Gameplay

The Config

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Game

Focus Schools

Operator Mode

Melee

This is gonna have advice I learned from using the steam controller for a little over a year now. Obviously if you prefer to use it differently then go ahead, but this is in my opinion the most efficient way to use the controller. First of all on the controller you have the two trackpads, the face buttons (A,B,X,Y) one analog stick, two bumpers, two trigger, and finally two buttons on the back that many refer to as the grips. On the average config you would use the right trackpad for aiming and the analog stick for moving and the rest can be whatever you want. However for this guide I will explain my config and why I put the controls where they are.You can download my in the community configs, It's "Steam Desktop Mode by Tombwraith" My name changes every other day to some stupid ♥♥♥♥ so I gotta put it in the config name.There are 6 action sets, Launcher, Game, Melee Mode, Menu, Decoration, and Lunaro.For now we'll just talk about the main two for gameplay; Game and Melee ModeMy config is called "Steam Desktop Mode by Tombwraith". This is because i don't use big picture mode like many do with the steam controller because it has some problems, especially in this game. The problems can include Steam crashing, Big Picture mode freezing, having an objectivley worse interface, not being able to use in game chat without a stupid slow blue keyboard blocking the entire screen, worse performance, and generally being less useful. I have a config that uses radial menus (which are little on screen displays that show what input you are about to use on the screen) in big picture mode and it works just as well in game but I feel that radial menus and touch menus aren't worth all the hassle that comes with big picture mode, especially if you can't use the in game chat without covering your screen in blue and waiting for the slow ui to finish.Game is the config that is used for Primary and Secondary weapons as well as when you are unarmed (at your ship and relay and such). This config uses a few activators (alternate actions to a button that can be either long pressing it, double pressing it, pressing it down but not letting go, and letting go of the button, those last two are rarely used so don't mind them too much.)The right pad is predictably used for movement but pressing it down is used for jump instead of any other action so that you never have to let your thumb off the right pad unless it's to readjust after moving your thumb too far in one direction.This is important so that you are always aiming just like how you would use a mouse. You actually rarely have to pick your thumb up to center yourself because whenever the touchpad is in contact with your finger it activates the gyroscopic sensor in the controller. This is by far the hardest thing to get used to but I URGE you to try. if you master the use of the gyro you can become as proficient in aiming as the average mouse user if you try hard enough. Now the other action that this pad does is reloading when you double tap it (not pressing it down, tapping softly). This works for me but it takes some getting used to if you don't want to fling your camera around like you're having a seizure from all the bloom and bad color correction. I also set the haptics of the pad and Gyro to low because after the novelty wears off you can sorta do better without it as well as not waking up the neighbors with the buzzing sound.The buttons are used for actions that while important aren't used in heavy action as much as most of the other controls. This is because taking your thumb off the right pad means you're not aiming which is fine for the actions on the face buttons. (Y) is switch weapons obviously, makes sense to be there. (X) is context action which means most things that prompt you to press X. (B) is for reversing the camera which is more useful than it sounds sometimes. And finally (A) is showing the level map (making it cover like half your screen) for the normal press and if you hold it down it takes a screenshot so you can share your sick fashionframe skills.The stick is for movement as you would expect but there's a little twist. There are for the most part three speeds of movement in warframe. Walking, which is done by slightly tilting your stick. Running, which is done by tilting it all the way. and sprinting which is usually done by holding a button down or pressing it if you have toggle on. However in this config it is set so that when the controller reaches a certain level (close to the apex of the stick but not all the way) that you start sprinting. this comes with a few advantages over toggle sprint. First of which is it doesn't get disabled by anything in game unlike the in game toggle, if it ever does get disabled it's super easy to just push the stick back a bit and push it foward to start sprinting again. Second is that the haptic feedback will let you know when you start sprinting. I set pressing the stick down to be push to talk which is 'C' for me.For the left pad I put powers there but theres a bit of a catch. Powers activate by you touching one of the 4 regions of the controller WITHOUT pressing the pad down. If you hold your finger on the pad without pressing it you will hold the power down, which is used in frames like Ivara and Vauban. When you press the pad down it activates a turbo mode of the ability you press. This is SUPER useful for frames that have some abilities that act only on targets like Trinity, Valkyr, Loki, etc. I also have the middle of the pad set to activatewhen you press it down all the way.It's weird to get used to the timing of the holding and pressing of the middle but once you do it works well enough.Now for the triggers. The Left acts as the standard aim on soft press, which means as soon as you press it even a little. The small amount of force required to activate it allows you to pop in and out of aiming faster than pressing it further. It is mostly the same case for the right trigger except I put a sort of turbo mode on the hard press of the trigger. this only works if you press it fast enough to not activate the soft press, which is actually not that hard once you are used to it. The repeat rate allows you to use semi auto weapons comfortably and without strain.For the bumpers I made the right bumper secondary fire, which while not used on may weapons is useful enough to warrant a whole button. I also bound placing a marker on the left bumper because it is useful as hell for teamplay. I chose not to bound anything I use as frequently shooting of crouching or melee to the bumpers because personally I don't like the stiffness of them for constant use.However I do like the feel of the grips for common actions. I bound melee to the right grip and crouching to the left. I put them on the grips because your fingers will always be on them and they are actions that you need to be able to use while aiming, jumping and moving. There's not really a reason for why i chose for them to be right or left other than preference.The start button does what you expect. Select opens Item popup and emotes for when you need to style on them hoes. If you hold it down you get the results screen which can show you how much resources you have, what mods you picked up and how little damage you are doing compared to the group cause you suck at using this controller.Melee is basically the exact same except since you don't have aiming and shooting the left trigger is to block while the right it to attack, using the same mechanism for turbo. The right grip also still does melee so that i don't get confused.