My mind is not functioning on all cycoinders yet and I just want to try and use the Steam Cobrrokler with Thimbleweed Park on my tv (Steamlink). But when I do the right pad thingie the cursor barely moves and I can’t seem to find a way to manage this in big picture settings?
Would anyone be willling to do tutorial level walkthrough? While Thimbkeweed has built in gamepad support, it is not practical to pan cursor across screen with traditional gamepad. This is why I’m finally trying to make Steam Cobtrokler work for me as that right pad thing I know should allow me to pan mouse cursor across screeen quickly and accurately. And honestly I just do not have energy to spend hours going through help guides. Thanks.
I’ve been looking into getting one, but don’t know enough to help other than to ask if downloading a config file someone made might not be a good idea?
It’s a bit late for me now @jpinard but I can try and share my desktop/browsing profile which works for most mouse-driven games as it basically imitates the common functions of mouse and keyboard. I use it for all sorts, including adventure games.
Do you need to be on your PC to do that? I’every been going through the menus on big ociturr in living room and can’t seem to locate the right place to load stuff. Settings >> and I look through Confroller Settings, and Base configurations and on-screen keyboard and didn’t come across sharing or the major customization thingies I know is sonewhere
I don’t own Thimbleweek Park so I can’t really help directly with that but I’d advise loading it through Big Picture first using your controller, leaving all in-game settings at default and bringing up the overlay using the Steam button on your pad.
Go to Controller Configurations and press X to Browse Configs. From there you’ll want to select Recommended or Community to bring up some existing configs to choose from. Select one by pressing A then hit that Steam button again to go back to the game. See how that config works for you. If it feels okay and needs some tweaks you’ll want to bring up the overlay again (by pressing the Steam button) and go back to this screen by pressing the B button:
Have a poke around and if you make a change you can always go back to the game using the Steam button to see how that feels on-the-fly. If you muck things up just reload the config like you did previously.
If it’s no good, try another config until you find something that works for you. I’ve found my config above for mouse use is a good all-rounder or at least a solid base for other tweaks depending on the game.
I finally figured it’s what was wrong. I didn’t realize I had to select a game first, then go to manage games then to go controller stuff. I kept trying to do it from main menu or steam controller outside of anything, from main menu. I think I’m on way?
The Steam Controller’s awesome jp, but it takes a bit of getting used to, a bit of tinkering and a bit of creativity sometimes with the possibilities it offers.
A few general tips:
Always start a game for the first time in Big Picture so you can easily create/select and tweak a controller config. Once you’re happy with your settings and saved (and selected) your config, you won’t need to launch the game again from Big Picture unless you need to make further changes.
When tweaking in Big Picture, remember that you can make a change, hit the Steam button to resume playing, and test it straight away. If it’s not right, hit that Steam button again to tweak it further. It’s an overlay for fast configuring. When you’re happy, save it.
In Steam Big Picture you can select the settings cog in the top right and look under ‘Base Configurations’ to configure how your controller behaves on your desktop:
That’s where I select my mouse config for general browsing and casual desktop navigation. This config actually works better than mouse and keyboard for Antihero (a non-Steam game) because instead of having to use the cursor keys, which is awkward (no WASD support yet), I can just use the thumbstick to scroll around the map because I’ve mapped up, down, left and right to it (for browser scrolling on the desktop). I usually use this config as a basis or foundation for mouse-driven games and tweak everything else around it. Like @Gendal says though, it’s definitely worth checking out the Recommended and Community configs first before breaking a sweat here.
Using the Steam Controller for GOG games, Uplay, Origin etc. can be awkward. Basically you have to make your desktop configuration a typical gamepad config so that when you load, say, Rayman Origins, it’ll behave like a controller and not a mouse and keyboard. If you want all the power and flexibility of the Steam Controller configurator for a non-Steam game then you have to add it to Steam and load it via Big Picture as per above. I struggled to get The Crew and the Dolphin Emulator working properly this way so it’s not always possible.
