Gamepads and Keyboards and Mice, oh my.

[BeowulfSchmidt]

So, this is not a request for recommendations of products, as specific preferences tend to be more subjective than is generally useful (however, feel free to chime in concerning some piece of crap that should be avoided). I'm more interested in what features you feel led to your preference. Skyrim is the first game of this type I've played on my PC, so I'm looking for ideas.

 

Did a game pad make it ridiculously more easy to get the things done you wanted to? What, if any, specific features enabled this? I am not a hard-core X-Box player, and the game pad feels awkward for me, so I'm really somewhat, and perhaps unfairly, biased against it from the start, but I'm still willing to consider it.

 

Was a keyboard/mouse combo the only option for you? Why?

 

Do the "programmable" buttons on today's gaming keyboards and mice provide any benefit to a game like Skyrim?

 

Did the click-iness of a "gaming" keyboard get on your nerves, or keep you aware of what you were doing/

 

Any other factors for either control set that caused you to favor or abandon it?

 

Any other information you think might be helpful would be appreciated as well.

 

I am not averse to buying peripherals to make my gaming experience more immersive. I have a wheel and pedals for my racing games and a flight stick, throttle and different pedals for my flight games, so getting a keyboard and/or mouse ain't a thing.

 

I'm definitely getting a new mouse; the one I have just isn't cutting it. It isn't responsive enough, even for a relatively low-key player like myself. I may get a new keyboard, as the one I have is great for day to day work, but just doesn't feel right when I'm playing.

 

And, if my search fu was sucky, and I didn't find the thread that already covered all this, please direct me to it.

 

Thanks,

/bs

[MidevalGuy]

I use a wired Xbox 360 controller (white) for Skyrim, and all games that come with native X-Input support (games designed for the 360/PS3 and ported to PC; Major titles like "Tomb Raider", "Fallout", etc).

 

The reason I use a controller is four fold:

 

A) The game is designed with this type of controller in mind, so even interface mods like SkyUI, MCM work with it since they are just redesigns of the UI and not a recode.

 

B) In a game like Skyrim, accuracy and speed is not as important as in a twitched-based first person shooter. Even though you play from a first (or third) person perspective, I can aim bows and other projectiles accurately because it's about taking your time, lining up your shots and positioning yourself for optimal kills. I also use the archery Skyrim.ini tweaks that line up the arrows with the cross hairs and make arrows fly farther than default.

 

Using the 360 controller also makes the analogue sword and shield combat feel more natural by using both the left and right triggers for left and right hands, respectively. Blocking feels especially natural using this control scheme, too.

 

C) I often play the game on a 90" screen (LCD Projector), so using a mouse & keyboard (even wireless) is not feasible for this kind of desk free setup.

 

D) I can control other programs on my HTPC like Xbox Media Center with the 360 controller as well. This means, "one controller to rule them all" without having to pick up, or switch to other input devices.

 

The other main reason I prefer to play games with a controller is because then they feel like "games" and not what I do at work all day (use a mouse & keyboard). I know M&K are more accurate, but like I said, a game like Skyrim is not a twitch-based shooter like BF4, or COD where accuracy and reflexes are the name of the game.

[BeowulfSchmidt]

Thank you MidevalGuy, for exactly the type of post for which I was hoping. You make some very good points, and almost make me reconsider my bias against such a controller. It may be that I simply haven't given one enough time and effort to give myself the comfort level needed to be proficient with it. :blush:

 

One thing I have gotten very used to however, is the use of the keyboard for certain shortcuts for weapon sets that a couple of the menu mods support. It *is* still possible to use the keyboard in conjunction with the controller, is it not, or does it become less useful with the controller because of the different access to the menu system?

[MidevalGuy]

There are certain mods that *require* the use of the keyboard because the main function isn't mapped (and can't be remapped) to any of the Xbox 360 controller buttons, or triggers... That are separate control functions from the mouse & keyboard.

 

The one I am currently using that forces me to have a wireless keyboard by my side is the "Bound Weapons in Mounted Combat" mod that allows the use of bound weapons while on horseback. The button that draws the bound sword (if you know the spell) can't be remapped to a controller function. The only way to do this would be to use Xpadder, or a similar mouse/keyboard emulator, but that is redundant since Skyrim has built in native Xbox 360 controller support out of the box. Besides, the only time I use mounted combat is to fend off annoying Wolves, Spiders or Skeevers. So, I don't mind using this mod since mounted combat is just a small part of my overall play compared to other mods. And if I get tired of having to use the keyboard, I just switch to a conventional sword and that solves that problem, easily.

[BeowulfSchmidt]

Thanks again.

 

Wal-Mart has third party controllers for reasonable; I may pick up one of them to see how it plays. They'll take it back if I don't like it. The kid who works there says that he didn't have any problem connecting it to Windows 7.

