Experienced PC player new to Xbox - Tips?

[1moregame]

I have recently started playing on the Xbox after years of playing on PC.  I have logged 1000 hours in DST and 1000 hours in DS on the PC and enjoyed the game immensely.  That said, I prefer to relax on my couch and the comfort of a controller in my hand is a welcome change to sitting at a crappy desk in front of my monitor.  I am struggling a bit with the transition and wondering if more experienced Xbox players have any tips.

A major difference is not having a mouse to target tools that would normally be point and click, ie

• Lazy explorer
• Star caller staff
• Weather Pain (haven't used it yet, but am assuming the same issues exist with target selection)

Another area of struggle is inventory use on the fly.  On PC you have quick keys for inventory slots.  I can no longer quickly switch between my first 3 or 4 inventory items or consume food that is in one of the numbered slots.  How do you deal with this during an extended boss fight where cane/weapon switching might be important?

Cooking with an open fridge is also not very intuitive.  On PC as long as the fridge is open it automatically directs one item at a time to the crockpot.  This doesn't seem to be the case using the controller.  Am I missing something, or do I have to just transfer the food to myself and then go around to the crockpots?

Lastly...how do you place things neatly in your base?  I am struggling with getting my chest area to look nice.  I'll admit that I was a geometric placement user and I just need to move on perhaps, but having grass/twigs/chests looking like such a mess is driving me a tad crazy.  I won't even start on the seeming impossibility of a nice kitchen setup!

What do you all do?  Are there other tips/tricks/challenges to playing on Xbox that I should be aware of?

[BeeClops]

it's a completely different game haha.

can't think of many tips tbh it's just getting used to different things; for refueling I prefer dropping items on the ground to using R2, makes the action faster but you need to have the item close to the fuel in your inventory. Like for refueling lanterns/minerhats/magi's. 

Lazy explorer is just a pain to use on a regular basis, you have to unequip it when doing certain actions, like picking up lureplants for example(used to be so for cooking as well). Boss fights that require weather pains.. good luck with that one , you'll have to stay glued to the boss in order to cast it properly which defeats half of the purpose of this tool. I'd say if there is ever an option to not use WP's, go for that option. 

[Mike23Ua]

Unfortunately DS & DST are only Optimized with PC Point and Click KB & Mouse Controls in Mind first and foremost, while Console controllers get some very Wonky design decisions- Or worse.. don’t get feature support At All.

For example on PC you can drag meat from your inventory into the ocean to tame Gnarwail, or Drag wood into the ocean to distract Cookie Cutters- Features that aren’t on Consoles.

Moving on.. Ive NEVER been able to quickly switch between a weapon and a walking cane, and Klei really REALLY Needs to address that because it seems like every YouTube/twitch stream you watch utilizes this switching between cane/weapon, but it’s not as fast as it SHOULD Be for console players. 

You need to tap RT to pull up your full inventory scroll down to the food you want to place into a crockpot, tap A, drag it up to the crockpot and place it.

Klei also has made playing as Wilson on Xbox highly Annoying because pressing Left or Right on the Analog stick moves from your Quick Craft Tab to your Beard Food Storage Slots- BUT you can’t access or interact with the food in your Beard until you press RT. Which is a Silly design choice because if you need to press RT to Access the beards Inventory Having it Quick Access only ACTUALLY Prevents you from scrolling through your Inventory & Backpack slots as quickly as you can Any other character NOT Named Wilson…

*Facepalm Moment*

To move food from your beard to a crockpot it has to be moved in a U shape from your Beard to the Crockpot.

You’ll probably spend a good while having to “Re-Learn” the game & decide for yourself the best methods to use with a Controller as opposed to KB/Mouse.

[1moregame]

3 hours ago, BeeClops said:

Lazy explorer is just a pain to use on a regular basis, you have to unequip it when doing certain actions,

Yeah…trying to mount/I mount my beefalo is fairly comical…

1 hour ago, Mike23Ua said:

Unfortunately DS & DST are only Optimized with PC Point and Click KB & Mouse Controls

I tried to put up some mini signs last night and they are nearly useless. You would think that the sign could be prioritized somehow to center on a chest. Like if you open the chest before planting the sign, it will center on that opened chest. 

