Nice write up. That Metal Gear Solid gyro Steam Controller demo is legendary. It convinced me to get the Steam Controller after initially dismissing it and seeing no point.
If strong aim assist is present then that can outperform gyro, but that also can outperform a lot of mouse users to the point that even PC lobbies have mouse users abandoning mouse for aim assist supported inputs. So it depends on the level of aim assist. But, with aim assist removed from the equation gyro is better than joysticks and is surprisingly usable against mouse players despite the absence of auto aiming.
Do you encounter the same issue in desktop mode too?
I tried it on my steam deck and was able to apply my custom template to another game in the normal Steam Deck mode so I wonder if maybe the config is corrupted? Maybe make a simple test config template to check out if it applies to other games is worth trying before making your main config from scratch again.
Simplest way I think is saving the controller layout as a template and then you should be available to see in all games when you go to templates.
I do this for the Steam Controller where I saved a general template to use across games so I don't need to reconfigure every single part from scratch.
I wish they made it easier to find games that support simultaneous mouse and game pad inputs, since I like to map mouse to gyro and ideally get analog joystick movement over having to map movement to WASD. And better if they put down whether the game supports locked glyphs so it isn't switching between keyboard and gamepad icons due to detecting mouse and gamepad commands.
Seems emulation is the only fall back then if a PC port never comes out to use gyro.
Getting mouse and gamepad to work with Red Dead Redemption 2
I encountered some weird issues like using L3 to crouch triggering Dead Eye when the game detected mouse. And doing L3 + R3 to trigger Eagle eye making the camera look back when mouse is detected.
What I did for the Dead Eye was setting a chord so that when I use the input that actives mouse it turns L3 turn into Ctrl, so I can toggle crouch without issue. I have mouse gyro activated on a right pad touch, so I set the chord to right pad touch. If it were left trigger pull I would set it to left trigger pull.
!Set chord button to what activates mouse
And for eagle eye I simply bound middle mouse click instead of using L3+R3 to not have issues with mouse input is detected.
I played the game with a regular controller without any mouse input to get a feel for the game before moving onto mixing mouse inputs with gamepad, and I don't think I've encountered any other weird issues since aside from the usual icon flicker. But, if there are other oddities that come with mixing inputs in this I'd love to know.
Also, mouse stuttered in this game with a regular mouse too until I toggled on the slider for mouse smoothing.
This game is fantastic. And the custom song community has variety of genres too once you play through everything and need more songs. Custom songs are available at https://spinsha.re/
I like playing it with the steam controller and using the TouchPad to spin the wheel and gyro to aim.
First time hearing about it and looking on youtube it looks cool.
Haven't heard of Quaver before. How do you like compared to Osu!mania? Doing some searching I found you can apparently import osu mania songs into Quaver? https://steamcommunity.com/app/980610/discussions/0/2789370076129355639/
Looks like there isn't one yet even though there is for Steam Deck and Switch. Gulikit did say they want to make some for the dualsense edge first before the dualsense on twitter.
What are Rhythm games with custom song support that you enjoy?
I've liked Spin Rhythm XD with custom songs available on https://spinsha.re. There's also OSU which was the first Rhythm game for me.
Beat Saber seems to be another good one, but unfortunately I don't have VR.
Did you end up fixing it yourself with hall sensor joysticks?
Me neither. I'd get the new one right away. And it's a PC so I can retire my Steam Deck to use to do for other things by then. It's a really great machine.
I think setting up gyro in that case would work better than the touch screen. That's how I played through Maro Galaxy back in the day using the Steam Controller and having gyro only activate when I touched the right pad so it wasn't always going crazy.
I've been playing Diablo IV too. First non Steam game I tried on the Deck, and how well it works blows my mind. Used decky to put in custom artwork too so it fits right in with the rest of my games.
I've been playing around with a set up where I use the right touchpad to enter mouse mode and click to attack for times I need to aim. But, rest of the inputs are gamepad. What I'd like to do is have it so when I touch the right pad it modeshifts the right trigger into a left mouse click too. Could do same with action layers, but I'm hoping for a more straight forward and less problematic modeshift option.
I've used the Steam Controllers for many years and use dual touchpads for movement and camera. Here's me playing Doom Eternal, Anger Foot, and a video on why I prefer touchpads to joysticks.
But, despite that I'm not a big of a fan of the ones on the Steam Deck. The placement is not that comfortable. There are 3D printed grips though that I would like to try out that would let me hold the Deck so it is more like holding the Steam Controller with the touchpads. Until then a majority of my gameplay is done with the joysticks in contrast to on the desktop where it is with touchpads.
I am really glad the touchpads are present so that it's not an input Valve has abandoned, but the placement and ergonomics is really disappointing me. I'd be playing lot of FPS games on the Deck if the touchpad experience were more on par with the Steam Controller.
Always be moving/dodging, do glory kills for health, chainsaw for ammo, and most importantly master the Quick Switch technique. This person has a great guide on it. It's basically where you switch weapons after every shot so you don't have to reload and you output damage really fast even on the hardest difficulty.
Given that you are on a controller you can just swap between 3 weapons and still delete enemies. Like here is my play through with my steam controller where I pretty much spammed super shotgun, ballista, and rocket launcher to get through the game on nightmare. There was an update pushed that lets controller uses bind weapons to any button, so set weapons to quick switch with that over relying on the weapon wheel which breaks momentum.
Haven't tried these grips myself, but came across it looking for something that makes the touchpad experience more comfortable.
