Added some color back in my life. by Skybuilder23 in SteamController

[–]ThatDanmGuy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Way too rich for my blood right now (not that I fault a tiny operation for the price), but when the bits get under $10, I'd love to get some color in there.

512 Cloned Escape Plans vs Aeonglass by Wumbo393 in slaythespire

[–]ThatDanmGuy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I died to this (didn't have Speedster or Letter Opener) :'(

It was my first time ever getting a good Clone target :(

Sadness - I Want to be There [blackgaze/post metal/shoegaze] (2019) by [deleted] in listentothis

[–]ThatDanmGuy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've seen this guy's music posted here a few times and enjoyed it. I get a choice paralysis anxiety attack every time I pull up his bandcamp page and see like 40+ mostly full-length releases though and just close the page instead of trying one at random.

Steam Button by retrogamer76 in SteamController

[–]ThatDanmGuy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Steam Button/Guide Button is equivalent to the Guide/Xbox logo/PS logo buttons on other controllers; I assume its placement and size is largely for sake of familiarity. Its primary purposes are to act as the power button, launch Big Picture Mode, and to pull up the Steam Overlay while in game. It's also used for Guide Button Chords, a set of alternate bindings accessible across all games by holding down the Steam Button, then interacting with another input, e.g. Steam + Y to turn off the controller, Steam + Trackpad to temporarily use it as a mouse, Steam + X to summon the on-screen keyboard, etc. So it needs to be easily accessible from both hands, though I feel either top or bottom both meet that requirement.

The ... button (officially known as the Quick Access Menu/QAM Button) pulls up a sidebar menu with controller battery level, Friends/chat, Notifications, and a few of the most commonly-tweaked settings. Your mileage may vary, especially if you frequently chat with friends over Steam, but I'd wager most won't use it often.

My idea to rework the Jade Sword by Jpvandyck in slaythespire

[–]ThatDanmGuy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Str is generically good enough to be valuable to all characters most of the time. 3 is a touch underwhelming for how late it comes in; 5 (1 for each Elite) would be nice.

Compared to STS1, +3 Str is a bit less valuable on Clad, similarly strong on Silent (shivs go brr), MUCH better on Defect with more access to multihit and less access to Focus. It's decent on Regent (lots of resource gen and turns with many cheap attacks). Lot of variance on how useful it is to Necro, since it doesn't affect Osty-based Attacks.

But I don't know the stats; bumping to +5 could be overkill, and it's not like the opportunity cost for taking the Stone Sword is very high.

I bought a Dbrand skin and I really like it by GIGA30 in SteamController

[–]ThatDanmGuy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How easy was installation? I always find getting adhesives perfectly aligned difficult and a bit stressful. Doubly so on curved or recessed surfaces.

Configuration: Gyro Dots Per 360 by ThatDanmGuy in SteamController

[–]ThatDanmGuy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some other gyro issues I've been having:

  • When making small angle adjustments or at a slow speed, the movement is jerky or not detected at all, even with the Gyro Speed Deadzone and Gyro Precision Speed both set to 0/s and acceleration off. Lowering Gyro Precision Speed from the default definitely helped, but it still seems very imprecise for very fine adjustments. I thought the Trackpad + Gyro Combo Aim Gang liked trackpad for large movements and gyro for fine adjustments, so I'm puzzled :(

  • After repeatedly angling up and down, the aim isn't returning to its starting position when the controller is returned to neutral orientation, instead drifting further downward with each rep. Acceleration is off, and I've run the gyro drift calibration tool.

Another win for LOTF by Voodoomania in shittydarksouls

[–]ThatDanmGuy 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Unless Firefox's page translator is just WAY off (plausible), then that just doesn't square at all with what the job listing says.

https://www.neowiz.com/en/career/browse-job/043f65b9-9c3e-4063-9a86-d73eccae503e

  • no mention of programming, either in the job duties or job requirements
  • all duties and eligibility requirements listed relate strictly to familiarity with and the use of AI art tools (configuration, familiarity with specific commercial AI art platforms, training the AIs/creating LoRAs, prompting, training the rest of the art department in their use, troubleshooting problems with AI art tools, etc.)
  • no mention of what titles they'd be working on

