Setting up the steam controller and what you need to know.

[cammelspit]

I got my steam controller on October 16th and I love it. It is a fantastic piece of kit with some amazing features that work surprisingly well for Dolphin. Too many times have I had conversations on the steam forums about dolphin and even chatted to walk some people through the whole process of setup. It isn't hard but there are many who would find it cumbersome or unintuitive at the least so here I will try my best to make a mostly comprehensive guide to working with this controller. This will also be focused on windows as that is what I use and much will still apply for Linux and Mac but I have no way of testing that out so there you may be on your own.

Let's begin with a primer of what we are looking at. The steam controller and it is Valves attempt at creating an all encompassing controller for use in mostly PC games as these are the only apps officially supported. The first glaring thing about this controller is the lack of a traditional dual stick design and instead opts for these two large track pads. There is still one analog stick typically used for movement but there is a complete lack of a traditional D-Pad input. What makes this controller so intriguing for use on dolphin is the fact that the two analog triggers both have the same dual stage click at the end of travel exactly like the GameCube. Also, the addition of modern Gyro/Accelerometer control makes the prospect of using this for Wii emulation quite compelling.

STEAM CONTROLLER AS GAMECUBE CONTROLLER

Firstly we are going to need the steam client installed. This is because the Steam Controller uses the Steam client to do all the input device emulation and is fully required to use this controller in anything but a basic mouse style mode. Additionally we will need to use Steam Big Picture Mode (Henceforth referred to as BPM) for any and all configuration as the interface for normal desktop steam is not available. If you like you can run BPM in a window by using a “-windowed” without quotes, argument in a shortcut if you like. I won't be going into detail here about how to install the controller as the process is mostly automated. If you encounter issues the steam controller forums are a good place to start. 

http://steamcommunity.com/app/353370/discussions/0/

Next we need to set Dolphin the emulator to run from within BPM. This is so we can configure and reconfigure at will. This is done from withing the normal steam desktop mode as shown here.

• Click on ADD A GAME...
• Click on Add a Non-Steam Game...
• Once here you simply browse for your Dolphin executable ad Steam will add this as a shortcut so we can use the overlay from BPM on top of Dolphin. This is also required for any of your custom controller configs to work at all so you have to do it!
• Once here we can switch to BPM by clicking on the controller icon in the top right of the steam window or by pressing the steam button on the controller.
  
  
  
  

Now it's tie to start Dolphin! One thing to do before we actually start though. Let's select our Dolphin shortcut and select manage shortcut and then configure controller. I highly recommend using the default game pad binding's as a starting point, this guide will assume you have done this so if you haven't just hit X on the controller and select this from the list of pre-installed templates. Once you have done this go on ahead and launch dolphin.

YAY! Our beloved Dolphin has loaded up! Lets go! Wait just a second, there is a few things you need to know before we proceed. The controller will not activate any configuration other than desktop defaults if it does not detect a games as running with the overlay enabled. Steam hooks into the render pipeline of your game to do this and as such if nothing is being rendered (3D) then steam will see nothing and nothing will work. This means if you opened up the controls dialog right now the controller would either not respond, or would only use the desktop bindings. We are going to have to start a game first. Alt-Enter if you have full screen enabled so our game becomes gets out of the way for us to configure Dolphin. I would recommend testing now to make sure the overlay is working properly by hitting the steam button to verify before we open Dolphins control dialog.

From here we have a few things to consider. When the controller config dialog is open the overlay for BPM cannot be altered. You will have to close this dialog before you can make changes to the controller from withing BPM.

Rather than memorizing the keystrokes used by Dolphin by default I would set up this controller exactly as you would an XBOX 360 controller for now. When it comes to the C-Stick you can swipe your finger on the right track pad to set it. The deadzones should be set to ZERO because the steam controller has amazing deadzone and anti deadzone controls but defaults should be adequate for this. As far as a radius, I set my left stick to 70 and the right "Stick" to 80 and that gave me something VERY close the the GameCube controllers range. At least it is much better than the XBOX 360 controller!

The fun part! The triggers... The issue here is the fact that we are set to use Xinput mode only and as we all know the XBOX controllers have no dual stage triggers so we will have to bind these to something else if we want to have this function as expected. I recommend setting the digital click of the GameCube triggers to any two random keyboard keys. I will use O and P here as a demonstration but these can be anything you want. Here you will have to right click and set these manually or use the detect option because Dolphin wants to keep all the binds on one device for the most part so any key set to another device has to be done this way. Select the drop down box and select keyboard and mouse, find either O or P and hit the select button. Once these are set, Close the controller config windows and return to your game. Here we can press the steam button, select configure controller, and select our first trigger.(Left trigger in this case) This is where you need to select the FULL PULL ACTION and then select our O key on the keyboard. Repeat these steps for the right trigger and bind it to P. Leaving the overlay is as easy as pressing the steam key again.

That's it! We now have full Gamecube controller support WITH our lovely dual stage triggers for natural feeling trigger work for games like Mario Sunshine!

Here is a short video of me playing around with the trigger functions, it is hard to describe but it is smooth and very natural to what you would want from Dolphin when playing this game. See, even spam spraying is easy. Works like a charm!

https://youtu.be/TVXSpp6_Zu4

STEAM CONTROLLER AS A WII REMOTE/NUNCHUCK/CLASSIC

OK, So now it is time to move on to using the Gyros for Wii remote emulation. This is much more complicated and there are many trade offs and caveats that need to be understood here so I will do my best.

