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Steam Controller Thread | Comfy Couch Sold Separately

charpunk

Member
I thought about doing that (soft trigger as shift), but felt it might make things awkward. I guess I could make it dual shifts? So soft for one shift, hard for another? But I wanted to make sure all skills that I could get would be on the triggers so that I can maintain aiming and moving. I might take another look at it though.

I just made it so full press on left trigger is right mouse and soft is shift for face buttons where I have most of my skills mapped. Clicking right pad toggles action cam. Works really well for me that way.
 

Lork

Member
Has anybody managed to get the controller working with Phantasy Star Online 2? Either the anti-cheat software they use or something about the chain of patchers and launchers before you can start the game seems to be preventing the controller from working at all with it.

Are there any standard workarounds to problems like that?
After some experimentation I can say that the problem is definitely caused by some kind of anti-cheat/DRM, probably from Gameguard. The game refuses to take any input from the controller, even keyboard/mouse commands from desktop mode. I was able to get it work by completely shutting off Steam and rebooting the controller to activate the "legacy compability" mode where it directly identifies as a hardware keyboard/mouse combo, but it only "works" in the sense that the game technically recognizes the input. Unfortunately the analog stick and left touchpad in this "default" mode are mapped to the arrow keys, which the game doesn't let you use (you can't even rebind them).

I don't suppose there's any way to change these "default" bindings on the controller's end, is there?
 

kinn

Member
All right guys here I am with another stupid question.

I can't find anything on the Steam Controller replacement policy. Can someone point me in the right direction? It appears I am an idiot.

EDIT: Immediately after posting this I manage to find this page: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2754-YPKV-8614

Think I'm good. Ignore me! Thaaaanks. :D

(EDIT EDIT: Well actually there's nothing here about what I want, but at this point I guess I'll just submit a support ticket. Was hoping to avoid that as long as possible until I was absolutely sure what I needed, given how slow they generally are. Oh well.)

Yeah good luck with that. I created one on Fri, Oct 16 and have only gotten 2 default responses like update the firmware. How can their support be so slow?!

Whats the issue? Maybe one of us can help?
 

Nzyme32

Member
Yeah good luck with that. I created one on Fri, Oct 16 and have only gotten 2 default responses like update the firmware. How can their support be so slow?!

Whats the issue? Maybe one of us can help?

I'm getting a 2 day or less turnover for the questions / feedback I ask / give. Sounds like they might be delaying replacement requests or something, or those messages get diverted to some other department / group of people that are slow as shit.
 

Russ T

Banned
Yeah good luck with that. I created one on Fri, Oct 16 and have only gotten 2 default responses like update the firmware. How can their support be so slow?!

Whats the issue? Maybe one of us can help?

Yeah I don't expect a timely response.

Bottom right area of the right touch pad loses touch fairly easily. The area is not huge, but it's big enough that if, for example, I'm using gamepad simulation, and I try to move in the bottom right direction, the controller will freak out and, it appears, send wonky inputs to the game, resulting in... disaster.

Not so big a deal with, say, trackball simulation, since it'll just keep rolling in the direction I was moving, but yeah.

Easy repro steps on my controller: during gamepad simulation, with joystick move, start a move, and then drag your thumb around the edge of the pad. It loses touch on the bottom right edge every single time. Never loses touch anywwhere else.

Other easy repro steps: start at the center, and move directly to the bottom right. Loses touch, does god knows what.

I've consulted other people (I believe I mentioned it in this thread a few days ago, but I've definitely mentioned it to other people), and no one else seems to have this problem. I was gonna test a friend's controller this weekend, but he got sick and couldn't do anything. ):
 

Cartman86

Banned
One of the controller setups for Undertale says something along the lines "Press Select+Steam Home button to bring up keyboard" but I don't see how that works because it brings up the overlay and tries to quit the game.

