Steam Controller

Well, we’ve made it through another decade.

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I normally like ending the year with games that I’ve finished; But this year is a little different because we’re not just going into a new year. I wanted to recollect moments that made gaming even cooler for me over the last decade.

Gaming Under Linux

When I first caught wind of Left 4 Dead 2 being able to run under Linux I thought it was pretty cool. I’ve grown up playing with Linux since I was a kid, and at the time I was running (and still am) dedicated servers. The very idea of being able to install a free open source alternative to Windows seemed like a good direction. I was invited to the beta second wave, and I remember installing Ubuntu, figuring out how to install the proprietary AMD drivers and wanting to strangle someone whenever I borked the OS. But I got it all figured out and got Steam to run. The library was really small back then. Only a few GoldSrc titles like Half Life and Counter Strike were available to play. But eventually Left 4 Dead 2 was released to everyone in the beta, and eventually more games were ported over, Wine started improving, OBS became available outside Windows, and now thanks the birth of the Vulkan API and Steam’s version of Wine called “Proton” the gaming library under Linux is much more vast than it was earlier in the decade. I definately use Linux much more than I used to, and I’m happy to say at the end of the decade I’m using Linux more than I use Windows. I earned my TF2 Tux fair and square!

Preordering The Steam Controller

There are rare occasions where I will preorder a game, and in one particular case this controller. I remember reading early announcements about it and looking at prototype models they would tease, and the idea of having a fully programmable controller tickled my brain, and the built in gyroscope immediately sold me on the idea. Like with most of my preorder purchases I made a good gamble. See, when I was growing up I wanted the comfort of playing full PC games on the couch, and not just platformers and sidescrollers, but FPS’s and anything that felt more comfortable with a manual aim that I could never achieve with a Dualshock or XBox type controller. The Steam Controller enabled me to basically use an air mouse with the additional buttons and layout of a controller. It’s unfortunate that Steam is no longer making these versatile controllers, it seems too many people couldn’t grasp the concept of fully modifying their controller. They just wanted the plug and play console experience with a game working perfectly out of the box… sorry but if tweaking a config a bit is too much then you really need to re-evaluate why you bought the controller; You’re probably better suited for a console. I haven’t had any issues with mine, and even ordered another three during their last call to purchase them. I hope we see even cooler controllers in the future, and that possibly Steam will release their 2nd revision of the Steam Controller that was leaked awhile back. One can dream anyway.

 

 

The Birth Of Adobe Alternatives

I’ve always liked making and editing videos of one kind or another. I first played with Premiere Pro CS2 during my early years of YouTubing, and later on moved onto CS4, then eventually CS6. When Adobe announced that their newer version would be subscription based I pretty much signed off CS5 as my final Adobe Suite. I wasn’t going to pay a monthly fee for something I don’t have the time to do everyday. One day I ran into an audio issue that couldn’t be taken care of in CS6. After trying a few alternatives I finally settled on Shotcut; an Open Source free alternative that has a lot of cool editing features and is always being updated, and can also run under Linux (meaning all of my video creation can be done under there from start to finish). I’ve been editing with Shotcut for a couple of years now, and now my Adobe suites have collected cobwebs.

Open Source Game Recordings

In the beginning there was only FRAPS for recording your desktop, but over the years there were other pay softwares that cropped up, and eventually NVidia and AMD made their own recording and streaming software for their GPU’s, and then eventually we had OBS and later on OBS Studio. OBS was once recommended to me by a friend on Steam when I was having issues with FRAPS after upgrading to an R9 290. I didn’t use it too much in the beginning other than for recordings. Later on when OBS Studio came out and they added a plugin to record directly from your GPU and stream using the CPU simultaneously I was quite happy with the results. Unlike FRAPS there are a bunch of optional plugins you can install, and if some of them become popular enough they will eventually be introduced into a newer version. I’ve tried AMD’s recorder, and I played a bit with PlayClaw and Shadowplay, and OBS Studio is always there for me. Now if they could add Vulkan support I can die happy.

When Source Filmmaker Was Made Public

I always liked the idea of making my own videos, and have always been interested in animation since an early age. When I heard that Valve was officially releasing their tool, which has been used for every Valve title like Half Life 2, Team Fortress 2, Portal 2, the Left 4 Deads etc I was pretty stoked to finally get my hands on professional free software. I’ve dicked with it on and off over the years and finally was inspired to change up my video format a bit and create these abominations, as referenced in the most recent video:

Before Source Filmmaker was officially released back in 2012 I used Garry’s Mod for animating, and while that was fun I wanted something that could produce something semi-serious with a cartoonish edge and better animation tools for a better story telling experience, after all this software was designed by people who used to work at Pixar. I’m still finding surprises in this old software. In the future I can use it to render in 4K plus I found out recently that I can use a command line function to render using more than one thread on my CPU; Meaning I can export even faster. More on that another time though.

