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Steam Controller Thread | Comfy Couch Sold Separately

viveks86

Member
Is MGSV still not really playable with the Steam controller? Or which config are you guys using?

It's been working really well for a while now

After the update, the "mouse joystick" works really well now. Seems like a fantastic workaround for games that don't support analog and mouse simultaneously. The haptics for analog joystick are good too. There's a satisfying "tap" when you push it to the edge. Outer ring bindings works perfectly as well.

Been obsessively tweaking the controls for MGS V and I think I'm all set at this point. I can now move, run, crouch and crawl with just the left touch pad (joystick move with outer ring binding). After mapping left grip to "Y", dive goes on the left side as well. So all forms of movement are on the left, which feels very intuitive. Similarly, interaction and camera (mouse joystick with trackball mode) are on the right. Mapped X to right pad click, which makes it very convenient to pick up stuff as I walk around without moving my thumb. Right grip is mapped to A.

Interestingly, I find that it feels much better to aim with the right touch pad and fire with the left trigger. So I've mapped the soft pull for aim and trigger click for fire on the left side, instead of the right. This helps with any micro movements that happen when aiming and firing with the same hand, especially since I play with very high sensitivity. The trackball mode feels really good with low friction. I can turn 720 degrees with a casual swipe and accurately stop at any point!

Analog stick and face buttons have been relegated to secondary commands like equipment change, screenshot etc. I truly think that's the way this controller should be used, given their placement.

I'm finally starting to "get" this controller.
 

Lingitiz

Member
welp, it took about 19 hours but i'm finally fully converted
People weren't kidding about things kind of just clicking eventually. It took me about the same time but it's starting to feel pretty natural to use, especially in shooters using the gyro for finer movements.

I played a good amount of Invisible Inc. last night and it felt pretty great too.
 

Crayon

Member
welp, it took about 19 hours but i'm finally fully converted

That's pretty good. I just did 18 hours of poe over the last week and I just tried freedom planet. I was noticeably better at controlling the platformer than when I had left off. And the controller felt more natural in hand. However, I can feel that I still have a way to go.

Question for everyone with a month old controller- Have you noticed the trackpad clicks and paddle clicks to have become quieter? I't hard to remember exactly at this point but my first impression with the controller in hand was "wow those are bloody loud". Now they don't seem to be so but the controller has probably a hundred hours on it. Is it just me or is anyone else noticing this?
 

pmj

Member
That's pretty good. I just did 18 hours of poe over the last week and I just tried freedom planet. I was noticeably better at controlling the platformer than when I had left off. And the controller felt more natural in hand. However, I can feel that I still have a way to go.

Question for everyone with a month old controller- Have you noticed the trackpad clicks and paddle clicks to have become quieter? I't hard to remember exactly at this point but my first impression with the controller in hand was "wow those are bloody loud". Now they don't seem to be so but the controller has probably a hundred hours on it. Is it just me or is anyone else noticing this?

I think mine are as loud as ever. I don't click them much though.
 

Tesseract

Banned
the tracks will def get softer with use, hopefully the bumpers too

i've been playing dark souls, terraria, volgarr, teleglitch, and borderlands 2 without much issue. learning curve is plummeting quickly.

the steam beta branch is a must have, they fixed a bunch of shit in the last week.
 

Eusis

Member
Yeah, my biggest design beef is easily how stiff the pads and bumpers are. Followed by button size/shape but that can be adjusted to and probably just requires subtly enlarging the controller. Anyways the pad stiffness makes them a pain for using the left one as a D pad replacement.

And when I think about it it really didn't take much time to get used to the right pad for aiming, but then track ball, tablet/smart phone, and maybe even track pad experience helped a lot there. Now getting GOOD, that's a different story but with gyro it should come out significantly ahead of analog sticks at least. The left pad for movement is harder to adjust to though, I may just err on the Analog stick there after all.
 

These guys hit it right on. I've been annoyed by a few of the reviews that have come out about the Steam Controller that have come from console players and have the perspective of the plug and play 360 pad functionality, and they miss a lot of strengths and flaws of the Steam Controller by looking at it like a traditional gamepad. The Previously Recorded guys don't do this and I think they specifically brought up some big issues which I haven't seen in the mainstream reviews so far. The perspective from Rich Evans is especially valuable as he is a mouse and keyboard guy but also uses them from a couch so knows the exact situation this device was trying to tackle.

It's pretty long so here's my highlights:

0:57 "It's more like the fly, you take these two different things and put em in a teleporter and a monster comes out the other side".

