Hello all who are curious about Valve's new Steam Controller! I'm creating this thread with the intentions of making a place for people to talk about their experiences with different games using the Steam Controller, what works, what didn't work, and any tips to help others wrap their heads around this thing as they slowly acclimate themselves to it.
A Few Tips
Saving Templates: When you First get the controller you're going to find that you can browse the community for configurations that may work for you. When you do find a system that works, it can be a pain configuring you're preferred layout for each game, however there is a way to save your own templates. If you create a profile you think would work well across a certain genre, FPS games for example, save that profile as a private profile and then search for THAT game's Steam App ID number in the SteamDB. Remember that number, find your Steam install folder and go into sub-folder "userdata"; do a search for "controller_config" and within that folder find the folder that matches your game's AppID number. Inside this folder is where Steam saves your controller profiles (.vdf files).C:\Program Files
(x86)\Steam\userdata\#########\241100\remote\controller_config\%%%%%
The folder address should look something like this. [ ## is your Steam ID, %% is your game's ID number
You can then copy your profile and save it to the Steam Controller's "templates" folder.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\controller_base\templates
Save your profile here to select it for other games
Best Use Cases:
FPS: I have found using the gyro to be the key to precise accuracy in First Person games. I'm using a system i call 'three layer aiming" where, while using the right thumb pad, you swipe your thumb to do 180 degree turns (like scrolling the web browser on your phone), slide your thumb to do 90 degree, "room checks" and use the gyro for fine aiming. It sounds convoluted in writing but it's vary natural in practice.
Flight Sims: The gyro works great in flight sim games as you're able to use the gyro for precise steering while using the right pad as your first person camera, which is important for keeping your eye on your target (substitute for trackIR). I have found the left thumbpad to work great as a throttle when set to "scroll wheel" mode; clockwise turn throttles up and counter-clock wise throttles down. The grip buttons are great for modifiers, or "shift states" to get more functionality out of your available buttons.
Driving Sims: What I've found best to get the precision you need is to set throttle/brake to a touchpad, set to emulate an analog stick, and use it vertically to accelerate and brake. Then set the other touch pad up as an analog stick and use that horizontally to steer BUT don't steer from the center of the pad, instead place your thumb on the top rim of the touchpad, as your center, and steer from there (you may have to adjust sensitivity). The triggers are free to use as shifters or handbrakes.
Your Contributions
So these are a few things that i have found useful through a weeks worth of testing the Steam controller. I'm hoping to built upon this thread with other tips, tricks, workaround from the Giant Bomb community and also have others provide their experiences with individual games they've tested with the Steam controller in hopes of providing advice for those who own the Steam controller and to give others a place to decide if this thing may be worth picking up someday.
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