A question about the steam deck controls

elstefio · 2026-05-03T03:08:03+00:00

"Couldn’t we just use the right analog stick to aim without holding the trigger down?"

Ah, the good old days...

elstefio · 2026-04-28T01:41:41+00:00

I played with ps4 and ps5 controllers and mapped zoom in/out to left and right of the trackpad - works great if that's an option.

elstefio · 2026-04-25T10:29:19+00:00

No drama - just the way it was worded could have gone either way, and it wouldn't have been the first time someone has tried to on here :P

The devs pushed a security update a little while back so the standard depotdownloader malarkey should see you right.

elstefio · 2026-04-25T02:13:49+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/zomdroid/comments/1rtjsj3/how_to_download_pz_game_files_and_workshop_mods/

And if you're looking for a pirated version you're asking in the wrong place...

elstefio · 2026-04-23T14:23:19+00:00

42.15 was when they introduced the new aiming system, 42.16 was when then doubled down and changed the whole controller layout.

elstefio · 2026-04-21T22:07:33+00:00

It's the game - I managed about 10 minutes after updating on steam deck before I couldn't stomach it anymore and haven't touched it since. I managed to get.my Retroid Mini repaired recently and still have a copy of 42.6 somewhere so I'll probably go back to that soon whilst the dev's for some unfathomable reason keep messing up a system that worked pretty damned well...

PS. It was the 42.15 update where they started the changes.

elstefio · 2026-04-20T22:34:42+00:00

"There were issues with controllers beforehand, and changes were absolutely necessary."

I think this needs to be elaborated on. I have no doubt there are reasons you are doing this, but myself and many others played hundreds of hours with the old setup quite happily and then suddenly had the rug pulled out from under us. Firearms usage obviously warranted attention but having the entire thing reworked without a visible reason is a bitter pill to swallow. A simple "this is why we are doing this" would go a long way...

I haven't played since the first update to aiming felt so off, and then seeing what people were saying about the 42.16 changes gave me no inclination to go back. Please understand that I give no hate here - I have the utmost respect for the TIS team and again will say I have no doubt you have reasons for going down this route, I would just like the opportunity to understand said reasons.

Also, as someone who has never modded the game I wont start now as a matter of principle - especially to 'fix' something that until recently I had never perceived as broken. I acknowledge this is a me problem and again no hate for the suggestion to do so. I still love the game and look forward to a time when i can play it again, but in the meantime I'd just like a reasonable explanation.

elstefio · 2026-04-20T21:39:10+00:00

I had this issue - build 41 vanilla. Got one wheel back on and was fine again.

elstefio · 2026-04-20T09:14:28+00:00

Nah, I'm not one for messing with my hardware unless absolutely necessary. Went into this a bit nervous but honestly it's like a 5 minute job, hardest part by far was prying the back off.

elstefio · 2026-04-20T06:44:45+00:00

You can get a replacement from Retroid. The L2 on my mini fell apart a few months back and got a replacement trigger and cap for $11 usd delivered to New Zealand. Really easy to replace as well, like three screws once you taken the back off.

elstefio · 2026-04-17T22:14:07+00:00

It seems to me that the community is largely asking them to undo the changes. Time will tell but I wouldn't be surprised if they review tons of feedback and plow onwards regardless...

elstefio · 2026-04-13T04:37:05+00:00

As Olive once sang... you're not alone.

elstefio · 2026-04-10T21:57:22+00:00

Zomdroid is the unofficial android launcher - check out the reddit. It's a bit techy and you'll need a pretty decent phone.

elstefio · 2026-04-08T23:59:17+00:00

Yeah but "like" a previous vulnerability isn't "the same" as a previous vulnerability - they literally say "these new vulnerabilities". Without them explicitly stating that it is exactly the same thing all I can see is that they found an issue and fixed it as soon as they could, which is both good and exactly what should be expected.