This speaks to how Valve put one step forward with the trackpads trying to truly emulate a mouse but kept one foot behind in gamepad land with the 360 button diamond layout and general gamepad layout. I believe this was done to present familiarity to people already comfortable with a gamepad, but it backfired. It has led to people expecting gamepad-like functionality, plugging it in and having it just work right and all the prompts matching up and the game being perfectly tuned for it. The reality of the Steam Controller is the opposite, it takes setup and acclimation to really get good and they should have just ditched the gamepad form factor and gone full on in the direction of something new. I also believe the gamepad form factor doesn't work well for the types of games this actually excels at like floating cursor type games like Civilization or Cities Skylines. The button layout and form just become a hindrance here, I'm using my right thumb to move a cursor around but the button layout is meant for gamepad style games, not mouse games where you are constantly clicking left and right mouse. You end up having to use the triggers for mouse clicks which feels wrong and again like you have one foot in gamepad land and one foot in mouse land.

9:50"There is a sensitivity problem with the Steam Controller.. you need to turn the sensitivity way down and then you get the fine mouse movement but then you can't turn. So you turn the sensitivity up but then you can't aim properly"
Pretty much my main issue with the trackpads, they also explain how you can and should use the Gyro controls to alleviate this. Use the trackpad for gross movements and the gyro for fine control. The fact the Gyro wasn't even planned to be used like this amazes me because aiming on this thing would be totally screwed without it.

11:19 Explaining how you basically get none of the benefits of mouse aim which come from using all the muscles in your hand, wrist and arm in conjunction but instead have you use only your thumb which is much more imprecise.

16:39Rich ranking the accuracy of the Steam Controller between a mouse and keyboard and a gamepad, and coming to the conclusion it falls more on the gamepad side, which probably won't be enough to get dual analog users to switch and mouse users would be giving up a lot.
 

Crayon

Member
9:50"There is a sensitivity problem with the Steam Controller.. you need to turn the sensitivity way down and then you get the fine mouse movement but then you can't turn. So you turn the sensitivity up but then you can't aim properly"
Pretty much my main issue with the trackpads, they also explain how you can and should use the Gyro controls to alleviate this. Use the trackpad for gross movements and the gyro for fine control. The fact the Gyro wasn't even planned to be used like this amazes me because aiming on this thing would be totally screwed without it.

11:19 Explaining how you basically get none of the benefits of mouse aim which come from using all the muscles in your hand, wrist and arm in conjunction but instead have you use only your thumb which is much more imprecise.

I don't agree with these parts. The trackpad alone can be used fine for aiming as well as turning without using the gyro to compensate at all. One is to use the mouse dampening function, and two is my favorite method: setting up the touchpad so it can actually do both.

No one wants to try this but if you set the right pad to low sensitivity, medium accel and low friction, with vertical friction ratio up near top, you can do very fast 180s with just a flick, and make fine adjustments with the tip of the thumb. I use gyro on top of it because why not.
 

Pachimari

Member
Hmm, I'm gonna have to try out MGSV again then, because the last time, I couldn't get the Steam controller to work properly. Snake didn't move with the left stick and I couldn't bring up the interface.

And do anyone know what to do, if the Steam controller won't work at all in Mass Effect 1?
 
I don't agree with these parts. The trackpad alone can be used fine for aiming as well as turning without using the gyro to compensate at all. One is to use the mouse dampening function, and two is my favorite method: setting up the touchpad so it can actually do both.

No one wants to try this but if you set the right pad to low sensitivity, medium accel and low friction, with vertical friction ratio up near top, you can do very fast 180s with just a flick, and make fine adjustments with the tip of the thumb. I use gyro on top of it because why not.

I just tried this and I disagree, I had the sensitivity where I would be able to do a 45 degree turn with a full swipe which I would consider a low sensitivity and probably the range needed to get good accuracy in a game like CSGO or the like thats really accuracy focused. With the other settings you mentioned it still took too long to do quick turns with a fast swipe. I think the only way is really up the sensitivity so it becomes 'twitchy' but use the gyro for any kind of fine aiming you need.
 

Crayon

Member
I just tried this and I disagree, I had the sensitivity where I would be able to do a 45 degree turn with a full swipe which I would consider a low sensitivity and probably the range needed to get good accuracy in a game like CSGO or the like thats really accuracy focused. With the other settings you mentioned it still took too long to do quick turns with a fast swipe. I think the only way is really up the sensitivity so it becomes 'twitchy' but use the gyro for any kind of fine aiming you need.

Let me ask you; are you dragging your right thumb for every input or are you sometimes rocking the pad of your thumb for small movements? I am using that motion in addition to lifting and dragging. Specifically for fine or measured movements. With accel on and low sensitivity, a sharp rock of the thumb makes a repeatable step of movement. It's a very specific movement, tho. Almost like a tiny gesture.

