Trackpad++: Alternate Trackpad Driver for BootCamp

[calkenneth]

Yep - just emailed you. Thanks for your help.

 

[timmyj]

also having issues with 3.1c on rmbp 15" late 2013
the highlighting issue is due to drag being activated erroneously i think
i cannot get 3 finger drag or many of the other multi-finger gestures to work accurately
all was fine under 3.1b

 

[V-l-a-d-i-m-i-r]

@timmyj: Thanks a lot for reporting. Could you try the following fixed version: http://trackpad.powerplan7.com/Trackpad_Plus_Plus_Driver_Control_Module_Setup_31c_QUICKFIX_1.exe
Basically, it's the blend of 3.1b and 3.1c (all Force Touch 12"/13"/15" supported, but for classic Multi Touch trackpad the previous version's sources are reused).
P.S. If this helps not, I'll provide another fix. There are two areas where such behavior can have genesis in, but it would be optimal to try the first one, it should eliminate the most probable reason.

 

[timmyj]

@timmyj: Thanks a lot for reporting. Could you try the following fixed version: http://trackpad.powerplan7.com/Trackpad_Plus_Plus_Driver_Control_Module_Setup_31c_QUICKFIX_1.exe
Basically, it's the blend of 3.1b and 3.1c (all Force Touch 12"/13"/15" supported, but for classic Multi Touch trackpad the previous version's sources are reused).
P.S. If this helps not, I'll provide another fix. There are two areas where such behavior can have genesis in, but it would be optimal to try the first one, it should eliminate the most probable reason.

thanks for your quick response
that new build didnt seem to do anything to change the behaviour for me, i have however rolled back to 3.1b and all is well

 

[V-l-a-d-i-m-i-r]

@All: **UPDATE: I FIXED ALL ISSUES IN TRACKPAD++ 3.1c**
Spent literally day and night locating the root of those issues which seemed to occur randomly for some people with classic multitouch trackpads only. Well, now I'm tired, yet happy, because I have finally found that real root of those issues.
The totally fixed version is already available. You can get it normally via website of the project

As for the Force Touch trackpad, it's now supported in all flavours (Macbook 12", Pro 13"/15"). And, just to summarize, Windows 10 is already supported, either. Also even better Windows 10 support will be there in Trackpad++ soon after Windows 10 RTM (final version) is out. I have special hopes about further scroll improvements, for example.

I would like to say Special Thank You to all the people who helped to test.

Cheers,
Vlad

 

[CocaCoca]

@All: **UPDATE: I FIXED ALL ISSUES IN TRACKPAD++ 3.1c**
Spent literally day and night locating the root of those issues which seemed to occur randomly for some people with classic multitouch trackpads only. Well, now I'm tired, yet happy, because I have finally found that real root of those issues.
The totally fixed version is already available. You can get it normally via website of the project

As for the Force Touch trackpad, it's now supported in all flavours (Macbook 12", Pro 13"/15"). And, just to summarize, Windows 10 is already supported, either. Also even better Windows 10 support will be there in Trackpad++ soon after Windows 10 RTM (final version) is out. I have special hopes about further scroll improvements, for example.

I would like to say Special Thank You to all the people who helped to test.

Cheers,
Vlad

Dear Vlad you're my genius!! All working like charm after fix! Coz I was scared last week Thank U and particularly for adding Windows TEN stuff in advance, too

 

[V-l-a-d-i-m-i-r]

@CocaCoca: Oh (confused), thank you very much.

@All: Could everybody who is potentially interested in Microsoft-cross-signed version of the 64-bit Trackpad++ driver contact me via email (using the 'contact' link on the web page of the Trackpad++ project). Thanks.

 

[Aneef]

Will trackpad++ work on Mid 2014 Macbook pro without force touch running Windows 10 on Parallels Desktop?

 

[V-l-a-d-i-m-i-r]

@Aneef: Trackpad++ driver is for Macbook (Pro/Air) running Windows 7/8.1/10 via Boot Camp (Boot Camp is the Apple-provided solution for real Windows installation on Mac).
Parallels is a virtual environment where the driver has no access to trackpad hardware, so Trackpad++ cannot be used in Parallels.

 

[doanchu]

Vladimir, I have a problem with version 3.1c. Three finger drag doesn't work. Whenever I tried to start dragging, my cursor moved to the top left of the screen. So was the window that I wanted to drag. My laptop is Macbook Pro Retina 15 early 2013. The OS is Windows 7 SP1.

 

[V-l-a-d-i-m-i-r]

@doanchu: End of the mystery. Here is why for some Retina Macbook Pro owners the Trackpad++ 3-finger drag works perfectly, while for some does not work at all. To make it working, please adjust the setting outlined with red so that it matches a provided screen shot and reboot. That's all. And now you can use any DPI, I verified 125%, 150%, 175%, 199%, 200%. It's important to note, Windows 8.1 and 10 are NOT affected, but Windows 8 and 7 are.