Playing With Friends Near And Far

This was a more recent feature to pop up over the decade and I imagine it will get better and better assuming broadband companies don’t gauge people to the point of online gaming being impossible. Sometimes you want to play a game with a friend, but it doesn’t have an online option, or they don’t own the game. Now as long as its supported you can invite a friend from anywhere in the world to play with you, as if they have their controller plugged into your system!

I would list games over the last decade but I think the list is long and wordy to the point that only two or three people may read it before venturing off to the next shiny thing. If anyone would like to share memories of the last decade, be it tech, games or whatever I’d like to see it below.

Happy New Year, and many decades and melons to come. :melon:

Music to my eyes.

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After hearing from so many users about cancelled shipments it was nice to hear that I’ll be getting these; hopefully my co-worker got his too. I told him about the blowout when it happened and he immediately purchased. At that price it was hard not to.

Once these arrive I have some experiments that I’d like to run, see how well two Steam Controllers fare in couch co-op games.

Evening Open Thread

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The things I do in bed…

When I first woke up yesterday I contemplated getting out of bed, or staying put and playing a little game. The weather has been cold enough here that I’ve been leaving my computer on to act as both a heat source and entertainment, and my kind of entertainment is known to heat up a room or two. My muscles were too tired to do much, so I propped myself up on a couple of pillows and played AudioSurf 2 on my Steam Controller for awhile. I worked on what is turning into a nice config, it still needs some tweaking but it’s more usable than the default controller settings. I have the gyro and right touch pad enabled to act as a mouse, and if I enable the gyro I can drive my controller like a steering wheel. It’s fun, but I still need a bit of practice before I can match my score on my everyday Logitech G502.

I went through a bit of my library yesterday and revisited some other games that I’ve been neglecting, progressing a tiny bit before hitting a stuck point and going off to the next point of interest. Both for pleasure and preemptive pleasure. I went through some of my couch co-op enabled games and tried to optimize them to the best of my ability for if I ever want to invite someone over digitally or physically. I’m looking forward to getting my new Steam Controllers (assuming the orders don’t get cancelled) in the mail, if only to experiment with local co-op config building; see how well two of the same controller work together.

I wanted that fucking hat…

Yutram and I were going to play Trine last night, but that has been proving difficult with Steam Controllers and a regular mouse. I’m thinking the next time we attempt it we’ll try regular controllers (if possible). I was too tired to do any streaming last night (was still overwhelmed from Thanksgiving and Black Friday) and wanted to relax in some Borderlands 2 DLC instead… I think I’ll save that for another post, and maybe a future video.

Today was a little more productive; I did some Cyber Monday shopping, and drank lots of tea as per morning, afternoon, and evening tradition. I’ve been combining fruit teas with regular loose leaf tea to make super tea!

This morning was a Blueberry Watermelon Oolong morning. I have cranberry blood orange black tea lined up for tomorrow, though that one was already pre-mixed. Now I’m sipping just blueberry and jade green tea, both filled with antioxidants.

I’m getting closer to the finish line for this particular project. I worked on it a little bit today, will probably finish it the rest of the way tomorrow. There really isn’t much else to do on it other than some animation cleanup. Hand animating has been an interesting learning curve, and I feel like I get less and less worse with each attempt. After I finish up this project I’ll be putting together something for a New Years Eve video. To celebrate my new-ish video style I’ll be selecting the best animated bits from videos throughout the year. If anyone has a suggestion feel free to throw one my way. :melon:

You can already count on Ronald and Batman… Open Thread!

How to fix your Steam Controller under Linux (Mint 18.3)

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Upon plugging in a Steam Controller into my system under Linux the other day I found that it didn’t recognize it no matter what way I plugged it in (different USB ports, Bluetooth, wired or wireless), then I did some research and found out that you have to add your own ruleset. Not something difficult to do, but if anyone is still looking for a guide you can read this:

First you’ll need to figure out where your udev folder is, under Mint and most Ubuntu based distro’s the path should be /lib/udev/ and on other distros it can also be /usr/lib/udev

Once you figure that out type:

sudo gedit /lib/udev/rules.d/99-steamcontroller.rules

Or on other distro’s type su and your root password, then type:

gedit /lib/udev/rules.d/99-steamcontroller.rule

You can replace gedit with whatever text editing program you want to use, it can be terminal based or GUI. Running this command will open up a text file called 99-steamcontroller.rule (or create one if it doesn’t exist), edit it to look like this:

