Steam Controller Feedback

[Ferolin]

I just today recieved my Steam Controller and I wrote some feedback which I sent to the official Steam-Hardware-Feedback email adress. I think some if you would be interested, too.

I don't know if you can understand what I mean If you haven't used the controller yet so if there are questions please ask me.

 

So here is what I wrote:

 

I use the controller on my 2-monitor setup on my PC (Windows 7) and I want to use it from my bed mostly.

I know this is not exactly the intended use but here are my notes on the controller:

 

The positives:

• Like the layout
• Nicely manufactured and heavy
• Feedback on the pads is nice and subtle
• Setup is easy
• Nice buttons and triggers
• Typing is reasonably fast

The negatives:

• Needs a rechargable battery pack of some sort (without buying rechargable AA's on your own)
• I want to adjust the controller settings for Big Picture Mode, too (not only in-game settings). The controller needs that because controlls are inconsistent across the Steam ecosystem. Why can I only use the right pad as a mouse-cursor in the browser? I want that option in all the other menus, too. Especially scrolling through my games is annoying with the stick. I want the left pad to scroll down like I can in the browser.
• When I hold my finger down on the pads (in Portal 2 for example) the crosshair vibrates and shifts. This vibrating of the crosshair is too much and options to adjust a threshold on the pads would be nice to make slow movements smoother.
• It's not obvious how you bring up the keyboard in some situations 
• I want to use the left pad and the stick interchangably (in the Big Picture start menu for example)
• In Portal 2 have to switch back to the keyboard sometimes. If I adjust the Controller settings and go back to the game, it suddenly uses mouse and keyboard and I have to hit the escape button (and get up from my bed ) to return to the game.
  This problem ties in to the inconstistency of controlls in the ecosystem I mentioned before.
• A "Desktop" mode would be nice (even if I have to install an extra driver) where I can bring up the keyboard. 
  After all it's expensive hardware and a bit of extra functionality would be nice.
• An option to turn off the controller without the Big Picture Mode menu is missing (as far as I can tell)

 

 

I have some Issues with the BP-mode, too. Especially the browser integration:

 

• I can't zoom out enough in the browser. If there is a confirmation window that stays in the middle of the screen (e.g. age confirmation) I can't close it because I am zoomed in too far. 
• Dual monitor setups don't work well because BP-mode does only use one monitor as far as I can tell.
  In the Browser I can navigate the cursor to my second monitor but only mouse movement and mouseclicks work.
  I know you are supposed to use the controller in BP mode but then it should stretch over all monitors.
• I would like to be able to use other browsers.

In conclusion I love the hardware but the software makes it hard for me to use. I would use it a lot if it just worked without me needing to change to the keyboard and if the controlls were the same across all of Big Picture mode. Also the Browser needs some work. 

 

I hope someone reads this and I didn't just write this wall of text for nothing I'm exited about the next updates to the controller and Big Picture Mode.

[CyanideInsanity]

Its certainly an interesting piece of hardware. The controller itself does feel quite comfortable, and no inputs seem to be in a bad spot. Feels like a good weight as well. Though I'll have to disagree with you on the triggers; the pull isn't as long as I'd like, so I can't see it being amazingly useful for games that can make good use of the analog aspect of triggers like racing games. Other than that, everything other input seems to be relatively par for the course.

 

You are right on there needing to be a way to configure the controller on the desktop. Its a pain in the ass having to go through BPM when I don't even use it. They also seem to have removed some visuals for configuring it. Unless I've missed how to activate it, there was visual representation shown when adjusting the rotation of the track pads, and I believe there was another for changing the deadzone but I could be wrong on that one.

 

Its definitely something that will take some time getting used too. Unfortunately there seems to be many on the steam forums who don't comprehend that. Though thats not to say they aren't without faults. Mine seems to have some deadspots on the pads. The top hemispheres on both work perfectly, but the outer edge on the bottom halves seem to be dead. Then on the left pad there seems to be a dead spot in the bottom left area and the bottom quarter of the right pad seems dead.

[Ferolin]

Okay I figured out by now that you can turn the controller off manually. I just needed to press the middle button longer than I did. My bad. 

 

 

 

You are right on there needing to be a way to configure the controller on the desktop. Its a pain in the ass having to go through BPM when I don't even use it. They also seem to have removed some visuals for configuring it. Unless I've missed how to activate it, there was visual representation shown when adjusting the rotation of the track pads, and I believe there was another for changing the deadzone but I could be wrong on that one.

 

 

You have a good point there but what I actually meant was that I want some options to configure how the controller behaves when I am not in BPM. Currently, only Mouse movement and Mouseclicks work outside of BPM.

[CyanideInsanity]

Okay I figured out by now that you can turn the controller off manually. I just needed to press the middle button longer than I did. My bad. 

 

 

 

You have a good point there but what I actually meant was that I want some options to configure how the controller behaves when I am not in BPM. Currently, only Mouse movement and Mouseclicks work outside of BPM.

Well there is that too.  That would also benefit any programs not in steam, and that don't play nice with BPM after adding as a non-steam game.

[Ferolin]

 

 

• When I hold my finger down on the pads (in Portal 2 for example) the crosshair vibrates and shifts. This vibrating of the crosshair is too much and options to adjust a threshold on the pads would be nice to make slow movements smoother.

 

Okay on some games this can be compensated for by adjusting "smoothing" and other options, which emulate the mouse.