Controller Support/SteamInput Bug & Feedback

[trackpadchad]

On the L1 + face buttons, I think it'd be great if steam input could take queues from keyboard firmware like qmk and add support for one shot layers, where tapping L1 will modify the face buttons for just one input and then proceed to turn off thereafter. Holding still works with one shot layers, you just are also afforded the ability to tap instead. The advantage I see with it is that it requires a lot less muscle memory training since you don't need to keep holding till you hit the button. I enjoy it on ctrl and shift all the time for everyday use, and some (though not all) games, it really lets you work at high speeds more comfortably, same should apply for this situation as well.

You can technically do it now with layer addition and removal for single input follow up by binding additional actions, but I don't think it'd support holding at the same time. I'll have to try it out later.

It's janky, but you can do it. Bind L1 to "add layer," and then add extra bind "remove layer" on release press for your abilities.

Here's my current workarounds in my layout for quirks of the game:

• Scoreboard is on Start's regular press, Menu is on long press (saves a button, you're not opening the menu very often anyway)
• Gyro is disabled either through Right Stick Deflect or Right Pad Touch (can't spare a button)
• In the Menus action set, I changed the Back action on the Circle button to be a release press, so that you're not activating anything else when you close a menu
• Push-to-Talk is on Right Pad Click because I really can't find anywhere else to put it, luckily I haven't actually used voice chat yet so it hasn't mattered lol
• Holding Select ("Share" by Sony terms) opens the Buy menu, and is *supposed* to be closed when I release it but seemingly thanks to a bug that doesn't always work, hence the fix for the Back action

As far as I can tell, "Extra Info" doesn't seem very necessary in an actual match so I can save that button

I'd like to have a better solution for Crouch though, currently it's on L3 which is very uncomfortable to hold down for sliding, maybe I could swap it out with Dash/Roll but not sure

You might want to look into conductive tape if you ever want to extend the "range" of your gyro disable. The reason why the buy menu isn't closing on release is because it's changing to an action set, which doesn't carry inputs (at least not intentionally). Add redundancy to the select button on the buy menu layer. You are correct that extra info isn't necessary; show scoreboard is effectively the same. Putting menu on the same button as scoreboard may be janky as you'll need to upgrade your abilities.

I've never found using L3 while moving comfortable, especially with movement buttons. If you are gonna be using it for movement, then it's best to use it for "one and done" inputs, rather than something you'll be tapping and holding very often like slide. If dash on L3 doesn't work for you, then you will have to make a compromise somewhere without back buttons. A relatively harmless compromise would be to bind reload to scoreboard.
Some ideas to save space would be to try experimenting with binding abilities to R-stick, or binding the misc controls to directional swipes on touchpad.

 

[mihranmashhud]

Another avid user of gyro here. Wanted to compile some suggestions along with workarounds I found for now.

GYRO:
The gyro implementation should be using the natural scale. In other words, rotating the controller 360 degrees should result in 360 degrees of rotation in the game (as long as the multiplier is set to 100% of course). Doing so should also make flick stick actually work as intended.
Workaround: Use "Gyro to Mouse [Beta]" and set mouse sensitivity to 1.25 (default) in game. The default value of 6545px for "Dots Per 360" is correct. For zoom sense to be 1:1 it needs to be set to 0.818933027098955175. I used an autoexec config for this. Dead Air has a great guide on how to do this.

JOYSTICK:
By default it is too slow and there is no way to adjust the sensitivity. Likely a limitation of Steam Input that needs to be addressed.
Workaround: Use "Joystick Mouse" and set Mouse Sensitivity to whatever you like. I have it set to 800%. You may also want to change the response curve to something like "Relaxed".

STEAM INPUT BINDINGS:
There needs to be another game action in Steam Input for "CANCEL" as I currently don't see any way of cancelling out of abilities/jumping out of the zip-line.
Workaround: Bind something to the SPACE key. I bound a double tap of L1 to it.
EDIT: No longer required. This can be fixed by having the "Cancel Ability Mode" set to "Ability Key" (Should be default). It even fixes ziplines.

The melee action is really annoying to use due to the re-centering issue that was mentioned already.
Workaround: Deal with the frame stutter and just bind to the Q key instead. (not ideal though)

If abilities are on an action layer the game does not show the buttons in the UI.
Workaround: Instead of an action layer add an extra command to the buttons whose trigger is a button chord. Set the chord button to whatever you think makes most sense. I use L1 (Left Bumper) for the chord button and face buttons for the abilities.

MENU:
I actually am perfectly fine with using the joystick as a mouse to go through the menus as long as it is also paired with gyro. But, for some reason, the cursor for navigating with the controller is totally invisible and separate from the mouse cursor. Would be nice to have at least a dot like there is in the ping wheel. This may only be a problem on Proton, however, as I have not seen anyone else mention having the issue and it not being resolved.
Workaround: I just use the mouse for this one task. It really sucks not being able to just use the controller.
EDIT: I was able to mouse cursor working. Seems I needed to load the extest library with Steam.

Final Remarks:
Despite all the workarounds I still think that the controller support is quite nearly there. The team so far has done a great job and it is really cool seeing a game other than No Man's Sky that integrates so heavily with the Steam Input API.

This game is absolutely going to become my new addiction.