# This rule is needed for basic functionality of the controller in Steam and keyboard/mouse emulation SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="28de", MODE="0666"

# This rule is necessary for gamepad emulation; make sure you replace 'pgriffais' with a group that the user that runs Steam belongs to KERNEL=="uinput", MODE="0660", GROUP="REPLACEWITHYOURNAMEORGROUP", OPTIONS+="static_node=uinput"

# Valve HID devices over USB hidraw KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="28de", MODE="0666"

# Valve HID devices over bluetooth hidraw KERNEL=="hidraw*", KERNELS=="*28DE:*", MODE="0666"

# DualShock 4 over USB hidraw KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="054c", ATTRS{idProduct}=="05c4", MODE="0666"

# DualShock 4 wireless adapter over USB hidraw KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="054c", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0ba0", MODE="0666"

# DualShock 4 Slim over USB hidraw KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="054c", ATTRS{idProduct}=="09cc", MODE="0666"

# DualShock 4 over bluetooth hidraw KERNEL=="hidraw*", KERNELS=="*054C:05C4*", MODE="0666"

# DualShock 4 Slim over bluetooth hidraw KERNEL=="hidraw*", KERNELS=="*054C:09CC*", MODE="0666"

# Nintendo Switch Pro Controller over USB hidraw KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="057e", ATTRS{idProduct}=="2009", MODE="0666"

# Nintendo Switch Pro Controller over bluetooth hidraw KERNEL=="hidraw*", KERNELS=="*057E:2009*", MODE="0666"

Save your file and close, then restart Linux and launch Steam. Your controller should now be in working order as long as you have Steam open. If you close Steam it will stop functioning, you can get it to work outside of Steam if you install the Open Source Steam Controller Drivers.

If you have the Steam Controller and Linux you might want to check this out.

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Found a cool open source driver and UI for the Steam Controller.

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They don’t have an rpm package for CentOS 7, but compiling it should be easy enough. This will be really nice for games that don’t cooperate with the Steam UI properly, IOW DOSBox which yes, I have installed under Linux. There are some old classics I’d like to play using the Steam Controller (like Jazz Jackrabbit) which gave me absolute hell under Windows.

The pro’s and con’s of Steam

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I think it’s more than fair that if you look at my content, or to the side where you’ll see my current distractions you’ll notice that I really like Steam. Steam is a really great platform for buying and playing games, and they’ve done a brilliant job making their platform accessible to people outside of Windows on the Mac and Linux platforms. As a result has helped bring more gaming attention to Linux which is great overall. They make really great hardware, such as the Steam Controller. Big Picture? It’s a wonderful convenience for those of us who want to play on a big TV and want the console experience but the freedom to mod and play the way we want to. Does this make me a fanboy? Not really, because unlike fanboys I can point out flaws, and Steam has a lot of flaws.

Is Steam’s focus on movies a flaw? Not really, considering their focus has been on things like Big Picture, SteamOS, their controller, you name it. They want to bring Steam into the living room for those who want the option, so releasing movies would make sense. And why not? They already sell software and graphic novels, why not movies? It isn’t something that I would buy, but why deny others of having the option? That to me is not a flaw.

Now, if you said that their browser sucks? I’m all on board in agreement. And I’ll even admit that Big Picture has it’s issues. For example, sometimes when I look at my friend activity there will be a 50/50 chance that it’ll either fail to come up, or it’ll appear fine, and then there’s a 25% chance that it won’t display correctly. Like, you’ll scroll over a friend to see what they said, or what picture they took, and it won’t come up at all. Then you have their support service, which we all can universally agree sucks.

And then there’s the Steam Mobile Authenticator. Want to trade with someone on the market? You need a smartphone, or to wait three days for the trade to go through. That sounds somewhat reasonable, note the emphasis on the somewhat. It gets ridiculous when you want to sell something on their community market. I went to sell some cards I accumulated in a game, and found that I had to wait 15 days… wtf? Again, you need a smartphone.

I don’t want a smartphone. I literally have no reason to purchase or use a smartphone, nor do I have the desire to purchase one. I rarely make phone calls and when I do it’s over a landline. Everything else is done via email. When I point this out people seem shocked for some strange reason. Then they ask me why I wouldn’t want “the most convenient device ever made”? Why? I’m a practical person. If I bought a smartphone it would literally be just to use the trade system and market on Steam, that’s not a good reason to buy a smartphone. Also, I’m not the type that checks social media every few minutes. There are times when I just want to disconnect completely from technology and go about my business. That might change someday, but for the time being I don’t want a smartphone, especially for something like Steam.

I’m not against the idea completely, but why do they fixate on having a smartphone? Why can’t you use a secondary email address, or a landline? I would think the landline would be safer since it’s tied to your fucking house.

