Anyone know of a quick fix to make the thumbsticks on an Xbox 360 controller easier to press down or"click" to utilize their button function? I have Muscular Dystrophy and as a result I have limited strength in my hands, thus making it very difficult for me to press down on the thumbsticks. This makes it very frustrating for me to play games like Rainbow Six for example where you have to press down on the sticks to crouch or aim down your sights on your weapon.
Any ideas?
Only idea I have is to remap those controls to other buttons. Not every game supports this, but a lot of shooters do–I’d be very surprised if Rainbow 6 doesn’t offer this. Of course, it will come at the expense of two other button controls, but usually you can find a couple that aren’t necessary to finishing the game.
I feel your pain, I don’t have any physical problems but I find the thumbstick buttons to be clumsy to use. My pet hate is games that want you to hold the thumbstick down while moving the thumbstick, some flight sim games do this for head movement.
I also agree with this. They are, bar none, the worst controller trend of recent consoles (another reason why the GameCube controller is the best ever made–none of those stupid click-sticks).
I’m trying to play R6 - Vegas, excellent game, but as stated the thumbstick issue has me just about ready to give up on this one.
Unfortunately Red, there is not an option to remap the “crouch” and “look down sights” functions to something other than the thumbsticks. Believe me, this would be the first thing I’d have changed if I could.
No help here, but sympathy offered as a guy with plenty of handstrength who finds the push-stick control horrible. Even if you can do it, half the time that you do, you end up doing it unintentionally while trying to use the joystick as it was intended, or moving the joystick inadvertantly while it’s important to not move.
I get the limitations on controls, what with people having only five digits, but that’s not a great device to slip an extra button in.
I have a muscular dystrophy type condition, and I too share your frustration with the thumb stick buttons. If a game requires the use of the thumb stick button and won’t let you remap it, I just won’t play the game.
I’ve modded some controllers in the past to make them more accessible. I’m sure the thumb sticks could be made to to click in easier if you found someone brave and savvy enough to crack one open.
Have you tried pressing the thumb sticks with the whole palm of your hand? It’s clumsy but it works for me.
I dont have a 360 and have no idea what the controls are like on the inside but I am willing to bet that someone with some basic electronics skills could open one up and either clip the spring (if it has one) or maybe use a spring to modify the stiffness of the buttons. note this will dramatically effect the controller I would bet that you will adjust quickly.
I have done similar things in the past but since I have no idea what the inside of your controller looks like I cant really help much
Hi, I had the same problem clicking the left thumbstick to run in games was killing my hand.
I came up with this modification I did on an xbox360 controller.
Might it help you if the thumbstick was in a different position, allowing you to apply more leverage? You can buy controllers with the d-pad and the left thumbstick swapped in their positions - I got one for Katamari, because having the two thumbsticks at the same ‘level’ helps immensely in that game.
This is brilliant.
http://www.razerzone.com/ca-en/gaming-controllers/razer-onza/
That controller has two extra trigger buttons they say you can program to be anything you want, including the stick buttons.
Mind you, I’ve never used this controller, so I have no idea if it sucks or what.
EDIT:Oh frick, this is a zombie and he probably already found something or gave up long ago…
I don’t have a particular problem with the press-to-click thing, but this is exactly my main problem with the 360 controller. I’ve never gotten fully used to the thumb sticks being horizontally uneven— the right stick is much easier to control, and my thumb constantly slips off the left stick when I’m pushing up/forward. It is literally worse than the Holocaust.
Hadn’t heard of the custom controller you mentioned but I’m going to check it out.
Nope, not a zombie quite yet. The controllers at the link you provided are pretty much exactly what I’ve been looking for. I especially like the Onza Tournament Edition controller where you can adjust the thumbstick resistance as well. Unfortunately they are sold out and until we find out if the next-gen Xbox will even use the same controllers (I assume they will incorporate some kind of motion control technology or a touch screen or some other gimmick that I will be physically unable to use anyways) I doubt they will be producing more of this type 
The one I bought is wired, but as an upside is fully compatible with my PC too. They even make more expensive ones where you can pop out the button panels and swap them around.