Also, when going to turn 180, I flick the camera sharply with eh mid accel, then let it fly with the low friction and drop my thumb to stop it. Are you flinging it around or dragging it all the way?
 
Let me ask you; are you dragging your right thumb for every input or are you sometimes rocking the pad of your thumb for small movements? I am using that motion in addition to lifting and dragging. Specifically for fine or measured movements. With accel on and low sensitivity, a sharp rock of the thumb makes a repeatable step of movement. It's a very specific movement, tho. Almost like a tiny gesture.

Also, when going to turn 180, I flick the camera sharply with eh mid accel, then let it fly with the low friction and drop my thumb to stop it. Are you flinging it around or dragging it all the way?

For actual aiming I've been using the tip of my thumb as I found that's the only way to stop the trackpad from picking up unintentional movement and making my crosshair float a few pixels, like if I were to just use my thumb flat on it. Do you really rock the thumb around to aim correct? It seems like it would be really unwieldy that way.

For the turns I am doing as you do, letting it fly then touching with my thumb to stop it when I want.

I really think they should have made the trackpads maybe 50% bigger and it would solve a lot of these issues. The range of motion on a thumb is larger than the trackpad already and it would mean a low sensitivity for aiming would be more usable while also having the surface area to do wider turns. Maybe in the future a newer revision will come out that addresses it.
 

Crayon

Member
Do you really rock the thumb around to aim correct? It seems like it would be really unwieldy that way.

For the turns I am doing as you do, letting it fly then touching with my thumb to stop it when I want.

Yes when I make fine adjustments, either aim or cursor, i make a little pressure down on the thumb tip, and twitch my thumb to flex the pad of the thumb in a direction. It's a tiny motion, but easily controlled. Similarly, the smallest motion made with a mouse are not just small versions or the larger motions. They use the fingers more than the forearm.

On the subject of fine hand motions lol: When I spin turn, I probably don't get around quite as fast as with a mouse, but I do get it going really fast and I use the reast of my hand to do it. Not just the thumb. To get max panning speed, I roll my right hand inward (for left) or outward (for right) relative to the controller. This adds speed to a thumb flick and lets me send the trackball whizzing very hard without a big thumb flex.
 
did woodsie ever upload his controller config for fallout 4? i looked but i cant find it. idk if his steam name is different from his youtube name.
 

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
Steam community configs don't show up for Rocket League. Weird. They show up for all other games.
 

Agent X

Member
I received my Steam Controller yesterday from Amazon. I also received the codes for Portal 2 and Rocket League, but both of the codes are continually rejected by Steam whenever I try to enter them (as Steam Wallet codes). Has anyone else encountered this problem?
 

Nabs

Member
I received my Steam Controller yesterday from Amazon. I also received the codes for Portal 2 and Rocket League, but both of the codes are continually rejected by Steam whenever I try to enter them (as Steam Wallet codes). Has anyone else encountered this problem?

Shouldn't they be regular game codes?
 

Agent X

Member
Shouldn't they be regular game codes?

Yes, it looks like that's the case here. Just a few moments ago, I went to "Activate a Product on Steam", and the codes worked successfully there.

It's strange, though, that the message from Amazon provides a specific URL that directs users to the page to redeem a Steam Wallet code. I wonder how many other people are getting confused by this?
 

Foxyone

Member
PSO2 seemed to be a bit of a pain to get working, owing partly to the fact that the game can depend on a different launcher to work (PSO2 tweaker). Had to add the tweaker as the non-Steam game and run Steam as admin before the game stopped crashing before it started.

I can't claim to feel completely comfortable with the controller yet, but there's definitely more functionality to be had out of it than the 360 controller I had been using. With numpad 1-8 bound to the mode-shifted D-pad and ABXY buttons, I readily / easily have access to more technics / skills than the one available hotkey the Xbox setup can use at a time.
 

