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Steam Controller Thread | Comfy Couch Sold Separately

Oreoleo

Member
I think the primary difference is, while the haptic motor in the Steam controller does a great job providing feedback on where your fingers are on the pads (I think of it zeroing in on fingers like currents in a plasma globe), it does not give any feedback about directionality of movement through rumble. With a normal vibration motor, you get a sense of push and pull and shifting weight, and the rumble typically syncs with a game to create a more natural sense of action. If you're playing a racing game, and you hit a barrier on your right side, a vibration motor gives you a sense of that drag. It puts more emphasis on certain areas, and performs different motions for different situations. The Steam controller just shakes. So you don't get that sort of individualized feedback. Where another controller might tell you, "you're balancing during a minor earthquake, while rifle fire whizzes past your head—one bullet on your left, two on the right; a grenade," the Steam controller says, "a thing happened." It offers no nuance. It trades the brush strokes of an artist for finger paint on a man with no hands.

I gotta disagree with a lot of this. Playing Dirt 3 with the haptic rumble was damn near revelatory. I felt like I could actually feel the weight of the car shifting from front to back and side to side through the controller. With rare exception, traditional rumble just feels like very basic low/medium/high settings depending on whether you hop off a small cliff, get hit by a car or are in the middle of an explosion (as examples). I've never experienced the nuance in traditional rumble that you seem to have.
 

laxu

Member
I would not drop the left pad for d-pad, would limit the flexibility too much. Might just refine it a bit further to make it act better in the role of d-pad, or perhaps wok out a way to swap out or add a cover on top of pad to act as d-pad.

This is what I'd like to see as well. Get rid of the cross indent and provide a DS4 size D-pad attachment.
 
This is what I'd like to see as well. Get rid of the cross indent and provide a DS4 size D-pad attachment.

Yeah, being able to snap a d-pad attachment on top of the left touchpad is probably for the best, I think. The left pad does certainly have its uses, better to add options than swap them out entirely.
 

vermadas

Member
Yea, I do BPM, then when I press the steam button it just brings it to the front instead of engaging as the game I'm playing. I can feel the haptics like my sensitivities are set, but it never triggers anything, so I can only ever use M/kb. I've got 2 different exe's and origin connected to steam and none of them work. I don't have problems with bnet or uplay.

Make sure Origin is turned off before launching the game through Steam. Other than that, I've got no idea. I can play PvZ:GW2 on Origin with my Steam controller just fine.
 

Nzyme32

Member
Damn, really frustrating when this stuff happens - Mad Max is apparently broken with the Steam Controller.

Despite the top binding being set up to support mouse and gamepad at the same time (as is the recommended template), the game refuses to accept both at the same time. Looking at the forums, apparently it was fine a few months ago, but recently was broken.

Damn shame, since it's the first time in a long time I've had the chance to sit with a third person game and the controller, and I'd rather not spend time getting the mouse-like joystick to work, knowing that the game was apparently really good to play with the Steam Controller using simultaneous mouse and gamepad.

Just going to leave it for now and hope it gets fixed
 

Foxyone

Member
I know I've mentioned World of Warcraft a few times, but I'm really loving it with the controller. In fact, I don't see myself playing casually with the kb /m again. With the controller I have 18 hotkeys bound to the two TouchPads with 2 touch menus, which means I have easier access to more skills at once than I ever did when I played with m +kb years ago. I guess I could have set things up better, but the controller just feels more comfortable to me. I get along just fine doing quests and popping all the right skills / cool downs when I need them. It's even functionally better now that I started using gyro earlier; makes it easier to click things and accept quests and whatnot. I think I'd actually have a chance of using healbot decently with the gyro to heal dungeons.

I really wanna make some videos sometime because I don't think I've seen many Warcraft vids that involve dungeons or that kind of thing.
 

Branduil

Member
Do touch menus not work with non-Steam games? I'm trying to play Minecraft with the left touch pad set up as the item hotkeys but the touch menu is doing nothing.
 

Unai

Member
Do touch menus not work with non-Steam games? I'm trying to play Minecraft with the left touch pad set up as the item hotkeys but the touch menu is doing nothing.

Can you open the Steam Overlay that looks like big picture mode? Those touch menus only work if you can.
 

h#shdem0n

Member
Does this thing ever go on sale?

Also, how has the community support been? Are people finding a lot of older games already have good, user-made configurations?
 

impact

Banned
For those struggling with the SC's lack of a d-pad, setting the analog stick into directional pad mode, haptics to high, and deadzone to 75% makes it a nice d-pad substitute.

