Steam

Steam controller is a nice controller, but discontinued and they will begin to fail!

My analog joystick module had just became too worn. It started drifting down sometimes and extreme inputs (100%) was no longer possible. I also looked at an analog scope and noticed the signals are very, very noisy!

Cleaning the module (the actual potentiometers) did reduce the noisyness, but extreme inputs were even more difficult to do.

It is difficult to source analog modules. The ones I got had huge deadzones and looked terrible on hardwaretester.com/gamepad .

So, I ordered a bunch of (possibly better quality?) analog modules from konsolowo along with PS4 Hall Effect modules. I just decided I wanted to try how the Steam Controller handles them.

I had already determined the pinout of the Steam controller. It doesn't use any of the common pinouts, it's a cross breed between PS4 and Xbox =). You need the black sensors on both sides, in other words, ground is always furthest away from the button (pin 3). It's the black sensor if you order the modules with black and yellow (orange) sensors =). By combining sensors from 2x PS4 (or Xbox) you should be left with one suitable for the Steam Controller and one suitable for ~~Xbox~~ PS5 (for reference https://www.reddit.com/r/ConsoleRepairUK/comments/18i6al8/ps5_ps4_xbox_hall_effect_analog_stick_pinout/).

Now, when changing the sensor I loosened a magnet. You might not need to calibrate if you don't, but I was forced to. These sensors can and should be calibrated to get the centerpoint right. However, I've noticed (when playing with the dirty analog module) that the Steam Controller uses some kind of auto-calibration; it's "calibrate" option does nothing in Steam and there is no manual calibration option at all. The centerpoint is calibrated automatically!

But if the magnets are not aligned, you might either bottom out on the 0v (minimum, obviously) or 2.8V (maximum). Also, if the "center" value is way out of range, the Steam Controller (Firmware!) might not be able to auto-calibrate the center.

There is something to be improved on the maximum range. See the attached screnshot - this is about as good as it can get. I was once able to get an even better result, but it's a bit inconsistend.

Also, I suspect that sometimes the calibration might get corrupted during play. I'm not sure what is going on, but I suspect it's because when pressing the thumbstick button, the values might overshoot because of how the hall sensors work. I've seen this problem with an 8bitdo controller (Pro2 Hall Edition), but it has a manual calibration option, too. And, the Steam Controller calibration algorithm is meant for analog potentiometers.

WARNING: Some actual long-term testing to make sure these modules are actually useful, and to determine if the above problem is a real one and how severe!

ABOUT CALIBRATION:

It's a bit more difficult to calibrate the module on a Steam Controller because of the auto-centering feature on the controller. It's still worthwhile since the circularity test will be totally out-of-whack if you are bottoming out the sensors. A multimeter and an oscilloscope can become handy to help to see if you are bottoming out. A good rule of thumb is to measure the neutral (center) raw value from the controller, it should be around 1.4 - 1.5V. If you can not measure during calibration, then if the circularity test is "lopsided" vertically or horizontally, then the input needs to be moved away from that direction. When calibrating, and the firmware somehow determining the maximum range, a lot of rebooting is needed (since the situation is changing all the time)!

If you try this replacement/mod/upgrade, be wary OF THE FLEXCABLES TO THE TOUCHPADS. The Steam Controller will not boot if they are not connected. The flexcables are delicate. I had best ergonomic results by unscrewing the modules and carefully having the controller on a table with the modules resting on the PCB. Don't try to do calibration in some un-ergonomic way trough some narrow space, you'll just get bad results, get frustrated and possibly damage the flex cables.

TL;DR:

Is it worth to put in Hall Effect modules? Maybe. If your analog pots are really end-of-life, then they sure are usable replacement. But if you can find good quality analog joystick modules, with matching potentiometers with no deadzone, you are probably better off with them. Calibration might be even more tiresome than on some other controllers, but results might actually be better because of the intelligence in Steam Controller. I hope the controller was properly software-calibrateable (no auto-calibration). A possibly remedy: opensteamcontroller and open firmware?

I might make a comparison to proper analog modules, but it's a bit tiresome changing the sensor modules. I've never tested the Steam Controller with intact, original analog pots on hardwaretester.com, and I could not find any previous screenshots/test. It's possible the firmware never calibrated the analog pots any better; I don't know what the reference functionality was.

