Question Using more than 4 XBox Gamepads

As far as I understand, the 4 gamepad is natural limitation of XInput, API that Unity uses for handling XBox Input.

I know this is doable since it's done in paid asset called ReWired. But is it possible to implement using InputSystem?

As far as I understand, there are several ways to handle this: either force the engine to use DirectInput even for XBox controllers, or replace the XInput library Unity uses with something like OpenXInput, which does not have the 4 controller limitation. But how exactly do I proceed about it, I have found very little information online.

If it's not possible, what ways do I have to work around this issue with what XInput gives me?

 

After testing with InputSystem and InputManager, I have noticed that they both have a limit of 4 gamepads, however, they are getting different gamepads. InputManager gets 1, 2, 3 and 4, while InputSystem gets 1, 2, 4 and 5. This means I can get input from another system where one fails, but this does not look like a good solution to the issue, I'll be honest. Besides, I don't control this behaviour and in this scenario still neither of them cover Gamepad 6.

 

This is coming from a restriction of the XInput API. It has a hardcoded limit of 4 controllers.

The platform backend should be using the newer Windows gaming APIs instead, which don't have this limit, but AFAIK this hasn't happened yet.

 

I understand that, and I mentioned the problem in the original post. However, I've found alternative XInput dlls that do not have this restriction (https://github.com/Nemirtingas/OpenXinput) but I am not sure how can I go about making InputSystem use those.

Also, if Rewired can force XBox controllers to go through DirectInput, why is it impossible for Input System? I am fine with DirectInput restrictions, such as lack of rumble or limited axis and button amount.