That is my binding! (bricewgilbert)

It works for me. Not ideal though.
 

pmj

Member
I shot off an email to Valve about me wanting to bind diagonals to discrete actions. Among other things. Let's see what happens.

I feel sorta bad for sending my scattershot ramblings to them, but hey, they asked for it.
 

Nzyme32

Member
I shot off an email to Valve about me wanting to bind diagonals to discrete actions. Among other things. Let's see what happens.

I feel sorta bad for sending my scattershot ramblings to them, but hey, they asked for it.

Their Steam Dev Days talk on the controller indicated that this would be a thing, but then it hasn't happened for some reason.
 

Russ T

Banned
I shot off an email to Valve about me wanting to bind diagonals to discrete actions. Among other things. Let's see what happens.

I feel sorta bad for sending my scattershot ramblings to them, but hey, they asked for it.

I am never against more customization options...

But I can't even imagine what you'd use that for, haha. What did you have in mind?
 

Nzyme32

Member
I am never against more customization options...

But I can't even imagine what you'd use that for, haha. What did you have in mind?

One of the ideas in the dev days talk was "ghosting" you thumb on screen so you can see a range of selection that could be made from segmentation of one or both pads. I guess maybe they would have to work on UI and tools to make it happen, but it could have been useful for things like weapon selection or other shortcuts.
 

pmj

Member
I am never against more customization options...

But I can't even imagine what you'd use that for, haha. What did you have in mind?

I play MUDs (text based proto MMOs), where you can go in eight general directions (east, southeast, south, southwest etc). Right now I can only bind north, east, south and west to either a pad or a stick, but the rest I'm forced to access on a different pad or possibly by modeshifting and then do diagonals with the straight directions, like going southeast by clicking east. It's not only inelegant, it's kind of breaking my brain. Hours of practice and I can't get the hang of it.

You might think that going northeast can be achieved by going first north and then east, but it doesn't work out that way a lot of the time due to how the areas are designed, and you'll end up lost or stuck. It's also slower as it involves passing through two rooms instead of just one.
 

Quote

Member
That is a good point. But damn, I don't think Godwars had diagonal directions back in the day. Sounds scary.
 

Russ T

Banned
One of the ideas in the dev days talk was "ghosting" you thumb on screen so you can see a range of selection that could be made from segmentation of one or both pads. I guess maybe they would have to work on UI and tools to make it happen, but it could have been useful for things like weapon selection or other shortcuts.

Ah. I was thinking using it in already existing games, not brand new stuff designed specifically for the controller. You could argue that kind fo thing could already be done with a more traditional controller, I think. Still, makes sense.

I play MUDs (text based proto MMOs), where you can go in eight general directions (east, southeast, south, southwest etc). Right now I can only bind north, east, south and west to either a pad or a stick, but the rest I'm forced to access on a different pad or possibly by modeshifting and then do diagonals with the straight directions, like going southeast by clicking east. It's not only inelegant, it's kind of breaking my brain. Hours of practice and I can't get the hang of it.

You might think that going northeast can be achieved by going first north and then east, but it doesn't work out that way a lot of the time due to how the areas are designed, and you'll end up lost or stuck. It's also slower as it involves passing through two rooms instead of just one.

Haha, I know what a MUD is. :D

That makes sense, too! I guess I was stuck on using it for movement or menu navigation, and not for shortcuts, like that basically amounts to.
 

Lork

Member
Ah. I was thinking using it in already existing games, not brand new stuff designed specifically for the controller. You could argue that kind fo thing could already be done with a more traditional controller, I think. Still, makes sense.
Doesn't necessarily have to be for a new game. They could theoretically use the overlay to create a radial menu, so you could, say, bind the numbers 0-9 to a single touchpad for use in a first person shooter.
 

