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Steam to expand PlayStation 4 gamepad support in new update

At Steam Dev Days today, Jeff Bellinghausen with Valve Software said the company is slated to release an update that will expand Steam Controller configurability options to the PlayStation 4's DualShock 4 controller.

Co-presenter Lars Doucet, developer of Defender’s Quest, explained, “Believe it or not, when you use the PS4 Controller through the Steam API, it’s exactly the same as a Steam Controller. You make the exact same API calls, you only get actions, not inputs, and the Steam API takes care of everything.”

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...ayStation_4_gamepad_support_in_new_update.php

This is a cool addition. I hope Wii U Gamepad and Xbox One controller are next.
 

MUnited83

For you.
As someone who plays many of games with a PS4 gamepad and have been looking into getting a steam controller, this is pretty darn nice.
 

Corpekata

Banned
This should mean effectively not even needing a third party program anymore for DS4 since the API allows you to emulate Xinput. Or rather, they're building their own into Steam. This will be nice for when Win 10 inevitably updates again and breaks DS4Windows and inputmapper.
 
As a longtime user of the Steam Controller, I can't look back. Giving Steam Controller functionality to more "traditional" controllers is such a smart idea, I can't believe it took this long to come out.

Being able to remap and adjust everything on the fly is so important.
 

BHK3

Banned
wii-u's a pipedream. Xbone already has native support in most if not all games since it just uses a 360 driver. The dualshocks swipe mechanic and 2-3 extra buttons really help it out if youre gonna do some PC gaming stuff.
 

kadotsu

Banned
Now the next step would hopefully be to create controller prompt hooks in the Steam API to make the UX more consistent for people that often switch between XBOX, Steam and PS controllers. You can often solve it with texture replacement (thanks Durante) but something platform wide would be appreciated.
 

Spinky

Member
CumHD2tWYAAQKNW.jpg


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Fucking glorious.
 

Exuro

Member
Now the next step would hopefully be to create controller prompt hooks in the Steam API to make the UX more consistent for people that often switch between XBOX, Steam and PS controllers. You can often solve it with texture replacement (thanks Durante) but something platform wide would be appreciated.
They talk about that in the article.
The on screen icons for action prompts should match the physical controls on your device. If it says “push A,” my device should have an “A” button that does the thing when I push it.
However, you will get access to the glyphs through GetControllerActionOrigins(), and as you can see they’ll be PS4 specific.
 
I know that Xbox One has native support, but is it possible that Valve could separate the back buttons of the Elite controller from the ABXY on the front? So you can have 8 buttons.
 

Rappy

Member
wii-u's a pipedream. Xbone already has native support in most if not all games since it just uses a 360 driver. The dualshocks swipe mechanic and 2-3 extra buttons really help it out if youre gonna do some PC gaming stuff.
I wouldn't count on the Wii U Gamepad either but it would be nice to have. Also:
He said that Valve is supporting the PS4 controller first due to its overlapping functionality with the Steam Controller, thanks to the gyro and the touchpad. However, support for other controllers is planned.
There's more to this than just native controller support. Customizing controls and other features are a huge selling point for me with the Steam controller. If they support XB1 I might pick up an Elite Controller.
 

Nzyme32

Member
This is absolutely awesome. Love it!

It solves a problem I had quite recently where we wanted to use DS4 controllers and modify them for friends who liked the Steam Controller layout, but the game wasn't supporting rebinding well enough.
 

joeblow

Member
I am grinning ear-to-ear reading this news. Awesome!

As a proud owner of a Steam controller, I am fine using it for almost any type of game except those that rely on the d-pad for movement. The Steam controller is horrifically bad at 2D shoot 'em ups, brawler beat'em ups, fighting games, run 'n jump/shoot platformers, etc.

I will happily use my PC's trusty DualShock 4 with these game types and not look back as its d-pad is top tier. Thanks, Valve!
 
Nice, I'm currently using my Xbox One controller for PC but I have two extra DS4 that I might start using now.

Love having options.
 

Ogawa-san

Member
I'm not familiar to Steam controller rebindings, I wonder if I'll be able do some of the weird bindings I have with DS4Windows like finger on left touchpad + X for example. I use a lot of these with FFXIV, it's awesome.
 

Corpekata

Banned
I'm not familiar to Steam controller rebindings, I wonder if I'll be able do some of the weird bindings I have with DS4Windows like finger on left touchpad + X for example. I use a lot of these with FFXIV, it's awesome.

Yes. You can do all sorts of crazy bindings with the controller. Can set buttons to be modifiers and whanot. The touchpad shenanigans should remain the same (and probably easier to make/manage and improve).
 

Deadstar

Member
I don't get it. So you would plug in the controller via usb and it would recognize it and I wouldn't need to use DS4?
 
I wonder if they included the same functionality for Xbox pads? I'd love to be able to remap some buttons in some games.

edit: oh ok it's coming later
 

Wonko_C

Member
I'd like the functionality so I can finally get rid of inputmapper but I don't like to use Big Picture, hopefully BP isn't forced on this.
 

Grinchy

Banned
Sweet! I only really use the DS4 for Rocket League these days. I've kinda moved over to the Steam Controller for PC gaming.
 

Nzyme32

Member
I don't get it. So you would plug in the controller via usb and it would recognize it and I wouldn't need to use DS4?

You just plug and play. The games using this will support the correct button prompts and give you access to many of the benefits that you can get from Steam's controller config editior, that used to be only for the Steam Controller. You can completely rebind all your controls whatever way you want. You can even play games that never supported a controller by utilising the mixed mapping of keyboard inputs / mouse to touchpad. You could even trade configs across steam etc etc.

Basically all the advantages the Steam Controller has been having, although without the hardware specific benefits. It is a move away from Direct Input, where game input is stuck to the game per device, whereas this makes them interchangable between controllers
 

Deadstar

Member
You just plug and play. The games using this will support the correct button prompts and give you access to many of the benefits that you can get from Steam's controller config editior, that used to be only for the Steam Controller. You can completely rebind all your controls whatever way you want. You can even play games that never supported a controller by utilising the mixed mapping of keyboard inputs / mouse to touchpad. You could even trade configs across steam etc etc.

Basically all the advantages the Steam Controller has been having, although without the hardware specific benefits. It is a move away from Direct Input, where game input is stuck to the game per device, whereas this makes them interchangable between controllers

This sounds incredible! I hope it works with Dark Souls 3. I've been using DS4 but sometimes it's a pain. I would love to have this all integrated and for the correct button prompts show up. Being able to fully customize the buttons will be great. It's the best thing about the steam controller.
 
This is great news. Good job Valve! I just love all the input devices the PC can support. I may just grab a PS4 controler to try this out. I have always loved the d-pad on Sony controllers.
 
I'd like the functionality so I can finally get rid of inputmapper but I don't like to use Big Picture, hopefully BP isn't forced on this.

They updated a few months ago to allow full Steam Controller configuration and use outside of BPM. It open the configurator rather clunkily in a separate instanced BPM window, but you don't have to actually be in BPM to use it.
 
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