XBox 360 Controller Pro for UCCNC

1. Introduction

XBox 360 Controller Pro is a plugin for the UCCNC machine-control software. It turns a wired or wireless-receiver XBox 360 controller into a hand-held pendant:

• Proportional jogging. The two analog sticks jog the machine axes at a speed that follows how far the stick is pushed. The plugin drives UCCNC’s motion controller directly, so speed changes smoothly rather than in steps.
• Assignable buttons. Every button can run any UCCNC button function on press, on release, and on a long press.
• Step jogging. The D-pad and shoulder buttons step-jog any axis, with a jog step size you can choose from the right stick.
• Button mapping overlay. A see-through panel, shown from the controller, that tells you what every stick and button does right now — as a list or drawn on a picture of the controller — and lights up the controls as you press them.
• Setup menu. A quick-pick menu, driven from the controller and shown in the same overlay, sets the jog step, the stick speed set and the stick maximum velocities without touching the keyboard.
• Mouse mode. The controller can act as a mouse and keyboard for operating the rest of the screen.

Requirements

• Windows PC running UCCNC with a supported CNCdrive motion controller (UC100, UC300 and other controllers that UCCNC supports through its plugin interface).
• An XBox 360 controller (wired, or wireless with the PC receiver). The plugin reads it through Windows’ own XInput, so there is nothing else to install. The controller must show up in Windows as an XInput controller (Xbox 360 Controller for Windows); see Troubleshooting if yours is a third-party pad that appears as a generic gamepad.

2. Installation

2.1 New installation

1. Extract all files from the zip archive.
2. Copy XBoxcontrollerPro.dll into the plugins folder of your UCCNC installation (for example C:\UCCNC\plugins\). Also copy the XBoxControllerPro folder into plugins; it holds this manual, which the Help tab opens.
3. Start UCCNC, open the plugin configuration, and tick Enable and Call startup for the XBox plugin. Restart UCCNC.

When there are no saved settings, the plugin also asks whether you work in inch or metric and loads matching starting values: left stick on X and Y, right stick on Z with its X movement picking the jog step (a trigger must be held), cubed stick response, the D-pad step-jogging X and Y, the shoulder buttons step-jogging Z, Start toggling the mapping overlay, and the plugin starting in pendant mode. Jogging itself stays off until you enable it. You can instead choose a settings file, or skip and start from blank controls. Starting values you saved with Save as defaults are used without asking.

On first run the plugin creates its settings folder, plugins\XBoxControllerPro\Settings\, and a 45-day demonstration period starts (see section 15).

2.2 Updating from version 3.000 or earlier

Replace XBoxcontrollerPro.dll in the plugins folder with the new one, and leave your old xboxcontroller.xml and xboxcontroller_PROFILENAME.xml settings files where they are, in the plugins folder. The first time version 3.100 runs it reads them; it never changes them. It then saves your settings in the new location (plugins\XBoxControllerPro\Settings\), one file per UCCNC profile. Controls that no longer exist in this version are skipped. Check your settings once and press Save Settings.

Also copy the XBoxControllerPro folder that comes with the plugin into the plugins folder. It holds this manual (XBoxControllerPro\Manual\), which the Open the manual button on the Help tab opens.

If you are coming from version 2, also delete the old xboxcontroller.dll from the plugins folder so UCCNC does not list both plugins.

2.3 Opening the plugin window

The plugin window can be hidden to the notification area (system tray). Right-click the tray icon and choose Show Plugin to bring it back, or double-click the icon to enable or disable jogging. You can also assign a UCCNC button number that opens the plugin — see section 13.

3. The plugin window

The window is a row of tabs along the top, a mode selector and a stick speed preset at the bottom, and a status bar.

3.1 Enable switches and indicator lights

On the Controls tab, the main Enable Jogging with Controller switch and the Enable Left Stick and Enable Right Stick switches decide whether stick and button functions are sent to UCCNC. The round indicator for each button lights green while that button is pressed. The indicators are display only: they light even when jogging is disabled, so you can confirm the controller is being read without moving the machine.