I am a fan of using dual touchpads on the Steam Controller, but could not get comfortable with using the Steam Deck in the same fashion due to the touchpad placement.
Anyone try these grips?
Yeah, when you find a gyro sensitivity you like try the rotation approach to find a general idea of what the sensitivity you like is. Really helps reduce the time blindly fiddling around with the gyro trying to get it to feel right like it did in a game before that.
My approach is to have the sensitivity high enough that I aim entirely with the gyro and use the touchpad for twitchy fast turns. I have a hard time aiming if I have to move too much. Don't really play gyro games on the Deck, but with a standalone controller I go with 180 sensitivity on a full edge to edge swipe of the touchpad, and have the gyro set so a 90 degree rotation of the controller results in an in game rotation of 675 degrees for first person or 450 degrees for third person. This video might make it make more sense visually. This makes it so I get a consistent gyro experience I like across different games.
Steam Deck input guide to get back dpad modeshift like functionality of Steam Controller using Action layers
What I'm attempting to set up is having the Deck touchpads have different inputs depending on where I click as shown in this video 60 seconds in with the Steam Controller. So for example ← reload ↑ flash light → pills ↓medkit ㋛ melee when you click but when not clicking the touchpad can provide camera controls. I do this because I don't feel like reaching to XYAB and losing camera controls. Or if I'm doing movement having center click be a crouch, but the outer clicks be dodges.
I use something called modeshifts on the Steam Controller, but the Deck touchpads requires too hard of a press to activate for my liking with no pressure adjustment available for modeshift clicks.
There is touch menus, but when I'm using the pad as a mouse I found clicking to activate the touch menu added a delay I didn't want for actions like melee or reload, or abilities like casting fire. So I settled on Action Layers with the absence of modeshifts.
START OF GUIDE
STEP 1 !Apply Action Layer on click
Create an Action Set Layer. In this example I named it dpad click and set it to Apply action layer on click.
If you need help making an Action Layer this person's video is good 60 seconds in.
On the action layer 'dpad click' bind whatever you want to the dpad and the outer ring command (this will be center click)
Set up a release press on a click so the action layer is removed automatically so you return to your default layer.
Invert Outer Ring so that it can function as a center click. Now touchpad click has 5 click functions instead of 1.
You are going to need to play around with the Deadzone and Outer Ring settings to see what you like. But, gist of what it does is
-
Deadzone: (where simultaneous press stops, i do around 26380)
-
Outer Ring : (how big center click is, I do around 32000)
Leftpad for movement opens up more possibilities.
- Set outer edge to sprint
- Middle click toggles crouch
- Clicking left, right, back dodges in clicked direction
- While sprinting clicking starts a slide
- Jumping from a high place and then clicking forward before landing has the character roll to safety
Multiple movement actions all on a single touchpad. Touchpads can be amazing.
Yeah, right pad dpad modeshift was a game changer and made controller closer to having keyboard like quick input access. I also prefer the theoretical smach z layout to the Steam Deck touchpads.
(Repost) Get more actions out of your touchpad clicks
What I'm attempting to set up is having the Deck touchpads have different inputs depending on where I click as shown in this video 60 seconds in with the Steam Controller. So for example ← reload ↑ flash light → pills ↓medkit ㋛ melee when you click but when not clicking the touchpad can provide camera controls. I do this because I don't feel like reaching to XYAB and losing camera controls. Or if I'm doing movement having center click be a crouch, but the outer clicks be dodges.
I use something called modeshifts on the Steam Controller, but the Deck touchpads requires too hard of a press to activate for my liking with no pressure adjustment available for modeshift clicks.
There is touch menus, but when I'm using the pad as a mouse I found clicking to activate the touch menu added a delay I didn't want for actions like melee or reload, or abilities like casting fire. So I settled on Action Layers with the absence of modeshifts.
START OF GUIDE
STEP 1 !Apply Action Layer on click
Create an Action Set Layer. In this example I named it dpad click and set it to Apply action layer on click.
If you need help making an Action Layer this person's video is good 60 seconds in.
On the action layer 'dpad click' bind whatever you want to the dpad and the outer ring command (this will be center click)
Set up a release press on a click so the action layer is removed automatically so you return to your default layer.
Invert Outer Ring so that it can function as a center click. Now touchpad click has 5 click functions instead of 1.
You are going to need to play around with the Deadzone and Outer Ring settings to see what you like. But, gist of what it does is
-
Deadzone: (where simultaneous press stops, i do around 26380)
-
Outer Ring : (how big center click is, I do around 32000)
Doom Eternal Ancient Gods Part 2 Nightmare (Steam Controller using gyro)
Moving with left touchpad. Clicking pad to dodge.
Gyro activated only when I touch the right touchpad, and modeshift set up on the right touchpad so I can switch between 5 weapons when I hold the left grip. Holding left grip also changes the XYAB buttons to the rest of the other weapons.
When left grip isn't held touchpad clicks have some XYAB and dpad functions binded to them. I click middle to melee, and other corner clicks to swap mods, etc.
So I always have movement controls, and only move away from camera when I select other weapons or items that aren't on my touchpad. And when I do that I hold left grip, which activates gyro so I can keep aiming.
Why I prefer Touchpads to Joysticks
I'll keep using the Steam Controller as long as possible for the dual pads.
Spin Rhythm XD (Hot Pursuit XD) Steam Controller Gyro No Aim assist
When I did this I had gyro set to activate on touch. Since then I've gone to always on for this game.
Analog like movement for WASD mapping in new Steam Big Picture Mode
I'm going to miss old Steam Input. New one has still been an adjustment.