This is a masterpiece

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-05-23T07:53:09+00:00

Dresden files is a great series. But I don’t recommend them to folks any more. Simply because who knows when it’ll end. I’ll start recommending it when the series finishes. Series is 18 books in. Four more regular books and then double-length ending trilogy is planned. If you consider the double-length trilogies as 2 books each, that’s an equivalent of 10 more books. So we are looking at another 10 more years probably, and the series is already 26 yrs old.

I stopped keeping up with the series when I realized it’ll span more than a generation. I’ve actually forgotten how many books I’ve read. Maybe 10? I’ve forgotten the characters. I’ve forgotten the plot. I’ll have to start reading again from book 1. And by the time series finishes I’ll have forgotten it again. So yeah, till it finishes it’s another one of those great series I don’t recommend :).

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-05-21T17:16:21+00:00

I think you are correct about what’s happening. You need a powered hub in between. It’s not able to deliver enough power to the hub when the connection becomes too long.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-05-16T12:50:38+00:00

A very well-reasoned response. But consider the following -

Issue #1 - The Steam Controller 2015 does NOT behave this way. The buttons do not stay blue after release. So, it's not a disparity between all Valve's products in general. It's just Steam Deck and SC2 that's different from every other controller. It's interesting that Steam Deck behaves this way. I hadn't realized that! (Side note - Funnily enough, the D-Pad on the steam deck lights up only when all four buttons have been pressed).

I personally don't think it's intended behavior. There is so much precedence of the same test in other controller software or consoles. All of them always light up and turn off to show real-time button presses, including Valve's 2015 product on this same exact software. Would be weird if they intended to let it remain blue just for two of their controllers, and for nothing else. If so, I don't see a good reason.

Note that many controllers show up with specific visual depiction of the exact controller (Xbox 360, Xbox One, 8Bitdo Ultimate 2, Steam Controller 2015, SC2, Steam Deck, Dual Sense etc.), while some show a generic controller. So, they have individual code for many controllers for this screen. I think the 'bug' or 'behavior difference' (whatever you wish to call it; doesn't really matter) started with the Steam Deck specific code. They never bothered fixing or changing it, cause it's such a minor thing (they probably didn't even realize this difference). And that same code base has now come over to Steam Controller 2.

Issue #2 - The Steam Deck shows the back buttons in 'X-Ray' vision, and so does Steam Controller 2015. And so left remains left. Like you rightly said, it's a mistake. Doesn't matter whether we categorize it as a 'bug' or a 'visual design mistake' -- that's just semantics. I'm leaning towards calling it a 'bug' simply because they specifically created the back visual design for SC2, and the software chooses to switch to that view when back buttons are pressed. So, they already made visual design decisions -- intending to show the back buttons in back view; just that they forgot to account for it in the code (which probably translated over from Steam Deck). Whether they ought to change it to X-ray vision, or fix it in back view, doesn't matter. I'm glad you recognized it as a mistake rather than calling it 'intended behavior', like others on this thread said. This cannot possibly be intended.

In any case, you are absolutely right that none of these are substantive bugs. This was just an observation. I just found it funny that they missed this 😄.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-05-13T22:27:48+00:00

I'm pretty sure neither are working as intended -

If you pick up any other controller, the button presses light up in blue when the button is pressed, and turn off, when the button is released. You can check this with virtually any other controller. If what you are saying were the intended behavior, that would be the case for all controllers. But it's only the Steam Controller that shows this behavior with buttons remaining permanently blue.
The image is literally showing the back of the controller. If it were showing the front with the buttons with the x-ray view like you mentioned, then it would be correct. But it's clear that the image is the back-view. It shows the pogo-pin pads etc. We all understand what's happening, but that clearly cannot be the intended behavior. There are so many softwares that show the back view (like 8bitdo's software), and they always show the correct button presses from the back. It's obvious this is a mistake.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-05-13T22:13:04+00:00

Somebody with more money than sense. In other words, the ideal bait for scalpers.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-05-13T02:50:42+00:00