3.2 Mode selector

The mode selector shows the current mode — Pendant, Setup or Mouse — and can be used to change it with the mouse. On the controller, the Back button changes mode (section 4).

3.3 Stick speed preset

Two sets of stick maximum velocities (Group 1 and Group 2) are defined on the Left Stick and Right Stick tabs. The Stick Speed Preset box (Group 1 Velocity Preset or Group 2 Velocity Preset) selects which group is active. The same choice is available from the setup menu.

3.4 Status bar

The status bar shows whether the controller is connected and how fast the plugin’s control loop is running, for example Loop cycling @: 25 Hz. Hover the mouse over the rate to see how long each pass of the loop takes. The rate depends on the Polling rate setting (section 13.1). If the bar shows “Loop Fault” or “Error Updating Control Values”, see Troubleshooting.

3.5 The About and Help tabs

The About tab shows the plugin version and contact details. Its Check for new version button looks online for a newer release and tells you the result; a line under the button shows when the last check ran and what it found. The plugin also checks by itself each time it starts, in the background, and only speaks up if a newer version is available (turn this off with Check for new version on startup on the Misc Settings tab). If the check cannot reach the internet it says so and carries on.

The Help tab has one button, Open the manual, which opens this manual in your web browser. The manual is installed with the plugin in plugins\XBoxControllerPro\Manual\.

3.6 The status bar

The status bar is a thin bar along one edge of the screen that shows the plugin’s state at a glance, so you can see it from across the machine without opening the plugin window. It sits in front of UCCNC, and in front of the Windows taskbar, without taking the keyboard focus from UCCNC. It is switched off until you tick Show the status bar on the Status Bar tab. It appears on the main (primary) monitor.

From left to right it can show:

The hold timer

When you press and hold a button that has a function assigned to its long press, the bar turns into a countdown that tells you what you are about to do: HOLD 1.4  >  ZeroX (100). A lighter fill sweeps along the bar as the hold time runs out. When the long press has been reached the bar turns green and reads RELEASE > ZeroX (100): let go and that function runs. Let go before then and it does not. A button with nothing assigned to its long press gets no countdown. The countdown replaces the big countdown banner while the status bar is showing; with the bar hidden, or the hold timer item switched off, the banner is used instead (and it names the function too).

The Status Bar tab

The tab has two groups. Status bar: Show the status bar; Position (top, bottom, left or right edge — left and right give a narrow vertical bar with the text turned to run along it); Only as wide as its text (otherwise the bar spans the whole edge); Colour the bar by mode; Click-through (the bar ignores the mouse, so whatever is behind it can still be clicked); Opacity; and Text size (the bar’s thickness follows it). Show: a tick for each item above, so the bar can be trimmed to just what you want.

4. Modes and the Back button

The plugin has three modes. The Back button moves between them:

A message on the screen confirms each change (“Setup Mode On”, “Mouse Mode On”, “Pendant Mode On”). When you return to pendant mode the enable switches are put back the way you had them. A long press is a hold of at least the hold time set on the Buttons tab; the controller vibrates once when the hold time is reached, and an optional countdown overlay shows the time remaining.

To always start in pendant mode, tick Startup in Pendant Mode on the Misc Settings tab.

5. Jogging with the sticks

The left stick and right stick each jog two axes (horizontal and vertical movement). Each stick has its own tab with identical controls.

5.1 Assigning axes

Each direction of each stick has an axis pulldown: Xaxis to Caxis (X, Y, Z, A, B, C). Choose a Rev_ axis (for example Rev_Zaxis) to jog the opposite way. The right stick’s horizontal movement can instead be used as the jog step selector (section 7).

5.2 Mixed axis jogging

By default a stick jogs one axis at a time — whichever direction is pushed further. Tick Allowed mixed axis velocity to allow both axes of a stick to move at once (combined diagonal movement, each axis at its own speed).

