#Controller Support

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

shut salmon
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I know it’s been asked plenty in the past but is there any chance SS ever gets controller support? I would love to DG from my couch someday. Surely there’s a way to port it using the steam controller API right?

plush anvil
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It's a pain the ass

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For now you can use steam as a workaround and use theirs

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But it has some significant drawbacks as you can't use triggers iirc

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I spent a ton of time researching it and it would require refactoring almost all of the mouse/keyboard key stuff

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Someday

fervent gazelle
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Shouldnt dging on a controller via steam input with limited buttons be possible?

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Or does that only work on steamdeck cause it has the pad for mouse

eternal summit
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i'm confused - what functionality would direct controller integration get you, that you can't get by just using the controller as a macro to press keys

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controllers mainly feature unconventional inputs - such as analog inputs or small touch pads, etc. But SS doesn't have any features that would support those anyway

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... though i guess analog input for ship control would help, it'd give you way more control over turning

fervent gazelle
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It sound simple, but doing it within the game itself, "simple keyboard emulation" is incredibly complex.

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Its part of what jecht looked into and learned how much work it would actually be

eternal summit
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no i mean, on the user side, just configure the controller to press keys

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as you said, steam does htis

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and there's probably a dozen other ways to do it

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there'd be virtually no benefit to SS implementing proper controller support except ease of configuration, i guess

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i suppose you could type and fly at the same time? Would finally solve the issues with text inputs, i guess

plush anvil
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It's not easy

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If you want to do that then use steam's integration for now

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You also could use third party programs to do the same

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But actual controller support SS side. Is a ways off

eternal summit
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what i am saying is you should not implement controller support.

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it's not worth your time and effort

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there's no benefit to the end user except that its easier to configure, because SS cannot take advantage of controller inputs in any particularly meaningful way

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so it would be functionally equivalent to setting up a controller so that the dpad presses the arrow keys, A presses spacebar, etc

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except you do that internally, and it's way more work on your part

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so, instead of doing that internally, the end user should just... do that

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configure the controller so it presses the right keys.

plush anvil
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That's implementing controller support...

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I understand you don't code but that's the same thing

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It's generic controller support where keys are assigned to controller inputs

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The controller inputs still need support

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You'll have to use steam or a third party program to translate such to keys as Windows has the drivers and controller support until we can implement proper implementation.

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Plus as said without modern drivers things like bumpers and triggers aren't definable. Check out steams version to see what I mean

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But that's how we re supported on steam deck using their controller system

shut salmon
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I appreciate buggy’s sentiment to respect the time of development however I think it’s incredibly strange to even combat discussion when there may be more demand for such features to exist in the future. I do agree it’s probably not worth wasting what little time the team has to work on it though. Ability to play away from keyboard and mouse is a feature that may not mean much to you but I believe the more inclusive the game is the better. Thanks.

eternal summit
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i am specifically telling you, the devs

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to not do anything with controllers

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zilch, nada, nothing at all

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i am saying do nothing.

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no work, nothing with controllers nada

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and then the user, who is not you, who is not doing anything with the code for SS, who is not a developer

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does it themself, with any of a variety of programs that will read controller inputs and send that as a key input

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i could probably do it myself in AHK or something, dunno, would have to check if AHK can see controllers

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and as you say, steam also provides this

fervent gazelle
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Jey really likes playing on steam deck so he may making somethin specifically about how the ships are controlled to make it feel better on controller

eternal summit
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and there are probably a dozen other random freeware utilities that can do this

fervent gazelle
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as in turning and thrusting

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not simply a rebind like button to direction tho

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like actually using the direction the stick is tilted to have impact

eternal summit
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that would be neat, but that's basically the only place where a controller would have relevance over a keyboard

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but yes, it is absolutely a struggle to communicate the fact that there's so damn many ways to take a generic USB controller, and when you press the d-stick forward or whatever, it presses W

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and so if that's all the devs would really be doing functionality-wise, tying controller inputs to things you can already bind to keys, then there is no reason to waste dev time on it instead of putting the onerous on the end user to configure this software that probably came with the usb controller

plush anvil
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Ah

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I want dedicated Xbox and PS4 controller support so bad

eternal summit
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the end user can configure UsbControllerProSoftware or whatever, that listens to the controller, and then it sends to the client as generic keypresses

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although, last time i checked, SS is... kind of iffy, about virtual keypresses

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maybe it's a anti-scripting feature or something