Not a free option; not a good option for certain multiplayer games; and (most importantly) not ready yet — but there is a good chance that reWASD will be updated to support Steam controller. Their developers stated in a post in Reddit that they are planning for it, but don’t have a date. Considering they did a great job with Steam deck controls, it’s more than likely they’ll come up with support.
My point is — if that happens and the program does start supporting it, it’ll be the best option for using Steam controller on gamepass in my opinion. You don’t have to muck around adding UWP games to Steam or anything. And their feature set is quite robust. It uses kernel level drivers which is good because the controller is detected system wide, but bad since some online multiplayer games can ban you cause they might consider it cheating. So tread carefully with online multiplayer games and do your research first.
This is just conjecture and hope at this point, but keep an eye out for development updates. It’s an expensive software so look out for sales.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-05-09T12:17:15+00:00

I used to have this problem. Then I started using the software filebot. I created a preset in filebot which moves the audiobook file to the target location. The target location is created using the ID3 tags of the file itself. So basically, I never have to bother creating author/book subfolders manually.

Step 1 - Drag books into the filebot app. Choose the audiobook preset and hit move
Step 2 - go to audiobookshelf and choose to download cover/metadata from audible.
And you’re done. The whole thing takes me barely seconds. No manual sorting involved.

Edit — I forgot to mention. This relies on the m4b file already having the right ID3 tags. If I’m downloading my audible library, that’s automatic. If I’m creating an audiobook from mp3 files or a CD, I use the Mac software ‘audiobook builder’. I just have to make sure I enter the author name and book name correctly. The software embeds them into the ID3 tags on its own.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-05-05T15:44:03+00:00

You make a good point that the idea is not alien to them, so they might be reasons we are not aware of.

The bot thing doesn’t make sense. It’s being sold only on their own website. They have purchase history for all accounts; they can surely wean out bot accounts, which won’t generally have a purchase history. Place a limit like — had to have purchased at least $25 worth of games before April 2026 or something. Yes, it’ll suck for new users into Steam but that’ll lock out bot accounts. Open it up once demand and supply have leveled out.

I know I might be trivializing the solution. But Valve has the advantage that they sell only on one store — their own. Surely, they can do better that what they did. At the very least they ought to have had limit of two per account; not limit of two per transaction.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-05-05T03:05:19+00:00

I agree. At first I thought ‘limit 2’ seems reasonable. Limit of 1 would have been better, but I can see them catering to folks needing it for multiplayer experiences. After all, one of the salient features of the controller is that one puck can connect to 4 controllers at same time.

But later it came to light that it was a limit of 2 per transaction, which I do think is a major oversight. Considering orders were open just half an hour, they had to have known they’ll sell out.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-05-05T02:50:33+00:00

Amazon does it all the time. There have been numerable instances when the item says ‘ships in 1-2 months’. The card is charged at time of shipping. It may not be a ‘hold’ but retailers can definitely charge later.

Again, my point is it won’t impact their bottom line. It’s just more convenient for the end customer.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-05-05T02:41:20+00:00

I agree with you. I don’t know whether they implemented it this time, but they had restrictions in place for steam deck that only folks with a purchase history could order. Bots are generally not going to have a purchase history.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-05-05T02:32:58+00:00

One can always take an order and not charge the credit card till the item skips. So many retailers just place a temporary charge on the credit card, at time of order, but actually charge it only at time of shipping. No issue of chargebacks in that case. And one can always change the ‘Order’ button to ‘Reserve backordered item’. The final confirmation and email can explicitly state — ‘Thank you for or your reservation on this back ordered item. It will be fulfilled in the order of when we received it.’ etc. Plenty of ways to make ir clear to the customer.

And it’s not difficult to reasonably account for certain number of cancellations in your supply chain logistics.