This is the best way to play Trials, but for any real platformer it's still awkward as hell.

I ended up ordering one of those ghetto Saturn USB knockoff pads for 2D games because I can't take trying to use the shitty dpad on the Steam pad. If they make a revision with an actual dpad it would be great to have a one controller fits all solution, but I'm not gonna sit there and try to use that abomination of a dpad anymore. I gave up.

Any more feedback for Overwatch with Steam controller? Is it worth it or should I just get it on console?

Get it on console. SC is not a replacement for m/kb AKA you will get your shit pushed in trying to play with a controller.
 
This is the best way to play Trials, but for any real platformer it's still awkward as hell.

I ended up ordering one of those ghetto Saturn USB knockoff pads for 2D games because I can't take trying to use the shitty dpad on the Steam pad. If they make a revision with an actual dpad it would be great to have a one controller fits all solution, but I'm not gonna sit there and try to use that abomination of a dpad anymore. I gave up.



Get it on console. SC is not a replacement for m/kb AKA you will get your shit pushed in trying to play with a controller.

Expected, but disappointing. I could run it so much better on PC, and my friends list skews PC.
 

Sophia

Member
Get it on console. SC is not a replacement for m/kb AKA you will get your shit pushed in trying to play with a controller.

Completely opposite of my experiences. I had no trouble playing as the most demanding of tanks and supports on the Steam Controller. : \

My settings:

overwatch16gl3m.png
overwatch2j0x9o.png
 

impact

Banned
Completely opposite of my experiences. I had no trouble playing as the most demanding of tanks and supports on the Steam Controller. :

My settings:
Damn, then this game is even more baby than I thought. Leave it to Blizzard to make a PC shooter you can play with a controller online.

MKB is still way better though, I mean it's just logic. I had to even switch to MKB playing Rise of the Tomb Raider because aiming is just so much better with a mouse than anything else. Lara becomes l'edshot macheen.
 

Sophia

Member
Damn, then this game is even more baby than I thought. Leave it to Blizzard to make a PC shooter you can play with a controller online.

MKB is still way better though, I mean it's just logic.

... ? It has nothing to do with that. Gyro aiming + touchpad is comparable to a low end mouse and keyboard setup. Obviously anyone with a dedicated gaming mouse has an advantage, but the Steam Controller isn't really like a gamepad when it comes to aiming. :p

Also, here are the setups I use for my D-Pad configurations. Short of Valve adding in new features for haptics control, I think these are the best we'll get for now. I've tried both of these with a number of games and they work fairly well. For absolute precision I still use my SNES30 tho.

For the left touchpad:

gamepadm9rbz.png


For the analog stick:

gamepad2fwr78.png
 
... ? It has nothing to do with that. Gyro aiming + touchpad is comparable to a low end mouse and keyboard setup. Obviously anyone with a dedicated gaming mouse has an advantage, but the Steam Controller isn't really like a gamepad when it comes to aiming. :p

Maybe a weird question, but when I played Battlefront with the controller, I got a weird stair-step like stutter when moving and aiming. Think it came from joystick movement on the stick but mouse aiming - have you tried joystick movement instead of WASD?
 

vermadas

Member
Damn, then this game is even more baby than I thought. Leave it to Blizzard to make a PC shooter you can play with a controller online.

MKB is still way better though, I mean it's just logic.

I think the Steam controller, with enough experience, can be used to approach KBM levels of "skill". The problem is, KBM is the primary way PC gamers have been playing FPS games for twenty years (just realized Quake's 20 year anniversary is next month, whoa). I will never be as good with a Steam controller as I am with KBM, I have far too much experience with the latter. But the trade off in comfort and ergonomics makes it worth it for me to switch.

And yeah, as Sophia alluded to, Overwatch has heroes that don't need to be played with extra aim precision to be effective.
 

Sophia

Member
Maybe a weird question, but when I played Battlefront with the controller, I got a weird stair-step like stutter when moving and aiming. Think it came from joystick movement on the stick but mouse aiming - have you tried joystick movement instead of WASD?

Unfortunately, I don't own Battlefront, so I can't simply test something for you. I usually try to make pure KB/M setups whenever possible tho. Some games are finicky about mixed inputs. So maybe that's why?

I think the Steam controller, with enough experience, can be used to approach KBM levels of "skill". The problem is, KBM is the primary way PC gamers have been playing FPS games for twenty years (just realized Quake's 20 year anniversary is next month, whoa). I will never be as good with a Steam controller as I am with KBM, I have far too much experience with the latter. But the trade off in comfort and ergonomics makes it worth it for me to switch.

