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Steam Controller&GSF?


Stradlin

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TLDR: Has anyone tried it? How does it work for GSF?

 

Steam Controller is this thing:

 

 

Posting the following on behalf of Heizen&Irek

 

This is a conversation between Heizen, Irek and some dude using Steam Controller for TOR. Was originally posted in TOR's Reddit. Figured it gives interesting food for thought, certainly for those who feel they absolutely need a pad.Or for those who don¨t care what they are eating.

 

- - - -

 

I was casually lurking on /r/swtor when suddenly this wild thread has appeared! I saw the perfect opportunity to ask OP 'bout how SC works with GSF, here's the exchange:

 

Hzn: Got one very important question everybody else forgot to ask: How does it work with GSF? Mouse + Keyboard is a terrible controller for space combat simulators. I'll gladly consider gettin' myself SC, if it proves to be an efficient tool for GSF! Share your experience with me, please! ;›

 

OP: I hadn't even considered this! I'll have to do some tinkering and let you know! Since I don't have a "states" toggle like I did on my G13 gamepad, I'll just have to rebind some stuff for GSF.

 

Hzn: Much thx! I shall await your feedback! ;]

 

OP: So my first feedback is holy ****, the queues on BC for GSF are *********** ridiculous.

 

Secondly, though, I'm rather pleased with how the Controller handles! It's important to note that the thumbstick (or in my case, the D-pad) doesn't control the way the ship actually moves, since those are WASD. All of it is controlled via the mouse, which is on the right pad. It is going to take some time to get as accurate as you'll want to be to make use of your guns, but turn off trackball mode so it doesn't slide, up the sensitivity a bit, and this could work really really well!

 

Oh damn, I just thought of something. This might actually be a fantastic use of the Gyro on the controller. You can set it so that it activates on a certain modifier (commonly, "Right Pad Touch") and give it a fairly low sensitivity, and that gives you extreme precision for aiming your weapons and flight. That sounds perfect! BRB, need to test more.

 

OP: All right, /u/VonKuffel, /u/erdevs. Here's my conclusion:

 

- Controls did well in the transition from ground to GSF! Only needed a few tweaks (mostly kill engine and target cursor/attacker), and my control scheme worked very well. Strafing was easy to swap to; just hold down the left grip! But of course, strafing didn't make a huge difference.

 

- My games weren't the best example of the control scheme for the sole reason that my team got STOMPED. MASSIVELY. 6 to 1000. I could be really really good and just not be able to win that. Brutal.

I could hit what I was aiming at without much effort! I was pleased to see that, and for the following reason.

 

- The Gryo is PERFECT for GSF. I simply cannot overstate this. The Gryo on a low sensitivity in combination with the parts of the screen that actually send feedback to your ship is such a perfect combination, that precision plus full deflection is almost second nature. If anyone else has a Steam Controller, THIS is the way to play GSF. Oh my god.

 

I didn't perform terribly well, but I wasn't ever very good at GSF in the first place. The queue times have always been really bad on Bergeren Colony, so I've never gotten into it. But after this experiment, I need to roll something out on Bastion and start playing seriously. This was the most enjoyable GSF flying experience I've ever had.

 

Hzn: Excellent! I shall share this info with my fellow pilots! I get the feeling that your lil' research right here's gonna change the way we play GSF! Now, I definietly gotta lay my hands on Steam Controller! Thx again!

 

Y'know, If you wanna get into GSF fo' real, you'd be a welcome addition to Iota Squadron on Progenitor! We have some really dedicated and friendly vets in our ranks!

 

Who haz Gaben's Controller to check this out and verify results of OP's research? D:

 

~ Heizen & Irek

Edited by Stradlin
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Nice work! I have also experimented using Joy2Key to use a HOTAS setup for gsf, and if you put the time into configuring it right, it actually works as intended! However without any aim assist it quickly becomes difficult to compete normally. However, I am sure that would get better with more practice, as I have never even used a flight stick before.

 

Could be using the damn thing upside down for all I know.

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I wouldn't consider ever using a joystick for GSF. It's designed very optimally for mouse+keyboard. Even star citizen, which was designed with a joystick in mind, has had issue making a joystick competitive against the keyboard/mouse in dogfighting. It reminds me of this argument between PC and console gamers.
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  • 6 years later...

Six years later, still no joy. Pun intended. Sadly, the SWTOR devs could simply enable the controller support that's built right into the Hero engine but here we still are.

 

The worst part about using joy2key or steam controller is that the cursor won't snap back to center as it should when the stick does. If this alone were available it would make GSF actually worth playing for more than the mission frag farming.

 

Truly a shame, proper HOTAS support would bring a lot of traffic to the game.

Edited by OpenSorce
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