Is valve giving prototype owners a final version? That's cool of them if so.
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Steam Controller overview and videos/impressions
- Thread starter ashecitism
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Naw, they just saw my videos and posts in this thread and realized I was still using a prototype, so they sent me a message asking if I would like a final copy to mess around with.
ashecitism
Member
So, you didn't apply for one when the sign-ups went live?
https://steamcommunity.com/login/home/?goto=/steamcontroller
edit: oh wait, your company doesn't have any game projects, right?
https://steamcommunity.com/login/home/?goto=/steamcontroller
edit: oh wait, your company doesn't have any game projects, right?
viveks86
Member
Bruh... Doing God's work
We make games, but they are for medicine. I applied for the controller but my pitch was little more than "I dig the controller and want to experiment with it in free time." Our games dont work well with external stimulus, they dont use gamepads, so i had no specific project I could pitch with.
Currently i use my 360 pad and joytokey as a mouse (with some shortcuts on it) as my mouse full time. (i turn off jtk when i play games) could the gabetroller completely replace my 360 pad.?
If so, can i set some shortcuts for it outside steam. ?
Sorry if this is a dumb question, i've read all the posts in this thread, but i didn't feel like specific question was answered.
Dumb question two. I'm getting it directly from steam, will i have to pay import tax for it. ? (i'm a uk'en)
i'm thinking no, because GAME are seeling them, so there's probably a consignment here for direct orders as well.
If so, can i set some shortcuts for it outside steam. ?
Sorry if this is a dumb question, i've read all the posts in this thread, but i didn't feel like specific question was answered.
Dumb question two. I'm getting it directly from steam, will i have to pay import tax for it. ? (i'm a uk'en)
i'm thinking no, because GAME are seeling them, so there's probably a consignment here for direct orders as well.
It can if you want it to. The steam controller is a way way better mouse than the way you describe your setup.
You can only remap the controller if steam is running. If steam is running, it can be remapped in any way you want, for any program you want, on a program by program basis. Other wise, if steam isnt present, it defaults to a legacy mode.
No clue
Ohh, sorry to bother you one more time Krejiooc but. If i'm using it as a mouse outside of steam, then go and start up a game, will it automatically switch to controller mode, or will it still think it's a mouse. do you know. ?
It might be time to retire my trusty old chrome blue 360 pad then.
That's so much for the answer.
It might be time to retire my trusty old chrome blue 360 pad then.
ashecitism
Member
On Steam it writes
3. Transport Costs and Taxes
All transport costs and taxes will be disclosed to you prior to purchase. If a Hardware Product shipment is returned to Valve because delivery to you has failed, you bear the cost of the failed delivery unless you have exercised your right to cancel (see below 4.) or the failure of delivery cannot be attributed to you.
The shipping cost is included in its price, I think, that's why in EU it's 55€, but no idea about taxes.
Ahhhhh.
I'm a bit jumpy about import taxes at the mo, as i just got stung on getting the Japanese premium edition of MGSV.
If you launch a non steam program from within steam (I.e. You launch firefox within steam) then it'll have its own unique custom configuration that you set, and everytime you launch it from within steam it'll return to those settings. If you want it to behave like a controller for that specific application, you are free to do just that.
If you use this without steam running at all, it can only use the default legacy mode layout.
Ahh. Ok. Cool. thanks for all your time.
Krej, I hate to inundate you with requests, but I have a request. Either when you review it or when you do the OT, can you test out MGSV? It is one of the only games I know of where using the mouse and controller simultaneously is not possible without the others inputs becoming locked. I'm just wondering what would happen or if there is some work around. Binding keyboard and mouse only to the controller would not be ideal particularly for movement, where there are 3 different speeds and then a dash, all requiring different combinations of buttons
Mgsv will be the very first thing I test out with the controller. I dunno how long the thing will take to get here, though. Im participating in a game jam currently, hence why ive stopped uploading videos. It goes until the 14th do i wouldnt be able to put some gametime into mgsv until after then anyways.