5.3 Deadband

The deadband is the part of the stick’s travel around center that is ignored, as a fraction of full travel (0.02 = 2%). Raise it if an axis creeps when you let go of the stick. Speed ramps up from the edge of the deadband, so there is no jump when the stick leaves it.

5.4 Velocity rate

The velocity rate decides how stick position becomes speed:

5.5 Maximum velocities and the two groups

By default full stick deflection gives 100% of the axis velocity set in UCCNC. Tick Use Max Vel. Setpoints to set your own limit in units per minute for each stick direction:

• Entering 0 gives a range of 0 to 100% of the axis velocity.
• Entering a value gives a range of 0 to that value. The largest value allowed is the maximum velocity of the assigned axis.
• There are two groups of values, Group 1 and Group 2. The group in use is selected with the Stick Speed Preset or from the setup menu. This lets you switch quickly between, for example, a slow “positioning” set and a fast “rapid” set.

The plugin never commands an axis above 100% of its UCCNC velocity.

6. Triggers and the jog safety

The Triggers tab decides what the two triggers do. Choose one option:

7. Step jogging and jog step sizes

7.1 Selecting the jog step with the right stick

If you assign the right stick’s horizontal movement to JogStep (instead of an axis), moving the stick left or right and releasing it selects one of four step sizes:

Two options on the Step Increment tab refine this: Require Trigger to enable Jog Step selection with stick (a trigger must be held to change the step) and Vibrate step jog selection (the controller buzzes the step number: one buzz for step 1 up to four for step 4). The step you choose is also shown in the status bar (section 3.6) and in the setup menu. While the stick is mostly sideways, picking a step, the right stick’s vertical axis stays still unless Allowed mixed axis velocity is ticked.

7.2 Custom step sizes

On the Step Increment tab, enter your own size for any of the four positions. Leave a box blank to keep UCCNC’s default. For example, entering .020 in Jog step 2 replaces the default .010. Choose which step is active with the step radio buttons on this tab or from the setup menu.

8. Assigning the buttons

The Buttons tab lists A, B, X, Y, Start, the left-stick click and the right-stick click. Each has three boxes:

8.1 Choosing a UCCNC function

Each box is a pulldown of UCCNC’s button functions, shown by name with the button number in brackets — for example ZeroX (100) or HomeZ (109). Click the arrow to scroll the list (it is in button-number order), or click in the box and start typing a function name; the list completes it for you. Hover over a box to see what the chosen function does. The functions that appear come from your own UCCNC installation (Documentation\Buttons_by_number.htm), so the list always matches your UCCNC version; if that file cannot be found, the plugin uses a built-in list.

You can still type a plain button number (such as 100) — it is shown as its function name when you leave the box, and older settings files that hold plain numbers load as before. A number that is not in the list is kept as typed. Press Show 'button codes' help file to open the full UCCNC list with descriptions. The function runs only in pendant mode and only while the Enable switch is on.

Your own macros. At the end of each list the plugin adds the user macros from your current UCCNC profile: every M20000–M21999 macro file in that profile’s macro folder (Profiles\Macro_<profile name>), shown as M20003 Camera xy offset macro (20003). The text after the macro number is the first comment line of the macro file, so a short comment at the top of each macro makes the list much easier to use; a macro with no comment shows only its number. Choosing one runs that macro (UCCNC runs macro Mn when button n is pressed). Macros are read when the plugin window opens, so after adding or renaming a macro file, close and reopen the plugin window. Copies such as M20202 - Copy.txt are ignored.

8.2 Hold time

The hold time (in seconds) is how long a button must be held to count as a long press. When it is reached the controller vibrates briefly. Tick Visual Indicate Long Press on the Misc Settings tab to also show a countdown while the button is held, together with the function the long press will run. The countdown and the buzz only happen for a button that has a function assigned to its Long Press and Release box, so a button with nothing there stays quiet. With the status bar showing, the countdown appears on the bar instead of as a banner (section 3.6).

