Bedwyr Posted December 13, 2015 Author Share Posted December 13, 2015 So I'm still experimenting with the best, cleanest model for running media on the living room machine. Currently Kodi seems to be the most well-behaved UI thus far. I'm trying out different operational models as experiments though; which program seems to be the best as a launcher for the other. I saw at least one person is trying to run Big Picture from inside BB, for instance. I just tried launching BB from inside Big Picture and observed a couple of things. - It seems to work ok with a regular Xinput controller *as long as you don't hit the home button*. Steam overlay is operational but does not play nice with BB. Anyone else have experience with that? - The Steam Controller will only be operational with mouse-and-keyboard set as noted here. Interestingly I couldn't exercise any control over BB or, after using my real keyboard to start a game, control a Retroarch game. - With Steam Controller active, it appears to interfere with a regular Xinput controller. Turn the Steam Controller off and restart BB with the Xinput controller and it will work again (but don't use the overlay). This mesh with everyone else's experience? Again, I'm not necessarily asking to get it working well, just experimenting, tinkering, and seeing how LB and BB work in the corner cases. The only other thread I saw besides the above two was this one and another one specifically about Steam Link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedwyr Posted December 13, 2015 Author Share Posted December 13, 2015 Well I'll be dogged. Right after posting that I went into Steam to see if I could disable the overlay and it turns out you can't do that for non-Steam games. The option doesn't exist (even for regular games you have to exit Big Picture to access the check box). After searching it looks like several community threads have requested this as a feature since 2014. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedwyr Posted December 13, 2015 Author Share Posted December 13, 2015 Oh and just so it's clear, this has been a multi-year HTPC tinkering quest that's involved a lot of organizational compulsions. The Steam Controller threw a spanner into the (mentally deranged) works. The idea of the Steam Controller controlling absolutely everything from Chrome, VLC, and the BluRay player to Steam, emulators, and other games is so so very seductive an idea. It rather sticks in the craw that a user interface could have existed that would remove the need for K&M at the couch and their design only really works with Steam as the wrapper. Poop. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedwyr Posted December 13, 2015 Author Share Posted December 13, 2015 Bedwyr said - The Steam Controller will only be operational with mouse-and-keyboard set as noted here. Interestingly I couldn't exercise any control over BB or, after using my real keyboard to start a game, control a Retroarch game. Sorry, dumb. Sorry sorry. The controller can work fine with proper keyboard bindings. Still is a mess in Retroarch though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkaegis Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 Yep! I'm actually working on this as well. While I can get it to work fine in a few other platforms, I'm mainly trying to get the Steam controller to work with it because it's kind of a "jack of all trades" as emulation controls go - I can go straight from NES, to SNES, to Wii using gyro controls in one go. That said, I'm also having issues (as you know from the thread you linked) getting the Steam Overlay to show up properly in either Launchbox or Bigbox, so I'm unable to configure much. I'll let you know if I figure anything else out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 Thank you guys. Let me know of course if you make any further progress on this stuff. I need to pick up a Steam controller at some point so I can experiment with it myself. How pricey are they? Anyone got a link? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedwyr Posted December 14, 2015 Author Share Posted December 14, 2015 http://store.steampowered.com/app/353370/ Really Long Amazon Url $50 The lesson is that it kinda sorta works outside Steam. I think when they added the Desktop Mode profile, it became more usable in Windows proper. However I don't think that profile is directly editable. I haven't dug through forums or looked for XML files in the Steam folder though. When you shut down Steam, it'll shut down the controller too. But you can hit the controller button and it'll turn on and use its default profile including mouse movement and clicking. Dunno what signals the d-pad and stick send though. The other lesson is that it presents itself to Windows differently. I think it acts as an HID device and a kind of keyboard/mouse hybrid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Sure, it's unfortunately probably a huge mess to support. I honestly haven't wanted to drop fifty bucks on it either (selfishly because I'm not a fan of it, personally). But of course I'm not so conceited that I won't support it because I personally don't like it...lol. If anyone wants to lend me one that'd probably light a fire under me to get it done. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedwyr Posted December 14, 2015 Author Share Posted December 14, 2015 Speaking as an unrepentant fanboi, and partly tongue-in-cheek, have you tried it? I was surprised how well it works in FPS settings and how granular the adjustments (such as rotating the horizontal bias in the simulated trackball so your thumb can engage natural motion and still not jump mouselook up or down) can be. And then there's the ability to do as I just did and play Civ V for a couple hours not missing the mouse one bit. That's an accomplishment on Valve's part. The weakest points are really: - Twitch RTS like MOBAs. You just can't get away from a mouse for those. - Super complex games like aircraft simulators or heavily macro'd MMOs. And even then mode-shifting when they implement it might mitigate that. - Button and stick location. It's a slight reach for small hands. Now that's not a whine, it's just a defense of the thing from someone surprised it's actually as good as it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 Good to know, @Bedwyr. I've definitely read more negative feedback on it than positive, so it's good to hear some positives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedwyr Posted December 16, 2015 Author Share Posted December 16, 2015 That's disappointing, but I've seen it too. I think the biggest problems people have with it is a) they're not used to something that has a different control response than stick, b) they're not aware of the myriad settings available, and c) they're trying to treat the trackpad as a trackpad instead of a simulated trackball, where finger flicks, horizontal constraint settings, and haptic feedback actually work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkaegis Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 Jason Carr said Good to know, @Bedwyr. I've definitely read more negative feedback on it than positive, so it's good to hear some