When the controller arrives, I'll do a live stream of myself playing mgsv with a webcam pointed at my hands on the controller for people to see.
grandwizard
Member
It's a minority of games that allow for simultaneous xinput analog stick movement and mouse control. Maybe with the proliferation of the Steam controller that will change, but it won't change the way the thousands of games already out are.
MGSV will have it's own set of problems with how it handles bindings and the use of the arrow keys and weapon selection that I want to see solved. Here is my post from the last thread about some MGSV specific issues:
You could just say fuck it and assign those to left and right grip (or shoulder buttons) and have the items menu work like it did in the old mgs games.
I've really not had this issue for the majority of games I play, since I struggle with analogue aim to the point where I often switch to the mouse at the same time, however I don't think I've ever tried keyboard and controller simultaneously other than to press escape.
I would say though that issues with the inventory are not actually that big thanks to mode switching, where holding one button will change all of the others to a different layout while being held and you could map key combinations to single buttons/pads, which could be quite useful for inventory
joshbob1985
Member
I was assuming that the Steamlink only enabled you to stream games to another TV.
Have I got the wrong end of the stick or is this post saying that it could mirror my desktop on my living room TV and allow me to use media player or other non-Steam programs?
You can do it, yes. It's the same as the Steam in-home Stream that you can do right now and allows you to Steam everything you want.
That's great news! I'm looking forward to your impressions.
ashecitism
Member
It's in the OP
Link is using IHS, so it's reasonable to assume it'll work similarly. Iirc desktop streaming was achieved by alt-tabbing on the host itself.
joshbob1985
Member
SOLD! Thanks for your response.
I struggle to keep up with the relentless march of human technological advancement and am continually amazed by what is possible. This gadget does not require any cleverness from the TV it is connected to beyond a HDMI port and 1080 display correct?
I'm not getting that from the OP. Please excuse my ignorance.
Edit: My second question is answered by the OP.
Is the configuration stored in hardware, or does it require a software?
Is Valve protecting the controller against using 3rd party or homebrew drivers?
I am kinda intrigued by the concept of the controller, and I do not mind Steam in general.
But that the controller actually could require Steam, is a turn off for me.
Is Valve protecting the controller against using 3rd party or homebrew drivers?
I am kinda intrigued by the concept of the controller, and I do not mind Steam in general.
But that the controller actually could require Steam, is a turn off for me.
This thing doesn't use it's own proprietary drivers. It uses a standard HID driver for a keyboard and mouse.
You can use this controller without steam
It requires Steam in order to change settings but you can do it even with third party applications like Google Chrome. You can still use it without Steam it resets to its default settings everytime you plug it in.
Edit: beaten.
How would it work for a game like Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, where you have standard first person/third person controls, but then have to type out stuff when hacking computers?
Are you able to use the daisy wheel or whatever to type in things when you reach parts of games that require the whole keyboard, rather than just the keyboard buttons you have assigned to the controller?
If you bring up the steam overlay in a game, one of the newly added options is "pop up keyboard." If you select this, a pop up keyboard appears on screen and whatever text you type into it will be sent to the game as keyboard input. Steam itself handles how this popup keyboard works with the controller.
Alternatively, if you write for the controller natively, you can evoke the popup keyboard shown in the trailer when they are demonstrating civ V.
You'd have to reverse engineer the way they flash the controller. It's possible, I guess.
That's a software issue with the games themselves, not the controller. Essentially, some games don't allow you to smoothly switch between x-input and directinput without, as an example, changing a setting in a menu.
HOLY CRAP EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED!!!
Also worth noting - if you launch any program from steam, the steam overlay follows it, even if it's not a steam game. For example, if I launch firefox through steam, then firefox gets a steam overlay. If I opened firefox through steam, and have the window currently open and in focus on my computer, and I press the steam button on my controller (or xbox button on an xbox pad, or shift+tab on a keyboard) then the steam overlay will open on top of firefox, even though it's not a steam game. Meaning any program launched through steam can use that open keyboard function.