8.3 Start button

Besides button numbers, the Start button boxes accept Show/Hide Plugin, which minimizes or restores the plugin window. Start works in every mode, so you can always bring the window back.

8.4 Stick clicks

Pressing a stick in is a button. As well as a button number, the stick-click boxes offer these commands in their pulldown:

A message on the screen confirms each change. These commands work in pendant mode.

8.5 Button mapping overlay entries

With the stick commands at the top of every function pulldown (on the Buttons tab and, with Customize on, the DPad\Shoulder tab) are three entries that show the button mapping overlay (section 10):

They work in pendant mode; in mouse and setup mode only the Start button’s boxes are active. Start is a good choice, because it works in every mode.

9. D-pad and shoulder buttons

The D-pad (up, down, left, right) and the two shoulder buttons (LB, RB) can work in one of two ways, chosen by Customize DPad/Shoulder on the DPad\Shoulder tab.

9.1 Step jog (Customize off)

Each pair of buttons step-jogs one axis. Pick the axis for the D-pad up/down pair, the D-pad left/right pair and the shoulder pair. One button jogs the axis one direction, its partner the opposite direction; a Rev_ axis swaps the two. One press moves one step of the active jog step size (section 7), and the plugin returns UCCNC to step or continuous jogging mode afterwards, whichever it was in before.

9.2 Custom functions (Customize on)

Each of the six buttons gets Press, Release and Long Press boxes, exactly like the buttons in section 8.

10. The button mapping overlay

With many buttons, two sticks and three modes it is easy to forget what is assigned where. The button mapping overlay is a see-through panel, shown on top of UCCNC from the controller, that tells you what every stick and button does right now. It is built from your current settings each time, so it is always up to date, and it follows the current mode: it shows your assignments in pendant mode and the fixed controls in mouse mode and in the setup menu. The mode is named in the title bar.

The overlay never takes the keyboard focus away from UCCNC, and it stays in front of other windows.

10.1 Showing and hiding it

Assign one of the Mapping Overlay entries (section 8.5) to a button:

• Hold — put Mapping Overlay (hold) in a button’s On Press box. The overlay is shown for as long as you hold the button. This is the quickest way to take a look.
• Toggle — put Mapping Overlay (toggle) in any box. Each press shows or hides it. If you set Auto-hide on the Misc Settings tab, a toggled-on overlay hides itself after that many seconds.

To arrange it on the screen, press Show mapping on the Misc Settings tab. While it is shown that way you can drag it where you want it, and double-click it to close it. Its position is remembered.

10.2 List view and diagram view

The overlay has two looks, chosen with Mapping: diagram view on the Misc Settings tab (it can be changed while the overlay is showing). The list view groups the controls under headings: sticks, triggers, D-pad, shoulders, buttons, and Start and Back. The diagram view draws the controller with a callout for each stick, button and trigger, joined to it by a line.

10.3 What it shows

• Sticks. The axis each stick direction jogs, marked (reversed) for a Rev_ axis and (stick off) if that stick is switched off. A second line says what else has to be held: while holding LT + RT or while holding LT or RT when a trigger safety is chosen (section 6), or when the right stick’s jog step selection needs a trigger (section 7.1). The right stick shows the four jog step sizes when it is the step selector.
• Triggers. What each does: allow jogging, speed up the stick, or jog step select.
• D-pad and shoulders. For step jogging, for example Step jog X+ (.010): these buttons always make one step of the jog step size currently selected (section 9.1), never a continuous jog. With Customize on, the UCCNC functions you assigned are listed instead.
• A, B, X, Y and the stick clicks. Up to three lines each: press, tap (released before the hold time) and hold (released after it), using UCCNC’s function names.
• Start and Back. Your Start functions, and what Back does in the current mode.
• E-STOP and RESET. If UCCNC’s emergency stop input is active, E-STOP shows in red at the right of the title bar; if the machine is in reset, RESET does.
• Status line. Along the bottom: the current jog step, the stick speed set (1 or 2), whether the sticks are on, and whether the controller is connected. The mode is already named in the title, and the line turns orange and reads PAD ACTIONS BLOCKED while actions are blocked (see below).

