Unwanted velocity with controller joystick - dpad working as intended

[p0nder]

Godot Version

Godot 4.2.1

Question

Hello all,

I’m using the code below for friction for my CharacterBody2D. The code works perfectly with keyboard controls or the DPAD on my PS4 controller. However, if I use the joystick on my PS4 controller I often get a constant small velocity that won’t reduce to zero. Does anyone know a resolution for this?

Here’s an example with the DPAD:

Here’s an example with the joystick:

This is the most relevant line of code:
velocity.x -= spd_inc * 0.5 * sign(velocity.x)

Here’s the relevant player movement code:

#control player
if Globals.is_alive0:
	#horizonatal input
	move_h = Input.get_axis('left0', 'right0')

    #increase speed with time
	if move_h:
		velocity.x += spd_inc * move_h 
	
		if abs(velocity.x) > mv_spd:
			velocity.x = mv_spd * move_h 
		
	
    #ground friction (slight player slide is intended)
	if is_on_floor():
		if abs(move_h):
			animation.play('Walk2')
			
		else:
			if velocity.x != 0:
				velocity.x -= spd_inc * 0.5 * sign(velocity.x)
				animation.play('Slide2')
		
			else:
			        animation.play('Idle2')

[gertkeno]

Do you have a deadzone set greater than 0? I think the default is 0.5 which is pretty crazy, but 0.1 would help you out enough.

Could be that this line is missing a top out like your max speed has

if velocity.x != 0:
	velocity.x -= spd_inc * 0.5 * sign(velocity.x)
	
	# similar to > mv_spd
	if abs(velocity.x) < 1:
		velocity.x = 0

[p0nder]

thanks for your reply! I’m new to game dev so haven’t even considered deadzone until you brought it up but was able to resolve the issue!

so I tried your code suggestion, which was a great suggestion, prior to adjusting the deadzone.This didn’t resolve the issue unfortunately

Then I tried deadzone at 0.1. This also didn’t resolve the issue

Then I tried deadzone at 0. This also didn’t resolve the issue

Then I tried deadzone at 1.0. This surprisingly resolved the issue. Unless you foresee an issue with a 1.0 deadzone?

[p0nder]

Okay, it only took a couple of minutes of playtesting to realize how dumb it would be to have a deadzone of 1 haha

Gertkeno sent me down the right path by bringing up deadzone, and it ultimately lead me to the resolution. The movement feels much better with a deadzone of .2 so I switched it to that from the default of .5.

I was able to resolve the friction issue with this code even while having a deadzone of .2:

move_h = Input.get_axis('left0', 'right0')
		if move_h > 0: 
			move_h = 1
		if move_h < 0: 
			move_h = -1

That way, if there is a move_h value less than abs(1), which was happening with the joystick, then move_h will be adjusted to -1 or 1

This in turn causes velocity.x to be an integer rather than a float. And therefore the friction will bring the player to a stop as intended with this line:
velocity.x -= spd_inc * 0.5 * sign(velocity.x)

Thanks Gertkeno!