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PC Guide to Controller Support

Ffastyl
Ffastyl
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Not everything is intuitive.

Mouse & keyboard is hard to grasp for someone who's played on console their entire life. And controller is hard to grasp for someone who's played on PC their entire life. I grew up with consoles, playing with a range of controllers over the 17 years I spent with them exclusively. Over the past two years I have bought a laptop and learned mouse & keyboard for the Elder Scrolls Online. It took several months to become fully adjusted, to become able to perform the sleight of hand needed to hit 5 keys in quick succession without a second thought. I expect it to take the same time for any PC-born to transition to controller. And that is why I am sharing the tips, tricks and configurations I have learned over the several months ESO has had controller support for PC and in my time as a console player before that.



The Button Map:
Here on PC, you can remap all the buttons on your controller! It is important to take note of which buttons/triggers/bumpers/sticks you can press both quickly and comfortably, because these are the buttons you should map your most used and most crucial actions to. Buttons that take you a split second longer to reach and press could spell disaster in critical moments. To that end most console games provide several pre made button mappings, if not allow you to completely remap the controller. Mapping buttons is a continuous process as you discover which buttons you fat finger and which ones you press faster than you blink. Eventually muscle memory will settle in and you start to make only minor tweaks to your control scheme for convenience or experimentation.

This is the control scheme I have crafted for my personal use over these several months playing. It is a setup I can be comfortable and fast with, but you will have to try it to see if it's the same for you.
2490129.jpg
I play ESO with a DS4 (PS4 Controller) and the DS4Windows software to make it compatible with Xinput games. The DS4 has a touchpad that I have mapped the E key to and several menu shortcuts, including the Map, using the DS4Windows program. For Xbox One controllers, the Interact action can be mapped to the menu/select button for Interact(Tap)/Interact Player(Hold) and the Map can replace the Quest Journal. There is no option to bring up the map from the Character Menus so you will need to map it to a button for easy access!
Abilities mapped to the face buttons (A/Cross, X/Square, Y/Triangle, B/Circle) are recommended to be ones you don't need to aim, such as buffs, radial AoEs and executes, since until you master an efficient grip you will have to take your thumb off the right stick to press them.



On Grips:
Your first instinct is probably to hold the controller like this:
feedbackxbxoonecontr_610.jpg
ps4-controller.jpg
It's a basic grip that gets the job done for casual play, comfortable and natural.

But for competitive or high level play you need the Claw grip:
playing-xbox.jpg
maxresdefault.jpg
It's initially uncomfortable, but will become less so after a couple days of use. I personally don't always hold the controller in Claw; I alternate between basic and Claw as the situation demands it. There are also Half-Claw and Double Claw grips which you can imagine after using the Claw grip.



Tips, Tricks and Oddities:
There is some target assist for aiming with a controller. When passing over a targetable enemy, your turn speed is slowed. Mouse aiming has no target assist so it will be annoying at first but the behaviour is predictable, you will get used to it.

The default camera speed for stick aiming is relatively slow. There is a Camera Sensitivity slider under Options in the Character Menus but the mouse sensitivity you have set for first and third person under the System Menu's Camera settings also influences your camera sensitivity. Like tuning your computer volume with youtube volume, you will need to tweak both sliders to get the best camera sensitivity. If you use software to manage your controller, it likely has a third slider you can tweak with.

As you get more comfortable with stick aiming, feel free to increase the camera sensitivity! Just like improving with mouse aiming, higher sensitivity is better for higher finesse.

You can combine movement and turning to turn faster. Try strafing right as you turn left or strafing left as you turn right. The combined rotational movement turns your camera and character faster.

Because a stick can provide continuous input where a mouse cannot, you can spin at a constant speed for as long as you want!

Tilting the left stick at different angles will move your character at different speeds. You can vary between a walk, jog and run without the need of a toggle button or speed de/buff! The stick also allows movement at angles off the four axis that wasd keys are restricted to.

Sprinting is a toggle on controller, not hold like on keyboard. The sticks are the most comfortable place to map a sprint button but even that gets uncomfortable after a while, so toggle sprint is better for controller. It also lets you map something else to the same button! A map, perhaps?

