Gaming Keypad VS mouse and controller.

[manofmartin]

First, I am in love with this game!
I am debating buying a gaming keypad for this and a few other games I own. Since this game seems to be sucking up most of my time lately, I was curious if the Don't Starve gaming community has any thoughts with a gaming keypad?

[[SQ]Noname]

What kind of "gaming keypad" are you talking about? I am playing it exclusively with a classic gamepad (Logitech F510 or F310) and wouldn't play it any other way.

[󰀉tempeh󰀉]

I just switched the controls from wasd to the arrow keys so I don't have to kite and press f with the same hand. Works well enough for me.

[manofmartin]

A gaming Keypad like an Delux T9 Plus One-hand Wired USB Gaming Keyboard.
I have my eye on 2 others but they are pretty similar in abilty. I was wondering if anyone had any input on these sort of control interfaces and if they worked well with the game.

[Icedfate]

I played 300 hours in early access with the keyboard, but I recently bought shipwrecked and noticed gamepad support.

so, I am using xbox 360 conroller and I love how the game pauses when I open my inventory and look in chests, gives me time to think and figure out how to sort my stuff in the prohibitively tiny amount of space they give you.

and combat is so much easier to move in and out with the gamepad, chasing butterflies is way less frustrating too.

the one thing that irritates me to no end is on the controller, pressing the attack button always seems to prioritize friendly units first. as wendy, I hit abigail countless times, and like, hitting her one time, despanws her and then you have to wait 3 more days.

with chester following me, he constantly gets autotarget and I try to target enemies and it looks like I'm targeting the enemy and I press attack and bam bam bam i'm hitting chester and he dies. its at the point, I don't even want to bring chester along anymore.

I just recently got chased by a shadowspawn and got too close to a rock lobster and bam, auto targeting I hit the lobster and 3 of them start chasing me, lucily I discovered I could feed them rocks to appease them, I would have rage quit if not for that.

the boomerang . . . impossible to catch with the controller, don't even try, just subscribe to the autocatch modin the workshop. I don't think it's cheating, it's fixing an unfair game mechanic. I always hated the manual boomerang catching.

[manofmartin]

Originally posted by SQNoname:

What kind of "gaming keypad" are you talking about? I am playing it exclusively with a classic gamepad (Logitech F510 or F310) and wouldn't play it any other way.

A gaming Keypad like an Delux T9 Plus One-hand Wired USB Gaming Keyboard.
I have my eye on 2 others but they are pretty similar in abilty. I was wondering if anyone had any input on these sort of control interfaces and if they worked well with the game.

[[SQ]Noname]

Originally posted by manofmartin:

A gaming Keypad like an Delux T9 Plus One-hand Wired USB Gaming Keyboard.
I have my eye on 2 others but they are pretty similar in abilty. I was wondering if anyone had any input on these sort of control interfaces and if they worked well with the game.

Well, you're probably aware since you are playing the game already, but most of the actions you can bind to keys are pretty generic, and usually you have to click on something specific to do something so scripting key combinations like you could with such a keypad seems not very useful. For example, I can't imagine scripting something like "craft a spear and equip it" so you can put it to one of the keys without mod support. So I'm not sure it would be very useful for this game.

[madcoffee]

I tried playing the game with my xbox 360 controller for pc and navigating is way better; the only issue for me is that I have to scroll thru my bar or bag to pick and item or swith to a different tool, thus slowing down my reaction time when playing my character in DS:SW

[Icedfate]

the game pauses when you press the right trigger to open your inventory, I use that all the time to sort through chests and stuff.

the crafting can be awkward at times, because you always have to stop in place and if you are in combat, theres no time to craft anything on the fly. I've gotten killed trying to replace me helmet and not being able to make it in time.

whereas, with keyboard, you can run away with one hand and scroll through recipes with the other

I still prefer the controller over the keyboard becuse I can sit in a more comfortable position while playing, instead of hunched over the keyboard with my wrists bent, i can sit in an easy chair and play pc games.

I have a steam controller, but many games with controler support seems to be configured for xbox controller so I use that instead. The steam controller technically isn't a controller as much as a hybrid keyboard/mouse alternative housed inside a gamepad controller package.

[Hand's Hermit Permit]

I have an Xbox controller that I use for games that are better with controllers

I wouldn't even think about using a controller for Don't Starve. The combination of mouse click/hold movement and WASD keys is very versatile and allows for more precision, especially for clicking specific items and enemies when need be.

Freezing time to look at your inventory is interesting and I didn't know the controllers did that, but it's really a crutch.

But from what I'm hearing, with controllers hitting friendlies easily is a thing, and that's not really acceptable.

[Icedfate]

yes, hitting friendlies IS a big problem with the controller, I have accidentlally unsummoned abigail, countless times.
I constantly hit chester when he is surrounded by like 8 spiders and i hit attack and it attacks chester instead, so now I just leave him behind.
I don't even bother with pigs.
as webber, I don't dare try to help the spiders if they are fighting something, I stay out of it.

whether freezing time to sort items is a crutch or not, I dunno. it seems the time passes so quickly when I'm trying to sort my stuff, half the day passes just trying to find that 1 thing I stashed in my 8 full chests that I keep having to make more and more chests to stash my loot.

even freezing time to look in the chests, I waste too much time walking from chest to chest.

the time crunch is stressful enough without wasting 3 days of game time keeping my inventory clean.

and yet, when it's night and I get stuck in 1 place waiting for dawn, it takes forever, especially when the meter is like, right there, I still have 30% on my torch and yet it eems to linger there and my torch goes out and then I craft another and then dawn comes at that moment

with the keyboard, killing butterflies is the most frustrating thing, using wasd to chase them and then Ctrl-F to attack, I can't bend my fingers that way I always invariably stop 1 pixel too short and miss and have to wait for the butterfly to get far and start fluttering in place and then I can get it.
but with the controller, I run right up and hit it

[Hand's Hermit Permit]

Originally posted by FeMaiden:

yes, hitting friendlies IS a big problem with the controller, I have accidentlally unsummoned abigail, countless times.
I constantly hit chester when he is surrounded by like 8 spiders and i hit attack and it attacks chester instead, so now I just leave him behind.
I don't even bother with pigs.
as webber, I don't dare try to help the spiders if they are fighting something, I stay out of it.

whether freezing time to sort items is a crutch or not, I dunno. it seems the time passes so quickly when I'm trying to sort my stuff, half the day passes just trying to find that 1 thing I stashed in my 8 full chests that I keep having to make more and more chests to stash my loot.

even freezing time to look in the chests, I waste too much time walking from chest to chest.

the time crunch is stressful enough without wasting 3 days of game time keeping my inventory clean.

and yet, when it's night and I get stuck in 1 place waiting for dawn, it takes forever, especially when the meter is like, right there, I still have 30% on my torch and yet it eems to linger there and my torch goes out and then I craft another and then dawn comes at that moment

with the keyboard, killing butterflies is the most frustrating thing, using wasd to chase them and then Ctrl-F to attack, I can't bend my fingers that way I always invariably stop 1 pixel too short and miss and have to wait for the butterfly to get far and start fluttering in place and then I can get it.
but with the controller, I run right up and hit it

Just hold mouseclick on the shadow under the butterfly. CTRL+F when you get close enough. Not hard with practice.