I was thinking of picking up a steam controller while they're on sale...

I was thinking of picking up a steam controller while they're on sale, but are they really any better than just hooking my PS4 controller to my PC?

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anything is better than a PS4 controller

PS4 controller < Steam in media center use

From what I understand, the Steam controller fits a different niche than regular controllers. It's more for games that can't be used with a regular controller.

Reviews are pretty mixed on the Steam controller, so I'm going to wait for a revision of it before I get one.

They aren't, just hook up your DS4 with DS4Windows.
The touchpad alone makes it better than the shitty steam controller.

And how good is it at that niche? Like if I wanted to play a game like XCom or Baldur's Gate, which would be impossible with a normal controller, is that something I can do with a steam controller? Or is it horribly awkward at replacing the mouse

The Xbox One controller is better. I just got one myself to use on my PC after having a PS4 since launch, and it's far more comfortable/ You also don't have to use 3rd party drivers.

I like mine. Just needs to be gotten used to. It's like when you first got used to the stick on the n64

That's bullshit and you know it.
The DS4 Touchpad has no haptic feedback whatsoever and it's not as configurable as the touchpads. DS4Windows never managed to make the rumble work together with the touchpad in particular.

Steam controller is capable of better text input than the DS4. Pic is why I am not talking out of my ass on this one, cause I have those controller and I use them exclusive for PC.

steam controller is great for mouse and keyboard games if you feel like just sitting back. a good example would be rust.

However, for analog input games I'd say fuck that shit.
The only game I've legitimately enjoyed with the steam controller that has controller support is rocket league.
You spend more time tweaking controls than you do playing games.

After I bought my elite I stopped using my steam controller, because the elite is amazing.

Still salty as fuck that for 100+ bucks it doesn't even come with a rechargeable battery pack.

It's not horribly awkward actually, but the accuracy is not as good as a mouse. I tried Caesar III with it.
Better in build quality and feel, but the Xbox controller can't act in media center control by itself. Controller companion is a must have in order to make that controller viable for PC media center use. If you are using it to game (that supports controllers) or for the horrible Windows store, then the Xbox controller is a no-brainer.

I can't say since I've never used one. I've just heard mixed reviews about things like the touchpads/the haptic feedback on them and stuff. That's why I'm waiting for a revision, and for more games to support the controller.

Agreed. It doesn't even come with the wireless dongle. I paid extra to get that dongle.

It takes a lot of getting used to.but it's maximum comfy when used for the right games. For some stuff twin sticks is better. For RTS games or twitch shooterssteam controller is better. Buy one and try it user, if you don't like it return it. Give it a good week though.

Steam controller is shit. Get something like pic related instead.

We all know you're getting a controller to play platformers or fighting games, not the latest brown and bloom shooter.

I think the most needed work is to bring the Steam controller to the standard of the Vive controllers. The feel of the Steam controller sucks in your hands. It feels cheap.

There's also no headphone jack on the Steam controller. DS4's headphone jack doesn't work on PC cause DS4Windows couldn't enable the function call, so that leaves only the Xbox one controller if you want the ability to hook up a headset to the controller.

>Hori fight pad
>for PC general use

HELL NO. That shit is a one-trick pony.

yeah the dongle was like an additional 20 bucks.

Good controller but goddamn jewrosoft calm the fuck down.

It goes like this.

>hey, guys, remember that one time you were stuck on a potato laptop with no mouse, and you had to use the touchpad to play FEAR, soldat, red alert 2, and dawn of war winter assault, because those were the only games you had installed?
>yeah, it was awful. That fucking touchpad made an already bad time even worse. Holy fuck, I'm never playing a strategy game, a shooter, or a sidescroller on a fucking touchpad ever again, no matter how drunk I get.
>well, that's great, because our new controller that we're working on will have two touchpads! Twice the fun, right, guys? It's perfect for all your dota and street fighter needs.

lol
remove cancer

Just get a 360 controller, don't bother.

Do you play any seated games?
and have you fucked around with vorpx at all?

I can't seem to get it to work for shit.
I do have it set to vive and not oculus.

I had a DS4 for my PC

I switched to the Steam Controller and haven't looked back.

My advice regarding it:
1) it's going to be weird to re-learn playing games with a touchpad instead of a right stick ANYWAY, so retrain fully. Commit to using the left touchpad to move, to binding actually-useful actions like jump or reload to the pad-clicks (rather than treating them like LS and RS click; use the grips for those if you must), gyro for secondary fine aim, etc. Once you've learned to move and jump with just your left thumb and adjust your aim for a headshot with a gentle controller tilt, you'll wonder how you ever played with a normal controller.
2) Make a good starting template. I mean a GOOD one; take a game that has really complex controls (I used Warframe, back before it had native SC support) and really fine-tune every slider Just So, so it feels perfect. Have backups; the SC config file saves ALL settings, not just active ones, so fine-tune right touchpad as mouse, then fine-tune it again as mouse-like joystick, then again as 4 face buttons; do the left pad as a stick, then a steering wheel, then a d-pad. Do this so that when you load a game, you can pick that template, and if it turns out it doesn't support mouse and controller simultaneously, you can trivially switch to either mouse-like JS or wasd-left-stick as the case warrants with two clicks and no need for retuning.
3) if you use emulators, spend some time setting up secondary templates for them.

The idea here is to make sure that when you load a new game, you can jump in right away with a control scheme you're comfortable with, and swap to any of several immediately useful alts quickly and easily without slider-fiddling. This gives you the advantages of the fine-tuning without the wasted time.

Also: don't be afraid to just bullshit control schemes on top of that template for specific games that warrant it; move LB to RB to get a more familiar sprint binding, for instance.

I don't know if you know, but it's a SEGA saturn controller with modern guts.

