Be Excellent To Each Other

Jeez dude, I'm sorry to hear that, but they say girls don't care.

Who gives a fuck about what they think?

Oh, do they?

My penis is a decent size and I don't have problems with the Steam Controller thumb stick despite having smaller than average-sized hands.

Does this help at all?

I'm sorry, I haven't tried this product with my penis so can't comment.

4/5

I just can't get my head around the Steam controller. It looks alien to me.

When I first found out that I could pretty much not play any PC games without a 360 controller ('cause that's the only pad most of the new games at the time would fully support) I begrudgingly bought one. I have had that one since '07. It's gone a bit yellow and the sticks feel a little erm, 'muddy?' but it still works perfectly.

I decided that it had gone yellow enough to warrant buying a Xbone controller. Not because I was expecting it to be any better than the 360 controller but just because I fancied a new one. And I'm surprised and very impressed. Whilst there doesn't seem to be any major difference between the two when you compare them the Xbone controller has simply been refined. It's far lighter than the 360 controller and the sticks feel far snappier (though this could be because my 360 controller is so old). But yes, I switched back to my old 360 controller for a while and it just felt tremendously heavy compared to the Xbone controller.

There are some things that simply don't need to be changed and I feel the layout of the 360 controller (and now Xbone controller) are perfect. It's ruddy hard to beat perfection.

So I will give the Steam controller a miss. Whilst a part of me really wants to try it (because I fancy a change more than anything) I know that most of the time change isn't a good thing. Especially when looking at reviews.

You realise that the Steam controller is almost entirely designed for games that cannot be used with an Xbox pad, right?

Yup. Those are the ones that need a keyboard and mouse, and thus work better on a keyboard and mouse.

Pads that try and replace those two are absolutely useless, as there really is no replacing them.

Kinda like the Steam controller.

Fair enough, your previous post banged on about the 360 pad but didn't actually explain exactly why you're mystified by the Steam controller's existence. Anyway, I doubt anyone's arguing that any controller is ever likely to actually be better than KBAM for certain games. But if you're looking to attach your PC to your TV then KBAM isn't really an option for most so it's either don't play those games at all or find an alternative controller that makes them playable: enter the Steam controller. You've got like five million capable PCs in your house and room for a full computer desk so you can choose desktop or couch setup as suits you but a lot of people can't so it's definitely a problem, and this is a potential solution.

I'll tell you this much, I wouldn't have played Black Mesa & Half-Life: Opposing Force without the steam controller yet the controller worked fantastically with both. The controller has some magic going on inside it and I wouldn't just write it off.

'cept that joystick position. And the buttons.

The pad things are wizard though.

Isn't Black Mesa done in the Source engine? I thought that meant it would support the control pad natively like other Source games?

And this is coming from someone who hasn't tried it, I suspect?

Because you're totally ignoring the people in this thread who own one and state that it works really well.

I hope you're not asking me those questions. I only play games. Badly.

I'm not totally ignoring the people in the thread. However, in this day and age I don't need to take the word of two or three people when I have millions at my finger tips (Youtube, various review sites, Steam itself).

Whilst it may have some positives they are outweighed by the negatives. But then let's face it, whoever decided to try and reinvent the controller was always facing an uphill battle. Thing is, I don't feel any need whatsoever to totally replace my keyboard and mouse because that's pretty much the reason why I have a gaming PC. It sort of defeats the purpose for me. So for example if a game works really well on keyboard and mouse (like first person shooters for example) then why would you want to replace them with an awkward controller?

There are some games for me that just don't work on a controller and always have me getting up off of the sofa to go and sit at my desk. I tried for example for about a week to play Half Life on a PS2 controller and failed miserably.



Some games just don't work on keyboard and mouse. Most notably, racing games. I originally bought my first 360 controller for Juiced 2 : HIN as I found the analogue throttle critical for drifting. Same went for Grid. If you couldn't use analogue to accelerate you would just do donuts on the starting line.

There are other games I play that work very well with the XB controller. Fallout games for example where aim isn't critical is fine also, especially for prolonged periods of play.

If you're going to condescendingly dismiss people out of hand because there are more people on YouTube, why not go hang out in YouTube comment threads and not come here at all?

I'm not dismissing people out of hand. I've read countless reviews and watched a good few videos before making my mind up.

And it's not for me. Am I not allowed to say that then?

Is it just me or is has that response got nothing at all to do with anything I said?

Title

Source is the game engine behind all Valve's own games from Half Life 2 onwards. I'm pretty sure the Black Mesa remake was done with the Source engine and therefore I'm wondering if it'll support the Xbox pad natively, just like the Valve Source games do.

I don't think so. If I recall correctly, Steam says there's only partial controller support and it didn't work for me when I booted it up and there wasn't any joypad bit in the menus.

Ho Ho. Another Sat fuck up.

In the options "mouse" it says "enable the joystick." And then the 360 controller works like a charm. Well, except you can use the pad in the menus where you start the game, which is a bit daft.

But anyway, yeah, Black Mesa: good with a pad in the game.

Also PC gaming: fiddly as fuck sometimes.

You can say whatever you like. But I don't know why you expect anyone to listen to you. In this day and age we don't need to take the word of one person when we have millions at our finger tips

I've tried to give my Steam Controller another go, but I think it may be faulty as it keeps vibrating under my hand (not the touchpad vibrating, it feels like the "back" is) even when I'm just holding it.