positives. It's much better than a lot of people are giving it credit for. After a few hours, I'd put it far above generic game controllers on most games - It's far more accurate than a typical gamepad and I'm only sacrificing a tiny bit of accuracy over Kb/M for comfort/the ability to use motion controls on most games that I'm playing. Recently clocked 50 hours of Just Cause 3 and the only time that I felt the need to revert to kb/m was for the gun accuracy challenges. Once you've got a good setup, it's pretty good and it's, by far, the best all-in-one controller I've ever been able to use as emulation is concerned because you can attach the Gyro to Wii motion/IR input and it's got plenty of buttons/inputs for other platforms. That said, I can understand the gripes - the fact that it ties directly to Steam and is mostly useless outside is both a downside and an upside. Upside is while you're in Steam, you've got access to hundreds of presets made by other Steam users - most of my games are supported out of the box. Downside is that it doesn't play nice with many non-Steam games because you need Steam overlay to be working 100% for it to be picked up properly. If you're iffy for now, I think the biggest issue with the Steam Controller working in BigBox is that the overlay isn't coming up right. If you can get that working, then I think the controller might come with it. I'm a bit attached to my Steam Controller to ship it off for testing, but I'd be glad to test stuff out for you if you ever need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 Ah wow, that's pretty cool, especially the gyro stuff. I didn't even realize it had that. I will have to pick one up, just need to wait a bit yet. Just spent too much money on Christmas presents lately. ;) Unfortunately resolving the Steam overlay issues doesn't sound easy. I have no idea why it wouldn't work in the first place so I'm basically grasping at straws. I'll tinker with it and see if I can figure anything out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkaegis Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 Jason Carr said I didn't even realize it had that. Same, actually, until I actually started playing with it. Has a neat haptic thing that happens as you move the controller around that's pretty satisfying. If you ever pick one up, make sure you really dig into the per-game settings. The flexibility is pretty crazy! Jason Carr said Unfortunately resolving the Steam overlay issues doesn't sound easy. I have no idea why it wouldn't work in the first place so I'm basically grasping at straws. I'll tinker with it and see if I can figure anything out. Wish I could help more. All I can say is that Steam Overlay chokes on Launchbox and Bigbox, for some reason. Launchbox will, on occasion, properly start and "pass" the overlay to the games that I launch with it, but I'm not able to start the overlay within the window. Maybe it's as simple as Steam having issues starting overlaying because Launchbox isn't a "traditional" window? The controller works, but usually only if I run both Steam and Launchbox as admin, which is kind of a dirty fix that works with a few other games. I was able to get the overlay to "activate" in BigBox, although it wasn't functional. It almost seemed like it was under BigBox because I could hear the noise of my controller moving around in the overlay, but I couldn't see anything. The controller doesn't work at all in BigBox (even with the overlay "working), but I haven't the foggiest idea why. I know you're working on getting BigBox to show up in the taskbar in a future release, maybe that'll fix it? I've got no idea how Steam overlay works, but maybe it's getting lost somewhere and doesn't know where to project itself because it doesn't have a traditional taskbar icon. The only reason I'm leaning toward that as a possibility is this post about Arkham City. Could be absolutely nothing, but at least there's a possibility there. Jason Carr said Just spent too much money on Christmas presents lately. Totally know how that is. I'm in the same spot at the moment. Only reason I actually ended up taking the leap and picking up the Steam controller was because I had $40 of Amazon credit that was expiring on the next day and needed to pick something up right away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedwyr Posted December 17, 2015 Author Share Posted December 17, 2015 I wonder if the API resources might have some clues? I don't deal with this kind of programming, but perhaps there's something of use: https://partner.steamgames.com/ https://partner.steamgames.com/documentation/api Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Thanks guys. I actually have the task bar thing fixed, I just haven't put out the beta for it yet. I doubt it will make a difference, but who knows. I'm guessing it has more to do with DirectX, but that's just a guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkaegis Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Jason Carr said Thanks guys. I actually have the task bar thing fixed, I just haven't put out the beta for it yet. I doubt it will make a difference, but who knows. I'm guessing it has more to do with DirectX, but that's just a guess. I'll defer to the expert - I'm just taking shots in the dark, pretty much, haha. I'll let you know if I figure anything out myself. Edit: Unsurprisingly, you're right. Just tried the new beta and I'm having the same amount of success with the icon as I was without. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Too bad it's not that easy. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedwyr Posted December 20, 2015 Author Share Posted December 20, 2015 Some more information that could be useful for you. Someone posted a link on Kodi to their Steam Controller Linux driver. https://github.com/ynsta/steamcontroller I only deal with dedicated GCC and G++ stuff for scientific computing, so I'd be pretty pants at interpreting this and finding some independent/compatible Windows implementation. Yet there still might be something of use for you here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkaegis Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 Bedwyr said Some more information that could be useful for you. Someone posted a link on Kodi to their Steam Controller Linux driver. https://github.com/ynsta/steamcontroller Ooh, that's actually pretty promising and I was wondering how long it'd be until something like this came out. Looks like something similar to DS4Windows that "wraps" controller input into Xbox360 input. I assume the Steam Controller would then show up in the system as a generic controller after the driver is installed. Upside is that it would show up in Launchbox/Bigbox, likely, but we'd lose the ability to use community and saved user setups. Looks like it's Linux only, atm, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were ported to Windows eventually. That said, and correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like something we, as users, would install more than something that'd help Jason directly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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