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Console Controllers on PC Preference Thread

The DS4 works wonderfully on PC, but I wish more developers included support for it. I don't mean actual control support (we can get that via DS4Windows), but button icons. FFXIV: RR did well here.
 
Recently started using the DS4. I love the controller itself but the battery life is quite poor and the Bluetooth connection is a bit shaky even though I'm only about 3m away. I may have to go back to the 360 dongle.
 
DS4 is my favorite as well.

I worry about breaking the Micro USB connector though. I wish it had a better battery. Maybe I need to change utilities, if you're using it wirelessly and then plug it in, the computer thinks it's a different controller. Pain in the buttocks.
 
I'm using a DS3 and it works fine, it's just not very comfortable for me. Are the XBones fancy triggers usable on pc? Are there any games that support them?
 
I've been using the Xbox One pad for a while now. Apart from the Bumpers, it's the best controller I've ever used. They finally managed to make a controller with a good dpad!
 
Wii U Pro + Mayflash

d-pad is perfect
comfortable
sticks are just the right tension
i prefer digital triggers to analog, as I don't play vehicle sims
quality components (buttons, etc)
battery life

If not for the Wii U Pro, I'd go with DS4.


Veal said:
I really wish the Steam Controller was out, as I'm dying to try that control method.
Click to expand...

Same here. Looks very interesting.
 
I've tried DS4 and X1.

X1 controller is the best option. No idea why Sony didn't make some drivers for the DS4, that way newer PC games could incorporate DS4 buttons. As it stands I don't want to use a DS4 with Xbox button prompts, so X1 it is.
 
I think I'm going to revamp the OP tonight.

This could be a pretty helpful thread with some TLC.

I'll edit out the ds4 battery since I'm in the very small minority.
 
It annoys me when I see Xbox inputs while I use a Dualshock. It makes the game feel hacked together and inauthentic.

I full recognize that this is superficial and a stupid complaint, but it bothers me to the point that I hate using a controller on PC because of it.

I would use the 360 pad, but the d-pad is so god damn awful and I typically use controllers to play emulators on PC for my old games.
 
I use 4 controllers on my PC very regularly:

-Xbox 360 controller is basically the default PC controller. Virtually everything supports it right out of the box and it does everything I need it to do. It's also the only wireless PC controller I use, which is a plus.

-Sega Saturn controller is my go-to 2D controller. Fighting games, retro games, most indie games... they feel better with this controller than an Xbox controller. So comfortable. it's USB plug and play.

-Razer Hydras are my VR controllers. I hate the wire on these things, they make the experience uncomfortable. 6 DOF tracking per hand without line of sight. They can emulate mouselook with pointer control but work best with natively supported games, like Portal 2 and our own Half Life 2 VR.

-Steam Controller is like duct tape. Any time I have a problem and a conventional controller won't work, the steam controller remains an option. Example: When I first got Alien Isolation, Oculus Rift support hadn't been found, so I played using VorpX for VR support. VorpX maps mouselook to your headtracking. Obviously, this means you have to play games using a mouse. If you begin using the 360 controller in Alien Isolation, it turns off keyboard and mouse. So if you, for example, move with your 360 stick, mouselook turns off completely, which meant no headtracking.

Since the steam controller is nothing more than a keyboard and mouse shaped like a gamepad when in legacy mode, this made it a good controller to use for this purpose until native VR support was found. If I go back and play a game without controller support, the Steam Controller is always there for me.

These 4 controllers cover realistically any controller scheme I'll ever need.
 
Wireless 360 controller. I would look into the Xbone controller for the better D-pad but I've heard bad things about the triggers and until there is a wireless version I'm not even considering it. I love the DS4 and would get one of those since my PC does have a Bluetooth receiver but if the button prompts are gonna be Xbox 360 pad then I'm just gonna stick with that since I can't be assed to be playing a game and have to think about what the Playstation equivalent of B is.

When is the Steam controller going to be readily available for everyone to buy? I would love to get that and have both the button prompts in games reflect the controller I'm using as well as not have to keep a wireless mouse and keyboard on my center table.
 
Wii U pro controller plus a Mayflash adapter for PC is heaven.

I need to pick up a white Xbone controller to match it though, for the couple of games that actually use the triggers.
 
An addendum to my last post - The Razer Hydras are about to be essentially obsolete when the STEMs ship in january. Due to the cross-support, PrioVR will also render the Hydras useless. The STEMs and PrioVR are wireless.
 
TriAceJP said:
Wireless Xbox 360: Made to simply work with the PC. The controllers can be found dirt cheap and make setting up multiplayer games absolutely simple
Click to expand...

Got any link OP? I'm tired of my DS2 to USB controller because few games only support x360 native. I saw a lot of cheap(like $15-$20) x360 controller but I'm not sure if it was manufactured by Microsoft. The original MS x360 controller (taken directly from x360 consoles) costs about $30 in my area, is this the best deal I can get?
 
The DS4 has become my standard PC controller due to all the options and extra buttons. I'm going to have to live with this build quality, because I don't think I can go back to something with less.
 
I'm actually thinking more about the 360 controller now as a stop-gap until I guess the XBO controller has a wireless option.

I do have like six of them laying around...

Can I use a 360 controller meant for a 360 with my PC? Do I just have to buy the specific wireless adapter from MS to make it work?
 
