Steam Controller Shill - 2017 Edition

Jokes aside, this will be my second attempt at posting some interesting things I've discovered with this device, in hopes of getting some others to try it out.

Why do I care if you try it? Well, I don't really, but being a huge CRPG fan who became a big fan of keyboard + mouse controls, I have come to play all CRPGs, old and new, with this controller. I think it's a great device, not only for relaxing and lounging on a chair and playing complex CRPGs with it, but because it just feels so damn good to use at the same time!

So here are the CRPGs I've programmed specific profiles for. Most of these I shared with the Steam community already as the Fluent Controls series, a couple may still need to be uploaded. The hours number is how many hours I've played with just the controller for that specific game.

Neverwinter Nights (50+ hours)
Planescape: Torment - Enhanced Edition (completed @ 80+ hours entirely with the controller)
Gothic 2 (completed @ 90+ hours with the controller)
Risen
Risen 3 (50+ hours)
Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption (20+ hours)
Ember (10+ hours)
Castle Torgeath

and many more to come.

If you are hesitant as to how good this controller is, I'd suggest you check it out, especially if you have any interest in controllers at all. The entire thing is a marvel, but some of my favorite features are:

The left and right trackpads. I use the left trackpad as WASD for movement (touch sensitive, no clicking) and the right trackpad to control the mouse/camera (with Trackball Mode, too, which feels great.) I would never be able to go back to analog sticks now. I tried my old Xbox controller after a good time spent with the Steam Controller, and it felt like an unresponsive rock in comparison.

The dual-stage triggers. You can execute clicks with the triggers by just applying slight pressure, and they even have a secondary function for a full click if you want. It just feels nice, tactile and smooth.

And the big thing for me is just the overall configuration options you have with the controller. It does take time to program yourself, but with community efforts like my own, preset options you can use as a starting point and the ability to save your own configurations, you can customize the games to your heart's content. It's not as hard as it could be, and once you learn it you will be rolling with it and making profiles quickly and easily.

Once you get used to the controller itself (which takes time), you can use it for everything, as I do. I have played competitive sports games with it and feel they control better than any other controller I've used. Of course, the RPGs I've tried also control great with it.

So there ye go. I'd share my Amazon Affiliate link if you choose to buy one, but I'd rather not as I don't want to come across as I'm trying to sell the thing for my own gain. If you want to buy one from Amazon anyway and would like to use my Affiliate link (which will earn me something like 10% of the sale), feel free to message me and I'll link you.

Otherwise, I hope ye enjoyed this little write-up and will consider checking this thing out.

Cheers!

Fluent said:

relaxing and lounging on a chair and playing complex CRPGs

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In a title about mushrooms, that sentence doesn't fit.

Pic it or didn't happen. Sure:
https://twitter.com/satoyoshimi/status/866133408207917056/photo/1

Look man, I understand everyone who can't play with K+M any more, I'm a tobacco addict and mushrooms addiction is just another addiction, you know something is bad yet you just can't let go.
But I'd appreciate shilling for the "workplace" on the link above or something similar much more.

It used to be cool sitting in my very above average executive chair, to which I've strapped this on the armrest:

https://www.amazon.com/SUNLIGHTAM-S...957569&sr=1-1&keywords=mouse+chair+attachment

Wireless keyboard in my lap, playing games that way. But why would I do that now, when the Steam Controller does everything a keyboard + mouse does in a much more efficient, compact and easier way?

I don't have to worry about dropping my mouse when I get up, or my keyboard falling off my lap when I stand up. Very simple example. I can relax in a much nicer spot than even my computer chair, such as a recliner or even a bed. And still play amazing CRPGs with no loss whatsoever in function. In fact, it adds quickness and ease of use when you can press a button to open the Inventory instead of hunting for the I key. Or open the Priest Spells tab without having to hunt down the P key, either removing your right hand from your mouse or looking down at your keyboard trying to find the key. Function/number keys? Fughedaboudit. Simple as pie. I didn't even mention that you can keep similar control schemes from game to game, so your own personal control preferences can easily be transferred to all sorts of unrelated games.

That, to me, is the superior situation. Because even if I have a great executive chair, it still hurts my back and ass to sit in for long stretches, and will never be as comfy as a great recliner or couch. And the controller just feels great. Sturdy, nice to hold, and while I prefer kb + m over the old style of controllers, with the dual trackpads and all the extra control features of the Steam Controller, it beats out even kb + m for me.

And the shilling part was a joke, since I've been called that in the past. I like to share the things I like and discover to be good, and this is one item in a long list of things.

So, take it for it's worth, but anyone even remotely interested in what I've said about the controller should check it out. Give it at least several hours/days of use, learn it, feel it out and get used to it, and then never look at another control input device again.

How do you handle typing with this controller?

I have one myself - but I don't find it comfortable for a variety of games - and many games I play require typing of one kind or another. I hate having to setup a keyboard on the side for such things and the whole thing becomes too annoying.

