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Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

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Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#311
post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think steam needs Rosetta anymore.

Just checked. Still needs it. I don't have Rosetta installed and I don't want to install Rosetta just to be able to use a game controller with DuckStation or Aethersx2. When I can also connect a PS4 controller and not need any of that.

You have an old Steam.app stub, download the latest one and rosetta will not be necessary.

If you had rosetta it would be able to self-update to the new universal binary, without it you have to do this one update manually.

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure that's Valve's fault. Windows is designed for gamepads to emulate an Xbox controller. All those Steam Deck competitors are implemented as an Xbox controller with a partial keyboard grafted on. That's why you need Legion Space or Armoury Crate to make them usable - they tell the controller firmware what keybindings to send for those rear paddles. InputPlumber serves this purpose on Linux. Without it, you…

Windows supports Generic HID game controllers with 8 axis and 128 buttons already. And a few hat switches. And if your devices needs more than that, you can enumerate as multiple devices if needed. Not sure if there is a HID type for rumble support though. So, there's no reason a Steam Controller couldn't operate without a special driver. Some functionality may require custom software to support though. I have severa…

2 thumbsticks is already 4 axes. Add 2 triggers and it's 6 axes. Add gyroscope and it's 9 axes. That's more than 8. And I haven't mentioned the touchpads.

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#313
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most other companies would still nickel and dime the adults, though.

They still do that, Valve popularized the concepts of battle passes (with Dota 2) and loot boxes (with Team Fortress 2). They also took a paid game with TF2 and added all that monetization after the fact. Counter-Strike especially has a pretty nasty gambling scene that Valve refuses to control, even though its only possible because of their marketplace and APIs.

The only real in-game purchase in Counter-Strike is the game itself to gain access to the ranking system. The skins are a superfluous add-on.

They knowingly profit from gamblers if you will but gamblers are going to gamble.

The gamblers were offered e-sport or gambling and they chose the latter.

You could use Robinhood to build up a growth portfolio starting from a handful of dollars or you could use it to buy 0DTE OTM options on credit. Guess which one the gamblers chose.

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just checked. Still needs it. I don't have Rosetta installed and I don't want to install Rosetta just to be able to use a game controller with DuckStation or Aethersx2. When I can also connect a PS4 controller and not need any of that.

You have an old Steam.app stub, download the latest one and rosetta will not be necessary. If you had rosetta it would be able to self-update to the new universal binary, without it you have to do this one update manually.

I downloaded from here and I instantly get a pop-up about requiring Rosetta.

https://store.steampowered.com/about/

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#315
post #302

Can anyone share their experience enjoying the two pads they put on their controllers? I have a Steam Deck and love it, but the only experience I have with those pads is “dammit I accidentally touched the pad again.” If I want a mouse, I just connect a Bluetooth mouse. I thought for sure everyone knew it was a flop and we’d never see it again, but obviously that’s not right since they are back. What am I missing?

The touch pads work great for emulating a mouse in certain games. I've played many hours of Civ V and VI on the deck thanks to the touch pads. You can even configure them to act as a radial menu or touch menu where different areas of the touch pad emulate different keys.

Thanks. Is it not annoying to play Civ with a touchpad vs a mouse? Or is this just a convenience for situations where you can’t use a mouse?

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#316
post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes I wonder what we did to deserve Valve and how long it can possibly last.

It's the other way around. Valve is the company where we spend a lot of money and they deserve it. The rest is companies that trick people into giving them money (battlepass! lootboxes!) and they don't deserve it. People often forget that consumers as a whole are the ones holding the power, and the sad part is that rewarding a company with a good product with your money stopped being the business model and it's now t…

I'd like to have an honest conversation about this, but imo Valve is no better than the iOS app store: it aggressively rent seeks and has essentially destroyed the shareware model (which was the best way to discover software in the 80s-90s). It has also willingly been complicit in underage gambling via loot boxes for more than a decade now.

I think Gabe Newell is a visionary for building Steam in 2003, way before Jobs had the same idea, but absolutely everyone and their mother hated Steam back then. I remember the memes on IRC and various forums (and I've been on Steam for a very[1] long time, the first or second day it came out I think). Two decades later, props to them and their useful acolytes for gaslighting the entire gaming community. No idea how Gaben is regarded as some sort of Christlike figure these days, but here we are.

Maybe it's just a "lesser of two evils" thing, as companies/platforms like EA and Ubisoft are the absolute scum of the earth.

[1] https://steamcommunity.com/id/dvxirl/

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with Steam is developers are paying 30% to introduce their players to CSGO and DOTA2. Another POV is, nobody on HN has any idea what he's talking about, it's all vibes.

I too disapprove of the csgo/dota2 gambling markets on principle, but how many people actually participate in it? Like, 10k? 100k? 1 million? That seems hard to believe.

[dead]

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#318
post #316
post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the other way around. Valve is the company where we spend a lot of money and they deserve it. The rest is companies that trick people into giving them money (battlepass! lootboxes!) and they don't deserve it. People often forget that consumers as a whole are the ones holding the power, and the sad part is that rewarding a company with a good product with your money stopped being the business model and it's now t…

I'd like to have an honest conversation about this, but imo Valve is no better than the iOS app store: it aggressively rent seeks and has essentially destroyed the shareware model (which was the best way to discover software in the 80s-90s). It has also willingly been complicit in underage gambling via loot boxes for more than a decade now. I think Gabe Newell is a visionary for building Steam in 2003, way before Job…

If you think they aggressively rent seek then you do not know the history of game publishing.

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It doesn’t get the full features but it’s functional as a gamepad at least So it’s the controller and not Windows then, if partial functionality is okay (which seems fine to me).

For the OG controller on Linux, it was/is possible to use third-party open source software like "sc-controller" to map the pads and rebind things the way Steam does, without needing Steam running. I don't have any reason to believe that similar projects won't work for the new version.

SDL2 and SDL3 have steam controller support. Also, now that SDL2-Compat is a thing (alongside sdl12-compat), this means literally every game/software that uses SDL 1-3 for controllers on Linux (and windows too) should support the steam controllers.

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#320

Even if Valve and Steam is great and overall a blessing for the PC space, I don't like the direction they take with this controller. It only works with Steam, it can't work on a desktop OS without it, despite standard layout. It is a subtle move towards a walled garden.

I have an OG Steam controller.

On Linux, whenever I connect to my computer without steam running, it will show up as a standard USB HID device. This means, funny enough, I can use the trackpads like a mouse n stuff on my desktop environment.

However, SDL3 (and SDL2 via sdl2-compat and SDL1 via sdl12-compat with sdl2-compat (lol)) supports the steam controller. This means that, without using steam, I get native gyro support and stuff in software like Ryujinb and Citron.

Furthermore, at least on linux, there is sc-controller which is a userland driver that makes the steam controller present itself as a standard Xbox controller. Of course, this means you aren't gonna be able to use the fancy features directly in the game, but it does mean for software that doesn't use SDL and isn't on steam directly, it will act as an FOSS alternative steam input layer. Also, it even has Cemuhook motion server. This mean before SDL3 added gyro support for the steam controller (giving any emulator using SDL3 and SDL2 via sdl2-compat gyro support native), you could have still used gyro controls. Also, with Proton now, I think there is a flag to tell Proton to use SDL input method instead of steam input. I think this means (i have to test it), that you can use SDL to use steam controller with proton outside of steam.

I think on windows, we will see something like sc-controller.

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