GregSequential

Neo Member
So I finally tried Portal 2 again and with whatever updates they've applied it now works with my Steam Controller. Having found aim and the use of the right pad in other games to be terribly hard to get used to (even doing the 'ballerina' type motion), Portal 2 worked really really well with this pad for aiming and was the first time I felt very comfortable with the controller. I wondered if anyone had any recommendations for settings I could apply to other test games -- for example, Dishonored or any other FPS -- to approximate the Portal 2 settings, or if I could view the technical specs of the Portal 2 official setting anywhere online. It would be great if so, as I was almost ready to give up on the controller until I saw how well it could work for this game, so I want to keep going now.
 

dsk1210

Member
So I finally tried Portal 2 again and with whatever updates they've applied it now works with my Steam Controller. Having found aim and the use of the right pad in other games to be terribly hard to get used to (even doing the 'ballerina' type motion), Portal 2 worked really really well with this pad for aiming and was the first time I felt very comfortable with the controller. I wondered if anyone had any recommendations for settings I could apply to other test games -- for example, Dishonored or any other FPS -- to approximate the Portal 2 settings, or if I could view the technical specs of the Portal 2 official setting anywhere online. It would be great if so, as I was almost ready to give up on the controller until I saw how well it could work for this game, so I want to keep going now.

Enable gyro aiming as well, it's perfect for accurate aiming.
 
Has anyone managed to get it working with Max Payne 3? When I boot them game, it doesn't seem to keep the Steam BPM overlay. It works as a controller, but trying to make it works as a M&K doesn't.
 
I didn't see anybody else mention it, but I am unable to map gyro activation to left trigger full pull. Every time I set it, when I go back in it has set itself to RIGHT trigger full pull. Setting it to left soft pull works, however.

This is with MGSV.
 

Nzyme32

Member
I didn't see anybody else mention it, but I am unable to map gyro activation to left trigger full pull. Every time I set it, when I go back in it has set itself to RIGHT trigger full pull. Setting it to left soft pull works, however.

This is with MGSV.

Similar issues with setting relaxed hipfire to a trigger. It reverts to a different setting. BPM bugs I guess
 

ZanDatsu

Member
Is there any chance of Valve themselves adding on-screen keyboard support for use in Windows, or are we gonna be waiting for a 3rd-party solution? I know Controller Companion has this function, and he says he's looking into supporting the Steam controller, but something from Valve themselves would still be great to have.
 

Russ T

Banned
Doesn't necessarily have to be for a new game. They could theoretically use the overlay to create a radial menu, so you could, say, bind the numbers 0-9 to a single touchpad for use in a first person shooter.

I... also didn't think of using the Steam overlay for controller stuff. Man that would be clever. Is that actually possible right now? O:

controller keeps getting better and better
 
Is there any chance of Valve themselves adding on-screen keyboard support for use in Windows, or are we gonna be waiting for a 3rd-party solution? I know Controller Companion has this function, and he says he's looking into supporting the Steam controller, but something from Valve themselves would still be great to have.

Hope so. I tried the onscreen keyboard that comes with Win10 but you can't click the keys.
 

pmj

Member
I should be getting mine today! What should I play first? O_O

Portal 2, it has native Steam controller support and matching button prompts.

With other games you have to spend some time in the menus configuring things and then put up with the game telling you to press the F key and you having no idea where the fuck the F key is on the controller. It can work fine once you get it all sorted, but it's not the best first impression.
 
You can click the keys with a touchscreen or an actual mouse so as far as Microsoft is concerned the thing works. Valve would need to emulate a mouse on a deeper level so you can also click UAC messages

Ooh, I see. I misunderstood.

There are some bugs and shortcomings of the Steam controller, but it has been getting better every day.
 
Portal 2, it has native Steam controller support and matching button prompts.

With other games you have to spend some time in the menus configuring things and then put up with the game telling you to press the F key and you having no idea where the fuck the F key is on the controller. It can work fine once you get it all sorted, but it's not the best first impression.

Thanks! It's been a while since I played P2 so it should be fun!
 