Most actions activate on pressing a button, such as sprint and dodge roll, but abilities activate on release. Assigning abilities to triggers is a bit tricky because of this since triggers can have a long physical delay between pull and release. If you are using a software to manage your controller, you can tweak the deadzone of your triggers -- the amount you have to pull before it is registered as pulled -- so you don't need to pull that far (or barely at all) to activate trigger assigned abilities. Attack and block activate on press/pull so they are better suited to the triggers, but I play a lot of Souls games and they use LB/L1 and RB/R1 for attack and block. :p

When moving off the four axis / 8 directions that wasd can do, front facing AoE targeting can get buggy. Depending on whether you are in first or third person, abilities will either not fire at all (first) or fire in the wrong direction (third). This is because the abilities are firing in the direction your character is facing, which does not agree with the direction your camera is facing. Single target, radial AoE and ground target skills are unaffected by this bug.

Combination presses such as LB+A are separate binds unto themselves. If you forget to bind LB+X in the mapping above, you won't be able to weapon swap while blocking! The good side is this dramatically increases the number of actions you can map. I didn't even use all the combinations in my setup!

You can use all mouse & keyboard commands while using a controller. If you don't have a menu shortcut mapped or can't find room for it, you can use your keyboard shortcut instead! You could also just not use a controller and play with the console UI. But the menus are coded for controllers so you will have trouble navigating them. I recommend using the scroll wheel and E key to navigate.

First person is better with a controller. :)



I hope this helped you get acclimated to using a controller in the grand world of the Elder Scrolls Online! o:)
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."

PC NA
Daggerfall Covenant

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"My strength is that I have no weaknesses. My weakness is that I have no strengths."
Member since May 4th, 2014.
  • GreenTurtle
    GreenTurtle
    Soul Shriven
    I have been trying to use me xbox 360 wired controller to play the pc version and none of the buttons allow me to crouch. I can't even remap the buttons to input the crouch command myself. Is it possible to crouch using a gamepad? I tried contacting support and this is what they responded with "Note that ESO uses XInput for our controller support. Due to the fact that XInput does not support Xbox 360 controllers, neither does ESO. We cannot predict what types of issues may arise from attempting to play with that type of controller."

    Yet, when researching Xinput I found this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_XInput_support

    So I am confused. I want to play this game with my xbox 360 controller. Can anyone help me on this issue?

    Thank you
  • Ffastyl
    Ffastyl
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    Have you tried setting a crouch button in the controls menu? It might be unbound/unassigned for your controller. Worst case ESO is not picking up all of your controller's input, to which you will need to use an emulator or try an Xbox One controller. The emulator I use for the DS4 has a consistent 4ms delay so it will not add any noticeable delay to your input.

    Another solution to your problem is to macro your Xbox 360 controller. For whatever button you want to use for crouch, macro it to the crouch key on your keyboard. This will remove the ability to overload that button, however (no press/hold being different input).
    Edited by Ffastyl on April 6, 2016 4:22PM
    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."

    PC NA
    Daggerfall Covenant

    Ffastyl - Level 50 Templar
    Arturus Amitis - Level 50 Nightblade
    Sulac the Wanderer - Level 50 Dragonknight
    Arcturus Leland - Level 50 Sorcerer
    Azrog rus-Oliphet - Level 50 Templar
    Tienc - Level 50 Warden
    Aldmeri Dominion
    Ashen Willow Knight - Level 50 Templar
    Champion Rank 938

    Check out:
    Old vs New Intro Cinematics


    "My strength is that I have no weaknesses. My weakness is that I have no strengths."
    Member since May 4th, 2014.
  • BreacaT
    BreacaT
    ✭✭✭
    Alternatively, try using xpadder. It is far more configurable and works brilliantly with the game. If you aren't familiar with it, it basically maps xbox button presses to keyboard and mouse clicks as you configure. You don't need to enable controller support within the game to support this. I think I read somewhere that doing so changes the menu's around to be more 'console friendly' and a lot of folk didn't like that change, will using expander won't do this plus you keep all the original keyboard and mouse support so you can fluidly switch between the two.
    Remember red = dead and a dead dd deals no dps.
  • Ffastyl
    Ffastyl
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    Xpadder translates controller input into keyboard and mouse input. This has the upside of working with any game on PC and downside of sacrificing the potential of using a controller. The biggest downside is restricting the joystick to 8-directional movement (wasd) and toggle speeds.

