PSA: Steam Input Changes

[[DE]SpaceySarah]

Hello Tenno!

As you may be aware, Valve's Steam Controller has been discontinued as of December 2019. Part of integrating the Steam Controller into Warframe was adopting the Steam Input layer, which also provides support for a variety of hardware configurations and control schemes beyond the Steam Controller. As a result of the Steam Controller's discontinuation however, we feel that Steam Input no longer provides any meaningful additional functionality for the vast majority of players who play Warframe with a controller. Supporting both schemes has for many players added significant confusion and technical issues. After considering how we can provide the best experience for players who use a controller, we've decided to remove support for Steam Input from Warframe in the near future. 

If you have customized your controller settings through Steam, this will result in a one-time configuration reset. However, for most players, this should not result in a significant change in how they play the game.

To prepare for this upcoming reset ahead of time, please complete the following steps to opt-out of Steam Input:

1. Under the Steam Library, right click on Warframe and select Properties.
2. Under the "General" tab, open the drop-down under "Steam Input Per-Game Setting" and select "Forced Off".
3. Restart the game if it is currently running.

 

EDIT:
Thank you for your understanding regarding the upcoming changes to the Steam Input layer. Having read your feedback and concerns, and looking further at the technical details involved in removing Steam Input support, we have decided to postpone (and depending on what we learn, cancel) plans to remove Steam Input support as we look into ways that we can better improve and optimize support for the entire controller ecosystem.

We will update this thread when these exact improvements are confirmed. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

[trunks013]

Nice always happy to see less controller confusion.

Speaking of controller are you guys planning to have separate controls for KDrive like lunaro because i know a lot of tenno who use toggle crouch but on KDrive having a key to hold to grid would be more interesting.

[Etriia]

Ah Steam controller... you had such potential. RIP

[ChaosSpectre86]

So what does this mean for steam link users then? Because pretty sure Steam Input is required in order to use Steam Link, which I frequently use on my phone.

[NightmareT12]

Thanks for this, between the discountinued support and the new Steam Input update that was done 1 or 2 years ago, the controller experience while using Steam could become very wonky.

I'd like to note there is currently an option that allows controller players to use Sprint once the stick has passed a certain threshhold through an outer deadzone -- I'd like to ask (as I have for a few years now) to try to implement through the game itself if possible, as it could ease the use of sprint for controller players 🙂

EDIT: BTW, and unrelated, but can we expect the Forums to feel a bit like before? I kinda liked the auto-emojis and having the edit button next to quote, among other things 😅

[Forcen]

Steam input will still work without intergration, it just has to emulate a controller or keyboard/mouse. Steam input works in every game or application or desktop, its just less intuitive now.

DE: As an owner of a Steam Controller you can still support steam controllers after doing this, all you have to do is make sure the game lets you use both controller and mouse/keyboard input at the same time. If you do this we can still do most things well. PLEASE do this (unless you already are doing this, if then keep it working)

[German]

So I won't be able to type with a controller and on-screen keyboard anymore? That's not great...

[Forcen]

Yes you will be able to, just like how you can type on the desktop or in this forum with a controller.

[Ghostcart]

Quote

SIAPI (Full steam controller support, as used currently) DOES:
Provide directly coded actions such as "Shoot", "Jump", "Interact".
Provide Predefined Action Sets, distinct sections for gamepad layouts that the game will swap between based on ingame context. "Gameplay (shooting)", "Menu", "Melee".
Set up direct movement bindings as "Move", "Joystick Look".
Trigger the Steam Onscreen Keyboard whenever text entry is required.
Provide ingame glyph (button prompt) support... sometimes.
Lock out certain types of inputs when active, causing usability issues.
 

Steam Input without SIAPI still:
Handles compatibility for various controller types.
Allows stick axis customization.
Allows custom keybindings to gamepad and keyboard inputs.
Allows Action Sets and Action Layers for manual swapping between various layouts based on inputs or cursor visibility.

 

 

 

DE, Please make sure to keep the game set up so that gamepad and kb+m inputs will work at the same time.
It'll keep controller support in a pretty good state!
 