10.4 Live display

In the diagram view the controls light up as you use them. A pressed button, D-pad direction, bumper or Start/Back turns orange; a trigger fills as far as you pull it; the stick knobs move with the sticks and light when clicked; and the callout for any control in use gets an orange border and line. It shows what the controller is doing whether or not the current mode acts on it, which makes it handy for checking that the controller is being read.

10.5 Blocking pad actions while it is shown

Normally the controller keeps working while the overlay is shown, so you can look at the map and carry on jogging. If you would rather press buttons to see what they do without doing it, tick Mapping: block actions. While the overlay is shown:

• button functions, D-pad and shoulder jogs, stick jogging and jog step selection do nothing in UCCNC (and in mouse mode the pointer, clicks and keys are held);
• a stick that is already jogging when the overlay opens is stopped;
• a button pressed while it is blocked does nothing even if you let go after the overlay has closed, so nothing fires late;
• the overlay can still be closed with its own button.

The status line turns orange to remind you that actions are blocked.

10.6 Appearance

On the Misc Settings tab (section 13.4): Overlay opacity (20 to 100%, used for the overlay and the setup menu), Overlay text size (which also scales the controller drawing), click-through (the overlay ignores the mouse, so you can use UCCNC straight through it; untick it to be able to drag the overlay) and Auto-hide.

11. The setup menu

Short-press Back in pendant mode to open the setup menu. It is the button mapping overlay with a Quick settings panel beside it, so you can see what the controller does while you set it up. Like the overlay it never takes the keyboard focus from UCCNC. While the menu is open the controller works only the menu: your jog and button assignments, and the mouse and keyboard output, are off. (The Start button still runs the function assigned to it.)

11.1 The Quick settings panel

Everything you change takes effect straight away. Like the rest of the settings it is kept when you press Save Settings, or when the plugin closes if Save settings on shutdown is ticked.

A velocity changes by 1 for a tap, and by larger and larger amounts the longer you hold the D-pad, so you can make a fine adjustment or cover a wide range quickly. LB and RB change it ten times as fast. Editing a set changes the stick’s live maximum velocity only if that set is the one in use.

11.2 Controls

11.3 Switching between the menu and the display

You can change between the setup menu and the display-only overlay without closing the overlay. Press X in the menu to drop to the display-only overlay (you return to pendant mode and the overlay stays up). To go from the display back into the menu, assign Mapping Overlay (menu) (section 8.5) to a button and press it; pressed again in the menu, it returns to the display. The panel needs no mouse or keyboard at any point.

The menu uses the same opacity as the overlay (Overlay opacity on the Misc Settings tab).

12. Mouse mode

Hold Back in pendant mode to switch to mouse mode, and hold it again to return. Your jog and button assignments are switched off while in mouse mode.

The MouseMode tab has two sliders: Mouse Move Speed and Scroll Speed (slide toward Faster for quicker movement). While the button mapping overlay is shown with Mapping: block actions ticked, the pointer, clicks and keys are held (section 10.5). Press-and-hold the button you assigned to Mapping Overlay (hold), or use the toggle entry, to see this map on the screen.

13. Misc Settings

The tab is arranged in four groups: General, Info messages, Settings and Button mapping overlay and setup menu.

13.1 General

13.2 Info messages

Short messages (mode changes, jog step size changes) appear in a large on-screen message. The group sets how it looks:

The text always shrinks to fit inside the band, however long the message or large the font, so none of it is cut off. The message never takes the keyboard focus from UCCNC.

13.3 Settings

The Save Settings button is at the bottom left of the window and saves the current settings for the active UCCNC profile.