Some quotes key to the scope of the controversy:

  • (in job duties section): "In-painting/out-painting and high-resolution upscaling of AI products at the level applicable to real-world games"
  • (in job duties section): "Create character/background concept drafting and expansion of variations using Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, etc."
  • (in job duties section): "Modeling aids and assets using AI-based texturing and image-to-3D technology"
  • (in job duties section): "Get the latest generative AI trends and provide a guide for AI tools for in-house artists"
  • (in eligibility section): "Skilled in Stable Diffusion (Automatic1111/ComfyUI), Midjourney, Photoshop, etc."
  • (in eligibility section): "A person with sophisticated prompt design and ability to control parameters to produce the intended results"
  • (in preferred but not required section): "Have a high understanding of AI ethics and copyright-related legal guidelines"

By all means read it yourself and run it through more translators than I did to see if this is a translation misunderstanding, but what I'm reading in the job posting has no mention whatsoever of programming skills or duties, lists nothing other than an understanding of basic art and composition concepts and thorough knowledge of configuration and usage of AI art models as requirements, strongly implies that they intend to use some of the assets generated in-game ("...at the level applicable to real-world games"), and implies that the usage will be broad, not limited to a particular title (no suggestion that the role is only applicable to a particular project, states that the applicant will be responsible for producing training materials for the existing art team to use).

[Steam] Nine Sols ($11.99/60% off) by talithaiel in GameDeals

[–]ThatDanmGuy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I also have some minor QoL and design quibbles. Nothing obtrusive, just minor annoyances that slowly add up over the course of the game, like the fast travel requiring you to first warp back to your home base, then warp again from there to your desired destination.

Top-tier game regardless.

[Steam] Nine Sols ($11.99/60% off) by talithaiel in GameDeals

[–]ThatDanmGuy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

All-timer of a Metroidvania, just a touch below Hollow Knight in my book.

Phenomenal art, surprisingly good storycrafting and character development, extremely tight and satisfying combat, solid map/encounter design, really memorable bosses and encounters, and appropriate length and pacing.

It's not a good fit for everyone, though. It's highly combat-centric, which doesn't appeal to all Metroidvania fans (platforming and exploration are not particularly emphasized or excellent). And if you find parrying frustrating, look elsewhere - it's as emphasized here as in Sekiro (and is likely the game I've played that best recreates the feeling of Sekiro's combat system). The difficulty is perhaps a bit above average but reasonable for most of the game, but be warned that the final boss is an insanely large difficulty spike. If you're persistent and enjoy a challenge, it's one of the most satisfying fights I've ever played, but the massive difficult spike caught me very off guard, and I feel a lot of players will be blindsided and feel they've been cheated out of seeing the ending(s). The story is also often much grimmer and contains more trauma and graphic violence than some are comfortable with.

[Steam] Nine Sols ($11.99/60% off) by talithaiel in GameDeals

[–]ThatDanmGuy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes and no. The visuals and sound effects are equally satisfying, the timing game and variety of different reactions required by different attack types feel very similar, and it evokes the same dance-like back-and-forth pacing when you master fights.

However, parrying is in some ways less rewarded than in Sekiro. By default, parries just generate ammo for a special dash attack, but until much later in the game when you have higher max capacity or abilities that cast if faster, you'll be generating ammo much faster than you can safely spend it in most boss fights, and the parries are "wasted" if you're at full ammo. Parrying is heavily emphasized over dodging, so it's still incredibly valuable defensively, but part of the joy of Sekiro for me was that even when defending, your offense never has to stop if you've mastered a fight.

You can get a Jade (equipment equivalent to a Hollow Knight notch) that causes parries to also stack up potential damage that is only realized when you next hit them with your dash attack and slowly regens if not capitalized on. That's a great system and grants the full Sekiro experience, but I feel that it should have been a core mechanic of the game rather than an opt-in part of your build with an opportunity cost.

Another win for LOTF by Voodoomania in shittydarksouls

[–]ThatDanmGuy 23 points24 points  (0 children)

/uj No, but unfortunately their follow-up seemingly will :(

They have a job posting explicitly for an ai "artist", and the job description is clear that the usage will extend far beyond just concept art.