GraveHorizon

poop meter feature creep
I'm loving the new updates, specifically the soft trigger mouse shift and the desktop configuration. I made a config that lets me do pretty much everything I normally do when I use Chrome (even Alt+Tabbing between applications, both directions!) with mode shifting and the soft trigger mouse clicks from the Steam browser. The only thing missing is the ability to use the pop-up keyboard on the desktop, which would let me not have to put the controller down when copy/paste isn't enough.

My configuration is named after my username but on my friend's account, and I altered it several times, so I have no idea what it looks like to the public. Does Steam only use the most recent modification of a configuration based on the name? Or are there multiple configs created every time for you save a new setting change?

I also got to try it out with Rogue Legacy, with the jump and attack mapped to the grips so I could get some training in. It worked alright, but the best part was taking tirns with my friend. We switched off every 3 deaths, but the special part was how I just turned on my Steam controller on my turn, overriding his 360 controller, and turning it off when my turn was over, seamlessly "passing" control of the game back to him. I don't know if it's because we were already in a game, but Big Picture Mode didn't start up each time I turned on the controller. Taking turns in a game with no interface disruptions or mandatory relinquishing of the controller is fantastic.

One last thing, I have a hard time wrapping my head around some
a lot
of these settings. I work better with visualizations rather than basic descriptions, so many of the settings don't come across easily for me. Some of them don't even have real descriptions, instead having just a placeholder line of text. After watching that Woodsie analog video, it makes sense that some of the stuff I tried tweaking had no immediate effect, which I hope Valve fixes in another update. I also spent an hour trying to get gyro and the right pad working both together and separately in Resident Evil 4, and it didn't work out very well. A lot of that can probably be chalked up to the game not being built for a controller with options, though.

EDIT: What's the joystick mode that feels like a rubberband is pulling back on the pad? I can't find anything that sounds like it in the settings.
 
Wondering how everyone else is doing for battery life. The Steam client tells me I have played about 60 hours the last two weeks, all of which was with the Steam controller, and the battery indicator is telling me I have 88% battery left, from which I estimate that my Steam controller has a battery life of around 500 hours. I'm using the two AA batteries that the controller shipped with. Anybody else got any numbers they can share?
 
Wondering how everyone else is doing for battery life. The Steam client tells me I have played about 60 hours the last two weeks, all of which was with the Steam controller, and the battery indicator is telling me I have 88% battery left, from which I estimate that my Steam controller has a battery life of around 500 hours. I'm using the two AA batteries that the controller shipped with. Anybody else got any numbers they can share?

Has it even been out for 500 hours?
 

Big_Al

Unconfirmed Member
For anyone that has it Mad Max just got/or is getting very shortly, steam controller support if you want to try it.
 
Nope, but I we should be able to get an idea of roughly how long a set of AA batteries last in the controller if we know how long each person has played and the amount left. I want to know if these numbers are typical of other players experiences.

That's a number that's going to vary pretty wildly between pairs of AA batteries. My Amazon Basic batteries will perform quite differently compared to the Duracells included, so make sure people list what batteries they are using. ^-^

Mine's been plugged in directly for about half of the time, so I don't know if mine will be very useful. Also I don't know how to find it out anyway :x
 

hepburn3d

Member
Have we heard whether we'll get a Windows key binding. I really need that :)

In fact I also want to modifier button for when the left stick is moved as well. Then I would be sooooo happy

Edit: apparently my controller is now at 0% and the icon is pulsing now :) checked steam and that's 30 hours gameplay not including me tinkering for hits and using it in desktop. Rechargeables are in the post :) looks like it's gonna be a must. Can't go back to Xbox controller now
 
I need help.

I'm not having fun with the controller. I've been trying to play a plain and simple FPS with it (Borderlands), and been using the default recommended "Gamepad with High Precision Aiming", as I hoped the default recommendations would be good enough, and I wouldn't have to waste a lot of time configuring everything forever.

