it’s an old game but setting up the pads to be an action menu. makes that game fun to play in handheld mode. I would say I’m faster with the trackpads than with a keyboard
To give context I was never a good competitive player, so I’m talking about casual play. I think I’m slightly less responsive than mouse+kb, but playing on the train is just a blast!
I also had to bind other buttons to improve response time:
dpad down to go to last notification
dpad to cycle between forums
dpad eight for inactive villagers, left for army
Then Right Joystick is a radial menu to go to 6 groups. A is select all on screen.
On top of that, I binded shift to L1 (the bottom left palet) which can be user in combination of most other buttons I binded: e.g. create 5 units, assign to group, select all inactive villagers etc…
I went through the William Wallace campaign to tune my conf, but I find it pretty good now!
The right one as mouse, in RPGs, mostly isometric ones without gamepad support. Currently Pillars of Eternity 2. Works surprisingly well.
Also the left one I started using for virtual menus in games where I need to use lots of quickslots and/or abilities. The customisability is awesome, you can even add little icons to show what each menu item represents.
My fingers naturally rest on the back buttons, and I find them really easy to use. I usually have them set to mirror the face buttons for shooters (so I don’t have to take my finger off of the right stick to jump/reload/etc). In some other games I have them set as dpad buttons (Elden ring for example) to swap gear and use items.
Finally I don’t like button mashing, so in games where you have to mash a button I will often set the back buttons to be turbo buttons, where I can hold to spam a key.
Right pad is frequently a mouse, often worth using a trackpad mouse for menu/inventory management.
The trackpads are huge for PC games with a lot of inputs, but can also be used for communication. There’s a lethal company control scheme that uses the trackpads to 1-click type the console commands to navigate to moons/view players on monitor/etc. I have a Deep Rock Galactic profile that uses the left trackpad as a mini keyboard to type “r”, “gg”, “wait”, and a few other frequently used communications.
In any games that support quicksaving I usually have some quicksave/quickload options in a menu on the left trackpad.
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Only as mouse or shooter games
Guild Wars 2 and Civ V are my go to games for trackpads.
Civ VI and Inscryption required me to use the pads. Basically everything else is sticks.
star trek: starfleet academy
it’s an old game but setting up the pads to be an action menu. makes that game fun to play in handheld mode. I would say I’m faster with the trackpads than with a keyboard
I only really use them with the keyboard, desktop mode or any game that uses mouse emulation.
Age of empires II, I’ve cleared a few campaigns with it! Left pad as mouse region on bottom left icons, right pad as mouse.
Can you respond well with the pad and no keyboard?
To give context I was never a good competitive player, so I’m talking about casual play. I think I’m slightly less responsive than mouse+kb, but playing on the train is just a blast!
I also had to bind other buttons to improve response time:
Then Right Joystick is a radial menu to go to 6 groups. A is select all on screen. On top of that, I binded shift to L1 (the bottom left palet) which can be user in combination of most other buttons I binded: e.g. create 5 units, assign to group, select all inactive villagers etc…
I went through the William Wallace campaign to tune my conf, but I find it pretty good now!
MineCraft and Dune spice wars
The right one as mouse, in RPGs, mostly isometric ones without gamepad support. Currently Pillars of Eternity 2. Works surprisingly well.
Also the left one I started using for virtual menus in games where I need to use lots of quickslots and/or abilities. The customisability is awesome, you can even add little icons to show what each menu item represents.
right pad for mouse, left pad for hotkeys, all the way. Great for games that use the entire left half of the keyboard.
Turn based strategy games. Especially 4X games like Civilization or the Master of Magic remake.
Ixion seems to require them. It’s playable on Steam Deck, but probably much easier on PC with a mouse.
I’m curious how people use the 4 buttons on the back. My ring and pinkie fingers can just barely press them.
My fingers naturally rest on the back buttons, and I find them really easy to use. I usually have them set to mirror the face buttons for shooters (so I don’t have to take my finger off of the right stick to jump/reload/etc). In some other games I have them set as dpad buttons (Elden ring for example) to swap gear and use items.
Finally I don’t like button mashing, so in games where you have to mash a button I will often set the back buttons to be turbo buttons, where I can hold to spam a key.
Right pad is frequently a mouse, often worth using a trackpad mouse for menu/inventory management.
The trackpads are huge for PC games with a lot of inputs, but can also be used for communication. There’s a lethal company control scheme that uses the trackpads to 1-click type the console commands to navigate to moons/view players on monitor/etc. I have a Deep Rock Galactic profile that uses the left trackpad as a mini keyboard to type “r”, “gg”, “wait”, and a few other frequently used communications.
In any games that support quicksaving I usually have some quicksave/quickload options in a menu on the left trackpad.
Epic Game Launcher … OwO