Virtual button mapping on Rockchip devices part 1: RKGameControlSetting on RK3188 MiniPC (Tronsmart T428)

May 25, 2013

Rockchip continues to bring some cool features to Android tablets and MiniPC devices based on their processor. A few months ago, they offered a remote control application that can be run from any Android device to control a Rockchip based MiniPC. The server part of the application is already included in most Rockchip MiniPC devices while the remote client end is a regular application that can be installed on any Android device (phone, tablet) .

The new feature added to their latest RKRemoteControl version 2.0 is a virtual button mapping tool to control games on a MiniPC from a remote Android phone or tablet. The mapping system works only on games designed with onscreen controls, the offered virtual commands consist of: 3 direction sticks (L, R and another one) with the addition of 8 buttons: A, B, C, D, W, X, Y and Z.

This two parts article will present how the game button mapping feature works, we have used a Tronsmart T428, a RK3188 based Mini PC (selling under $80 at geekbuying.com) running RKGameControlSetting and acting as a “server” together with a Hyundai T7 ($140 Android tablet) using RKRemoteControl v2 application as remote controller client.

Here is is a quick demonstration showing the whole virtual button mapping process on the setup above.

Tronsmart T428 MiniPC Rockchip 3188 CPU, Mali 400 GPU, 2 GB RAM, WIFI 802.11ac, Bluetooth	$79.99

Tronsmart T428 MiniPC

Rockchip 3188 CPU, Mali 400 GPU, 2 GB RAM, WIFI 802.11ac, Bluetooth

$79.99

Using RKGameControlSetting, the embedded game control app on Rockchip Mini PCs

RKGameControlSetting is an Android application that will help you define the regions on the screen used in a game and the corresponding buttons to map these regions to. RKGameControlSetting is available on latest Rockchip CPU based devices (mostly RK3188 machines) like the Tronsmart T428, some other devices using the older RK3066 chip may get some updates in the future as well. Here is how it works:

RKGameControlSetting interface is very simple, you have a toolbar on the right with 3 buttons that let you do the following actions, from left to right:
– minimize the interface, it will appear reduced as just an icon
– save current button mapping
– close the application

To map the buttons on a specific game, you first need to start the application by clicking on the RKGameControlSetting icon from your Android applications list. Only recent MiniPC firmware may have this application installed.

Then you can start the game where you want to map controls, within the game, move the playing part where you can see the buttons on screen. Some games may need to change the controller setup for touchscreen buttons.

Then, from RKGameControlSetting, click on New Setting to create a new empty profile.

Move the buttons according to the touchscreen positions expected in your game.

When all buttons have been positioned, you can Save your profile (middle button in the toolbar)

You can iconize the GameControl application by clicking on the last button to the right on the toolbar.

You can load existing profiles by clicking the the Settings list and clicking on a game name where you previously saved your profile. All mappings will be recalled after you click on the game line. The red cross on the right next to each game name let you delete the profile.

Tronsmart T428 MiniPC Rockchip 3188 CPU, Mali 400 GPU, 2 GB RAM, WIFI 802.11ac, Bluetooth	$79.99

Tronsmart T428 MiniPC

Rockchip 3188 CPU, Mali 400 GPU, 2 GB RAM, WIFI 802.11ac, Bluetooth

$79.99

That’s it for the first part, please visit us soon for the second issue of our article that will cover RKRemoteControl, the remote controller running on any Android device (phone or tablet).