13.4 Button mapping overlay and setup menu

14. Settings files and backups

Settings are stored in plugins\XBoxControllerPro\Settings\ inside your UCCNC folder, as one file per UCCNC profile, so different machines or profiles can have different controller setups. The plugin:

• writes each save to a temporary file first and swaps it in, so a power cut or crash during a save cannot leave a half-written file;
• keeps rotating backups of earlier versions;
• keeps a log of what it loaded;
• keeps your defaults in a Defaults sub-folder;
• if a settings file is damaged, offers to restore the newest backup and never overwrites the damaged file automatically.

To copy your setup to another PC, copy the contents of the XBoxControllerPro folder.

15. Trial and licensing

The plugin can be tried for 45 days with every feature working. The window title shows the number of days remaining. When the trial ends the plugin stops responding to the controller until it is licensed.

15.1 Buying a license

1. With UCCNC running, a valid UCCNC license loaded and your CNCdrive motion controller connected, open the License tab and press Check License Status. The plugin shows your SN_Lic ID (a user ID built from your UCCNC license and controller).
2. Send that ID to the plugin author (see www.craftycnc.com) to buy a license key.
3. Paste the key you receive into the passkey box and press Validate License Key. The page then shows the plugin as licensed.

16. Troubleshooting

The plugin does not appear in UCCNC’s plugin list

• XBoxcontrollerPro.dll must be in the plugins folder of your UCCNC installation (see section 2).
• The plugin needs the .NET Framework 4.6.1 or later, which Windows 10 and 11 include.

The plugin loads but the status bar shows “Loop Fault” and the controller does nothing

• Check that Windows can see the controller: plug it in (or switch it on, if it is wireless) and look for it in Windows’ Set up USB game controllers window. The plugin reads the first XBox 360 controller Windows finds, and the Controls tab shows Controller Connected when it has it.
• In UCCNC’s plugin configuration make sure both Enable and Call startup are ticked.

The controller is not detected, or the plugin says “Gamepad found, not in XInput mode”

The plugin reads the controller through XInput, which is how Windows talks to genuine XBox 360 and XBox One controllers and to compatible clones. Many third-party “XBox-style” pads have a second mode, DirectInput, in which Windows lists them as a generic Gamepad or USB Joystick. XInput cannot see a pad in that mode, so the plugin cannot either — whatever software is installed. When this happens the plugin tells you: the status at the bottom of the window reads Gamepad found, not in XInput mode (hover over it for the fix), the status bar shows NO XINPUT PAD, and the overlay’s status line says PAD NOT IN XINPUT MODE.

• Switch the pad to XInput mode. Many have an X / D switch (set it to X); on others you hold the Home button together with X, A or Start for a few seconds. The pad’s own instructions will say which.
• Unplug the pad and plug it back in (or switch the wireless pad off and on) after changing the mode.
• In XInput mode Windows lists the pad in Device Manager as something like Xbox 360 Controller for Windows or Xbox Peripherals, not as a generic gamepad.
• If your pad has no XInput mode, it cannot be used with this plugin.

The controller is connected but jogging does nothing

• Check the Enable switches on the Controls tab, and that you are in pendant mode.
• If a trigger safety is selected, hold the trigger(s) while moving the stick.
• Press buttons and watch the indicator lights on the Controls tab. If they light, the controller is being read and the problem is in the assignment or the enable settings.
• Check that the trial has not expired (License tab).

An axis creeps when the stick is released

Raise that stick direction’s deadband (section 5.3).

A stick jogs the wrong way

Choose the Rev_ version of the axis for that stick direction.

An axis keeps moving after a button is released

A button that starts a jog on Press needs the matching stop function on Release (section 8.1).

My settings did not carry over from an earlier version

Make sure the old xboxcontroller.xml (and any xboxcontroller_PROFILENAME.xml) files are still in the plugins folder the first time version 3.100 runs, then press Save Settings.

The mapping overlay does not appear when I press the button

• Check that Mapping Overlay (hold) is in the button’s On Press box (or (toggle) in any box), and that you are in pendant mode. In mouse and setup mode only the Start button’s boxes are active.
• Try Show mapping on the Misc Settings tab. If that shows it, the assignment is the problem; if not, the overlay may be off-screen after a change of monitor setup — close it and show it again and it will return to the centre.