Pictures might be coming online later. If you have any questions, please do ask!

Q1. A few years ago, steam allowed you to sort tag-based releases (e.g. MMORPG) by release date.

But recently they moved to different model. Consider the MMORPG page:

https://store.steampowered.com/tags/en/MMORPG/

Now you only have "New & Trending" which does not sort by date:

Q2. Any given steam store page has an option called "View update history":

This data is also provided in your library in the top "What's New" banner:

But this is only for games that you own.

Is there a way to "subscribe" to the update feeds of a set of games; doesn't have to be through steam. An external tools/website would work too.

Cheers!

There's this game I'm trying to download, and it's big enough that it's going to take several days of continuous downloading to get. I have about half of it so far. I want it to download during my scheduled auto update hours, and pause in the morning when I wake up. Sounds simple, right?

Problem is, it won't. I can either drag it to "up next", in which case it downloads immediately, or I can drag it to "unscheduled", in which case it won't download at all, even if I leave my PC on all night. I can't click and drag it into the scheduled category. How do I get it in there so it'll download when I'm asleep, but won't hog the pre-bedtime bandwidth?

It is extremely frustrating. I just wanted to evaluate the whole list one by one and not miss one.

But no, it makes you click "more" every 10 items and then it wipes itself when you scroll back up.

You win steam, I give up and won't buy anything, happy ?

Source: https://x.com/thexpaw/status/1795720970742993331

I'm currently there on vacation, and as the ban happened, I couldn't access the app anymore, without using my VPN.

Now it seems as it works again, I'm able to use the App again and even the website is accessible again.

tl;dr: Watch what you put online and who you friend, especially on Steam. Once it's on the internet, it's there forever.

There's a website similar to SpyPet for Discord, but for Steam. They compile all of our users' profile pictures, name history, comments, URL history, "real name" history, our friend networks, forever, and they give us no option to opt out of it. Not even a private profile will stop it from scouring your friends' lists, the forums, your avatars and name history. So what's the purpose of it?

Stalking. I'm a victim of it.

And despite all of my efforts to not leave a trail leading to my new Steam account, SteamHistory enabled my stalkers to find me.

There are a number of unfortunate folks that have dedicated their time to follow me into whatever game servers I visit and spoil my day. I had deleted my old Steam account and repurchased all of my games on a new account that was privated from the start. I was very careful to not disclose any information that could lead to my identification, including using VPNs and prepaid methods to avoid leaking my real name to Steam. Despite that, my stalkers managed to attribute my new anonymous account to me, even though my profile is private and haven't posted anything. But how? Well, they were "kind" enough to tell me how.

How did they find me? Enter SteamHistory.

The task itself would have been impossible without a massive database of Steam friend networks, but the website simplifies such an endeavor that it is basically trivial. Assume the role of a stalker for a second and that you know nothing about your victim's new account. All you know is that they have a few friends with whom they sometimes play and their profiles are also private. What can you do? Initially, it seems like a lost cause, SteamHistory gives you a lead.

Go on their website and look up your victim's friends. Despite that all involved profiles are private, it is unlikely that the victim's friends would create new Steam accounts and repurchase their games. It's more likely that they would simply private their profiles. With this knowledge, look at each friend's friend history and find the friends that they all have in common, then eliminate all of those in this intersection that you are sure are not your victim. This process will always narrow the scope into only one last person: the target. Bingo. You've found your victim. And you didn't even need any data from them. That's how they found me.

What does SteamHistory store?

They store and put on an exhibit your embarrassing names, your immature profile pictures, for the whole world to see. Your deadname, your abusive ex's comments, made forever available for any imaginable bad actor. They etch in stone the fact that you once were Steam friends with this guy that turned out to be a sexual predator.

So what can you do?

Nothing besides not using Steam. Or get Valve to implement better control of our privacy, but good luck with that. The owner of SteamHistory has been confronted on the matter, and what they said is that you can opt out of data collection by deleting your Steam account. They don't care about the GDPR because they're situated in the US.

So heads up.

Source: https://twitter.com/SteamDB/status/1788981898108182681

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/9361843