 

[AbhimanyuAryan]

Trackpad++ is simply amazing. I really like how less space to occupies. Customization options with Trackpad++ are insanely great. The features which native Bootcamp trackpad drivers provide are very limited( 3 I guess ). I have been using this software for an year now and I am totally addicted to it.

Every blogger who have posted about "Things to do after Bootcamp" should include this software in top of there checklist. Thanks Vladimir

 

[V-l-a-d-i-m-i-r]

@AbhimanyuAryan: Thanks for all of the feedback!

@All: Trackpad++ version 3.1d is out today. In this version:
- Windows 10 support is more polished, for example Task View vertical swipe up is active by default if Windows 10 is detected, and Respect Focus scroll option not active (as it's not needed in Windows 10);
- All of the 3-finger and 4-finger swipes (horizontal and vertical) are even more responsive, a small pointer delay after those gestures has been totally removed;
- Minor tweaks under the hood.

 

[0000757]

@AbhimanyuAryan: Thanks for all of the feedback!

@All: Trackpad++ version 3.1d is out today. In this version:
- Windows 10 support is more polished, for example Task View vertical swipe up is active by default if Windows 10 is detected, and Respect Focus scroll option not active (as it's not needed in Windows 10);
- All of the 3-finger and 4-finger swipes (horizontal and vertical) are even more responsive, a small pointer delay after those gestures has been totally removed;
- Minor tweaks under the hood.

I installed PowerPlanAssistant, and now I'm having the following things:

1) My Mac's fans have gone into TURBO mode, and don't show any sign of stopping, despite the only difference being that PPA was installed.
2) All my taskbar icons reset.
3) Windows changed randomly to "Test Mode" in the lower corner????

 

[V-l-a-d-i-m-i-r]

@chrf097: Thank you for reporting. I cannot confirm the fans issue (my tools do not have any access to fan).

Actually, to the contrary, today many people have reported total success of the Power Plan Assistant / Trackpad++ combo on rMBP running Windows 10.

The tray icons are set to show all of them, it is true. As discussed on the previous pages of this topic, for a newbie it might be difficult to locate the icons of Power Plan Assistant and Trackpad++ if not all of the icons are displayed. On the other hand, for a pro user, it's the matter of a few seconds to return the tray icons to hidden state. Sad but true, whatever approach is chosen, it would not satisfy all people. But according the the long-term user feedback, this is the way that satisfies the absolute majority of people.

Test Mode is nowhere a random thing, it's documented on the web page, and especially in the installer during the installation process of Power Plan Assistant. The Test Mode allows the unsigned 64-bit drivers, that's all. Again, this was discussed in detail (and sometimes with passion ) on the previous pages of this thread. You can contact me via email if interested in obtaining signed drivers. Why via email? An issue is, I was warned that this forum's rules do not allow talking about donations, pricing, etc. So this thread is purely the technical discussion of the hopefully useful alternate drivers for our beloved Boot Camped Macs

Cheers,
Vlad

 

[profanum]

If we do get the signed drivers how do we get future updates? Through email? Thanks!

 

[0000757]

@chrf097: Thank you for reporting. I cannot confirm the fans issue (my tools do not have any access to fan).

Actually, to the contrary, today many people have reported total success of the Power Plan Assistant / Trackpad++ combo on rMBP running Windows 10.

The tray icons are set to show all of them, it is true. As discussed on the previous pages of this topic, for a newbie it might be difficult to locate the icons of Power Plan Assistant and Trackpad++ if not all of the icons are displayed. On the other hand, for a pro user, it's the matter of a few seconds to return the tray icons to hidden state. Sad but true, whatever approach is chosen, it would not satisfy all people. But according the the long-term user feedback, this is the way that satisfies the absolute majority of people.

Test Mode is nowhere a random thing, it's documented on the web page, and especially in the installer during the installation process of Power Plan Assistant. The Test Mode allows the unsigned 64-bit drivers, that's all. Again, this was discussed in detail (and sometimes with passion ) on the previous pages of this thread. You can contact me via email if interested in obtaining signed drivers. Why via email? An issue is, I was warned that this forum's rules do not allow talking about donations, pricing, etc. So this thread is purely the technical discussion of the hopefully useful alternate drivers for our beloved Boot Camped Macs

Cheers,
Vlad

Oh I meant no ill harm, I just noticed I was having these issues.

#2 yeah I can fix, I just noticed it did that. As far as Test mode, I found a way to hide the title, so i'm good.

 

[V-l-a-d-i-m-i-r]

@profanum: An URL (link) to access the most recent stable version at any time has been chosen, this seems to be an optimal approach.