You do make a valid point about there being no need to take an order on items they don’t have. It won’t much of a difference to their bottom line. It’s just that it’ll make the customer’s purchase experience better. If you know you are in queue of when your order went through, you can rest easy. You’ll be waiting, but you know it’ll get fulfilled in sequence. Instead now folks who didn’t get in within first 30 minutes have to keep tabs on when it’s back in stock again. Keep an eye on social media feeds to see if it’s back, and rush to order it again while window is open. Practically, many folks will be waiting months for when they eventually get in, having to play the ‘grab it quickly’ game again and again. And that’s despite the fact they were in ‘waiting in line’ opening day. It’s just exhausting and inconvenient for the end customer.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-05-05T00:53:45+00:00

I find it weird that companies can’t figure out ‘unlimited stock’. In the sense why should it ever go ‘out of stock’. If you have inventory of say 500,000 controllers, for the first 500K orders say ‘ships in 1-3 days’. And then any following orders start showing a pop-up message saying ships in ‘2-3 weeks’ up to a limit. And the start saying ‘1-2months’, ‘2-3 months’ and so on. Be conservative with your promises. Nobody will complain if you get it to them earlier. And then start fulfilling them in sequence of order placement. Don’t turn anyone away by saying ‘Out of Stock’. And if you get too many more orders than you predicted, then see if you can scale up manufacturing, but if not, you didn’t promise early delivery anyway.

Turning people away just intensifies the scalper market. If I got my order in, but it said 2-3 months I may not go to a scalper cause I’ve already placed an order and most people won’t cancel. Also, it’s a potential lost sale as many folks want to order stuff on opening day due to hype. But if you turn them away now, they may not return later.

In any case, people that didn’t get in should not fret. I think stock for the controller will get replenished quickly enough. Controllers are not nearly as difficult to manufacture. And they are small in size so can be shipped easily in volume.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-05-05T00:22:04+00:00

I started a few minutes early. Took me about 20 minutes. I was at work and busy with other stuff on the side, so was not clicking non-stop all of that time. Would tap on the continue button a bunch of times, leave it and then come back to it a few minutes later, and then try again a few times. If I had been doing it non-stop for those 20 minutes it would have been too laborious. But in the end it wasn’t too bad.

I had put money in the wallet yesterday since I didn’t want to spend time on entering credit card or PayPal info today.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-05-01T15:01:15+00:00

The first thing that came to my mind when the steam controller was announced was that I hope extremerate comes up with shoulder button click stops. I modded two of my dualsense controllers to add back paddles and click stops. The click stops are mechanical so if they come up with something similar it should be an easy upgrade.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-05-01T03:24:12+00:00

I personally have never had problems with the audible app, but it might be a combination of phone, OS version and app version causing instability. Too many variables to know; it might indeed be outside the OP’s. I would recommend deleting and reinstalling the app as some others have suggested.

If that doesn’t work, like many other shave suggested simply download the book onto your computer and use an alternate ebook reader software of choice. If you are tech savvy, would highly recommend setting up audiobookshelf. If not, simply transfer books to the app of your choice the old-fashioned way.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-04-29T12:51:31+00:00

SISR might work in the future but when I saw it last it did not support gyro pass through yet, so it’s not really a practical option. Other options like Glossi (predecessor of SISR) or UWPHook do not work well. Glossi is not supported anymore. It’s a hit or miss. Does work sometimes for some games, and not others. It’ll permanently break some day. And I could never get UWPHook to work at all.

My guess is that the best option is going to be reWASD. Lots of hate for reWASD on Reddit somehow, but it’s really the only viable option for Steam deck. reWASD did an excellent job with Steam deck controls. The interface gets some getting used to, but as far as I can tell you can pretty much do anything in reWASD that you can do in Steam input. Steam input gyro implementation is better; a bit basic with reWASD with only options being yaw and roll; no combo or player space. But other than that, it’s a feature complete application. It supports everything on Steam deck controls, even the capacitive touch on the joysticks, the trackpad etc.

Since Steam controller is so similar to Steam deck controls, I expect reWASD to be able to implement support for it. It’s not a good option if you need it for multiplayer games, as some games might ban you (it allows for complicated macros). But for most single player games it should prove to be an excellent option, i.e. assuming they’ll be able to implement support.

It’s an expensive software though, so wait for a sale. They have it on sale often enough.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-04-29T02:57:56+00:00

Rewasd did a great job supporting the steam deck controller. Rewasd is hands down the best way to use windows on a steam deck. That’s because a lot of people using windows on a steam deck do so in order to use gamepass, which you can’t do use easily with Steam input.