So as a start we are going to have to realize something. The steam controller as of my writing this has no "shake" inputs so you will have to simply use Dolphins built in shake binding in games where it is needed. You also can only set two axes of the gyros to any axis at a time. For example, if you wanted to have pointer with the gyros AND use the roll axis to steer you can't do that. You can set a button to trigger upon rolling but not an axis. So you will have to give up an axis to make steering with the roll axis possible. In NSMBW you don't actually need the pointer nor do you need it in Mario Kart as you can navigate the menu system completely through use of the Wii remote D-Pad. In these cases it is OK to give up your pointer for roll because roll is required as in NSMBW with the tilting platforms.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!..

I have decided for those interested to post the actual steam controller VDF configuration files so if you like you can copy them directly into your steam directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\controller_base\templates) and use them as a template to set. This is NOT a shortcut to these guidelines. These profiles are only going to be fully useful in the games that I have made them for. Just like when using the steam controller on PC games, some profiles work well with many games but there are some game where you just have to make a custom profile to get that 'just right' control you want. Either way here they are!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/w3m3tn3p6vvwnz3/AACC7lkOqOMndWpQ7T1vPgjka?dl=0 Or click HERE!

Just remember that your steam directory may differ from mine and if it does or you used a non default location to install steam you will have to adjust accordingly.

Last updated 11/14/15

Sorry there were a butt load of formatting and font issues I just fixed. A bunch of spelling mistakes too.

[8BitCerberus]

I've been wondering whether Xinput and Keyboard & Mouse could be used together in Dolphin, particularly for setting up the Steam Controller for Wii Remote emulation. I'll keep an eye on this thread, and do some of my own experimenting, if I come up with something workable I'll pass it along.

Now if only I could find a way to play Metroid Prime Trilogy with the crosshairs locked to center-screen rather than floaty, I'd be in heaven with the KB/M inputs I set up on the Steam Controller for it.

[cammelspit]

(11-15-2015, 09:08 AM)8BitCerberus Wrote: I've been wondering whether Xinput and Keyboard & Mouse could be used together in Dolphin, particularly for setting up the Steam Controller for Wii Remote emulation. I'll keep an eye on this thread, and do some of my own experimenting, if I come up with something workable I'll pass it along.

Now if only I could find a way to play Metroid Prime Trilogy with the crosshairs locked to center-screen rather than floaty, I'd be in heaven with the KB/M inputs I set up on the Steam Controller for it.

Yes, please do share anything that might be useful to others. I have fielded so many question on the steam community because I made the mistake of saying I had used the SC on Dolphin before and now I apparently am the Steam Controller Whisperer.  Alternatively you could just use LB and BACK/SELECT for the clicks on the triggers but it kinda rubs me wrong somehow. I am compiling screenshots and configuration possibilities right now for the Wii remote portion. Will prolly take another week or so in between all the other stuff I have to do, life... I am glad you like it tho!

[PJMac]

Here's my configuration if anyone wants a quick template to copy. This is for Mario Kart Wii.

I used ICE, which is an open source program that will automatically add your Roms to steam, so you can run each game individually and auto-launch it from Dolphin. This is what a portion of my steam library looks like:
http://i.imgur.com/AOUtpt3.jpg

Here's a link to Ice if you don't have it already: http://scottrice.github.io/Ice/

I assigned each individual button on the steam controller to a key on my keyboard. Here's my .VDF Template:
http://pastebin.com/71rYdQFu

Place that into a .vdf file, and then put the vdf file into the "Steam\controller_base\templates" folder.


This is the controller configuration I'm using in Dolphin:

Code:

[Profile]
Device = DInput/0/Keyboard Mouse
Buttons/A = F
Buttons/B = D
Buttons/X = S
Buttons/Y = A
Buttons/Z = `3`
Buttons/Start = `8`
Main Stick/Up = T
Main Stick/Down = I
Main Stick/Left = Y
Main Stick/Right = U
Main Stick/Modifier/Range = 50.000000
C-Stick/Up = G
C-Stick/Down = K
C-Stick/Left = H
C-Stick/Right = J
C-Stick/Modifier/Range = 50.000000
Triggers/L = `1`
Triggers/R = `2`
D-Pad/Up = Q
D-Pad/Down = R
D-Pad/Left = Q
D-Pad/Right = E

I use this for my Steamlink, which just mirrors your computer screen to the TV. However, it doesn't support a second player yet. Steam hasn't added support for each controller having its own configuration. All connected steam controllers use the same controller configuration. I contacted steam support about it last weekend, but they never replied. Several people in the Steam Controller forums state that Valve is working on the feature.

[cammelspit]

Sorry I haven't hit the next section yet all, I will get to it soon as I can. There was a big steam client beta glitch that got me down for a couple days so I just waited it out. It's fixed now so I will get back on this soon!

EDIT: and now I realize I missed something in a config for the next section so now I have to retake some screen caps... FUN!

[cammelspit]

Sorry everyone I havent had a chance to finish up here on the next section. I was an hour into writing it and my 3 year old deleted the WHOLE thing. I was quite frustrated so I decided to just put it off till after thanksgiving. I may have a chance to do some work on it this weekend but I wouldnt hold my breath. I know there have been a handful of persons looking forward to the next section involving Wii remote + nunchuck, especially in the steam community. I have not forgotten about this and I will continue. I have all the screenshots done and a working base steam controller configuration already mapped out so the easy parts are already done. I will keep you all updated as I make changes or add things here.