The fighting commander also has a switch that lets you turn the d-pad into a right or left anal stick if you want to, and another super easy to use switch that allows you to instantly trick any of the consoles into thinking it's a native device. You even have turbo buttons for those times when you're playing megaman X in your 15 year old ZSNES emulator but can't be bothered tapping the fire button to kill those sawblade throwing birds.

Anyone know any controllers with pressure sensitive triggers or buttons?

So the Xbox One controller definitely works with headphones if you buy the wireless adapter? That's really tempting now.

I actually wish laptops can get trackpads as good as the ones that are on Vive and Steam controllers. Is touchpad going to ever beat a mouse? I don't think so, but are they better than analog sticks in navigating windows? Yes.

I can actually goddamn double click with those touchpads and get haptic feedback, better than the force touch trackpad.

I just use my hori fightstick most of the time.

Why don't you use a real controller? What you're doing is no different to console peasants fucking around with their analog sticks so they can play the latest call of duty, except this is actually worse, because you're smart enough to know there are better options to control your games.

Yes. Without fail. The Elite controller has higher gain level than the normal xbox controller.
Just consider getting a real joystick. I am weighting that option. I am on a PC. I can use whatever goddamn peripheral I fucking want.
Sure. I played roomscale games too. Didn't bother to get VorpX yet. I am curious about it.
I didn't bother to relearn. I just go from one controller to another instead of having one single controller.
It lacks a trackpad, which is an absolute bloody MUST if you are going to use the controller on a PC media center environment. Some 3rd apps will let you use the analog stick to emulate a mouse, but that's NOT what that fighting commander's designed for.

Sony bought the PS from Nintendo. its well known fact.

Who says I don't? I am not playing an MMO without a gamepad and a macro spamming MMO mouse.

>laptop touchpad
>steam touchpad
Not at ALL similar.

Laptop touchpads are just 1:1 mouse input devices for most machines

Steam touchpad is a (very) well-emulated trackball.

A trackball does not feel like a mouse, true, but it is every bit as accurate if you're good with it.

>I use my controller to navigate windows.

Fuck is this shit.

I bought the Prismatic. Love it, even if I am a total Sonyfag and it's wired.

>not using a trackball

This guy plays CSGO using one.
youtube.com/watch?v=CayqR-joTrE

>I didn't bother to relearn. I just go from one controller to another instead of having one single controller.

You should have.

When I go back to the WiiU, for instance, I spend a solid 20 minutes missing air combos because I try to make Bayo jump with a left-stick click.

It drives me nuts not being able to move and jump with one finger. Even WASD+space feels clunky and finger-wasting as fuck now.

Yeah, and it blows cause that's what you have to do if you want to actually use your PC sitting a few feet away.

There's shit such as this sort of lapboard, or you can try to use a wireless mouse and keyboard (yeah right) or the likes of Vive controllers, but let's face it. Controller is the only convenient input option when you are sitting on a couch casually.

>only 30% off

Make it 50% and ill think about it.

Valve said they may design new steam controllers.

I just want them to design like pic related, but replace the right analog with a control stick. That would be perfect. You could use the d pad for retro/2d games, and a control stick/mousepad combo is imo better than two mousepads.

Or you get an extension cord and put your keyboard and mouse on the fucking couch.

I wish that the shoulder and triggers can get redesigned. A stick that takes cue from the elite controller stick which lets you swap to concave/convex is be nice.

Left pad is SO much better than left stick. So much easier to click without accidental movement; makes left-click an actually-useful controller function.

>using a d pad as an analog stick

uh, no, I dont want every game to feel like gex 3

Is trackball any good for gaming? Logitech makes this trackball mouse that's been there for years without an update.

it's literally only decent when there is no other choice.

Strategy games are serviceable but kb + m will always be better for them. It also has this weird learning curve (touchpads feel too sensitive) that might turn you away from it.

DS3 master race tbqh

DS4 is better

If you can imagine playing games in that niche comfortably on the sofa (--> they don't require edge-of-seat concentration and accuracy), chances are the steam controller will be pretty fucking great with them.

Tycoon games, point&click adventures and 3d rpgs are all very very playable with the steam controller. if you're into point&click games, it's worth it for them alone. I played all 4 Deponia games with it (without changing batteries, by the way) and loved it.

Morrowind is also a completely new experience if you take some time to setup a control scheme that suits you. Don't underestimate the usefulness of the gyro-sensor for camera movement.

It's shit, I returned mine, just use a 360 controller for direct X games

just buy one of those keyboard/mouse lap stand things

STEAM CONTROLLER IS A PIECE OF SHIT.

CHECK THE FUCKING ARCHIVE.

FUCK OFF VALVE SHILL.

SAGED.

bumpu

:3

Bump.

alright guys i gotta say the steam controller is really fucking cool despite how stupid it looks
but the way its designed and how much you can alter each input makes it work with literally any game even
and even then if youre too lazy to do that yourself you can grab a layout someone else has made
dark messiah was the first game i really tried this on since there was no controller support i had to alter each input to fit the feel of the game
by the end of it all i made it work extremely well and it was very well worth the comfort it provides afterwards

A bit of a tangent, but it seems to be the thread for it.

Most people will likely agree that the 360 controller is the best all-round controller ever, despite a poor showing on the Dpad front and some lost potential for extra buttons (and yes, I know you're probably going to disagree, but that's fine).

For those people who moved on to the Xbone, though, I have questions - is the Xbone controller a better PC controller? Is the Elite Xbone controller a better PC controller than that? And is it worth investing in either of them?

Steam controller is better for desktop navigation from the couch without having to hunch over your coffee table. DS4 is better for actually playing games.

No, just buy a DS4.

I've tried a DS4. It's nice, I guess, but I went back to the 360 controller.

ds4 is ass