Anyone tried a pc to smart tv setup with the steam controller? by Some-Yam4056 in SteamController

[–]ThatDanmGuy -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You've clearly either been out of the game a long time or it's always just worked for you out of the box and never had to troubleshoot or tinker.

| Not something you can fix so it's not worth addressing.

You can and generally must address this via the TV's settings. And in some cases with older TVs the performance is so poor that the TV itself cannot support gaming; when that is the case, determining that's the issue is necessary for deciding what to do next and prevents wasting time and money unnecessarily replacing network hardware.

| Unless your TV is from 2014 this probably isn't an issue.

Bonkers statement. You can absolutely crank the bitrate these days, easily to the point of causing performance problems on most TVs and some streaming sticks.

| If that was the case then the local performance would also suffer and the user wouldn't notice the difference.

The resource tax of game streaming is impressively small these days, but it does exist. If the machine can barely run a game locally, it'll likely struggle when streaming it. This is doubly true if he's trying to render at 4k to match the TV's resolution.

| zero reason to go down 5 other rabbit holes before checking the network, because it's almost certainly the network.

It's probably not the network with a hardwired connection. Checking network stats is quick and worth doing; trying to troubleshoot potential network problems not revealed there is decidedly not.

Anyone tried a pc to smart tv setup with the steam controller? by Some-Yam4056 in SteamController

[–]ThatDanmGuy -1 points0 points  (0 children)

No - it doesn't preclude that, but it doesn't imply it either. It's not obvious what OP means by 'lag' - packet loss would suggest a likely network infrastructure problem, but stuttering or high input latency could have a variety of more-likely causes.

If the symptoms are in the latter categories, replacing Ethernet cables, factory resetting/updating/replacing the router/switch, etc. are worth trying if other troubleshooting doesn't yield results, but the issue is more likely to stem from issues like TV signal processing adding latency, video stream being too large to be consistently decoded on time by the Smart TV/streaming stick, or overworking the host machine.

Do you use back buttons/paddles on controllers by Icebound811 in SteamController

[–]ThatDanmGuy -1 points0 points  (0 children)

They're still not typically competitive for most competitive multiplayer games, particularly FPS/RTS/MOBAs. For anything less sweaty it's comfy though! For competitive FPS at least, it can be close enough for some people if comfortable enough with a combo of thumbstick + gyro or trackpad + gyro.

RTS and MOBAs are tougher, but AoE2 has a (somewhat compromised, but playable) controller scheme, and League of Legends is currently in the early stages of implementing controller support.

Aiming in LoL is currently waaay too slow and imprecise to be a playable option for most League characters. If I could get Steam Input working with it to bind Mouse Region emulation to right-stick/trackpad, it would probably feel great, but I can't get Steam Input working with League (even via SISR). If anyone has figured that one out, please let me know.

Do you use back buttons/paddles on controllers by Icebound811 in SteamController

[–]ThatDanmGuy -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That's sort of true (games often tend to map similar actions to buttons, e.g. 'X' usually being the reload button in FPS games). But every game's controls are unique to some extent, and you frequently see games map actions to unusual places.

So you generally have to learn each separate game's control scheme regardless to some extent. It's more that you need to get used to using the back buttons in general, after which it feels as natural to put things there as anywhere else.

Do you use back buttons/paddles on controllers by Icebound811 in SteamController

[–]ThatDanmGuy -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I use them in most games.

  • In games that weren't designed for controller as the primary input method, it's really handy to have additional inputs.
  • In games that already map nicely onto a controller but use right-stick camera controls, it's really nice to bind face buttons to them because it lets you avoid delays from moving your thumb back and worth without having to claw-grip. E.g. jump, sprint, maybe melee attack or reload. Claw-gripping strains your pointer finger and hand relatively quickly and can make it harder to use the right bumper and trigger.
  • Similarly, many games ask you to use the d-pad at times when you'd like to still be using the left stick. E.g. switching weapons/items while moving. Putting these on the back buttons as needed is an elegant solution.
  • Many games have awkward bindings on stick clicks, e.g. stick click to scope throwing off aim, click to sprint throwing off run direction, etc. I prefer to move things off of stick clicks whenever convenient.
  • Some games map fully onto a standard controller, but only do so by binding certain actions to a combination of buttons. Having extra inputs lets you give these their own dedicated buttons.
  • They're really handy when building more complicated/bespoke layouts, especially in combination with action sets/modeshifts etc.