NewDArt said:

How do you handle typing with this controller?

I have one myself - but I don't find it comfortable for a variety of games - and many games I play require typing of one kind or another. I hate having to setup a keyboard on the side for such things and the whole thing becomes too annoying.

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Well, for games that require a lot of typing, you would really need a keyboard by your side. The games I mentioned, the only typing you need is very minimal, like naming your save file, or in PS:T:EE, searching the journal with a keyword. For that I just map the Steam keyboard function to a button, generally a long press of the analog stick. That will bring up the Steam keyboard in-game that you can type with by using the two trackpads together, or the old-school way of using the analog stick to select one letter at a time. It's decent for a manual input keyboard, the dual trackpad approach is about as good as that type of thing will get before they add a microphone/voice-controlled function, but obviously you don't want to use that if you're playing something like an MMO or some game that requires copious amounts of typing. For basic things like I mentioned, it's fine.

I think future editions of the Steam controller could address that via a built-in mic on the controller itself. Voice recognition is getting really good so that's the logical next step to me.

But when you say some games aren't comfortable with the controller, have you tried making them more comfortable by programming the controller to your liking? This is the biggest issue I feel Valve has getting people to use the controller more, and that is that it's often hard to rely on someone else's profile entirely. A sensitive mouse might be too sensitive for someone else, or not sensitive enough, and so on. So what i try to do with my own control schemes is make them uniform as much as I can between games. So if people do use my controls, they will be somewhat similar between games, which I think helps. Otherwise, people are still going to have to tweak/adjust the settings themselves, and I think that's where Valve will lose the less hardcore users who just want to play and not have to tweak things. So yes, I think that's the main issue for Valve going forward. But if you haven't tried tweaking various settings to make it feel more comfortable for you, or given it plenty of time to get used to it, I would try that. After some hours the controller got very comfy for me now, even in things like point-and-click strategy games and like.

Probably dumb question, but does this controller only work with Steam versions of games? Could it be used to play GOG / DRM-free PC games?

daveyd said:

Probably dumb question, but does this controller only work with Steam versions of games? Could it be used to play GOG / DRM-free PC games?

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Sure can. It works with any game as long as you add that game to your Steam library. My Neverwinter Nights is from GOG, for example. As long as the game supports the Steam Overlay, which most games do, it will work fine.

Small side note, but even if the game doesn't support the overlay, as some very odd builds of OpenGL back in the day have current conflicts with the overlay, you can still use the controller. That situation is rare anyway.

Also, there is some project thing going on that will make the controller work with any emulator out there, natively. Right now you can play emulators with the controller, but it may be trickier to configure them the way it is now. I know my one friend plays Dolphin games (Nintendo Wii emulator) with the controller, as well as MS-DOS games.

And for native controller support, some new games are starting to have configurations for it. Smaller example, but Planescape: Torment Enhanced Edition based their official configuration on my build. Bigger titles will be adding support as well, but the controller can also be used in typical Gamepad Mode, which will allow the controller to be recognized as your basic Xbox 360 controller in any game. Of course, you can tweak the profile after that as well, as those modes are only presets. But in games that have natural controller support the controller will be recognized as well.

Here's a quick video I made showing one of my profiles, this one for Planescape: Torment - Enhanced Edition. Gives a small glimpse at what you can expect with this controller, but you are really only limited by your own imagination.

I have been using the controller for a while now and I just found this fantastic feature: Mouse region

I can simply hold the left trigger and the mouse will be limited to a horizontal axis at the bottom of the screen (you cant move the mouse up or down), i.e., where the action bar is, and simply select a spell, weapon (playing dragon fall). When you let go of the left trigger the mouse goes back to where it originally was. Awesome!

I'm mixed on the controller and not sure it was worth the money and certainly didn't make Civ6 any better (got it in a bundle). I don't really like how I have to launch in Big Picture mode for it to work for most games. I've had several games where it does not work at all and I have to switch back to my xbox controller anyway. For example had to do this with recent Tomb Raider.

When it works I generally like it. The customization does seem limited when I really need it though I'll be honest I've never tried to see if I can make it work with Pinnacle Profiler. If that worked then I could see addressing most issues I've encountered but I suspect it would not work.

I have bought it some time ago but only tested it for a couple of hours then. Now I'm using it for a decent playthrough of dragonfall.

So far it feels like it is very customizable as I continuously discover new things. There is definitely a (steep) learning curve which is OK if games (or the community) would stick to fairly standard layouts for each genre (like you know that for xbox controller accerelate is the right trigger, back is B, etc.). This makes subsequent games easier to pickup. Of course I could also define my own standard layout for each game but I rather stick to the community profiles.

I'm playing on the big screen so I use steam in big screen mode so that's no issue for me. For tomb raider I have a xbox controller. All in all it makes it possible to play isometric rpgs on my television which is awesome. I'm at the point where I would say that a steam controller definitely is not worse than mouse and keyboard, just 'different'.