Right now, in BPM, it's very clearly an early work in progress. In fact, I can't get it to open right now to snap a picture, it keeps crashing steam (keep in mind, this new mode is still only for beta participants in steam, it's not in the current official build). It worked yesterday, but I just installed a new update so it looks like they broke compatibility. But the keyboard itself is very bare bones right now, it's not a floating keyboard like in the video yet, but rather an entire tab in the steam overlay. And you have to type out every keypress you want to send, then hit the "submit" button.
In time, like BPM in general, I expect it'll become refined and cleaned up and more smoothly integrated. The point is, steam has a solution for full text input built into their overlay.
Whiffle
Neo Member
It seems like they will have shortcuts on the controller for these. In the trailer
Guide + back = keyboard overlay
Similarly Guide + RT is already the shortcut to take a screen shot. I imagine they will have other shortcuts in a similar way
If you hold the steam button down for a while, a menu pops up that lets you forcibly quit out of non-responding games. Sort of like a built in taskkill function. Also good for really old DOS games which only let you quit through odd keyboard combinations (like F12, or alt-Q)
Would it not make more sense to have the ability to do this via the on-screen keyboard? Are the function and special keys available on it, or is it just basic character input?
You can do it with the on screen keyboard, but it's much easier to just hold down the button and select "quit" than bringing up the menu and typing "alt-q" with the keyboard then hitting submit.
It's a full keyboard with function keys.
So how is the data being sent to the controller?
Is there a standard in HID for doing that?
Any look at the data? Is it encrypted or signed?
What is the issue here?
So when another X-input controller is connected, games seem to think they should use x-input?
Is the Steam controller using direct input?
Why would it use direct input? not enough buttons in X-input?
I havent looked into how steam flashes the firmware, so I dont know.
Naw, the problem is when people want to mix and match. So like use the right touch pad as a mouse, but use the left analog stick as an input analog stick. Like using an xbox 360 controller in one hand and a mouse in the other. If the game only listens to one device or the other, that would presumably cause issues.
If you want the controller to be soley an xbox controller or solely a keyboard and mouse, then no problem. And again, this is only an issue of the game specifically has this quirk.
It can
Xinput isnt used by the overwhelming majority of all pc games throughout time. This is the type of issues faced when trying to create a universal pc controller - it has to realistically support all sorts of input standards.
Also, xinput is soley for joysticks, no mice. The biggest perk of using this controller is finally having mouse control in your hand
Thanks
one follow-up: is the controller one device, or does the OS think it is an USB hub with multiple devices?
multiple devices
Muffin Awesome
Member
I still can't decide whether or not to buy this. I have gtx760 and an i7, it would be wired to a 1080p TV via an old nether router, looks like streaming needs ac to do it well, anyone else in the same boat.
If your entire chain is wired (i.e. wired PC to router, wired router to steam link) then the wireless band you use is of no importance. I use in home streaming between my main PC and my gigabyte brix pro steam machine with a wired connection and it's flawless.
Do you have to launch your desired app via Steam or is it enough to have Steam open, configure the gamepad to your liking and then launch any app normally? So for example I open Steam, config controller, then open GoG Galaxy and start Witcher 3 and Steam Controller now works in W3 as configured in Steam?
Also how does the analog controller handle since it's emulating the keyboard? I'd imagine you lose precision to a degree.
Refreshment.01
Member
It seems you'll need just the controller then instead of the streaming solution.
Astral/H3X
Member
This might create issues with Dark Souls 1/2. DS 1/2 have this annoying tendency to only work with the very first HID compliant controller that they see -- ie, if your gaming mouse can show up as a controller, then it sees that, and decides that your Xinput controller does not function.
I would be *VERY* interested if you could find some way to test how it works on such a game.
Refreshment.01
Member
Is there any possibility for having the Scon working with consoles via some kind of adapter?
Dark Souls (1/2) work fine in Gamepad + Mouse mode.
The settings are in a game/application basis, so you have to lauch your gog game through Steam to configure it and everytime you want to use those settings you set.
You are talking about the left analog? In this case the best setting is putting to emulate the xbox 360 left analog so you will have the same precision.
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