem]

I'm afraid this is an SDL problem and hence out of scope for ScummVM... just my guess though

clem

[Ender]

That said, I have used a Watcom Intuos tablet with ScummVM before. That was WITHOUT the Watcom software installed however, and with ScummVM running in Windowed mode.

I don't know if either of these might make a difference. Googling shows some problems SDL has with tablets in fullscreen reporting small movements as very large. That could be your problem.

[cromas]

I opened a bug similar to this on SF some months ago, it was closed as an SDL bug. I believe it's actually a problem with the way the Tablet drivers (I have a Tablet PC myself) handle cursor positioning at non-native resolutions. My tablet was accidently switched from it's native resolution of 1024x768 into 1280x1024 the other day, and the behavior of the pen was very similar to the behavior I experienced with ScummVM in full-screen mode. Perhaps the drivers are not "aware" that the resolution has been halved, so things go crazy.

I doubt Wacom is going to fix this, and I think we'd have similar luck with SDL. I have come to believe, however, that if ScummVM were able to run full-screen in native resolution (1024x768 in my case), the bug would be effectively worked-around. Ender or anyone, is there any possibility of writing this into ScummVM, perhaps with a 3x scaler mode and black borders? Or, is there any way of forcing a current version of ScummVM to run at an arbitrary resolution so that we might be able to test my theory?

I thought that this could also be a problem with relative/absolute cursor positioning at one point. I suppose this might still be the case, but given the behavior I saw the other day, I'd like to attack the resolution first.

[fingolfin]

The SDL folks tend to be very knowledgable in these things. If I was you, I'd at least try to report it and ask for their oppinion: https://bugzilla.libsdl.org/.

[henry]

Hi guys, sorry I'm a little late on this, I've just joined up.

I've been using ScummVM on OS X with a Graphire4XL tablet for a while now with no problems at all. I use the table in absolute mode with the supplied software installed. I use ScummVM in both windowed and full screen mode. I use the latest version of ScummVM as of this date (think it's 0.8.2?)

Just thought I'd share!

[cromas]

Hi guys, sorry I'm a little late on this, I've just joined up.

I've been using ScummVM on OS X with a Graphire4XL tablet for a while now with no problems at all. I use the table in absolute mode with the supplied software installed. I use ScummVM in both windowed and full screen mode. I use the latest version of ScummVM as of this date (think it's 0.8.2?)

Just thought I'd share!

Just tried the latest ScummVM (0.9.0), still doesn't work with my Tablet PC. I still maintain it would be easier to code a 'desktop resolution' fullscreen mode than mess with the SDL folks.

I'm also back to ShadowLord's original hypothesis -- I believe this problem is because ScummVM or SDL or something is not compatible with absolute positioning of the mouse. I don't think it has to do with screen resolution so much.

[benniboi]

I can use the latest version on my NEC Versa T400 however the pen only works in Window mode. If I switch to full screen I need to use a mouse... shame, would be great if the full screen mode would work with the pen as well.

[WhipBamBoom]

I just won a gateway c140x which is a pen tablet convertable notebook. Loading ScummVM on it was one of my first priorities. Unfortunately, the pen tablet does not work when ScummVM is in fullscreen mode. Having scummvm running properly on a convertable pen tablet in fullcsreen mode would be awesome. Fortunately, the episodic versions of Sam n Max (from telltale) work great in fullscreen mode with the pen tablet. It is a shame that the pen tablet does not work in scummvm fullscreen mode. Is there a way around this? if anyone has any suggestions or solutions regarding the situation please let me know.