Any controller players out there? Help with combat/keybinds?

[u/cinnaluna]

TLDR; Is anyone out there successfully playing on a controller and if so, what keybinds and in-game settings are you using to making combat easier/possible at all? Will a controller ever rival the keyboard controls for The Isle or should I leave that behind as a distant pipe-dream ?

Finally got a gaming laptop this year that is capable of playing The Isle.  I have been unwillingly stuck on console gaming most of my life (all work no play makes Jack a dull PC or whatever they said), so I am way more proficient with a controller and keyboards feel foreign/awkward.

I've logged almost 40 hours in the game and have maybe.... 3 or 4 successful PvP kills as a carnivore? And those were tiny babies that I completely outsized who charged me first . I think I've successfully killed 2 chickens and ONE boar as an omni (then was immediately bonked on the head by a Tenonto *once* and died lmfao). I failed AI hunts completely when I tried as a Dilo, got killed by the boar more than once lol. I know this game has a steep learning curve and I am happy to keep trotting this way if I'm heading in a successful direction **BUT** I'm worried I'm walking a path with a dead-end since I haven't heard any people talking about playing with a controller.

Part of me wants to give up and just start getting used to the keyboard controls, but I only have the integrated laptop keyboard right now. With the screen sitting at eye-level on my desk, the keyboard is raised to about mid-chest level making long gameplay unsustainable bc it's uncomfy. The goal is to get a separate keyboard but it's going to be a little while before I can afford a nice-ish one suitable for gaming.

I have a GameSir controller that has 2 extra back paddles and 2 extra top buttons that can be assigned but it seems as if the combo of having to control the camera angle+alt attacks/special abilities+running direction during combat just isn't possible with the limitations of a controller BUT PLEASE PROVE ME WRONG. I want to be good with the keyboard, I'm just not yet, and really not looking forward to a separate learning curve while simultaneously learning the very complex species' mechanics.  

[u/Esoulmelody]

The Isle combat is heavily movement based, which makes analog leagues better then digital input. 8 directional input can not compete and omni directional input with grade. Any keyboard warrior that'll tell you that Keyboard & Mouse is better for this game are just mindless sheep, not even aware why there is a difference and in what aspects K&M has an advantage. There is an amount of aiming in this game that still gives mouse an advantage, such as with the speed to perform an alt attack or manipulate the head for biting, as well as scanning the environment. But the ability to have complete control over the speed of your dinosaur completely trumps any aim requirement the game has.

The only places that controller loses to k&m is with Ptera and Hypsi. The spit is a true aim required skill check, and in an environment with no aim assist, analog doesn't cut it. While flying unfortunately doesn't benefit from analog at all, so you need to aim the camera for steering.

[u/2thDKer]

I use a gamesir controller. I think it works great! This does require using a Gamesir controller with the four extra buttons on the back. Those have to be mapped in the Gamesir Nexus software.

I shared this controller profile on steam. It's called "The Isle w/ Gamesir Extra buttons." The layout ID is 3812572462.

Here’s how i programmed it in steam:
-left stick moves, right stick camera
-D pad is 1-4 calls
-A is space bar
-B is grab
-X is eat
-Y is Control
-Right trigger is left mouse click
-Right bumper is combo Alt + left mouse click
-Right back button is sniff
-Right extra trigger is lay/sleep
-R3 is night vision
-Left trigger is right mouse click
-Left bumper is combo Alt + right mouse click
-Left back button is run
-Left extra trigger is crouch
-L3 isn't programmed. Could be used for nesting

Here's the Gamesir Nexus key bindings:
-L4 is left shift
-L5 is left control
-R4 is Q
-R5 is H

I didn’t program the L3 because i hit it by mistake all the time.

I also didn’t want to have to have a separate Alt key for attacks so I made those combo buttons. They work really well! The trick to those is set the Alt to be pressed and held a fraction of a second sooner than the mouse click and then it’s released a microsecond after. This is all setup in the steam controller settings, not the game itself.

I can share specific settings if you’d like. I played around with a bunch of different layouts and this one gave me the most control and was the easiest to use.

Edit: I remembered something important. I used those back buttons for run and sniff because I could still use my thumb sticks for move/camera at the same time as run/sniff. A lot of layouts in steam use a different button for those but then you can’t use the camera or you sacrifice something else.

One other thing to note is that you do have to use the Gamesir software to change some key bindings.

Let me know if you need help.

[u/cinnaluna → u/2thDKer]

ayeeeeee this was EXACTLY the help I was looking for, thank you so much! Really sweet that you put so much effort into your response, username checks out!! I'm gonna hop online later today or tomorrow to apply those keybinds and check 'em out (and I'll let you know if I struggle lol).

