r/SteamController

This is hard to apply, but so worth it!

Hair dryer worked fine, alignment was easy, just very time consuming and nerve-racking, but yay sucess!

These are from Ghostly Guard. I made the carbon fiber track pad covers because I didn't like the red.

3D printing my dock and grip in black now, because I need the contrast.

I’ve been working on GyroLib, a reusable library for adding gyro controls to game mods. A lot of the controller handling, motion processing and settings code could be shared between games, so I turned those parts into a standalone library.

The goal is to let modders focus on connecting gyro to their game’s cameras, aiming states and menus, rather than rebuilding the whole input system for every mod.

What it includes

• Nine gyro spaces, including Player Space, World Space and local-axis modes.
• Independent X/Y sensitivity and inversion.
• Always-on, hold and toggle activation, using the controls and touch sensors available on the controller.
• Smoothing, acceleration, manual and automatic calibration.
• Flick stick and supported touchpad rotation.
• Separate profiles for different cameras or cursors, with settings inheritance and optional recommended presets.
• An in-game settings panel, plus a menu model for integrating the same settings into a game’s native UI.
• SDL-first gyro acquisition, with optional Steam Input fallback through the host’s initialized service.

For developers, GyroLib provides a ready-to-use gyrolib.dll, a C API, a C++ wrapper, documentation and integration examples to connect it to your game.

The mod still needs to connect the game-specific parts. Camera output, native stick suppression, input filtering and menu rendering each need the appropriate integration. GyroLib doesn’t inject itself into arbitrary games.

The video shows Monster Hunter Rise running a mod that uses GyroLib. It’s an example of the library working in a real game: the mod handles the game-specific integration, while GyroLib handles the controller input, gyro processing and settings. The library itself is designed to be reused across different games.

There’s also a standalone demo on GyroLib nexusmods page

The demo is a third-person shooting range with four weapons, two sniper zoom levels, moving targets and an inventory cursor. It shows how different gameplay views can use their own gyro settings, and includes both the supplied panel and an example native settings menu.

Monster Hunter Rise gyro aim mod on nexusmods
GyroLib on nexusmods
GyroLib on GitHub

Yes, that's Starcraft on the living room TV, played with a Steam Controller.

It took some tinkering but using the trackpads makes it about as good as playing on a laptop. It's not competitive but neither am I. I just enjoy Starcraft as a casual, cozy game with friends and playing on the couch is that much cozier.

I just managed to win an FFA against 2 computers. So thats something.

Both tracks pads are set to mouse input with left click on the right one and right click on the left one. That might sound weird but it feels natural and is how I've been "driving" every mouse+keyboard game, as well as desktop mode.

Left bumper is set to the "A" key so I can attack move by holding it and right clicking.

Right bumper is set to the "Ctrl" key so that I can assign control groups to the Dpad.

The Dpad is set the number keys 1,2,3,4. I might add 5-8 on the back buttons but it would be nicer if there were a way to cycle through all of them with one button - open to ideas. (Maybe a radial wheel on the right joystick? SteamInput is cool but not intuitive).

Left trigger moves the cursor to the bottom right corner so that I can quickly click the UI buttons down there (Build, repair, siege, cloak, etc). And then goes back when I release the trigger. It's like holding a trigger to open a sub menu. (That UI changes dynamically depending on what is selected so creating shortcuts for each unit and building didn't make sense. But a short cut to move the cursor over there makes it easy to quickly hover over the area and click).

Right trigger works the same but for the minimap.

Left joystick is set to arrows keys - which controls the camera.

That's it so far. It's surprisingly playable. Open to suggestions on how to improve this layout. I should probably figure out something for Hold Position and Patrol. What else does this need?

I love the combined puck/dock/charger idea for the new SC. For stationary use its great, but having a cable + puck isn't the best configuration for travel. I found a small plug-to-plug USBA-C adapter which works well, but the puck's orientation blocks off other ports next to it. I've been living with a really short usbA-to-C cable, but having the puck just kinda flop around off my laptop was very annoying, and I was worried about the puck's pins bridging something metal and causing problems.

So! I got a small NRF8250 board running openpuck, and then made a hyper-minimal 'case' for it. It's still a tad long with the USBA-C converter, but I no longer have the floppy dongle problem.

In case anyone has the same predilictions: https://www.printables.com/model/1866854-openpuck-tiny-cover

Ever since I got the Steam Controller, I had a few huge issues with, mostly, the ergonomics:

1. The controller is not very flared/angled outward so it has the same issue as the 8Bitdo controller where people with larger frames like myself find it uncomfortable because it forces our arms more inward.

2. The back buttons are in a position where I could only click them with the lower meat of my fingers.

3. It’s not a very wide controller and so my fingers constantly touch and it’s very much something I never got used to.

4. this is a bonus one, but DBrand makes a skin for the controller and most people (myself included) didn’t perfectly apply the skin and so there are rough edges.

ComfortGrips on Etsy solved all 4 of these issues with their “Ergonomic Comfort Grips for Steam Controller Grip.” [Please note that I am not affiliated with this seller in anyway and purchased 2 of them with my own money. I did however message them before the product was live asking if they were making a Steam Controller Grip that would solve my issues and to my surprise, they said they were almost done with it].

Fast forward to today and my controller grips arrived and it fixed all 4 of my issues perfectly. I remember seeing so many people share the same sentiments as myself when the controller first launched so I just figured I would share because it’s literally so perfect for my hands now. The texture is also incredibly nice. The only thing I would note is that with a Dbrand skin applied, they don’t appear to close/“lock” all the way but it’s still works great for me. [it might also impact that touch sensor on the sides but I don’t use that feature]

Overall, can’t recommend it enough to people with wide frames, medium-large hands, or own a Dbrand skin that wasn’t applied perfectly. Pictures of the black model on my controller can be found here.