And yeah, as Sophia alluded to, Overwatch has heroes that don't need to be played with extra aim precision to be effective.

Well I mean, I had no issue doing headshots as McCree either. The only character I had issue with was Widowmaker, but I'm not much of a sniper to begin with even on keyboard and mouse, so my experiences are biased.

The biggest issue that the Steam Controller has over a traditional mouse setup tho is no matter how well you can aim with the Gyro/Touch combo, you still don't have quite the same smooth movement as a full mousepad provides. This is a noticeable drawback in games where you want really low sensitivity like Counter-Strike. You just can't make the sweeping movements of a mouse as easily or as precisely, even though it's fairly close and far closer than any traditional controller ever will be.
 
Unfortunately, I don't own Battlefront, so I can't simply test something for you. I usually try to make pure KB/M setups whenever possible tho. Some games are finicky about mixed inputs. So maybe that's why?



Well I mean, I had no issue doing headshots as McCree either. The only character I had issue with was Widowmaker, but I'm not much of a sniper to begin with even on keyboard and mouse, so my experiences are biased.

The biggest issue that the Steam Controller has over a traditional mouse setup tho is no matter how well you can aim with the Gyro/Touch combo, you still don't have quite the same smooth movement as a full mousepad provides. This is a noticeable drawback in games where you want really low sensitivity like Counter-Strike. You just can't make the sweeping movements of a mouse as easily or as precisely, even though it's fairly close and far closer than any traditional controller ever will be.

Oh it's likely a mixed input issue, but I was more curious if Overwatch had a similarly hard time with that. I'd be ok making a pure kb/m setup though.
 

Sophia

Member
Oh it's likely a mixed input issue, but I was more curious if Overwatch had a similarly hard time with that. I'd be ok making a pure kb/m setup though.

Oooh. I have no idea. I ignored the controller options in Overwatch entirely and went straight to a pure KB/M setup. Sorry. XD

I'll let you know when I get the game in a few weeks, if you haven't already found out yourself.

A good example of where I had to do a mixed setup was Phantasy Star Online 2. The UI behaves differently in regards to KB/M and Gamepad, and trying to do a pure setup there resulted in missing out on a lot of convenience features for gamepads. Things like being able to navigate the menus with the D-Pad and stuff. So I was forced to make it all gamepad except for mouse + one additional keyboard binding for switching locked on targets on a single enemy.
 

Sophia

Member
A game that I wish supported mixed configurations was Assault Android Cactus. Controller allows you to move using the left touchpad and it's fantastic, but mouse region + pointer is way superior to what an analog stick offers even mapped to the touchpad. :<
 

Red

Member
A game that I wish supported mixed configurations was Assault Android Cactus. Controller allows you to move using the left touchpad and it's fantastic, but mouse region + pointer is way superior to what an analog stick offers even mapped to the touchpad. :<
Haven't played it yet, but that's surprising. AAC was a marquee title for the steam controller.
 

AlanOC91

Member
I know I've mentioned World of Warcraft a few times, but I'm really loving it with the controller. In fact, I don't see myself playing casually with the kb /m again. With the controller I have 18 hotkeys bound to the two TouchPads with 2 touch menus, which means I have easier access to more skills at once than I ever did when I played with m +kb years ago. I guess I could have set things up better, but the controller just feels more comfortable to me. I get along just fine doing quests and popping all the right skills / cool downs when I need them. It's even functionally better now that I started using gyro earlier; makes it easier to click things and accept quests and whatnot. I think I'd actually have a chance of using healbot decently with the gyro to heal dungeons.

I really wanna make some videos sometime because I don't think I've seen many Warcraft vids that involve dungeons or that kind of thing.

Please make a steam controller warcraft video. I'd be very interested.
 

atr0cious

Member
Any more feedback for Overwatch with Steam controller? Is it worth it or should I just get it on console?
I personally love it, especially since there's no ads unless you're on certain heroes. Only problem I have is the communication wheel doesn't work. It reacts like it's getting continually pressed and flickers in and out.
This actually contributes to breaking binds as the game switches between configs. It's best to stick to m/kb inputs and make sure the default controller binds are empty.
 

Sophia

Member
Haven't played it yet, but that's surprising. AAC was a marquee title for the steam controller.

Don't get wrong, it's totally playable out of the box with Witchbeam's default configuration. Or in my case with a pure KB/M configuration. But mixed controller options would allow for an even superior experience by having the best of both worlds.
 