tygertrip

Member
OMG, I love this controller. I have been wanting something like this for YEARS. I picked it up this morning, and it has far exceeded my expectations. I am genuinely puzzled by the people who says it feels cheap. I was prepared for that, and was pleasantly surprised after I put in the batteries and started handling it. It feels anything but cheap. Nice and solid, tough. I have had controllers with cheap construction, and this does not belong to that group. I think some people are confusing "I don't like how it feels" with "it feels cheap". How it feels is strictly subjective, some will love it, some will hate it, and everything in between, but if you are a fence-sitter, trust me, the construction is, objectively, not cheap. I believe that a lot of the people who are knocking it are missing the point. If you like thumbsticks just fine, you're probably not the target consumer for this product. If you are like me, and despise thumbsticks for FPS, but love the comfort of a gamepad, this is one of the best products to come out for the PC in years. Not just for FPS either, I was playing Pillars of Eternity earlier, and it worked great. The Steam Controller is no gimmick. It is a godsend for us older gamers who are too tired/sore from working all day and raising kids to enjoy being hunched over a keyboard and mouse for gaming, but don't want to give up the precision of m/kb. Don't get me wrong, some, probably even most, games work great with thumbsticks. But some games just don't work at all with a traditional gamepad. Also, I wouldn't be too hard on the guys/gals who prefer consoles but tried this out for the PC and didn't like it... the reason they prefer consoles is the simplicity and "one-size-fits-all" aspect of them. But some gamers, like me, get the most out of the gameplay when the controller is the best for the game. I use thumbsticks for Assassin's Creed, an arcade Joystick for Mortal Kombat X, a Fanatec wheel and pedals for Project Cars/Gran Turismo, and m/kb (and now the Steam Controller) for any FPS. I'd say most console gamers would be fine with using thumbsticks for all of the above, but not most PC gamers, and this is definitely a PC gamer's controller! (Tweaking, config files, and what-not). Its like that with everything. Ferraris require way more upkeep and tweaking than most Hondas do, for example. I am confident that as time goes on, there will be better default configurations. I just want to stress, one more time, to the fence-sitters, to ignore the bad reviews that treat this controller like it is meant to replace thumbsticks in all games. Its not. It may for some people, but those reviews are missing the point entirely.
 

Eusis

Member
Yeah, a lot of the appeal really was just playing keyboard and mouse games in a way that's reasonably comfortable for your hands without sacrificing mouse precision or conceding too much of the keyboard's input. Maybe the view won't be great from a couch, but it'd still be fine hunched at a monitor or laptop.
 

Gruso

Member
Amazon won't ship to Australia, ffs.
Weird, the earlier poster said:
Yep, and it's still saying it'll ship to Australia at this link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016KBVBCS/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Weird thing though... I just checked my tracking and it says delivered and signed for. It certainly isn't, not least because it's the weekend. I hope that just means it's changed hands to Auspost or something - although I've never noticed that happen in the tracking.
 

tygertrip

Member
I'd like to add that I've been playing with a pretty comfy m/kb lap setup for a couple of years now, but its still nowhere near as relaxing/convenient as a gamepad. Thanks to the Steam Controller, "Daddy! I want cereal!" is now much, much less of a pain in the ass. :)
 
So glad I got this before Fallout 4 came out. Seriously cannot imagine playing it any other way. Emulating kb+m because you just have way more options than controller. Love having stuff like quicksave and inventory assigned to the controller thanks to using the grips as mode shifters.
 

Oreoleo

Member
Just had my longest session with Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines (~4 hours!) thanks to the Steam controller. It's a relatively laid back, slow-paced game and being able to kick back in a chair with the controller was great. Coupled with gyro aiming, a healthy dose of smoothing and some acceleration, the whole thing felt like second nature. And setting up the left pad click to mode shift both the ABXY buttons into 1,2,3,4 for dialog choices and also to enable a touch menu for the character sheet, quest log and inventory made me feel like a wizard. When you consider how much functionality is packed into such a small package I don't know how anyone (Looking at you Pre-Rec) can label this a failure.
 
Played HL2 Lost Coast and managed to get used to it a bit. Going for the face buttons is a bit weird because they're small and in an odd place, but I'm slowly gaining proficiency. One thing that's going to be tough to master is all the different modifiers. So many different options.
 

Veal

Member
Just had my longest session with Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines (~4 hours!) thanks to the Steam controller. It's a relatively laid back, slow-paced game and being able to kick back in a chair with the controller was great. Coupled with gyro aiming, a healthy dose of smoothing and some acceleration, the whole thing felt like second nature. And setting up the left pad click to mode shift both the ABXY buttons into 1,2,3,4 for dialog choices and also to enable a touch menu for the character sheet, quest log and inventory made me feel like a wizard. When you consider how much functionality is packed into such a small package I don't know how anyone (Looking at you Pre-Rec) can label this a failure.
Have you uploaded that config? I'd love to try it out man!
 

XBP

Member
Yeah, only need 2 as well.

Might as well get 4. I can use two of them in my Xbone controller.


What are you guys doing with the smoothing setting for the right trackpad and gyro? I'm unsure whether it should be high or low as I've seen people do different things for FPS games.
 
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