How to set up a Wii controller with pptPlex

If you want to try this out you will need a Wii controller, a computer with a Bluetooth connection and the application GlovePIE. During the presentation you will also need something that can work as the Nintendo Wii sensor bar. Anything that can omit a couple of distinct light sources will do. There are wireless sensors bar for the Nintendo Wii but it will also work to put a couple of table lamps under the presentation screen.

1.       The trickiest part is usually connecting the Wii controller to your Bluetooth-enabled computer. If you remove the battery cap from the Wii controller you will see a red sync button. You will need to press this button multiple times while your computer searches for Bluetooth devices. A device called Nintendo RVL-CNT-01 should be found, you will need to connect to that device (no pin coded is needed). Even if the computer and the controller are able to connect it might be that they cannot talk to each other.  If you run in to this I recommend searching the Internet for more detailed articles on how to connect a Wii controller to a Bluetooth-enabled PC.  Usually the answer to these issues it to try with other hardware or Bluetooth drivers.

2.       The next step is to run the application GlovePie. Instructions on how to download and run GlovePie can be found here.

3.       You will also have to set a key in the registry to get the laser cursor in pptPlex. Open notepad and create a new text file called pptPlexWiiOn.reg. Paste the following lines in the file.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\OfficeLabs\PlexForPPT]
"Wii"="True"

Change the last line of the file to “Wii”=”False” and save the file again as pptPlexWiiOff.reg. The two files you have just created can be used to turn the laser pointer on and off in pptPlex. Run the file pptPlexWiiOn.reg to turn the laser pointer on.

4.       Open up the application GlovePie that you have just downloaded and load the following script. As soon as you run the downloaded script in GlovePIE the Wii controller will function as a mouse for your computer.  You will need something that can work as the Nintendo Wii sensor bar next to your presentation screen and with that you are ready to start your pptPlex presentation.

If LEDs 1 and 4 are lit up on the controller this means that everything is hooked up correctly, otherwise you will have to go back to step 1.

During a pptPlex presentation try the following commands.

* Flick the controller will advance to the next slide
* Flick the controller while pressing 1 will move to the previous slide.
* Flick the controller while pressing 2 will advance to the next section.
* Using the + and – buttons will let you zoom in and out.
* The home button will zoom out to the overview of the presentation.
* The A button double as a click so double clicking A will let you zoom in to a section or a slide. Pressing A will allow you to pan the presentation.
* Pressing B will zoom you out one level

To let us know what you think, please click the “Give us Feedback” button in the pptPlex ribbon.

Enjoy!