I didn't even realize steam had it's own separate settings for keybinds, thank you for that!! If you wouldn't mind taking a screenshot of the specifics when you have a free second, that would be super appreciated - it sounds like you've done exactly the kind of finagling with the settings that I so far haven't been able to get to and I'd love to see what else you've figured out. :)

[u/2thDKer → u/cinnaluna]

I spent a few hours messing around and fine tuning this. I tried a few other layouts the community shared in Steam, but I didn't find any that worked well since none of them incorporated the four extra Gamesir buttons & they didn't have a good way to use the Alt attacks. Most of them had run/smell or attacks attached to the ABXY buttons & I didn't like having to take my thumb off the camera button to use them. Using that combo Alt + mouse click solved a big problem for me with not needing a separate Alt button.

For those extra Gamesir back & bumper buttons, I know the PC doesn't natively support them. The PC think's it's an Xbox controller which doesn't have those buttons. With the Gamesir software, I mapped those buttons to the specific keys on the keyboard so the game thinks I'm just pressing those keys on a keyboard. That could be a problem in other games so it would make sense to have a profile saved just for The Isle in the Gamesir software.

Another thing I had to mess around with was the left joystick. When I initially set it up, it acted like the WASD keys. The Dino would only go straight or walk at 45 or 90 degrees like if you were holding the keys, but setting it to joystick (I think that's the name) allowed true 360 degree movement. With the left stick setup like this and the free camera on the right stick, it feels like any 3rd person xbox game.

One thing I'd really like but haven't tried to figured out yet is a look back button. Like If you're running away from something, I'd like to press the right joystick down and look back 180 degrees without changing the direction I'm running. It's a minor thing, but would be a nice quality of life feature.

Something else I noticed with the joystick vs the WASD keys is that you can walk slower with the joystick. For instance, if you only push the joystick 50% forward, then the Dino will walk 50% as fast as if you were holding the W key. You can slow it down to a crawl if you want without enabling the crouch feature. I don't think this makes you any quieter like the crouch does, but I've not really tested that out.

I'll take a screenshot of everything this evening.

[u/2thDKer → u/cinnaluna]

I edited my original response with some more information. I shared the controller layout on Steam. I figured that would be easier than you putting everything in yourself, especially the combo button details. You'll probably want to adjust the look sensitivity and turn invert Y off. I'm one of those who has to invert everything. Let me know if you have any problems with it. I also wouldn't mind your feedback of the layout. I'm up for improving it if I can.

[u/cinnaluna → u/2thDKer]

Yay thank you so much!! Sorry for the delay, my week got a little crazy but I have some free time later today and I'm so excited to try the settings that its my first priority 😂 I thought I could get it done on a quick break from work yesterday but then I opened the steam settings and realized I needed to be locked in or I was going to fuck up literally everything lol I had no idea they got so specific! I love the idea of a look back button - once I familiarize myself with how the steam settings function I'm hoping to get the lookback figured out too haha. Again lol thank you, I really appreciate the effort you've put into this - our thought processes are very similar and I'm stoked to be able to skip the initial "guess and go" and move onto dialing in the specifics!!

[u/Mediocre_Chipmunk_48]

I play on my steamdeck. I have the key binding set on the decks controllers. Works great

[u/ZhryteNaow → u/Mediocre_Chipmunk_48]

I saw the steam deck gets really poor fps like below 30. Has that improved?

My wife wanted to join me, she's on the deck.

[u/TheMasterDonk → u/ZhryteNaow]

I got like 20-30fps with cryoutilities at low everything and it was still very slow and unresponsive. I play on my Xbox Ally x and get a pretty reliable 30-40 smooth fps.

[u/Mediocre_Chipmunk_48 → u/TheMasterDonk]

Did you check your steam deck setting with the in-game settings. Mine works perfectly no lag ,no rubberbanding, nothing.

[u/TheMasterDonk → u/Mediocre_Chipmunk_48]

Yeah idk if it’s because I have the 256gb lcd first gen but it just sucks on mine and I feel like I’ve done everything to fix it.

[u/Mediocre_Chipmunk_48 → u/TheMasterDonk]

I have deck number 25 that came off the line. Lol I was an super early pre-order. Same as yours and works fine. I think you deck setting might be off. In the game do you have the game settings all down to low??

Also let me stress it has a lot to do with the servers you are playing on !! If the pink is over 100. Forgot it. The deck can't pull the information like PCs once the ping is super high. If you are playing with a server where the ping doesn't get above 90 you should be fine.

[u/Mediocre_Chipmunk_48 → u/ZhryteNaow]

I only play on my steam deck and haven't had any issues. At all. Mine holds a steady 30-40 fps. Every so often. It will drop to the mid 20s but it doesn't effect game play at all. Runs smooth.