As a heavy steam input user, I have a few concerns.
The action layer hooks were extremely useful for all the varied activities the game has.

Some modes need more or less sensitivity, and having separate bindings between melee and gunplay was extremely useful.
I suppose workarounds will be possible, but they never  work quite as well as automated hooks.

On the plus side, this will clear out several annoying relics of the system, like the forced full screen on-screen-keyboard to input text, and the keyboard input lockouts...

I'll be following this with extreme interest.
 

Thank you for the advance notice, DE! Many devs wouldn't bother..

 

In case anyone is curious, this is my current control scheme. It's a dialog link, but simply opens steam's input config system to display it directly and allow importing if desired.

steam://controllerconfig/230410/2224265295

[Andvarja]

It does make sense why this decision was made.  However, in light of that, can we get in-game settings for things like deadzone customization?  One size does not fit all (whether due to controller wear or hand/movement issues of users), but that's currently how Warframe itself handles deadzones when it has exclusive management of the controller, and whenever you guys try to adjust things to improve things for some players, it just throws things off for others - customizable deadzone settings would be very helpful all around.

[Ghostcart]

6 minutes ago, Andvarja said:

It does make sense why this decision was made.  However, in light of that, can we get in-game settings for things like deadzone customization?  One size does not fit all (whether due to controller wear or hand/movement issues of users), but that's currently how Warframe itself handles deadzones when it has exclusive management of the controller, and whenever you guys try to adjust things to improve things for some players, it just throws things off for others - customizable deadzone settings would be very helpful all around.

It's worth remembering that even without official support, steam input can still handle that sort of customization.

[Urlan]

Another concern was that this allowed more controllers to be used without third party drivers; a plus for some users. Will work be made to make it so controllers can be used for the fishing submenu, Railjack, and Tenno mode from a Necramech then since they don't currently unless you use defaults.

[Al-chan]

Considering Valve has been updating Steam Input more often this year, such as Flick Stick (the biggest addition thus far, so big that some of the Gaming News Media has cover it), Universal Mouse Joystick mode for Native SIAPI games (because most implementations don't even use Mouse-like Camera), Soft Press Activator, Mouse delta binding, Binding Listener mode and Joystick visualization for Controller Calibration....

Alongside that, I'm starting to see more games adding Steam Input API support more recently, and it's disappointing that this specific one will be dropped because... "we feel that Steam Input no longer provides any meaningful additional functionality"...really, have you been to Steam Controller subreddit or Discord server as of late? (not to mention, that sounds like an excuse)

Granted, the actual implementation is a mixed bag and doesn't do a good job of futureproofing In-Game Actions and Action Sets, For example: [Game], [Melee Mode] and [Lunaro] are separate Action Set when it could've been merged together, while there isn't a dedicated [Flight - Archwing] and [Vehicles] (such as K-Drive) Action Set by now, Especially when Railjack has a complete different control scheme.

Comparing that to No Man's Sky's Steam Input API implementation, I'm surprised that Digital Extreme didn't take that to account when they introduce major gameplay additions or changes, I can completely understand why this has to be removed...

However, removing it just to "provide the best experience for players who use a controller" is going to impact more controller players outside of Steam Controller, especially for the Gyro Aiming folks where they can use SIAPI's Mouse-like Camera to get Gyro Aiming closer to native implementation on the Nintendo Switch version without having to map Gyro as Mouse Input.* So much for "the best experience". 

*Note: Warframe doesn't use SIAPI's Mouse-like Camera, instead it uses Mouse Input.

Speaking of that, Nintendo Switch Pro Controller guys will be hit too! They may have to use either Steam Input Legacy Mode or use an Input Mapper. Just another case of no Standardization of Controller Support on PC outside of Xbox and DualShock 4 Controllers.

For the case with Warframe's SIAPI being removed; The best Transitional period is increasing Simultaneous Controller+Keyboard/Mouse support and using OS Mouse (as oppose to using Build-in Mouse Cursor) for Menu Navigation to take advantage of Automatic Action Set Switching. That way, those guys, alongside Steam Controller players, can simply use Mouse Input for Camera Control while everything else as Xinput mode while expanding Controllers like Azeron Gaming Keypad.