Although, to be honest, while the steam controller solves the input problem of such games there is also the problem of the interface and text being too small and non-adjustable for some games. Dragonfall (like PoE) has a high-res mode which is good but the descriptions in the environment are still a tad too small (rest is OK).

Not worth the money? Limited? Lol, man. For $50 it basically does everything but make you coffee in the morning! I'll just agree to disagree. But have you tried programming it yourself?

I threw out Pinnacle Profiler. Now *that* is a program that is a hassle to make work, IMO. The Steam Controller software is much more robust as well.

If the controller doesn't work in some games you should contact Valve. It works in every game I've played so far, including all the old-school (and new) CRPGs I've played with it, and games where it really has no business working (Neverwinter Nights - GOG version, Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption and so on.)

There is a bug that Valve really needs to fix, and that is that sometimes a button on the controller becomes unresponsive until you press the Steam button. Not a huge deal but can be an annoyance.

Playing Gothic 3 with it recently. 45+ hours so far and it's been good.

Seems to me that this type of hardware is only worth the money if it matches the player's style of game play. I've looked at a lot of reviews of the steam controller and have found only a few that are totally positive.

Seems to be a lot of comments that K+M is significantly more precise than the steam controller, or any other controller for that matter.

There were many controller players who liked the steam controller compared to other controllers -- although several reviewers liked a special edition XBox controller better.

For controller players, the steam controller might be worth the money. For K+M players, many reviews I looked at seemed to suggest the opposite. I think it depends on the player as I said before.

__

If you are sitting in front of your PC of course you use a M+K. The only exception might be the Xbox controller for games with direct support for it, but even then...

In front of a TV I can't see myself using a M+K even if it is wireless

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

RPGFool said:

Seems to me that this type of hardware is only worth the money if it matches the player's style of game play. I've looked at a lot of reviews of the steam controller and have found only a few that are totally positive.

Seems to be a lot of comments that K+M is significantly more precise than the steam controller, or any other controller for that matter.

There were many controller players who liked the steam controller compared to other controllers -- although several reviewers liked a special edition XBox controller better.

For controller players, the steam controller might be worth the money. For K+M players, many reviews I looked at seemed to suggest the opposite. I think it depends on the player as I said before.

__

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I used to be a keyboard and mouse player and switched to exclusively using the Steam Controller now. It's probably not as precise (unless you get really, really good with it) but for 99% of games it's great. I have heard of some professional gamers using it, too, though, but I only use it for CRPGs and what not.

It comes down to if you like using controllers, and if you want to take the time to really dig in, learn how to program the controller and get comfortable using it. The first 20 hours or so with it were odd, yet hundreds of hours later and I'm still learning new things about it. I don't see myself ever using the keyboard and mouse to play an RPG again, but that's just me.

As for comparing to an Xbox controller, well, when I tried using my dad's controller it was like using an unresponsive, inaccurate brick in comparison. Nuff said.

ilm said:

In front of a TV I can't see myself using a M+K even if it is wireless

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Erm, I believe this is correct, but will have to write it a bit differently.

In front of max 60Hz display, do whatever.
In front of something capable for more than 60Hz, and that'd be a display manufactured for gaming that lacks of TV tuner not some smart 3d whatever thing, well, I can't see myself using anything other than M+K.

Fluent said:

As for comparing to an Xbox controller, well, when I tried using my dad's controller it was like using an unresponsive, inaccurate brick in comparison. Nuff said.

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Several different reviews said the Xbox One Elite Controller (not conventional Xbox controller) was superior to Steam Controller. Sounds like you aren't familiar with same. You probably should try it.

I'll stick with K+M

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RPGFool said:

Several different reviews said the Xbox One Elite Controller (not conventional Xbox controller) was superior to Steam Controller. Sounds like you aren't familiar with same. You probably should try it. __

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Looks better than conventional Xbox controller, but the Steam Controller is so far ahead of the game with the dual trackpads, dual-stage triggers and dual grip buttons. I predict those will be standard features of pretty much all future controllers soon.

I can't go back to analog sticks after using the trackpads.

And the d-pad thing on the Elite controller looks bad.

Fluent said:

Looks better than conventional Xbox controller, but the Steam Controller is so far ahead of the game with the dual trackpads, dual-stage triggers and dual grip buttons. I predict those will be standard features of pretty much all future controllers soon.

I can't go back to analog sticks after using the trackpads.

And the d-pad thing on the Elite controller looks bad.

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Reviewers who used both seemed to prefer the performance of the Xbox One Elite Controller. 'Nuff said.

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RPGFool said:

Reviewers who used both seemed to prefer the performance of the Xbox One Elite Controller. 'Nuff said.

__

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Not really 'nuff said. The Elite controller lacks:

Dual grip buttons
Dual-stage triggers
Left and right trackpads
Excellent battery life of the Steam Controller
X-input ONLY

to name a few.

It's also $100 more than the SC. Ouch.

Going back to an analog stick and a d-pad like that alone is going backwards for me.

Nuff said.