 

Anybody got anything with regard to keyboards and mice?

[N7R]

I came from doing a lot of console gaming including Skyrim on the xbox so when I first got Skyrim on steam this last April it was a no brainer for me to plug in my microsoft controller and play Skyrim with it. Even the new SKY UI worked really well with it. I didn't think for a second about using a mouse or keyboard back then. I was way more comfortable with a controller in hand than a mouse and keyboard playing third/first person games.

 

Since then however I've started to play more of my controller compatible games (like Skyrim is) with my new mouse (Razer Naga 2014) and keypad (orbweaver). All the extra programmable keys and buttons make it really nice to play games like skyrim which have a lot of hotkeys and possibilities. I even added some macros to my mouse so in one button click the showracemenu opens up automatically for me without hassle of using a keyboard every time I want to adjust my character. I also added the steam F12 screenshot button to one of the many buttons on the mouse since I love taking screenshots a lot.

 

I mainly made the switch because I was starting to play more fps's on pc and need to really improve still. I figured I'd give Skyrim a try with mouse and keyboard and don't feel like I can play the game with my controller again now. I find this hilarious considering I was so dependent on using it for my of my pc games a few months back. Now I try to use it less since my mouse and keypad offer me so many more buttons to keymap and add macros to. Once I fully master the comfort of using a mouse and keyboard for games it will be even better. Just like with a pc gamer trying to use a controller who hasn't done much console gaming before it takes time to adjust.

[Deleted3507349User]

I only recently started playing Skyrim with a 360 controller after over a year with mouse-and-keyboard. I found that once I got used to aiming with it, the game felt much smoother and more intuitive. I still use SkyUI and have no problems with it. I will note that if you're trying for an extremely precise long-distance shot with your bow a mouse gives you a slight advantage in precision, but not really enough to seriously alter gameplay. Of course, the in-game console and certain mods still require a keyboard. I use a compact wireless keyboard and trackball mouse. The trackball means I can lounge on the couch and not have to wrestle with a mouse pad or similar (I play on a 42" widescreen TV). Just so you know, the learning curve is steeper going to a trackball than going to a controller.

[Sucrilhus]

Honestly,

 

I can't imagine myself playing with a gamepad.

 

The mod "More hotkeys please" is mandatory for me.... Specially because it has the feature "auto-cast -> equip last"

 

This allows me to put a button for Horse Whistle (convenient horses) , relaxing (Dovahkiin relaxes), play specific animations from "AE Animations", guessing distance, using all the favorite shouts,...

 

Other features allow to equip telescope, equip/unequip shield, equip/unequip certain spells, using healing'/stamina / magicka potions,...

 

All of these without needing to open the menus.... that is... without breaking the flow of the game.

 

I haven't counted, but I'm sure I have more than 20 things hotkeyed. The freedom to create hotkeys is amazing: 1, 2, 3 ,4 ... 11,22,33,44, hold 1, hold 2 , hold 3, hold 4, c+1 , c+2, c+3, c+4, numpad 0 -> numpad 9, c + numpad 0 -> numpad 9, numpad 00 -> numpad 99, ..

 

I can't imagine doing this on a gamepad.

 

 

And if I had to keep pausing the game to do my actions, I would probably enjoy the battles a lot less. So, for me, keyboard is mandatory.

 

 

However, if you are someone that isn't bothered with opening the menus mid-battle, then gamepad is probably better for you, since it's way more comfortable to play on a gamepad than sitting on your chair in front of a keyboard.

Edited November 14, 2013 by Sucrilhus

[DanielCoffey]

One device that it is not convenient to use to control Skyrim (and many other first person games) is a Graphics Tablet.

 

My Intuos4 is great for work related tasks and also very useful for any point and click games but totally useless for any game with a complex camera control or that needs frequent right-button tasks to work smoothly. I did find Eve Online very good with the tablet but only because I didn't spend a lot of time in PvP. World of Warcraft was fairly suited to it but did have considerable RMB needed. I was able to map that function to a button on the tablet which was more convenient than the little thumb button on the pen.

[BeowulfSchmidt]

So, I went a picked up a gamepad and I have to say, it does make a number of things, like movement and combat, much easier for me than the keyboard and mouse (though that could be because my mouse is crap for gaming; I may still get a "gaming" mouse and try that out as well). However, I do very much miss the hotkeys that I had set up for favorites and such like.

 

I wasn't expecting the keyboard to be disabled while the gamepad is plugged in. Is that normal, or did I do something wrong? Is there some setting somewhere that I've missed that lets me use both? I say "disabled" because when I try to set up SkyUI's favorites menu to keystrokes, I can't.

 

As for breaking the flow of battle, I'm enough of a newb at combat with a controller (or keyboard) that breaking the flow is sometimes necessary, as I'm not quite as conscientious as I should be of watching my stats in heat of combat. :)