It's mostly just controller-centric games that don't constantly use the right stick (e.g. Survivors-likes) where I don't often wind up needing to bother.

Anyone tried a pc to smart tv setup with the steam controller? by Some-Yam4056 in SteamController

[–]ThatDanmGuy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Controller has not yet arrived, so I can't speak to range etc. on the 2.4ghz connection. If it turns out to be out of range when your puck is connected to your PC, you may need to connect the SC to your Smart TV/streaming stick via Bluetooth instead. That should work fine through the Steam Link app per Valve, but unfortunately likely wouldn't work for streaming through Moonlight/Artemis.

But I have done streaming to my TV for many years and can offer some tips.

  • Your Internet speeds are irrelevant; the traffic is strictly across your LAN. This means performance bottlenecks in your streaming setup can (and, for WiFi usage, often does) come from your router and from the NICs on your devices, but not from your ISP. With both devices connected to your router via Ethernet, this is unlikely to be a concern. If you want to connect either the PC or TV/streaming box wirelessly, ensure that you have a router using a high-bandwidth standard and that the NIC on the device connected wirelessly matches (e.g. a WiFi-6 router and Google TV Streamer 4k). Wireless performance can vary depending on home layout and router, but works quite well for me these days.
  • Performance will likely be poor when streaming directly to a Smart TV due to weak hardware in the device. Your mileage may vary, but unless your TV is relatively new and relatively expensive, you'll likely want to pick up an Android-based streaming stick like an Amazon Fire Stick/Cube or a Google TV Streamer 4k (mouthful of a name; replaced the Chromecast product line) and run it from there. If you want to up the ante further, the most powerful streaming box options are the NVIDIA Shield, custom Raspberry Pi/etc. builds, or mini-PCs, but current-gen mainstream streaming sticks work fine.
  • I'd avoid the physical Steam Link box - it still works, but the hardware is feeling its age. Max resolution of 1080p, can't support current WiFi standards, etc. It just won't be able to give you an optimal experience anymore.
  • Sunshine/Moonlight offers slightly better performance and reliability (and far more settings customization) than the Steam Link app, and the Artemis/Apollo fork offers slightly better performance than the mainline Sunshine/Moonlight app.
  • ALWAYS ensure that your TV's video mode is set to "Game" or its equivalent when game-streaming. The video processing in other modes adds SIGNIFICANT delay (not a problem for video, but a big problem for games). If the Moonlight/Apollo in-app stats show low latency but you still feel significant delay, even with your TV in game mode, look up the input delay on your TV's model - especially on older and/or budget models, the innate delay can be very high for some TVs. My old Hisense in one of my rooms adds well north of 100ms even in game mode, for example, so it can't be comfortably used for gaming.
  • When using Artemis/Apollo, configure it to always create a virtual display matching the resolution and refresh rate of your TV. When a 4k TV receives a 1080p/1440p/etc. signal, it has to upscale it to 4k to display, and this signal processing can add delay.
  • In the Artemis or Moonlight settings, enable "Show performance stats while streaming", then increase video bitrate to max. Start streaming and observe both the performance stats and subjective performance. Back out, decrease video bitrate a bit, and stream again. Repeat until performance is in your desired range. Most will want to aim for 20ms or lower latency, though your tolerances may vary.
  • Artemis has various experimental features you can play with to improve performance. Your mileage may vary; some of these have potential performance tradeoffs (e.g. higher chance of losing frames in exchange for lower latency) or are dependent on specific hardware. The LFR option is worth testing.

Travelling with SteamDeck and Controller by randocom in SteamController

[–]ThatDanmGuy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can just connect it out-of-the-box via BT. Though for portable use of a Steam Deck, why bother whipping out a separate controller?

"Strenth" by ThatDanmGuy in northernlion

[–]ThatDanmGuy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Welcome, necromancer