Activator update brings deeper button configuration to Steam Controllers

Valve has given its 500,000 Steam Controller owners another way to customize the versatile gamepad with the addition of activators. 

According to Valve, activators sit between inputs, such as button presses, and binding outputs, such as a keypress, providing more control over how those functions behave. 

The activators themselves can take a number of forms, such as a long button press, double press, binding cycling, toggles, and delays. 

There will be no limits on the number of activators that can be placed on an input, meaning a single button can be assigned a variety of functions, each resulting in different in-game actions. Activators can also be given their own haptic setting.

"You can use a Start Press activator and a Release Press activator to turn a toggle crouch into a hold crouch. Conversely, the toggle option will allow you to turn any action, such as a hold crouch, into a toggle," said Valve, giving just one example of how activators can be implemented. 

"Mode Shifts now also use Activators, so a mode-shift can be toggled on and off without continuously holding a button. Activators can also cycle through a set of bindings. Put Stand, Crouch, and Prone on a single button and cycle through them with each press."

The activators update also includes improved visualizations for settings such as deadzones.