@chrf097: No problems, thank you for the feedback. Sometimes in such way the real issues can be uncovered, like it happened a few weeks ago with the first iteration of the previous build 3.1c

@All: Just wanted to emphasize, while the Windows 10 integration really works, Windows 8.1 and 7 aren't forgotten. The trackpad driver detects the OS version and assigns the gestures / applies self-tweaks according to the actual Windows version. So far all of the feedback about the build 3.1d is solidly good, nothing seems broken. Which is very good, considering that now 3 Windows versions are multiplied by 3 major revisions of the trackpad hardware.

 

[andres.soler.s]

Hi, I came by to share my experience with trackpad++. About a month ago I decided to switch from mac to windows on my 2011 13 inch macbook pro because I had to run some software from my university that wasn't available for mac. From the moment I installed windows 8.1 x64 the thing I missed the most was my touchpad gestures as I was really used to working with them. Unfortunately apple default drivers were crap so I started searching for an alternative. Once I found trackpad++ most of my issues were solved. Scrolling finally worked as expected in my web browsers and multitouch gestures worked as expected after a bit of working through the settings in order to change them to fit me. The only thing I don't like that much is having to run windows in test mode to run the driver because windows leaves a watermark in my desktop but it is a small price to pay.

It pretty much has run smoothly ever since until yesterday when I had a small hiccup. I received a notification to upgrade to windows 10 and I took the risk knowing probably I'd be having lots of issues due to bootcamp not being officially supported for it. Either way I decided to update in order to regain the multiple desktop functionality I lost when migrating from OS X to windows. The update pretty much run smoothly but my only issue was with the trackpad++ driver.

After the upgrade completed trackpad++ module run without issues but the driver was not found. My touchpad settings were not available, not even on the native bootcamp app. I had to manually uninstall the drivers from the control panel and remove the drivers manually from the device manager. As soon as I did that I completely lost my touchpad and had to use an external mouse in order to keep working. To solve my issue all I had to do was re-download bootcamp drivers from the apple website and after extracting them reinstall the touchpad driver. Afterwards I rebooted and my touchpad was back although it was pretty useless without trackpad++. Finally after all was working again, I reinstalled the power plan assistant in order to get windows 10 to be in test mode, then I installed the trackpad++ driver back and now everything works flawlessly now.

The new windows 10 gestures to open task view are amazing, so everything is now working as it did back when I had OS X. Maybe in order to avoid issues you should uninstall trackpad++ before the upgrade and the reinstall once running windows 10. Either way, thank you for the amazing software and keep up the great work!

 

[gr4z]

Trackpad++ is awesome a fantastic effort Vlad. My only, and I mean only little gripe, is the scrolling in a browser isn't as smooth as OSX. I am trying out Edge and it works well but just not as 100% smooth. I would say about 90%-95% with a little jerkiness. Are there any suggestions to improve this? Thanks

 

[terraphantm]

I like this driver a lot for the most part, but the scrolling was significantly better with the Apple driver

 

[V-l-a-d-i-m-i-r]

@gr4z: I wish there was a simple and uniform approach to smooth scroll in Windows... I'm investigating Windows 10 APIs, they are very interesting, but they are mainly for touch-screens. So far no smooth-scroll breakthrough. In Windows, even in 10, real smooth scrolling is typically achieved only by implementing a browser extension. Some well-known mice manufacturers install such extensions as the part of the mouse driver install. A separate extension is needed for each new version of each browser. This is NOT the approach taken by Trackpad++. Instead, the Trackpad++ currently uses the universal scroll engine, with no need to use the extensions. The driver is very complex already, so introducing such extensions may not be a good idea, even if I knew how to implement all of them.

@terraphantm: The good thing is, Trackpad++ is not destroying your Boot Camp HID drivers stack. Instead, Trackpad++ is integrated into it. Trackpad++ can switch some features partially or completely between its code path, and stock Apple driver. For example, if you do not like the reworked scroll, simply uncheck the 'Accelerate Scroll' option in the Trackpad++ Control Module, and hit 'Apply&Save'. Immediately the scroll will feel as with stock Boot Camp driver, because it IS stock driver handling the scroll now. Hope this helps... (Although in most scenarios the accelerated yet less sensitive reworked scroll of the Trackpad++ works better than stock, not just my opinion, but based on the long-term user feedback).

 

[Dron3]

Just installed Windows 10 on my Macbook air and found that Trackpad++ added those features I really missed from OS X, on another note, when I installed windows 10 on my Macbook the keyboard backlit didnt work, Power Assist fixed that for me great work

 

[Trebuin]

have you updated your test mode remover program for windows 10? Do you even need to? I won't run it until I know if I need to wait.

 

[V-l-a-d-i-m-i-r]

@Trebuin: Yes, the remover tool works, might be limited to EN-US Windows 10, though... In my experience, it might be needed run it two times (i.e. again after rebooting).
To avoid any Test Mode manipulations in Windows 10, you can request the Microsoft cross-signed driver. You can contact me via email for details (a few posts above I explained why).