No Snake, not in the water! Aw dammit. Curse you, gamepad!
 

So I have this gamepad that closely resembles a PS2 pad (i.e. two analog sticks, a digital pad, buttons aplenty) and I cannot get it to work with Metal Gear Solid to save my or Solid Snake's life. More specifically, the game seems to continually receive a "lower right" directional input, so Snake just keeps running in that direction until kingdom come. However, Metal Gear Solid is the only application that seems to have this problem (well, I also noticed that in MGS2 the analog input is much too strong, but that can probably be fixed with some calibration). So, uhm. Anyone who has an idea what could cause this and who could nudge me in the right direction?

Well... if it were that in all games, I'd suggest that the analog stick was a bit jammed and suggested turning it in a circle.

But, I'm not sure how to fix it for you...
Maybe it's conflicting with another input?
If you can configure the keys, try looking there.

PEW PEW Super Nintendo!
 

Actually if you have a PS3 controller and any normal USB cord for say an MP3 player or a digital camera you can use the PS3 controller on your PC. Its just a quick download of the 3rd party driver and bam its functional. Though I wouldn't go out and by a PS3 controller if you don't happen to have one.

Oh and like was previously mentioned check the key bindings. It may be that the lower right D-pad direction has somehow been double mapped. That or this game happens to be the only one you have that accepts D-pad input as directional input. In which case you might want to run a calibration test on the d-pad buttons.

I'm going with conflicting input on this one, sometimes if you have both joystick and keyboard enabled the conflict causes some really wonky errors. I seem to remember having a problem like this with Privateer on DOSbox, but I don't recall how to fix it... Sorry.

I also have a problem now and then with certain games "maxing out" in keys pressed, like I can't jump, fire, and go left at the same time, one of them drops. I don't know if it's fixable without buying a new and improved keyboard.

I turned off the num pad for directional input (or rather, I realized it was turned off all the time anyway), which didn't help. I also tried holding the stick, the digital pad and the other stick to the opposite direction, individually and simultaneously to rule out input from the d-pad. It does seem to come from the left stick though, as pushing that to the upper left at least stops Snake from moving. Really, all signs point to a broken stick, except as I said it works fine in other games as far as I tested it.

Hmm. Think it would help if I installed a driver made for PS2 pads? The button layout is the same, after all.

Is there a site for the company that makes your controller? It might list a few problem games, or have a troubleshooting section. At the very least, it should have a phone number that you can call.

Meister, I think it might be helpful for this conversation, if you'd stop dropping names of the controller you're using. I mean, there are any number of controllers that fit your description, and guessing doesn't help.

However, I did have that problem with a PS2 controller I had, and I suspected the cause was the various oils & grime my hand produces (mixed with some dead skin cells, I suppose). Anyway, using a little ISP alcohol, which I put on a piece of cloth, I wiped around the ball swivel of the controller. I also rubbed an equally tiny amount on the rest of my controller as well. After doing so, I wiped as much off as I could with a dry cloth & let the controller sit for 30 minutes. That seemed to work, or at least the fix lasted long enough that I was able to trade in my PS3 for a PS2, I can't comment on long-term effects.

You could always get something like this which lets you plug in your a PS2 controller into the USB. I have one myself, and its pretty good for most games. (It wouldn't work for GameTap however.) However, it helps to have a PS2 as well & from the sounds of it, you don't, so it wouldn't do you much good.

Admittedly, right now I've got no use for mine, as I got rid of both my PS2 controllers in my trade-in. So I'll have to look into that PS3 suggestion. Is there a downloadable driver associated with that? How about the compatibility?

SWB
Oh, and please note that I had the controller unplugged for the entire duration of this procedure. Please do not attempt to do this while its still plugged into your system.

Speed-link SL 6534, which as far as I found out is a German product and not sold overseas but if you insist. Naw but seriously, I figured no one would ever have heard of it anyway, otherwise I would of course have named the brand and model.

Also I uninstalled the driver and tried using the default windows one which didn't change anything at all, so I guess the problem's either with the pad or the game. Meh, screw it, I'm using the keyboard.

You could use joy to key, and map the joystick to the arrow keys, and put them for your movement.

This is often the quickest fix I use when a program makes my GC's stick act wonky, as sometimes programs just don't interpret joystick signals very well but connecting the joystick to a keyboard input works just fine.

However, the only problem with this is often a lack of sensitivity for a joystick (no lightly holding joystick for 'walk') but it should work for MGS.