We can still use Steam's Controller Configurator via Legacy Mode (aka, XInput), while still taking advantage of Gyro Aiming as I usually do in other games, it's just going require additional Action Sets to take account of other stuffs outside of Ninja/Operator mode.

[Ghostcart]

43 minutes ago, Urlan said:

Another concern was that this allowed more controllers to be used without third party drivers; a plus for some users. Will work be made to make it so controllers can be used for the fishing submenu, Railjack, and Tenno mode from a Necramech then since they don't currently unless you use defaults.

I think I'll clarify some things with my post.
The fishing submenu currently uses ability hotkeys on controller.

Railjack has an issue where it gets stuck in menu mode when exiting a pilot/turret chair.
I assume they never added the proper set change hook.

[Titanic_Monarch]

I think you underestimate how often people use steam input even without the steam controller, and by cutting this people using a switch pro controller will no longer be able to at all.

[Zasuel]

This is EXTREMELY upsetting to hear. This was the game that made me love my steam controller, and I've been using its features pretty much my whole playtime. It might be possible to duck tape a similar control method together, but I doubt it will be as smooth or play as well. Will I be able to bind it so I can gyro aim while charging up my powers? Will I be to have mouse like aiming while everything else is controller based? Will I be able to control my flight path with gyro when I'm in archwing? 

I've been working on my steam input configuration for almost the 1,000+ hours I've put into the game, and while I'm not done and never messed with configuring Lunario or Decorating, I was still really proud of my work. I'll post it if anyone wants to try it. You have to set all your mouse sensitivities to zero in game for the best results, else the inputs tend to fight each other.

steam://controllerconfig/230410/1677121275 

I'm honestly still reeling from this announcement. Its a punch in the gut that I didn't need right now. Honestly, If this change means I have to play a clunker version of Warframe from now on, I honestly don't feel like its worth it.

[NinjaRican]

27 minutes ago, Zasuel said:

This is EXTREMELY upsetting to hear. This was the game that made me love my steam controller, and I've been using its features pretty much my whole playtime. It might be possible to duck tape a similar control method together, but I doubt it will be as smooth or play as well. Will I be able to bind it so I can gyro aim while charging up my powers? Will I be to have mouse like aiming while everything else is controller based? Will I be able to control my flight path with gyro when I'm in archwing? 

I've been working on my steam input configuration for almost the 1,000+ hours I've put into the game, and while I'm not done and never messed with configuring Lunario or Decorating, I was still really proud of my work. I'll post it if anyone wants to try it. You have to set all your mouse sensitivities to zero in game for the best results, else the inputs tend to fight each other.

steam://controllerconfig/230410/1677121275 

I'm honestly still reeling from this announcement. Its a punch in the gut that I didn't need right now. Honestly, If this change means I have to play a clunker version of Warframe from now on, I honestly don't feel like its worth it.

100% feel the same way.

[Urlan]

1 hour ago, Ghostcart said:

I think I'll clarify some things with my post.
The fishing submenu currently uses ability hotkeys on controller.

Railjack has an issue where it gets stuck in menu mode when exiting a pilot/turret chair.
I assume they never added the proper set change hook.

I am well aware what it uses by default; those don't work if you have changed your controlls to say not use the Default hold the ability button and press other buttons functionality. In fact, not having this; say from using a custom control and using the D-pad to switch your ability previous or next makes it so the sub-menus which worked perfectly fine before Railjack don't anymore. Since this functionality lockdown came with Railjack, it also happens there which means no abilities there and also no switching your hunting echo-lures or being able to leave Tenno the Necramech to Tenno mode without a keyboard handy.

[Ghostcart]

8 minutes ago, Urlan said:

I am well aware what it uses by default; those don't work if you have changed your controlls to say not use the Default hold the ability button and press other buttons functionality. In fact, not having this; say from using a custom control and using the D-pad to switch your ability previous or next makes it so the sub-menus which worked perfectly fine before Railjack don't anymore. Since this functionality lockdown came with Railjack, it also happens there which means no abilities there and also no switching your hunting echo-lures or being able to leave Tenno the Necramech to Tenno mode without a keyboard handy.