The controller does nothing while the mapping overlay is shown

Mapping: block actions on the Misc Settings tab is ticked. The status line shows PAD ACTIONS BLOCKED in orange. Untick the option if you want the controller to keep working with the overlay up (section 10.5).

The status bar does not appear

• Tick Show the status bar on the Status Bar tab (section 3.6). It is off by default.
• It is drawn on the main (primary) monitor only, along the edge chosen in Position. With Only as wide as its text ticked it is centred on that edge and may be narrower than you expect.
• If all of the items are unticked in the Show group, the bar has nothing to display.

The version check says it could not reach the version file

The PC is offline, or the website could not be reached. Nothing is wrong with the plugin; try again later with the Check for new version button on the About tab.

Appendix: quick reference

A. Controller controls by mode

B. Files and folders

C. What is new in version 3.100

Compared with version 3.000:

• Button mapping overlay (section 10): see what every stick and button does, as a list or on a controller diagram, with live highlighting, a status line, E-STOP / RESET display, and an option to block the controller while it is shown.
• New setup menu (section 11): the menu is now part of the overlay, as a Quick settings panel for the jog step, the stick speed set and the stick velocities. It works entirely from the controller, velocities adjust in steps of 1, and you can switch between the menu and the display-only overlay. The separate mode icon is gone; the mode is named in the overlay title.
• Status bar (section 3.6): a thin bar on any screen edge showing the mode, jog step, speed set with each axis’s top speed, sticks, controller, E-STOP / RESET, and a long-press hold timer that names the function you are about to run.
• The long-press countdown and buzz only happen for a button that has a long-press function assigned.
• Info messages shrink to fit the screen, with new position, height and fit-to-text options.
• No more stolen focus: the overlays, the long-press countdown and the info messages no longer take the keyboard focus from UCCNC, and showing the overlay from a controller button no longer hangs the plugin.
• Polling rate option (50 or 100 Hz), and a fix for a slow control loop (11–22 Hz) when the right stick was set to JogStep.
• Settings are kept per UCCNC profile in plugins\XBoxControllerPro\Settings\ with safe saves, rotating backups and a load log, and new Restore backup, Save as defaults and Load defaults buttons.
• Nothing extra to install. The plugin now reads the controller directly through Windows’ XInput, so the SlimDX runtime (and its x86 / x64 choice, and the DirectX XInput 1.3 file) is no longer needed. You can leave SlimDX installed if you already have it, but nothing uses it any more. A controller that is unplugged while a stick is deflected is treated as released.
• A controller in the wrong mode is now reported. A third-party pad left in its DirectInput mode, which XInput cannot see, shows Gamepad found, not in XInput mode in the window, NO XINPUT PAD on the status bar and PAD NOT IN XINPUT MODE on the overlay (see Troubleshooting).
• The plugin window’s tabs open at once: their controls are now built in the background after the plugin starts.
• Button pulldowns list UCCNC’s functions by name, plus your own profile macros.
• Misc Settings tab reorganised into four groups, with tooltips on every control.
• Online version check (on start-up and from the About tab), and a Help tab that opens this manual.
• All of the plugin’s message boxes now carry the plugin name in the title and open in front of UCCNC.
• Fixes: a reversed C axis on a stick’s vertical direction used the Z axis velocity; the control loop could overlap itself when UCCNC was slow, sending duplicate jog commands; the D-pad and shoulder jog buttons could send a stray stop when no axis was assigned; the right D-pad’s custom function ran outside pendant mode; and a button pressed outside pendant mode could fire its release function later; and, with the right stick set to JogStep and mixed axis off, the vertical axis could creep while a jog step was being picked.
• The pop-up notifications from the taskbar icon (jogging enabled/disabled, jog step selected) are gone, and so is the Display selection on NotifyIcon option. The icon itself still shows whether jogging is enabled.

The full change history, including earlier versions, is in the README - xbox360 notes.txt file supplied with the plugin.