Is there some reason why one would want the chargeable kit if one doesn't actually have an Xbox One? I've been running mine without batteries, because it's not like I can use it without the cable connected anyway.

For XO just plug and play.

IL-2 Sturmovik is a proper flight combat simulator which IMHO can only be experienced properly with a proper flightstick or flightstick+throttle+rudder system along with a zillion keys on the keyboard (although many are assignable on modern flight stick hardware). It could be played on cheaper joysticks with an integrated Z-axis rudder also and still be enjoyable for the casual sim gamer, but I think that a gamepad would be wholly inadequate of an experience at best. IL-2 is a hardcore sim.

As for choosing a good gamepad in general though, I've had great experiences with the Logitech Cordless Rumblepad 2, and the newer wired F310. The F710 is very reliable as well although I don't own one personally. I wouldn't want to use them with any kind of proper flight sim though.

I use wireless Xbox 360 gamepad made for PC. I wish gog made a program to use gamepads in games that don't support it like: Terraria!

In case you want to use controller on games that don't support it natively, using controller remapping programs such as Xpadder will help.

Awesome! Thank you!

Despite the lack of native gamepad support, there are mods for all 3 Mass Effect games to restore the gamepad support that was removed during porting, making it the same as the console version controls.

The Logitech F710 is not a battery eater, and it automatically turns off if you don't use it...  I only use rechargeable batteries and I have a 30 minute charger, so it doesn't bother me.

There are many existing free options for doing this already so it's not really necessary for GOG to reinvent the wheel. Logitech and other input device manufacturers include optional software with their hardware for programming all of the buttons and axes etc. on their hardware to do stuff in any game old or new either directly or via using keyboard/mouse/joystick emulation, so this software will work with games going back to the beginning of time even. It can issue keyboard keystrokes, macros, or any variety of other complex assignments which may include time delays, auto-repeat and other functionality. Logitech's gaming software even includes an embedded scripting language (LUA) to let you completely program what the buttons etc. do with full programmability.

I would recommend checking with your hardware vendor to see if they provide gaming software like this as many people buy the hardware and plug it in and never use the CD that came with it nor install the optional software from the company's website either. Logitech's software can be downloaded from their website for example, and most likely the same for any other company's hardware.

If you have hardware that the manufacturer does not provide such programmable software features, there are existing software programs which are free, some of which may be open source that can be used to provide programmable features including keyboard emulation to any input hardware.

Here are a few apps I'm aware of:

http://www.xpadder.com/
http://joytokey.net/en/
http://www.autohotkey.com/

There no doubt are other applications of similar functionality out there if one searches around enough.

Hope this helps.

I'm using QJoypad myself most of the time. Works well even for the oldest games that never had gamepad support in the first place.

I am not sure if you are referring only to modern (XBox360 and later) era games, but pre-2008, there are lots of PC games also on GOG.com having smaller or bigger issues with the XBox360 gamepad, simply because they are expecting a DirectInput (Logitech Dualshock etc.) gamepads. With fiddling, many of them can probably be made to work satisfactorily.

There's also another thing. With these new (XBox360 etc.) gamepads the area of movement for the analog sticks is round, while with the older PC analog joysticks and (Dualshock) gamepads it is usually square, and the older DirectInput PC games also expect it to be square. You can't fit a square to a circle, and vice versa. :)

What this can mean in practise is that e.g. you can't reach the diagonal maximums in those older games (like flight sims, space combat sims etc.) with the newer PC gamepads. You can probably see this in e.g. GOG version of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, where you can't run and turn ("run in circles") at the same time with modern gamepads. If you start turning the analog stick while running, you start walking because you don't reach the corners.

Whether this is an issue or not, depends on the game (e.g. set your controls so that you don't have to care about the diagonals, e.g. in racing games use the left stick (or the analog triggers) just for speed and braking, and the right stick for steering left/right). Also, it might be some gamepads take this into account and the "circle" is bigger than the "square" meaning you can reach the diagonal maximums, but that would then decrease the accuracy of the stick in up/down and left/right directions.

So all in all: it is still a good idea to have a proper flightstick (with a square area of movement) for flight sims and such.

EDIT: I guess I could have just linked to the earlier thread I started about this issue...

http://www.gog.com/forum/general_archive/classic_vs_modern_pc_controllers_diagonal_movement/page1

Thanks for the info timppu and everyone.

+1