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[Nymphae]

I'm a pretty big fan of Frequency and Amplitude, beat both games on Expert back in the day using just my thumb and the default control scheme (which I'm rather proud of as Harmonix stated that could not be done)

I took a Gaffer's tip, and downloaded the free PS3 game to my PS4 last night. Game is awesome, I really wish there was more of a market for this game, I would love some sequels. I mean obviously, there was a market, and Guitar Hero and Rockband became legendary, but yeah that's died down quite a bit.

Anyway, my old ass thumbs can't keep up on expert the way they used to I built my first fight stick this year, and today at work I was jonesing for some more Amplitude, and it occurred to me to try my fight stick, since the buttons are in a nice row. I had to do a tiny bit of rewiring, but I have Square, Triangle, and R2 on the top row of buttons, X accessible with my thumb.

And ho-ly shit, I just completely killed this track. Never used this control setup before but my fingers just know what to do, you have a button for each finger and it just feels logical (I could never get the hang of the Harmonix recommended setup - L1, R1, R2) Much better than sliding/jumping my thumb from square to circle and back across triangle at 160+ BPM.

I highly recommend giving this gem a try as it's free this month, and if you've got a stick, try it out!

UPDATE: I tried to contact Harmonix about this, but their support site indicates they won't ever allow customizable controls. However, they tipped me off to this setting in the PS4 options menu, which allows you to reassign buttons yourself!

There is currently no way to completely customize controls for the game. There are some customization options in the game's settings, but you can also customize controller inputs through the PlayStation 4's Custom Button Assignments, found in the Settings > Accessibility section of the PlayStation 4's menu.

This works very well!

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

I have a stick so I might try it out, but isn't there some sort of key mapping in the game menu?

It stinks if I have to go swap some wires just to play with the top buttons in the way you're describing.

Big fan of rhythm/music games. Recently, I picked DDR on PS2 back up in recent months and I'm having a ton of fun with it.

 

[Queso de Grande]

That was an awesome idea. Fight sticks would great for that game. Also Amplitude was Harmonics best game.

 

[Nymphae]

I have a stick so I might try it out, but isn't there some sort of key mapping in the game menu?

It stinks if I have to go swap some wires just to play with the top buttons in the way you're describing.

Big fan of rhythm/music games. Recently, I picked DDR on PS2 back up in recent months and I'm having a ton of fun with it.

No, you can only select between 2 control schemes, and the only difference I can tell between the two of them is it moves the buttons that you switch tracks with. Otherwise they expect you to use Square, Triangle, Circle or L1, R1, R2 or a combo of both.

It is a bit of a pain in the ass to get into my fight stick, pull out the wires for R1 and Circle, then put Circle where R1 was, but I'm a huge fan of this series and I'll probably do it very frequently.

I was thinking of maybe building a dedicated unit for this game alone, I have a spare stick and push buttons, just need to figure it all out.

 

[Nymphae]

That was an awesome idea. Fight sticks would great for that game. Also Amplitude was Harmonics best game.

For some reason I like Freq better, the overall look was cooler I thought, and I preferred the heavier emphasis on electronic genres. Amplitude was great, but I think the song selection was really weird (Cherry Lips by Garbage? Edit: I actually am a Garbage fan, but this song is one of my most hated), and I didn't like the flat plane vs the tunnel.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

I was thinking of maybe building a dedicated unit for this game alone, I have a spare stick and push buttons, just need to figure it all out.

Go all the way: buy clear buttons and wire up colored LEDs below that illuminate when you press them down.

 

[Nymphae]

Go all the way: buy clear buttons and wire up colored LEDs below that illuminate when you press them down.

Oh shit that's a great idea!

I just switched the buttons on my stick back...and yeah I'm not going to want to do this every day lol. I'm always worried I'm going to break off those prongs on the pushbuttons and their wires, that seems like really delicate technology, I'm surprised there isn't a better way to connect those things.

For the hell of it, I'm going to email Harmonix tomorrow and ask if it's possible to patch in customizable controls. Who knows, might get lucky, that guy got Shadow Warrior on sale just for asking, maybe Harmonix will feel like doing one of it's oldest fans a solid (admittedly, a fan who waited for this to be free before playing it lol)

 

[Nymphae]

isn't there some sort of key mapping in the game menu?

I just checked again, and there are actually a handful of presets to choose from, nothing that suits my needs though. Not sure why you can't just assign the buttons, how hard is that really.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

I just checked again, and there are actually a handful of presets to choose from, nothing that suits my needs though. Not sure why you can't just assign the buttons, how hard is that really.

It is truly backwards, I know. Button assignment plz.

Especially in a rhythm game where people will be using their own peripherals.

 

[Nymphae]

It is truly backwards, I know. Button assignment plz.

Especially in a rhythm game where people will be using their own peripherals.

I just went through the whole rigmarole signing up at Harmonix's website and tried to submit a support ticket to ask about this, eventually I found this answer:

There is currently no way to completely customize controls for the game. There are some customization options in the game's settings, but you can also customize controller inputs through the PlayStation 4's Custom Button Assignments, found in the Settings > Accessibility section of the PlayStation 4's menu.

Interesting, I wasn't aware you could do this in the accessibility settings, gonna try that out.

 

[Nymphae]

DunDunDunpachi Wow that totally works and is really nice and easy to setup. Just have to go into that setting in the PS4 menu before I play and turn on the custom assignments option, good to go. That easy lol.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

DunDunDunpachi Wow that totally works and is really nice and easy to setup. Just have to go into that setting before I play and turn on the custom assignments option, good to go. That easy lol.

Good find! I totally forgot PS4 could do that.

Handy feature.