 

[flickstickvideos]

09-26-2024 Update. Built 5,220 (SOLVED)
Jump/Mantle: jumping on the zipline no longer works. Workaround: bound that button to Space bar.
Edit: A Zipline button was added, now you need to bind that action to whatever button you want.

 

[mihranmashhud]

Just mentioned this in a different thread. The official layout has a steam input action for zipline. For some reason the steam input actions for older configs didn't update. I just remade my layout off the official config and it worked.

 

[mihranmashhud]

Yooooooooooo! They fixed melee on controller! And gave a bind for reset camera!

 

[mihranmashhud]

Okay been playing around some more. Looks they also fixed their implementation of Aim to use degrees (i.e. uses natural scale). Works like a treat now. @flickstickvideos looks like you will need to update your gyro configs again.

 

[AubreyH]

Okay been playing around some more. Looks they also fixed their implementation of Aim to use degrees (i.e. uses natural scale). Works like a treat now. @flickstickvideos looks like you will need to update your gyro configs again.

Did you say that aim was inverted, and then edit? Because it seems okay here, but you may have previously inverted to compensate for our inversion being wrong before, and also hooked into mouse inversion. But if not I can look into it.

 

[mihranmashhud]

Did you say that aim was inverted, and then edit? Because it seems okay here, but you may have previously inverted to compensate for our inversion being wrong before, and also hooked into mouse inversion. But if not I can look into it.

Yeah edited it after I saw that it was hotfixed. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[trackpadchad]

So far, so good. There's only one option that's missing: Alternate cast.



There should be a way to adjust the alternate cast or character-specific settings for controller. Currently, trying to open the keybinds tab while a controller is active will instead open Steam Input, which means you have to close the game, turn off controller, open the game back up to switch your settings, close the game, turn your controller back on, and then re-launch the game again.

 

[AubreyH]

So far, so good. There's only one option that's missing: Alternate cast.
View attachment 27842
View attachment 27839

There should be a way to adjust the alternate cast or character-specific settings for controller. Currently, trying to open the keybinds tab while a controller is active will instead open Steam Input, which means you have to close the game, turn off controller, open the game back up to switch your settings, close the game, turn your controller back on, and then re-launch the game again.

The steam_input_manifest.vdf definitely has alt cast, move up/down etc.

I think you maybe looking at an old config. Try previewing the official configs. Unfortunately, the way steam input configs works is, they copy off all the action definitions, and seem like they only acknowledge the new action definitions after you've looked at the official ones. But you can copy paste the "actions" block into your on-disc config at a pinch.

We really need to get a better way of doing this where we coalesce the new, official actions with the configs, and maybe label any unsupported actions in held-over configs as "Obsolete".

 

[trackpadchad]

The steam_input_manifest.vdf definitely has alt cast, move up/down etc.

I think you maybe looking at an old config. Try previewing the official configs. Unfortunately, the way steam input configs works is, they copy off all the action definitions, and seem like they only acknowledge the new action definitions after you've looked at the official ones. But you can copy paste the "actions" block into your on-disc config at a pinch.

We really need to get a better way of doing this where we coalesce the new, official actions with the configs, and maybe label any unsupported actions in held-over configs as "Obsolete".

...That post was shortly before those were added in a patch. However, something that I noticed yesterday is that the "Menu controls" layer includes the shop, which doesn't have any means of binding in-game controls like movement or abilities. On Kb/m, you can walk around while having the shop open, and I sometimes use the Cube at the secret shop so I can upgrade mid-fight.

 

[AubreyH]

Yep that's definitely bad.
I've been looking into what's wrong with the action sets, and in my first draft, I added a new "In Game Menus" action set. That one includes movement and all but those actions blocked for mouse and keyboard (that's the plan at least).

Old me would have made this an action layer, but you and I both know how much power users hate their layers getting stomped by developer layers. So, unfortunately it'll be another action set, but it feels necessary to me.

So there will be an action set for the Main Menu, and an action set for In-Game Menus.

 

[trackpadchad]

Old me would have made this an action layer, but you and I both know how much power users hate their layers getting stomped by developer layers. So, unfortunately it'll be another action set, but it feels necessary to me.

I think the cause of pain here is that there isn't an easy way to copy settings/bindings between action sets. If you're the type that tinkers with all the small knobs and levers like deadzones, sensitivity, etc, then that means you have to crawl through a labyrinth of layers and sets to make sure everything's in sync.

 

[mihranmashhud]

I think the cause of pain here is that there isn't an easy way to copy settings/bindings between action sets. If you're the type that tinkers with all the small knobs and levers like deadzones, sensitivity, etc, then that means you have to crawl through a labyrinth of layers and sets to make sure everything's in sync.

Boy do I feel this. Just getting Gyro the way I like requires me changing nearly every default setting for it. Wish there was something like templates for this like there are for the entire config. The only value in Gyro settings that really changes game to game (in theory) is the pixel to 360 value.

 

[irover]

21-Nov-2024 Patch: Launching into game with a controller layout which uses a custom action set layer appears to break Steam Input until the controller layout's custom "" layer is deleted, at which point the very same (initially-problematic) layout can be reapplied. However, upon reboot the issue recurs, though it continues to be remediable via the abovementioned process. The "breakage" applies throughout Action Sets (i.e. "In-Game Controls", "Menu Controls"), and appears to also bork input within the in-game overlay. <3