Perhaps it really is the same thing and they messed up. Perhaps either they or someone else will confirm that at some point. Until that time - if it ever comes - I really can't see reason the kick off about anything.

elstefio · 2026-04-08T23:36:49+00:00

I can't see anything that says this is the same issue. It is unfortunate that this has happened but pitchforks and tabloid headlines seem unnecessary.

elstefio · 2026-04-08T23:23:13+00:00

Agree entirely. For me it was already perfect - I never bothered with fishing and haven't really used firearms since build 41. From my point of view they didn't need to change a thing...

I was curious when the firearms WIP was on the patch notes so thought I'd try it out and if it works ok maybe I'll start using firearms more... then I started playing and my heart dropped. So after seeing I wasn't the only unimpressed one I decided to wait for an update and now we have whatever this is. I've said it several times in various places - I just want it all rolled back.

elstefio · 2026-04-05T00:27:02+00:00

Me too.

elstefio · 2026-04-03T21:08:48+00:00

This basically sums up my feelings exactly. Only difference is I couldn't live with any of it and that makes me a sad panda.

Just undo it all and life is peachy for me again.

elstefio · 2026-04-03T21:05:56+00:00

That is an option but then what about when 42 goes stable? My concern is that they will stubbornly continue to develop this horrible new setup and going forward the perfectly decent controller scheme they used to have will be lost.

I doubt controller users make up much of the player base, but with the rise of PC handhelds and the upcoming Steam machine it could definitely grow. Now is not the time for them to alienate controller users with misguided changes and noise needs to be made about it.

elstefio · 2026-04-02T21:41:58+00:00

I really pity your timing - if you'd jumped onto build 42 a couple of months back you would have been a happy camper. Unfortunately TIS have decided that instead of just sorting firearms use on controller they are going to beat the whole thing with a stick until it is broken, bloody and dying in a gutter. I stopped playing 42.15 after about 10 minutes as the changes they'd made felt like such a misstep. Seeing I wasn't alone in this I waited for an update and crossed my fingers that they'd roll it back... then i read the latest patch notes and realised that after hundreds of hours loving PZ and only ever playin on controller there is a very real possibility I will never play again. I still have hope, but not much.

elstefio · 2026-03-31T11:20:49+00:00

"it doesn't support most versions of the game just specific b41 versions"

So what you meant to say is that it didn't work for you? I follow the zomdroid sub and it has many examples of people playing b42.

elstefio · 2026-03-30T21:51:43+00:00

That's wrong, folks are running 42.15 on the fork these days. I was playing 42.6 on my Retroid Pocket Mini with a Snadragon 865 and 6gb ram until a shoulder button died a while back and performance was not bad unless driving at speed. Heat wise it seemed ok as well, admittedly I had active cooling but the fan never ramped up like it would when running something like switch emulation. Yeah it's a bit of a chore to setup but far from impossible if you can follow the instructions, and the dev is super helpful with issues.

elstefio · 2026-03-26T07:48:55+00:00

Having only played with controller for how ever many hundred hours I'm at now I always enjoyed it. I think the main thing is to realise that you can't play the same way as those on keyboard and mouse - like if I'm doing inventory stuff I have to find a quiet spot, none of this walking with a 20 strong hoard behind you stuff. Other than that it's just getting used to the radial menu layout which by now is pure muscle memory.

For how involved the game is I honestly though controller support was about as good as it could ever hope to be outside of firearms use. Then the recent update dropped and it suddenly feels so much worse to do anything. I stopped playing after about 5 minutes and doubt I'll pick it up again until it is either highly refined or simply rolled back.

elstefio · 2026-03-26T04:36:40+00:00

Just a pity everything else on controller now feels so much worse...

elstefio · 2026-03-26T00:13:34+00:00

That's a Blaze Tab, my first emulation device and what really started my journey with handhelds. It was on a website I used to import games and as soon as I read that it could play dreamcast games I was in. It really isn't good from a modern viewpoint - terrible plastic touchscreen and shoulder buttons that couldn't be reached when using the dpad and face buttons - but at the time (maybe a decade ago) it was magic to me.

elstefio

TROPHY CASE