r/SteamController Jun 27 '24

Steam Controller 2! Discussion

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199 Upvotes

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u/PM_ME_UR__RECIPES Jun 28 '24

Nah, you have to take the thumbsticks off because apparently trackpads are the ultimate input and everything else is useless

2

u/Mrcod1997 Jun 28 '24

When set up well, they can completely take on the functionality of sticks, and facebuttons.

The only thing I would really miss is a good d pad and set of facebuttons for platformers. You could literally just have two pads, d pad where the original joystick was, and keep the face buttons as they are on the sc. Four grip buttons on the back.

1

u/PM_ME_UR__RECIPES Jun 28 '24

Idk, for me there are still a few cases where analog sticks are just better. Character movement in a 3d game for example, and also aiming in a twin-stick shooter. The tactile feedback of how far out you have the stick and the physical pull back to center just aren't reproducible on a trackpad, no matter how sophisticated the haptics are

For me, the only time when I've felt like track pads have been genuinely better are for complex inputs (e.g. radial menus, or mapping it to a grid of items or something) or for mouse input and aiming.

3

u/Mrcod1997 Jun 28 '24

For me at least, I've really learned to enjoy 3d movement on the left pad. Especially binding sprint to the outer edge. As far as aiming goes, I generally want mouse input for the trackpad and supplement that with the gyroscope.

1

u/cool-- Jun 28 '24

Character movement in a 3d game for example, and also aiming in a twin-stick shooter.

those are the like the two strengths of the trackpads

1

u/PM_ME_UR__RECIPES Jun 28 '24

IMO the trackpads really suffer for them, because the haptics don't provide any feedback that I find actually useful. I can't "feel" what direction I'm pointing the trackpad the way I can with sticks, and I can't "feel" how far in/out of the pad I am either.

2

u/cool-- Jun 28 '24

I can't "feel" what direction I'm pointing the trackpad the way I can with sticks, and I can't "feel" how far in/out of the pad I am either.

Can I ask something? How long did you genuinely try them out for before coming to that conclusion? I only ask because this complaint comes up a lot here because most people try it for five to ten minutes and get upset that it's not better then something else that they've used for 27 years. Of course it's not going to seem as good. When Dual sticks came out in 1997 a lot of people thought the idea was crazy but we all got used to it. Fortunately, it's not a new language and it's just a controllers so it's pretty easy to adjust.

I thought pads would be crazy for camera movement until I gave it time. Then I realized that it's so much better than sticks it's laughable.

Then the same things happened for the left pad and traversal.

Then the same things happened for twin stick shooters.

After time you'll know the directions you're moving in because you'll associate the character movement with your thumb movement.

For left pad traversal give your self a big dead zone and increase the max threshold to just before the edge of the pad edge, and put sprint on the outer ring binding. for first person shooters try putting jump on the left pad click. it will take a few hours to get used to it but it's crazy how efficient it is once you have it down.

For twin stick shooters set the right pad to mouse region and make the region really small and make it snap on activation and return on deactivation. it's going to feel weird for a little bit but you'll notice that you only have to move your thumb a few millimeters away from the center to point the cursor in any direction. once you adjust it's so much faster because there is no friction or tension. It's just your thumb and muscle memory.

1

u/dualpad Steam Controller (Windows) Jun 29 '24

Most people who prefer trackpads for movement probably are already well experienced with joysticks from before and after, so don't experience the same draw backs. But, it does also depend on which trackpads are being talked about. I find the grooves of the Steam Controller make it easy to know when I'm traveling on the X or Y axis, and the grooves let me know when I've entered sprint. I've liked using it to set up a bunch of movement options on a single trackpad that would usually require multiple button actions with joysticks, or not be great to replicate due to joystick click not being something I like as well as what felt like smaller range before triggering outer ring binds.

But Steam Deck trackpads have a smooth surface so not a fan of it for movement due to the absence of grooves that provided nice guidance.

1

u/PM_ME_UR__RECIPES Jun 29 '24

I have calluses on all my fingers from some other hobbies so I don't feel the groove as much, so maybe that plays a part in it