Valve Index Controllers Are Garbage

[Clientofwar]

So I just recently bought a Valve Index and was very happy. But noticed a very annoying and stupid issue that seems to persist with the controllers. The finger tracking is absolute garbage and triggers my OCD so hard that I want to break these controllers.

I have done the ol' calibrate by drumming your fingers thing and such. I don't move my hands and leave them perfectly in the same spot. But for some reason the finger tracking takes a massive ♥♥♥♥ on itself and all the sudden it either thinks I'm either raising both my middle finger and ring finger at the same time, or refuses to track my fingers all together and remains in a fist when moving a finger.

Every time I start up a game, I mostly play VRChat, it works fine for the first 5 minutes. Then all the suddenly my finger tracking makes it so fully extending certain fingers equates to raising your finger half way in-game.

Why did I pay $1,000 dollars for a setup that doesn't even work half the time? After a couple weeks of using I'm also starting to notice my controllers drift sometimes when trying to track them and will float off until I move them or shake my hand.

Don't tell me I need to calibrate the controllers each time I use them. I already do this. I boot up steam VR, make sure my headset is seen, then put on my headset while in Steam VR home and put on my controllers, I then turn them on and do the calibration thing of drumming my fingers. Works flawlessly for the first 5 minutes of playing a game. But soon after turns to garbage and has trouble even detecting when I'm moving a finger.

This is quite possibly the most frustrating thing about these controllers. Why pay for something advertising itself as having finger tracking when 70% of the time it doesn't work properly?

[Bob Loblaw]

Just a guess here, see if you can cut that 5 minutes down to 1 or less by shuffling your feet, like you are trying to build up a static charge. If that wrecks the finger tracking, it points to a solution.

[ʟǟֆȶʟɨʋɨռɢքօɛȶ]

Do your hands get really sweaty?

[Clientofwar]

Even if you calibrate them it seems to do nothing. You move your hands the tiniest bit and now your tracking is absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Take them off to go use the bathroom? Nope now you gotta restart steam vr to get them to work again. Like ♥♥♥♥ dude I'd rather go back to Quest 2 than deal with this poor tracking ♥♥♥♥.

[thetechbasement]

Originally posted by Clientofwar:

Even if you calibrate them it seems to do nothing. You move your hands the tiniest bit and now your tracking is absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Take them off to go use the bathroom? Nope now you gotta restart steam vr to get them to work again. Like ♥♥♥♥ dude I'd rather go back to Quest 2 than deal with this poor tracking ♥♥♥♥.

It sounds like you got a bad pair or a bad controller, which ever it is this is a know issue. Contact Steam to have them warrantied (not sure that is an actual word) it or them out.. I had to do this with the joystick because is was not registering the click and it started to drift. Also did not notice the touch pad was bad until I started to look into the controller. My replacement works much better with the stick and the touch pad. Have not had the finger issue you are talking about at least not staying calibrated after doing the "Drumming Calibration" as you call it..

[InFerNos1]

Make sure you clean the controllers, as the sensors can be confused by sweat/skin left on them. Otherwise, a sensor may be broken. The right thumb sensor for mine broke a few months back and I'm in the process of getting a replacement (3rd party sale so no fast replacement via Steam).
However, I remember having trouble getting the hang of the finger controls when I first got the controllers, took me quite some time to control individual fingers with ease, perhaps it's just as simple as you not having your fingers in the right spot, regardless of the calibration.

[Clientofwar]

Originally posted by InFerNos1:

Make sure you clean the controllers, as the sensors can be confused by sweat/skin left on them. Otherwise, a sensor may be broken. The right thumb sensor for mine broke a few months back and I'm in the process of getting a replacement (3rd party sale so no fast replacement via Steam).
However, I remember having trouble getting the hang of the finger controls when I first got the controllers, took me quite some time to control individual fingers with ease, perhaps it's just as simple as you not having your fingers in the right spot, regardless of the calibration.

Well for starters, I'm not retarded. I've done plenty of research and this and have had countless perfect sessions of finger tracking. The issue is that your hands have to be in the same spot or it will start to think that other fingers are or aren't moving, thus resulting in certain fingers not working or only raising half way.

The main issue I've been encountering is that the middle finger has extremely poor tracking. I also have been experiencing controller drift on the right hand. It will think my arm is moving to the right and keep moving until I move my hand again. I have 2 bay stations that are in great spots and can see my hands all at times no matter what position I'm in.

