Realtime adjustment of the paddle offset

[MarkMccabe]

I know we can adjust the paddle offset using the SKpicopatch utility to reflash the pico clones on my PC via the USB port by adjusting the third parameter. But that a real pain requiring removal of the SidKick each time you need to try different values in the hopes of landing on one that allows the paddles to pass the diagnostic cartridge checks.
Have you considered modifying the SKpicotiming utility so these paddle offsets could be changed while the SidKick is still installed in the C64/C-128?
Thank you for considering this suggestion.

[frntc]

Yes, might be a good idea (or include that somewhere else). Meanwhile you can run a utility like Game Controller Tester and see what values you get without paddles/mice attached. From those you can estimate the offset and hopefully need to set it once (I don't remember the ideal target values atm, need to look them up)

[MarkMccabe]

For example say I run a utility and it says for example I am getting values of 85 decimal or so for the two paddles using a utility program. Assuming when I run the same utility with the same dongle on a functioning original SID that passes all the Diagnostic tests, and I get a value of say 100 for the paddles, would I just use an offset of 15 decimal (ie: 85 + 15 = 100) for the third parameter? Or do I add it as a Hex value instead of decimal when using the SKpicopatch SidKick setup utility.
Also, when checking the pot values in the SidKick Config menu, what do the values mean? I get one set of values if I select Raw or Median filtering, and a different set if I select smooth. What exactly is this telling me and why don't they match the numbers I get using a stand alone paddle test program? The stand alone utility ones seem to more closely match the ones where I select Smooth in the SidKick configuration menu.
I read that when setting the third parameter:
A) A value lower than 80 is simply added to the paddles
B) A value larger than 80 serves as a “target value” for paddles
What exactly was B) mean by target value?