Nzyme32

Member
Mad Max is one of the worst games for the Steam Controller when the Mouse and Gamepad combo do not work.

Keyboard controls are lacking and there are no sensitivity settings for the analogue stick, making mouse-like joystick very hard to use. The camera will basically only work if you move your thumb at a very slow speed. Go too fast and it only registers a small movement.

My only solution so far is to knock up the main output for the X and Y axis. You have to restrict your thumb movements to a more average speed, but get decent sensitivity if you can stay that speed. Still better than an analogue stick but a frustrating way to play it regardless. At least it is possible to eventually forget about it and enjoy the game, but took about 5 mins to get used to
 

AlanOC91

Member
Does anyone have an issue in the steam BPM Web browser where the right track pad of the steam controller won't move the mouse anymore?

The Web browser is useless to me now. This hasn't worked for a few days and has worked fine before.
 
This is the best way to play Trials, but for any real platformer it's still awkward as hell.
I've played through a big chunk of Super Meat Boy and Dustforce, as well as all of Super Mario World with it, no troubles. I've also gone through Touhou 6 with it on normal and I never felt held back. It's going to be different for everyone though, I get that. Still worth a shot if you haven't tried it, to see if you can get used to it.
 

fauxtrot

Banned
The more I tweak the controller config and experiment in Overwatch, the more I think you can actually play this game with little to no disadvantage (depending on the character you're using) after some practice. I'm sure playing at a really high level / competitively is a different story all together, but that doesn't apply to the vast majority of players anyway.
 
The more I tweak the controller config and experiment in Overwatch, the more I think you can actually play this game with little to no disadvantage (depending on the character you're using) after some practice. I'm sure playing at a really high level / competitively is a different story all together, but that doesn't apply to the vast majority of players anyway.

As long as the matchmaking is accurate and the playerbase is big enough, I totally agree (about high level play vs low level that is)

Looking more and more like I'll pick this up
 

Valahart

Member
I'm so glad this thread got bumped. I just bought a Steam Controller and I've noticed that the reactions to it are pretty polarized. Some people say it's the best controller to ever be created, and others say it's just pure garbage.


I'm wondering if I should maybe cancel my order.

I generally play with a DS4, but I have to use it wired, because all the softwares I've tested that connect it with bluetooth aren't precise enough. It's honestly unplayable unless it's a turn based strategy game or something.

What makes me want the SC are the seemingly infinite possibilities of customizations. And of course the fact that I'd be able to play a wider variety of games from my couch.

But yeah, as someone who mostly plays 2D game, using heavily the dpad, I wonder if that's the right choice.

I've seen lots of videos and stuff, but it's always better to hear it from GAF, help me GAF.
 

Red

Member
I've never missed the d pad while using the steam controller. My biggest complaint about having a touchpad in place of a d pad is the greater amount of travel required to hit marks, but even that can be adjusted.
 

Sophia

Member
I'm so glad this thread got bumped. I just bought a Steam Controller and I've noticed that the reactions to it are pretty polarized. Some people say it's the best controller to ever be created, and others say it's just pure garbage.


I'm wondering if I should maybe cancel my order.

I generally play with a DS4, but I have to use it wired, because all the softwares I've tested that connect it with bluetooth aren't precise enough. It's honestly unplayable unless it's a turn based strategy game or something.

What makes me want the SC are the seemingly infinite possibilities of customizations. And of course the fact that I'd be able to play a wider variety of games from my couch.

But yeah, as someone who mostly plays 2D game, using heavily the dpad, I wonder if that's the right choice.

I've seen lots of videos and stuff, but it's always better to hear it from GAF, help me GAF.

Instead of trying to convince you, I'll let you decide for yourself.

Darius Burst: Chronicle Saviours being played using the Steam Controller.

This is with the analog stick set to the directional pad using high haptics and 75% deadzone. It's my preferred method for playing this game and other 2D games with the Steam Controller. I've been able to clear the easy route on a single credit. I'm no expert at the game, however, so take that into consideration.

Also, I totally recorded this at the default 21:9 aspect ratio of my monitor. I have no idea if it looks right on 16:9. I assume it does because YouTube usually does convert it back properly, but I apologize if the aspect ratio is messed up. The game itself is 32:9 aspect.
 

Shawsie64

Banned
Another +1 to the Steam Controller in Overwatch.

Works amazing and I feel at no disadvantage against M/KB players, though keep in mind I have used my controller as almost only PC input method since I got it when it released so I'm really good with it.

