I Finally Got Myself A Game Controller For My Pc

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
After a lot of consideration... most of it back and forth... I finally settled on getting a Steelseries Stratus Duo game controller. The Stratus Duo feels very well built, the joysticks are as smooth as butter and buttons aren't too loud and clicky but do provide some tactile feedback. I can easily recommend it as long as it's a type and style that also fits your own needs.

I started my quest by first pestering everyone that would listen, what controller they preferred to use themselves. The majority said what I saw repeated by most reviewers... the MS XBox One was hard to beat without going into the high end like the XBox Elite as one such example. There were only three options that kept me from selecting one... the joystick and dpad were reversed on the XBox series from what seemed natural to me and the Stratus Duo also came with a built in rechargeable battery and a 2.4Ghz wireless dongle for my PC. The MS options also had one that included a bluetooth dongle that's also available seperately, but I find the connection with 2.4Ghz typically is more reliable and has a faster response. Oh, it also didn't hurt that the Stratus Duo was on sale on Amazon and at Target for $35.99 vs the XBox starting at around $45 and up ( without the bluetooth dongle ).


After topping off the battery, I first loaded up Doom I ( 1993 ) and started playing around with different controller settings. Doom I didn't have much if any controls assigned to the game controller which was fine since I probably wasn't setting what would be considered convention settings anyway from what I can tell.

Some examples of what I'm talking about... In the other games I've got that are FPS ( first person shooter ) types... They seem to set the left joystick up as forward/back and left/right. After flying RC for years, I felt those controls should be on the right joystick and not the left one. On the right one, most set camera angle controls up... again, that just seems backwards somehow.

I then proceeded through the jump, crouch, shoot, activate ( also called action sometimes ) and other optional settings. I also found I needed to turn down the sensitivity on most of the joystick controls to avoid over stearing.

On several of the other games, all but one seemed to lack setting up custom controls for a game controller ( usually the kb and mouse are fully assignable )... at least that I've found in the menus. I may have over looked them or perhaps they require that I set them up in a INI settings file or something... I'll want to at least look into what options I have or I may end using KB and mouse on these if nothing else is allowed.

Since I assume most of this is very subjective... I'd love to hear what everyone else sets their controllers up as... or if they just use the defaults and learn them over time.
 

Brick

Member
Do they still make games for the PC ? I remember the last game I played on my PC was Half Life 2. I think I went through that game maybe 6 times !
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
PC gaming is probably the strongest it has ever been and still provides the best gaming you can get on anything... Higher FPS, more detail and just more options that anything else available. I'd say that PC's drives the innovations that are only later seen in consoles. After burning out on games before the last century passed... I only kept up with them enough to serve my clients. They come to the point that many almost have reached a realism that almost rivals reality itself ( almost, not quite ).

Steam is now helping the Linux community to be able to play many of the latest games. Steam is also now also helping develop Chrome OS support. Apple has even announced they are planning a gaming computer at some time in the future. Not to mention that consoles are soon to get a long needed update to the hardware they are using.

AMD's latest CPU's are nothing short of amazing. We now have 16 core 32 thread processors for the standard desktop market not to mention the 64 core 128 thread Threadripper CPU's for the workstation arena. Core and thread counts that used to be reserved only for the server market. Of course neither of those CPU's are needed for a gaming rig, but it really shows where we've gotten and it doesn't appear to be slowing down.
 

Brick

Member
I remember having to log onto a Steam account to play HL2 . I may to have to check the Steam setup, I'd like to maybe play that game again ! I also want to find Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 …. I remember calling in sick from work to play that game !
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
I remember having to log onto a Steam account to play HL2 . I may to have to check the Steam setup, I'd like to maybe play that game again ! I also want to find Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 …. I remember calling in sick from work to play that game !

If you recall your username/password that you purchased it ( or any game ) with on Steam... you should still get access to install the game again. I see Half Life 2 and Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 are still listed...

Speaking of blasts from the past... I've been going through Doom I & II ( mostly I )... just trying to remember where all of the secrets are at. Speaking of which and swinging back to the topic at hand ( not that I mind at all )... I've done some quick speed runs comparing what I can do with the KB and mouse vs the game controller.... KB and mouse are winning big time. LOL ... of course I've been playing them for several weeks now compared to only part of today for the controller.
 

Brick

Member
all I know from PC gaming are KB & Mouse. I'm going to check Steam Tomorrow. after all the Beer has worn off. I'd for sure like to get into these games again. Thanks rdsok
 

Tony

Staff member
RCT2 is on Steam. I know because it's in my library lol. And you can play the first version with the second which is awesome. I used to play that game all the time. Not so much any more.

And like Randy stated, computer gaming is quite popular. Just depends on the person and what they like. Me personally, I'm a computer gamer more than console. But some don't like the computer... To each their own.
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
So last night, I finally got to the last map ( level 8 ) on the first episode of Doom I. Up until this point, I'd been pretty good ( IMO ) at finding the previous secrets and then once I knew where they were, also getting most levels completed in around 10 minutes for the larger maps and ending each with 100% of the secrets and most of the time 100% kills and items although I wasn't too concerned with the later 2 as long as I'd visited every location on the maps.

... PS. The following has a little bit of a spoiler but not a big one ( unless you were unaware of it like I was )

Then the last level 8 the Phobos Anomaly happened. Back in the day ( that'd be the mid-90's for the younger folks here ... lol )... I don't remember ever finishing this level and now I know why. This is a no win level... once you step onto the transport pad and find yourself in the dark with a lot of monsters etc around you... you die... end of story ( or the level ). I tried a half a dozen times or so and finally resorted to looking for a YouTube vid of someone completing it... of course, they didn't either. It only serves as a lead in for the next episode.

So this afternoon... I thought what the heck... and looked up the cheat code for God mode and all of the weapons... So I run through again, getting to the last dark room with all of the baddie's in it... kill them all off and still get the same message that I got before. So much for cheating my way past... LOL.
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
Cheaters never prosper lol. Hell of a way to lead into Doom II though.

Actually.... The second episode, as well as a third, is included in Doom I ( not in the shareware release though )... The first episode has 8 official maps and one hidden map I found out about today. I've been ( possibly mistakenly ) calling them levels instead of maps... but I digress. I'm uncertain how many maps the other two included episodes have since originally, I only had played the shareware version and didn't have the paid version until recently.
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
I'm rather fond of the steam controller myself. I prefer the dual touchpad design.

I may have gone with a Steam Controller... only they discontinued it. But dang, I wish I'd caught the close out sale they had... at the $5-6 dollar price that would have been sweet.

I picked up a copy of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown last night after it went on sale for 50% off... So a joystick is next with a hotas as some point later. I may also get some rudder pedals at some point in the future... but that is a long ways out at this point.
 
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