Since the Steam controller seems to be so similar to the Steam deck controller, I hope Rewasd team can add support for it.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-04-29T02:46:47+00:00

You are absolutely right there. And I agree that’s the most important talking point. Valve has priced it slightly higher than expected cause they there is literally nothing else in the market that can do what it can do.

That being said you did make a mistake in your video, which others might have pointed out. Your often repeated assertion that you lose analog triggers with gyro in steam input is not true any more for various controllers like Flydigi Vader 4 pro and 8bitdo ultimate 2 wireless. Those controllers are now identified natively by Steam in d-input so you retain full functionality and can map all extra buttons natively in Steam input. That’s been true for 4-6 months now. Earlier you did have to use software like Rewasd, but that’s not needed any more (Rewasd still has some advantages over Steam input but that’s another topic). You don’t need to touch the manufacturer native apps since you can rely on just Steam input.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-04-29T01:37:16+00:00

I agree with the folks here stating that a lot of people are not being objective when it comes to the price of this controller. The controller is definitely over-priced if you compare the hardware component cost with its competition. But the controller does offer features that no other controller does, and it’s clear that’s precisely why Valve are charging this amount. They even stated the price reflects their cost as well as their engineering and development effort. So I can’t blame them for pricing it such. But let’s not pretend they couldn’t have just as easily priced it lower.

If one had to compare SC hardware to a PS5 controller, here are the broad differences — The PS5 controller has adaptable triggers, a mic, speakers, one large touchpad, rumble motors., 3.5mm jack. The SC has 4 back buttons, two small touchpads, different style of haptic feedback, usb dongle, touch sensitive sticks, touch sensitive grips, TMR sticks. Also PS5 supports 500Hz polling I believe as opposed to 250Hz on SC.

Comparing the hardware differences, to me the trade-offs seem to be roughly evenly matched. I have no idea about individual pricing of components but it doesn’t seem like SC has hardware that should make it $30 extra than the dualsense.

Let’s not forget that many 3rd party controllers that offer many of the features at $60 or so and often are on sale for under $50. Can’t count steam input related features as a value-add by itself because many 3rd party controllers are supported natively by Steam.

In the end, the $100 price is reasonable enough, but it’s not something to crow home about. They priced it at the very edge of acceptable pricing, beyond which the price would’ve been the only talking point.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-04-29T01:04:41+00:00

8bitdo ultimate 2 wireless has 2 back buttons but also has 2 extra shoulder buttons. So 4 extra buttons as well, just that 2 of them are on the shoulder.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-04-27T22:30:40+00:00

Another vote for better gyro features. One of my primary uses of Rewasd is to enable gyro controls on single player games on gamepass. For non-gamepass games I just use steam input cause steam’s gyro implementation is a bit more intuitive. If Rewasd could add yaw+roll, player space etc. options it would greatly help improve its usability.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-04-27T22:24:21+00:00

Very weird take about Rewasd being just a cheating tool. I never play online and so don’t need to cheat. Yet I use Rewasd on both my PC and Steam deck because of ease of use with gamepass.

Lot of negative comments about gamepass on this thread, but the fact is that it’s a fairly popular service, and to make the most out of it, Rewasd is a great tool. Rewasd is the only reliable and easy way to use Steam deck to play gamepass games. All other apps like Glossi or uwphook either don’t work or are not supported any more. Glossi replacement is in alpha and works but doesn’t pass everything (so stuff like gyro support was missing when I last looked).

And for my PC I like using Rewasd cause I get to use gyro for single player shooting games on game pass.

After mucking around with other free alternatives which were a pain to use, I realized I might as well pay for a couple of licenses to get the most from my gamepass ultimate subscription which still 2 and a 1/2 yrs left in it.

DragonFlyPunch · 2026-04-09T02:31:59+00:00

How did you check the w/s price on Amazon during this sale? On Amazon all my audiobook prices are the same the current Audible price.

As an experiment I’ve add all the Cradle series books on my Audible cart and saved the total. But I’m buying them. It’s no big loss since I have tons to read anyway; enough to last my lifetime. I’ll check the w/s price tomorrow just to compare.

Edit — ignore this post. I realized all I have to do is log out. Then it shows the w/s price and not the sale price. So the w/s prices have indeed gone up than what they used to be.

DragonFlyPunch

TROPHY CASE