The Steam Controller is extremely versatile so if there’s something you’d like to do there’s a strong chance you’ll be able to do it. I find it’s fun tinkering around with some of its functionality but if you’re not into that then it’s still worth having a poke around the config options just to see what kinds of things you can mess around with.
@geggis it’s finally starting to make some sense. Thank you! I’m still having a bit of trouble adapting to doing steam controller in thimbleweed due to the action commands and I need to train myself better with the right pad. In light of this, I’m a bit more fonfrtable with the gamepad controller, but… I feel like if I was able to have gamepad control, but just change Steam Ctrnoller to have right pad be like the mouse or accelerated cursoring it would be perfect. Is it possible to have a mixed configuration like this? I may not be making any sense at al here either, so I will try to explain better. Xbox controller I use for steam link works really good for me in thimbleweed except for moving cursor around is too laborious. So is there a way to keep everything exactly as the gamepad, just change that right pad to function as faster, morre precise cursor movement thing.
And sorry I don’t mean to take up all your time, I really appreciate so much, as it is exciting I’ve taken some huge steps in making this work!
Get in game via Big Picture, press the Steam button, go to Controller Configuration, press X to Browse Configs, go to Templates and select ‘Gamepad with High Precision Camera/Aim’ and hit the X button to Apply Config. This will basically make the controller behave like an Xbox controller but with the right trackpad as a mouse. You’ll probably need to adjust the sensitivity to taste but as I say, you can make adjustments on the fly by bringing up the Steam Big Picture overlay while playing. Once you’re happy, press Y to export/save your config as a personal binding and you should be set. Again, once you’ve setup your controller you don’t need to launch from Big Picture again unless you need to make further changes.
Hope this works! And seriously, it’s not a problem. I’d much rather you be comfortable with this very cool device than struggling.
You can even have it so that when you rest (or unrest) your thumb on the trackpad it enables the built-in gryo so you can motion aim the pointer. It sounds whacky but it can work surprisingly well and transfers the movement to your wrists rather than your thumb.
Haha, no problem. It gets relatively broad use from me, from casual browsing and general desktop use on the sofa to turn-based strategy games like Chaos Reborn and Antihero to more real-time fare like Helldivers and Rocket League. The d-pad on the Xbox controller is horrible but the trackpad on the Steam Controller can be configured to ignore diagonals so calling in strategems reliably on Helldivers is a lot better for me. I made a config for Eldritch when I was experimenting with gyro aiming in first-person games and that worked surprisingly well. Still, I had to get back on the keyboard and mouse for that. :-P
I do have niggles with it but for the price and its vision (and the fact that it’s Valve’s v1.0) I’m really happy with it. But I can’t deny it’s not exactly ‘plug and play’!
Yeah, I get the feeling that the people that don’t like it want that plug and play. I had been chatting with someone about when I said I had switched from game pad to k/m for the beta of The Long Journey Home. I didn’t like how the joystick worked and they told me they had gotten around the issue with a steam controller (with edge spin, most likely, which is a brilliant idea). The more I looked into it, the cooler it sounded. I’ve also been thinking about steam link.
Given I have programmed lua scripts for my G13 (primarily to shoehorn mouselook into games that don’t support it), I’m not afraid of messing with configs and such if it leads to a better experience.
I was against getting a steam controller when they launched because of the big picture requirement, but now that I’m thinking of getting the link, that objection falls away (if it’s even still a requirement)
Yeah that was one of my chief problems with it but once you’ve got your config set up you don’t need to launch the game in Big Picture again unless you need to make further changes. Big Picture is the best way to access and use the Steam ‘configurator’ to make tweaks to your settings and configs. There is a desktop configurator which I’ve not used much because it seemed wonky in comparison and I hear more limited too.
Holy cow. That is cool. So for him to do that, I don’t know how he did that. How d you change how the controller works when your not in games? I feel like it’s like before. I’m missing one step to get to the right place.
@Geggis this is so exciting. I’ve had this for so long and I’m finally using it productively. Not under best circumstances, being sick, but I will take it! :) Thanks so much!