But I just can't get it to feel right. At the default settings for "Gamepad with High Precision" I feel like I have no control whatsoever. It feels like using a mouse with way to high sensitivity, and I resort to aiming and then just moving the character, because that won't result in the camera flying around like crazy.

If I lower the sensitivity, it feels sloggish, and if I disable the trackball emulation it's even worse.


Any tips on how to enjoy it with normal shooters? I'm primarily a console user, and in general haven't played KB/M shooters in many many years (and in general I kinda dislike it now).


Also is it a game or Steam issue, that at random the game would show the XBYA icons for interactions, and other times say "Press E to open"?
 

hepburn3d

Member
I need help.

I'm not having fun with the controller. I've been trying to play a plain and simple FPS with it (Borderlands), and been using the default recommended "Gamepad with High Precision Aiming", as I hoped the default recommendations would be good enough, and I wouldn't have to waste a lot of time configuring everything forever.

But I just can't get it to feel right. At the default settings for "Gamepad with High Precision" I feel like I have no control whatsoever. It feels like using a mouse with way to high sensitivity, and I resort to aiming and then just moving the character, because that won't result in the camera flying around like crazy.

If I lower the sensitivity, it feels sloggish, and if I disable the trackball emulation it's even worse.


Any tips on how to enjoy it with normal shooters? I'm primarily a console user, and in general haven't played KB/M shooters in many many years (and in general I kinda dislike it now).


Also is it a game or Steam issue, that at random the game would show the XBYA icons for interactions, and other times say "Press E to open"?

Bind your mouse pad to several keys with different levels of sensitively. So have it generally move well for looking around. I like 1-2 notches above default sensitivity with medium trackball resistance, medium haptics. Then on left trigger hard pull (aim) reduce it to default or one below default with low haptics. Then on right pad touch enable the gyro with one above the lowest sensitivity and low haptics. Then enjoy blissful heaven as you play with a controller that feels like it's part of your soul.

The UI changes because it thinks your using a controller and then switching to a keyboard sometimes.

Writing all that out makes me realise how complicated it can sound but it's not once you get used to it.


Someone on Reddit described it perfectly for me

Stage 1 - Confusion
Stage 2 - Anger
Stage 3 - Understanding
Stage 4 - Love

The final stage is exponential and is still going for me.

Does anyone have a steam email I can use to contact with feedback?
 
Does anyone have a steam email I can use to contact with feedback?

It's in the OP

C1LeLwe.png
 
I need help.

I'm not having fun with the controller. I've been trying to play a plain and simple FPS with it (Borderlands), and been using the default recommended "Gamepad with High Precision Aiming", as I hoped the default recommendations would be good enough, and I wouldn't have to waste a lot of time configuring everything forever.

But I just can't get it to feel right. At the default settings for "Gamepad with High Precision" I feel like I have no control whatsoever. It feels like using a mouse with way to high sensitivity, and I resort to aiming and then just moving the character, because that won't result in the camera flying around like crazy.

If I lower the sensitivity, it feels sloggish, and if I disable the trackball emulation it's even worse.


Any tips on how to enjoy it with normal shooters? I'm primarily a console user, and in general haven't played KB/M shooters in many many years (and in general I kinda dislike it now).


Also is it a game or Steam issue, that at random the game would show the XBYA icons for interactions, and other times say "Press E to open"?

One word:
Gryo.



No seriously. High trackball sensitivity, low gyro sensitivity. You'll have your trackball to make your large sweeps, then use gyro to actually aim. It works awesome. Took about 5 minutes to go from "lol I can't hit shit" to being able to land long distance headshots in CS.
 

Randam

Member
So, I prefer playing fps with a pad.
Aiming with mouse is fine, but I suck at moving with the keyboard.
Sprinting, ducking, laying down, etc.
Almost breaking my fingers.

Played the cod: black ops 3 pc beta with a controller and it was fine. (aim assist helped of course)

Will I be able to achieve better results with the steam controller?

Anyone here tried the older cod games?
 
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