Finger tracking being bad on Valve Index is a common issue and I've seen hundreds of threads everywhere. However there does not seem to be a general fix for it, only ways to improve your sessions to where its useable.

[DawnWarrior]

I agree with the O.P. comment. I find the Index controllers uncomfortable, fidgety, and without really any merit. Whatever extra controller inputs they are supposed to provide, are generally not worth the unusable nature of the standard controller inputs they present.

When I'm playing a game I don't really care that much "how much using the controller roughly approximates some finger action I might naturally do". Because at the end of the day, it still doesn't feel like I'm really doing that action, I can tell I have a controller in my hand and having to map natural hand motions to controller bindings, even when they slightly more closely approximate the natural motion than a button press would, really ruins any benefits.

And at the same time, all aspects of the Index controller joysticks, buttons, and ESPECIALLY track pad, are just so cumbersome.

It doesn't help at all that older games that don't explicitly know about the Index controllers cannot generally be sensibly mapped to use these controllers. Valve's Steam UI for managing this is horrible, and even if it were good, the controllers are just generally unusable when attempting to simulate other controllers. I enjoyed playing Fallout 4 VR with the Vive wands (although the experience was by no means perfect!) but trying to use the Index controllers, no matter how I configure them, is just an awful, awful experience.

I just spent $300 ordering new Vive Wand controllers (to replace my old broken ones) that I'll be using instead of the Index controllers. The Index controllers are just that bad.

[Clientofwar]

Originally posted by DawnWarrior:

I agree with the O.P. comment. I find the Index controllers uncomfortable, fidgety, and without really any merit. Whatever extra controller inputs they are supposed to provide, are generally not worth the unusable nature of the standard controller inputs they present.

When I'm playing a game I don't really care that much "how much using the controller roughly approximates some finger action I might naturally do". Because at the end of the day, it still doesn't feel like I'm really doing that action, I can tell I have a controller in my hand and having to map natural hand motions to controller bindings, even when they slightly more closely approximate the natural motion than a button press would, really ruins any benefits.

And at the same time, all aspects of the Index controller joysticks, buttons, and ESPECIALLY track pad, are just so cumbersome.

It doesn't help at all that older games that don't explicitly know about the Index controllers cannot generally be sensibly mapped to use these controllers. Valve's Steam UI for managing this is horrible, and even if it were good, the controllers are just generally unusable when attempting to simulate other controllers. I enjoyed playing Fallout 4 VR with the Vive wands (although the experience was by no means perfect!) but trying to use the Index controllers, no matter how I configure them, is just an awful, awful experience.

I just spent $300 ordering new Vive Wand controllers (to replace my old broken ones) that I'll be using instead of the Index controllers. The Index controllers are just that bad.

Why are you posting on a thread that's almost a year old? Bad necro

[Kobs]

Originally posted by Clientofwar:

Originally posted by DawnWarrior:

I agree with the O.P. comment. I find the Index controllers uncomfortable, fidgety, and without really any merit. Whatever extra controller inputs they are supposed to provide, are generally not worth the unusable nature of the standard controller inputs they present.

When I'm playing a game I don't really care that much "how much using the controller roughly approximates some finger action I might naturally do". Because at the end of the day, it still doesn't feel like I'm really doing that action, I can tell I have a controller in my hand and having to map natural hand motions to controller bindings, even when they slightly more closely approximate the natural motion than a button press would, really ruins any benefits.

And at the same time, all aspects of the Index controller joysticks, buttons, and ESPECIALLY track pad, are just so cumbersome.

It doesn't help at all that older games that don't explicitly know about the Index controllers cannot generally be sensibly mapped to use these controllers. Valve's Steam UI for managing this is horrible, and even if it were good, the controllers are just generally unusable when attempting to simulate other controllers. I enjoyed playing Fallout 4 VR with the Vive wands (although the experience was by no means perfect!) but trying to use the Index controllers, no matter how I configure them, is just an awful, awful experience.

I just spent $300 ordering new Vive Wand controllers (to replace my old broken ones) that I'll be using instead of the Index controllers. The Index controllers are just that bad.

Why are you posting on a thread that's almost a year old? Bad necro

Probably because of this part he mentioned
I agree with the O.P. comment. I find the Index controllers uncomfortable, fidgety, and without really any merit.