I love you Steam, but you’re drunk… Get back to your roots dammit.

Want to make your own stuff for the Steam Controller?

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This could get interesting! Valve is releasing the 3D CAD Geometry of the Steam Controller for all to use.

We are releasing the mechanical CAD geometry for the Steam Controller and are eager to see the accessories and variations that come from your creativity. We are making available, under Creative Commons licensing, the geometry of all externally visible parts. This allows you to create and share to your heart’s content, but you’ll need to get in touch with Valve if you want to sell your creations.

The archive contains several eDrawings viewer files: from Creo Express and native Modeling, to neutral exchange and 3D print files – for compatibility with a wide variety of your design tools.

Download link: ZIP archive

To kick off the sharing of alternate designs, we are releasing a couple variants of the Battery Door that allow you to carry your USB wireless receiver with you. You may need to revise the geometry for your particular printer, but here’s a great place to start:

It’s gonna be cool seeing all the creations people will create with this. I can imagine new buttons, different faceplates and other cosmetics. I did like this idea though.

CadReleaseBatteryDoor01

The Logitech F710 (and most of their wireless mice) have small compartments where you can store the USB dongle. That was one thing lacking on the Steam Controller. I imagine if someone sold those types of battery doors I’d be wanting to purchase one. Maybe some other cosmetics to pretty up my Controller too. I’ll definitely have to tell my co-workers about this news! They already drool over the Steam Controller’s awesomeness.

Final Conclusion: Steam Controller is all kinds of awesome

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SteamController2

I posted my Steam Controller review the other day via Steam (What a shocker). In case anyone didn’t see it I’ve decided to put a link to it here. Surprisingly I was 99% serious in my review. But considering a broken clock is right twice a day I guess it was bound to happen. Here’s the the review.

Merry Christmakwanzahkuh

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Happy Holandaise!

I survived another year of Christmas, gripers and all. I’ve either been working or in bed fiddling with the Steam Controller some more, and thanks to the latest sale it looks like I have more fiddling with it. I woke up tonight to presents in the form of games. So I revenge gifted a bit in return.

Speaking of the Steam Controller I’ve been playing more FPS games with it. I mentioned TF2, but I’ve also been dabbling in the Serious Sam games. It still takes some getting used to but I’ve been doing better than expected, at least when playing the campaigns. Survival mode in Second Encounter has been tough to adapt to, but in BFE and Revolution I get about the same survival time. I actually had to write my own config for Serious Sam Classics: Revolution. It took some time to get the buttons in the right places but I got a good setup for it now, at least for me anyway. I even uploaded the config in case anyone else wanted to take a stab at it.

Another nice feature I found was finding game configs for non-steam games. I run my gog copy of Witcher 3 through Steam, and when I’m in Big Picture if I check community made configs I see a small list of configs. Pretty handy.

The client likes to randomly crash on me when using it for too long, and there’s a bug where certain games will get stuck in an infinite loop when you try to launch them. For me that’s just been Portal 2 though. Other than that everything has been going well. With the weather being extremely cold lately it’s been nice to kick back someplace warm and play anything I want.

More fun with the Steam Controller

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Yesterday I took it for a field test on one of my TF2 servers to see how it stacks up compared to other controllers or a Keyboard and Mouse. I went in as a Pyro with the default layout tweaked a bit to my liking. Not many people know it but the Steam Controller comes with a built in Gyroscopic sensor not too different from what you would find in a VR headset or a smartphone/tablet. I used that combined with the right touchpad and managed to get the drop on my enemies multiple times. Keyboard and Mouse will always be king IMO but this makes it great if you want to get away from your desk and just sprawl out in another area while doing basically the same thing.

The response time over wireless was amazing, in fact I didn’t notice any latency when I pointed my controller towards an enemy. The gyro sensor does take some getting used to though. I played it with some racing games and it does take some practice if you want to use the Steam Controller as a steering wheel, but it’s fun once you get used to it!

The Steam Controller also supports DOS games. I tried to play some Wolfenstein 3D but didn’t really care for it on the controller. However it handled the original 1996 Tomb Raider like a champ. I didn’t use the D-Pad as I find it to be too stiff compared to your typical controller, but the analog stick worked perfectly. Someone made a config that makes it handle kinda like the old Playstation controller. It was comfortable and I think even better since it has extra places for button assignments. For example sidestepping was assigned to the bottom bumpers of the controller instead of it’s more traditional spots like LT and RT, which to me felt more natural.

Overall I still haven’t regretted the pre-order. In fact it keeps getting better and better with every update. They recently introduced a shortcut menu that you can use to bring up keyboard shortcuts. It’s handy if you play games like Skyrim which have a big keyboard layout.