If you look at my layout, you can see that I moved the abilities to Triangle + shoulder buttons, and they worked fine for switching fishing/hunting gear, although that fix was relatively recent. I can't speak to the Necramech, but that sounds like an SIAPI issue.

[Drex83]

Have to say I'm not happy about this, but I appreciate the warning. My Steam Controller profile is extremely complex I hope I can even re-adapt it back to the base one I'm going to have to start from scratch in any case. I really wish you guys would just consider updating this though, at the very least, please for the love of god, do not change allowing properly mouse input while gamepad input works for everything else or you'll ruin any amount of play us SC users can get out of the game well, although this will still make the game really shaky in menus for us as mouse is the best aim input, and cannot be substituted for right stick in menus 1:1 without action sets from the SIAPI automatically changing this for us. I understand your implementation of SIAPI is vastly out of date and needs a clean up (IE, some of Archwing and RJ controls don't work right, I could be willing to help with this) but there's a lot more to Steam Input than you think there is, it's not just about mapping a Steam Controller.

It's called Steam input and not Steam Controller Input, for a reason. ANYONE with an Xinput or DirectInput controller, of any kind, can use Steam's tools, optionally, if it's not a steam controller, of course. I highly recommend if you don't use an SC normally to check this out. This allows remapping of controls for anyone using a modern gamepad, Steam Controller or not, which is part of why Valve isn't discontinuing it, in fact they've ADDED features since their own controller got discontinued. One of which is Jibb Smart's Flick Stick style of aiming, which I haven't actually tried but I've heard good things, that's actually made for the right analog stick, which isn't even a thing Steam Controllers have, so it doesn't even really properly benefit us, that's exclusively a good feature for regular Xinput pad users.

There's so much you can do though, for example, this may be odd on some pads, but Steam's has a little bump near the end of the triggers, because of this we can easily pop another bind onto triggers at the end without hitting it every time, for me, LT can do reload if I slam it to the bottom instead of just using it to ADS. Gyro aiming is incredible, as long as the mouse+gamepad relationship remains untouched this should be fine, I guess...

But there are just so many features ANY Xinput pad user can use, and if you use a Switch controller, you can use gyro aiming, if you use PS4, you can bind the touch pad to not be a dead worthless husk on PC. There's many other features too your in game binder is fully incapable of (no offense, it's not meant to be this complex just saying) but people can bind things to things such as, chords (two buttons together), single press, on-release, on-press, on-double-tap, on-hold, and any of these can be combined on one button within reason, adding so much customizability. Not to mention, the Touch menus (SC only, well, maybe PS4 touch pad too) and radials (anything with a stick) which allow you to make your own radial menu (or touch pad, it's similar) that pop up generated by the Steam overlay, instead of the game itself, letting you put any number of binds on these for quick use, allowing potentially hundreds of binds from one gamepad if you desired. Plus these are great enthusiast tools for fun too, I personally have edited my touch menus more in depth to have orokin text on all the binds.

Furthermore, another reason anyone may like Steam Input besides SC users, is the desktop! Normally your pad is worthless on the desktop. This is not the case with Steam, which is why using Steam's input is way better than Xinput alone when you can (unless steam glitches out :p) With Steam Input handling your pad, it watches for games, it loads your controller profile regardless of what make or brand the pad is. If you're in a game, it's a gamepad. If you're on the desktop though... well, it can be altered, but the default desktop profile has mouse movement, clicks, scroll wheel, on screen openable keyboard, enter/space/ctrl/shift/alt/page up/down, allowing one to very easily control browsers, music, or discord on other screens without using kb/m.

It also has Steam Guide Button Chords, where you hold the guide button and press a button and it does something globally that's different than usual. Best use case of this is music: While Steam controls your pad, again, regardless of brand it doesn't have to be valve's, you can hold Guide, and push the stick left or right to change audio tracks, up down for volume, or click for play/pause. You can also move the mouse and do left/right click, which is invaluable if you alt tab out of games and use a pad since they sometimes get stuck focusing on something else and don't restore the game properly without clicking in the game's window without a mouse. Which also brings me to the other topic: Alt Tab. These tools allow anyone with a pad, to alt tab out of a game and do other stuff on the desktop without having to use their keyboard and mouse, and with the automatically loading desktop profile, once again, they can do anything on the desktop they need, without resorting to using the normal PC controls.