In regards to getting it to work with Overwatch I just select my custom Overwatch config as my desktop config in BPM and launch the game.
 

Shawsie64

Banned
I'm so glad this thread got bumped. I just bought a Steam Controller and I've noticed that the reactions to it are pretty polarized. Some people say it's the best controller to ever be created, and others say it's just pure garbage.


I'm wondering if I should maybe cancel my order.

I generally play with a DS4, but I have to use it wired, because all the softwares I've tested that connect it with bluetooth aren't precise enough. It's honestly unplayable unless it's a turn based strategy game or something.

What makes me want the SC are the seemingly infinite possibilities of customizations. And of course the fact that I'd be able to play a wider variety of games from my couch.

But yeah, as someone who mostly plays 2D game, using heavily the dpad, I wonder if that's the right choice.

I've seen lots of videos and stuff, but it's always better to hear it from GAF, help me GAF.

You'll find most of the "Steam controller is garbage" opinions are based on people who have used it for an hour or two and wrote it off and the 'best controller ever' opinions are from people that have taken the time to learn it.

I'm in the later camp and I really do feel it's the best PC controller ever to be released, though it does have some cons: its steep learning curve & its hit or miss nature in it being detected in some games.

But honestly if you give it the time, learn its strengths and don't mind configuring some games to get the best out of it you'll find its amazing. From kicking back on the couch playing Hearthstone and browsing gaf to topping the score board in Battlefield and Overwatch its just sublime.
 

Crayon

Member
Nice to hear it's good on overwatch. I going to try in in UT4 tonite. We'll see if I have to turn the gyro on....
 
Instead of trying to convince you, I'll let you decide for yourself.

Darius Burst: Chronicle Saviours being played using the Steam Controller.

This is with the analog stick set to the directional pad using high haptics and 75% deadzone. It's my preferred method for playing this game and other 2D games with the Steam Controller. I've been able to clear the easy route on a single credit. I'm no expert at the game, however, so take that into consideration.

Also, I totally recorded this at the default 21:9 aspect ratio of my monitor. I have no idea if it looks right on 16:9. I assume it does because YouTube usually does convert it back properly, but I apologize if the aspect ratio is messed up. The game itself is 32:9 aspect.

Analog stick modified to act more like a d-pad? Interesting idea.

Speaking of which, what would be a good customization option would be the ability to remove the 'border' around the stick and replace it with a Gamecube/Wii-style 'hexagon' border that makes it easier to guide the stick towards the eight main directions. I honestly miss that thing, while the rounded border is nice, the hexagon is so useful for aligning the stick with specific angles perfectly.
 

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
It's better than a pleb controller but it isn't mouse precise. Even navigating the menus or voting after a match is tough. I still do well in matches. It's certainly usable. But it isn't equivalent to a mouse, IME. Anyone else with similar issues as me? You even have it easy when rating or voting?

I've been using the Steam controller exclusively since release. I never kbm game.
 
Well I caved and bought Overwatch on PC, here's my thoughts after a few hours last night:

1. Setting up the controller to get community profiles was pretty quick, though I did have a hiccup where I accidentally added the launcher instead of the game. The top profile was a good starting place. Steam overlay works well

2. Changes I've made include - move Gyro to "right pad activated" instead of grip. Seems like a no brainer as then gyro aiming is more seamless and you free up the grip for something like jump or another ability. I also made the dpad activate in touch instead of click, and messed with some mouse sensitivity.

3. Matchmaking - So far, so good! I can't issue a verdict as I didn't play the beta so I still have a big learning curve with heroes, maps and gametypes, but I do feel like I'm getting paired against players of a similar skill level. There were times when we got stomped back to our spawn, but I don't chalk that up th the steam controller on my part.

4. Aiming is still a bit tough, but the gyro helps and I think I'll get more used to it as time goes on.
 
Thanks a lot for the answers guys! I've decided to give it a chance :)
I bought it in November and it's pretty much the only controller I've used since.

I liked it for the first couple of hours. Disliked it for probably the next 10 hours. A month or two later I realised I really loved it.

So, force yourself to stick with it, and try to learn its peculiarities. It's worth it; it may not be better in every way that other controllers, but give it a real chance before writing it off.

Oh, and be prepared to spend a hell of a lot of time tweaking stuff.
 

Crayon

Member
When I used it for the first fifteen minutes (the early batch day 1) my firs thought was "oh wow people are going to hate this" because it was so hard to get used to. I knew to stick with it tho. It took several days to really just start settling in, a week to love it and 6 months later I feel like I am still getting better and better at it.
 
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