I assume it's doing this because it thinks that a button is being pressed - for example, if I boot up XCOM: Enemy Within, when I get to the "base" view, it constantly zooms in. Unfortunately I don't know which button zooms in so I can't figure out which one is causing the problem.

Anyone else had this issue?

Do you have any other controllers plugged into the host PC? I have a similar problem when my steering wheel is plugged in.

I had that issue with my 360 controller a couple of times (the vibrating staying on). Hot plugging it usually fixed it I guess it was a driver issue.

Good shout - I have my X52 HOTAS plugged in, which could have the joystick slightly being pushed up or something. Will unplug and test!

I'd be more inclined to blame the throttle.

Yeah, probably - although historically I've had issues with the deadzones on the X52 stick needing to be set wider over time.

I’m looking to build a system for emulation that will connect to my TV, looking for the following, any ideas \recommendations would be great!

1. Case as small as possible, but will need to take a 2.5 system drive and 2nd 3.5 inch drive
2. Ideally case will have IR so I can power it on and off by remote
3. Case needs to take a graphic card that fits with HDMI. Don’t want to go nuts on the spec but will be emulating up to PS2 so guess it needs some grunt
4. MB would need to support at least 8GB ideally 16GB of RAM

ITX

If you are emulating the PS2 then it may be a better idea to buy an APU, as it offers both a CPU and half decent GPU on one die. This means less heat generated and it also means very small cases. As soon as you add a GPU you need the case length to support it..

The only thing you have really got me on there is the IR start up. In all my years of playing with computers I have only ever seen one device that could do so and it's no longer in production. I will, however, ask around about that !

The last time I emulated a PS2 game was Fast N Furious by Namco? it was only ever available on PS2. And I'm sure I did it with onboard graphics too. So, I would recommend..

Motherboard

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-a88 ... ie-30-(x16)-d-sub-dvi-d-hdmi-

It also has a PCIE slot so you could always add a GPU later if you felt you needed it.

APU

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-a10 ... cpu-retail

Memory. Apparently with an APU the GPU is faster depending on the speed of the memory. I'd imagine it's because it shares the RAM.

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-(2x4gb)-corsair-ddr3-vengeance-pro-series-red-pc3-17066-(2133)-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-9-11-11-31

Power supply

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-ev ... il-atx-psu

Cases. The really tiny ones need a tiny PSU. However, consider this first and if you like it remove the power supply above ^

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/evga-ha ... ot-optical

That actually comes with its own 500w PSU and is very smart.

This case would need the PSU and is very popular but do note, it can't take full sized graphics cards. It is available in a wide variety of colours though, if that floats your boat.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/raijinte ... 05-rt.html

Those are the most popular two atm. If you fancy something else holler and I will dig out a few more. The main issue with some ITX cases is that you need a SFF PSU are they are eye wateringly expensive (about £85 for a 500w).

Edit. The motherboard link is being a douche, you want the MSI A88XI

http://hexus.net/tech/news/peripherals/ ... next-week/

There you go fella, that ought to sort out the power problem

Well, kindof. If you want to use a universal remote or somesuch, It's not going to work.

Yeah I know. The only other thing I have ever seen that can actually turn a PC on and off though was the Silverstone MFP51. It hijacked the 24 pin cable and came with a huge cumbersome extension. Having said that it did also include a VFD that was extremely useful (date, time, temps, the news, emails etc).

What about a motherboard that supports Wake On Lan? There must be smartphone apps that'll send the wake packet. Granted it's a bit ridiculous having to use your phone to switch your computer one but given that any solution is just to save the 'hassle' of pressing a physical button a few feet away we're already into 'the firstest of first world problem' territory here anyway.

ETA: there's certainly a fuckton of Anroid apps that'll do WoL.

Don't turn it off.

Yeah you could always just let it sleep, then use a media remote to wake it (most support that function apparently)

Don't let it do that, either.

Leaving it on is going to use about 250KWh of electricity a year, which (at 10p per KWh, which is a little high, but easier to figure out) costs about £25, or 48p a week, or 6p a day.

Plus, while it's on, it'll update, do security scans, backup (if you do that), index files, etc. Computers like to be left on.

Noise, though.

Living room PCs shouldn't make a noise - not one you can hear unless you really listen, at least.

My NAS is annoying. I eventually swapped the PSU for a fanless solid-state DC-DC one (at a cost of about £85), but the main 120 mm fan is still a bit loud and uses custom HP buggery so not easy to swap out. Even after that, the drive seek noise is irritating if it's doing anything.

Is that not next to your head, though?

(Also - aside - it's NAS. Why is it not tucked away in a far corner of the house somewhere?)

http://www.streacom.com/products/flirc- ... -receiver/

Apparently.....

Far side of the room.

Sure, I'll put it in the East Wing... no wait, I live in a small London flat, AS YOU VERY WELL KNOW. I have these rooms at my disposal:

Kitchen
Lounge/diner
Bedroom one
Bedroom two
Bathroom one
Bathroom two

Where else should I put it? Keep in mind people sleep in the bedrooms. Bonus points: ideally your answer will allow for a wired ethernet connection to the TV without drilling any holes.

Fairly sure that in Putney, a Smoker as big as yours is large enough to qualify as an additional room with mezzanine floor.

I'd put it in bedroom two (which I assume is wired because there's a computer in there, but I don't know what I'm basing that on). People sleep in there rarely enough for you to be able to switch it off if you need to, right?

Failing that, I'd put it in the cupboard with the washing machine in.

You could try something like this?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008 ... 1_1&sr=8-1

Oh also, a very quiet cooler.

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/thermal ... nd-amd-cpu