    In ESO, enabling controller support switches the UI to the console UI and allows ESO to interpret Xinput controllers (emulators can be used to allow use of other controllers, such as the DS4). Keyboard and mouse controls are not disabled. If you like the console UI but have no urge to use a controller, you are free to switch by enabling controller support.
    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."

    PC NA
    Daggerfall Covenant

    Ffastyl - Level 50 Templar
    Arturus Amitis - Level 50 Nightblade
    Sulac the Wanderer - Level 50 Dragonknight
    Arcturus Leland - Level 50 Sorcerer
    Azrog rus-Oliphet - Level 50 Templar
    Tienc - Level 50 Warden
    Aldmeri Dominion
    Ashen Willow Knight - Level 50 Templar
    Champion Rank 938

    Check out:
    Old vs New Intro Cinematics


    "My strength is that I have no weaknesses. My weakness is that I have no strengths."
    Member since May 4th, 2014.
  • BloodWolfe
    BloodWolfe
    ✭✭✭✭
    I have been trying to use me xbox 360 wired controller to play the pc version and none of the buttons allow me to crouch. I can't even remap the buttons to input the crouch command myself. Is it possible to crouch using a gamepad? I tried contacting support and this is what they responded with "Note that ESO uses XInput for our controller support. Due to the fact that XInput does not support Xbox 360 controllers, neither does ESO. We cannot predict what types of issues may arise from attempting to play with that type of controller."

    Yet, when researching Xinput I found this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_XInput_support

    So I am confused. I want to play this game with my xbox 360 controller. Can anyone help me on this issue?

    Thank you


    Have you tried pressing R3? Click the right analog stick down. I play using my Xbox 360 wireless controller and have no issues with general controls and crouching.
  • randolphbenoit
    randolphbenoit
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    Ok I have Windows 10 and Xbox1 PC gamepad. Gamepad mode works but hate the UI. How can I keep keyboard and mouse and have gamepad work too (for times like to sit back and fish)?
    the NeXus Guild (NA-DC-Crafters) contact @randolphbenoit - Currently Allies to Fairy Tail of Tamriel (Social) and Brave Kore (DC PvP). https://twitter.com/randolphbenoit

    Saltrice - (Salt tolerant rice) Saltrice, pronounced just like it looks is, in fact, a kind of rice that can grow in paddies of either fresh or brackish water.
  • Ffastyl
    Ffastyl
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    @randolphbenoit That is currently impossible without emulating a keyboard and mouse on your gamepad. That means giving up the nuanced movement of a joystick.
    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."

    PC NA
    Daggerfall Covenant

    Ffastyl - Level 50 Templar
    Arturus Amitis - Level 50 Nightblade
    Sulac the Wanderer - Level 50 Dragonknight
    Arcturus Leland - Level 50 Sorcerer
    Azrog rus-Oliphet - Level 50 Templar
    Tienc - Level 50 Warden
    Aldmeri Dominion
    Ashen Willow Knight - Level 50 Templar
    Champion Rank 938

    Check out:
    Old vs New Intro Cinematics


    "My strength is that I have no weaknesses. My weakness is that I have no strengths."
    Member since May 4th, 2014.
  • csparks1
    csparks1
    ✭✭✭
    HOW can you remap the buttons and still play in console mode in the game?

    All I want to change is the weapon swap button to R3 so I don't have to take my thumbs off the controller to switch weapons - I need to move when I switch weapons - that's most probably WHY I'm switching weapons!
  • Lightspeedflashb14_ESO
    Lightspeedflashb14_ESO
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    You just leave the controller active then hit ESC. Then go to controls and change the thing you want to.
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