I know these are wonky to work with, I know your implementation is dated, but steam's input API is not outdated, it's still growing, they're still adding new features even, in fact they've put in 2 more this year I can think of just off the top of my head, past the EOL of the original SC. I know not everyone at every game company is an enthusiast enough to get this, but it's really irritating to see removal of features, especially when the OS defaults are blatantly inferior, what can I say.

PS I'm sure it's not really on your docket, but if you can ever try to really get that flight stick stuff to work on RJ that'd be hilariously fantastic. I've used some tools to try to make that work but it just doesn't translate right sadly ;)

Edit: Also thought for anyone potentially interested but probably not, I'd throw my config into the hat steam://controllerconfig/230410/1201274010

Also an example of what one could be doing with touch menus

 

 

[pointofgravity]

I'm disappointed in this, but I'm grateful for the warning. Thanks for that I guess.

As with others, this game is the game that made me really make full use of Steam Controller's configurability. I admit, some of the directly coded controls were, as everyone has said, a bit wonky (not being able to use the touchpad to control the mouse cursor in menus is the biggest thing that comes to mind, that and also weird fishing quirks) but some, if not most of the frequent use controls that have direct coding actually functions quite smoothly, and I applaud you guys for that.

Seriously, from my perspective I'd rather you just keep your SIAPI layer as a legacy option, and let me customise that. I don't really mind if you don't support it any more, but at least give me the option of keeping what brilliant work you did do with it, and let me swap out the things that you, uh, didn't do so great with for keybinds.

As with what others have said, please please please please^{pleasepleasepleaseplease} Keep this game partial controller compatible, that is able to use keyboard and gamepad at the same time. Mouselike aiming and being able to use controller walking is a godsend not just for this game, but for many other games that I adore because I can hack my own control scheme together. That, and gyro aiming is such a gamechanger for me.

You don't have to continue to support it, but please don't strip it from the game altogether.

[Cyberius_001]

Any chance you could fix menu navigation for those of us with rebound keyboard bindings? I rebound my movement keys to a more convenient spot, but all the menus, landing craft movement in loading screens, and even Wyrmius still use WASD for movement. Really inconvenient for me to have to move my hand back and forth.

[Urlan]

8 hours ago, Ghostcart said:

If you look at my layout, you can see that I moved the abilities to Triangle + shoulder buttons, and they worked fine for switching fishing/hunting gear, although that fix was relatively recent. I can't speak to the Necramech, but that sounds like an SIAPI issue.

That is still using the Hold and Press style that the default enforces. The hard coding of that functionality is what caused the other issues besides the UI for the Necramech lacking any UI button for Tenno mode.

[ShaperOfForm]

My initial response was devastation as the Steam Controller is my primary method of playing and I have invested quite a bit of time in getting the configuration just right. 

I am assuming that if I follow the instructions "Steam Input Per-Game Setting" and select "Forced Off", I will see just how much of a problem this is going to be. 

Doing some more digging, I think this change means we can still use the Steam tool to set configurations - we just wont have the predetermined action types. 

So essentially we need to map to the actual keys on the keyboard. Fortunately most of my configuration uses this method. So this may not be as devastating as thought. 

Will be testing and updating my configuration tonight. Hopefully you won't see me back on this page decrying the coming change. 

[[DE]SpaceySarah]

Hi Tenno!

Thank you for your understanding regarding the upcoming changes to the Steam Input layer. Having read your feedback and concerns, and looking further at the technical details involved in removing Steam Input support, we have decided to postpone (and depending on what we learn, cancel) plans to remove Steam Input support as we look into ways that we can better improve and optimize support for the entire controller ecosystem.

We will update this thread when these exact improvements are confirmed. Thank you for your patience and understanding.