I have a PS4 controller and Wii U controller and other options.

But I am never going to bother because 360 controller support just plain works. I don't ever have to fiddle with options. I don't have to worry about the wrong button prompts popping up in games.

As far as I'm concerned it is the "brand name" controller for PC. Everything else is third party stuff.
 
Used to swear by the XBOX360 controller as the standard, but have since jumped on to the Pro Controller train.

Does the button layout take some time getting used to? Yes, especially if the game doesn't let you rebind some of the controls. Anybody with a bit of savvy that takes the time to tinker with some config files or splices in some keyboard binding, though, can find a lot to love with it:

  • Fantastic battery life. I believe the reported number is 80 hours and it definitely feels like it, even months after owning one.
  • Fantastic grip.
  • Easy to charge. If you already own a Wii U, it's an added charging station (on top of being a fantastic games console. :P )
 
Renzoku said:
I'm actually thinking more about the 360 controller now as a stop-gap until I guess the XBO controller has a wireless option.

I do have like six of them laying around...

Can I use a 360 controller meant for a 360 with my PC? Do I just have to buy the specific wireless adapter from MS to make it work?
Click to expand...

Yes to both questions.

Here is one thing to save you some pain though:

If you buy a cheap off brand adapter (only around $10), you'll have to manually install the drivers (i.e. tell your computer in control panel what it is by directing it to Microsoft --> Xbox Wireless Controller). And you'll have to do this anytime you unplug it and put it in a new USB slot. But other than that it works flawlessly.
 
nbthedude said:
Yes to both questions.

Here is one thing to save you some pain though:

If you buy a cheap off brand adapter (only around $10), you'll have to manually install the drivers (i.e. tell your computer in control panel what it is by directing it to Microsoft --> Xbox Wireless Controller). And you'll have to do this anytime you unplug it and put it in a new USB slot. But other than that it works flawlessly.
Click to expand...

Sweet, thanks for the suggestion and info!
 
Mister D said:
When is the Steam controller going to be readily available for everyone to buy? I would love to get that and have both the button prompts in games reflect the controller I'm using as well as not have to keep a wireless mouse and keyboard on my center table.
Click to expand...

Probably next year. The problem of button prompts is funny, the way I solve it is by assigning buttons on the controller logical corresponding keyboard presses, then remapping controls in-game so they make more sense.

So like, I'll call the left trigger, "left click" on the mouse, and right trigger, "right click." Then I'll call the Left bumper, "L" and the right bumper, "R". Then I'll call the left paddle "left", as in the left arrow key, and the right paddle, "right."

Then I'll go into the games in-game remapping feature and change the corresponding keys in-game to match these new mappings. That way, when I'm playing a game, I'll get prompts telling me to press "L" or "R" or "left" or "right" or "Left Click" or "Right Click" instead of random things like E or Q or Ctrl.
 
Loving the Xbox one controller on PC, can't wait for a wireless dongle and impulse trigger support.

That controller just feels perfect in my hands. Not a big fan of the DS4, It's an improvement over 3 for sure but the analog sticks just feel wrong to me.
 
tjohn86 said:
If they get the wireless support for the Xbone controller I will switch from the 360 in a second.
Click to expand...

This. So annyoing they still did not. Can not be bothered fiddling with the PS4 stuff. Did it once, didn't work very well, added lag...no thanks.
 
I'm using an Xbone controller attached to a huge ass usb cable.

Works great in Watch Dogs and Dead Rising 3.
 
X1. It just works and I have a really long USB cable for my PC. The button prompts match and there's no 3rd party hack/software to deal with.
 
Used DS4 for a long while until XB1 pc drivers hit. Mostly using xb1 because i like the sticks for shooting stuff better and you don't have to tinker with 3rd party stuff all the time to get ps4 controller working (minor inconvenience is still an inconvenience)

DS4 is still used for dpad games.
 
I'm using a wired DS3 because it's basically the only controller I have, would prefer to get a xone/360 one, but not going to throw some 30-40€ at a thing I might use twice per year (prefer KB/M for most stuff, what can I say, I grew up with a PC)

I'm using some program that can somehow emulate a 360 controller so all games think I'm using a 360 one and work fine but the A/B/Y/X prompts ingame instead of the PS signs can be a bit confusing at times, especially since I don't use it much anyway

the triggers are god awful btw
 
Enosh said:
I'm using some program that can somehow emulate a 360 controller so all games think I'm using a 360 one and work fine but the A/B/Y/X prompts ingame instead of the PS signs can be a bit confusing at times, especially since I don't use it much anyway
Click to expand...

I wish things like button prompts were handled by OS. Like give devs the ability to either use a default icon, or their own. That way, as a user, you could swap icons at will and have them reflected across all games.
 
I may not love the 360 pad, but it's insanely easy to plug and play. Until another controller can make it that easy, I'm sticking with my wired 360 controller.
 
I just ordered a White DS4 for my PC. I was on the verge of buying an xbox One pad but asymmetrical analogs can fuck right off
 
My current favorite is the wireless 360 controller. Currently using the golden C3PO one from the Star Wars 360.

That said, I could get use to the WiiU pro very easily. I would recommended to new people over the 360. i think its a better gamepad but my muscle memory feels something is wrong when I'm using a different game pad than the 360.
 
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