1 hour ago, Mike23Ua said:

You’ll probably spend a good while having to “Re-Learn” the game & decide for yourself the best methods to use with a Controller as opposed to KB/Mouse

Thankfully I haven’t played for quite some time so it is making the process a tad easier. It would be nice if they were to use a shift mechanic to allow some customization of the controls. It is super awkward to use the D-pad to equip items in the heat of the moment. 

[Mike23Ua]

I feel its super important for threads like these to exist, it shows Klei how much difference there is between playing with KB/Mouse and a gaming Controller.

With KB/Mouse players it’s easy to assign Key Inputs, or point and click controls.

With a Controller… it can be down right INFURIATING trying to play the game, and I want to talk about that a bit in Detail-

Before the amazing new “Taking Root” update which added my new favorite Brightshade Melee Weapons, One of the most used weapons in the game for me was a Spear or a Darksword.. 

I want to highlight these two weapons Specifically because of how they work on a Xbox controller.

When using the Spear, if Your Spear Breaks even if you had multiple in your inventory- instead of automatically equipping the second spear (like you do with Axes, Pickaxes or Football Helmets) your character tries to “Fist punch” your target while you fumble through scrolling through your inventory to Equip the second Spear.. 

I’m going to tackle this issue even harder with the Darksword- The Darksword is a Weapon that while held in your hand will constantly drain your Sanity, so it encourages getting in a few hits with the sword and then switching to a different weapon or item to avoid unnecessary extra Sanity Drain.. the PROBLEM with that is when switching between a Darksword and Whatever other item you want to hold… (boat oar, axe, whatever..) when Switching Between them it will misplace the Darksword in your inventory slots and instead of fights being fast, fluid and fun… you have to spend those extra couple seconds scrolling through your inventory to get to the Darksword again.

This is an issue that continues to exist in content that intends for you to be able to switch between items Quickly (Usually Walking Cane & Weapon) 

In between the Spear & the Darksword upgrade is the Tentacle Spike- which comes from a limited source that doesn’t regrow over time and shares the same issue with Spears of even if you have multiple in your inventory, it won’t auto equip the second spike once the first one breaks.

The new Brightshade Swords completely eliminate the need to swap the weapon in & out to prevent negative sanity effects. So this has massively improved the console experience for me.. 

Its unfortunate that under normal circumstances getting this sword has to be  under “EndGame” circumstances as it’s massively removed a ton of the hassles I have had with weapon swapping/ weapons breaking.

 

[1moregame]

19 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

I feel its super important for threads like these to exist, it shows Klei how much difference there is between playing with KB/Mouse and a gaming Controller.

I couldn't agree more.  I am curious how much the lack of activity in the xbox forum represents the actual player activity vs xbox players simply choosing to post this stuff in General Discussions instead.  I feel that more activity in this specific forum might draw more action.  I have really been enjoying the experience on the xbox and am very hopeful that the experience will improve over time. 

18 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

The new Brightshade Swords completely eliminate the need to swap the weapon in & out

I haven't even attempted any of the newer content yet.  Does the brightshade sword not have durability?  I am still working out how to more effectively operate with a controller.  In the interim I have been using a beefalo almost exclusively so haven't even noticed that huge issue of the weapons not auto-equipping.  I will start a new non-beefalo world tonight to test this out.  I have noticed how awkward the layout is on the xbox controller for switching.  I am forced to use the d-pad which I naturally attempt to use with my left hand, ie the same hand controlling my direction.  I was at a loss on how I would handle this and thus started using a beef for all major combat.  I happen to have an elite controller, so I wound up remapping some of the buttons for the d-pad to the back of the controller.  I even use a few shifted buttons to give me some finer control in some cases, but that hasn't felt super comfortable yet.  This is great if you have an overpriced controller, but for those with standard controllers I can't imagine weapon/cane switching being comfortable.  

I think one possible way to handle this would be to implement a shift key using the left trigger.  For example:

Button	Current	Base	Shift
Left Analog	Walk	Walk
Right Analog	Inventory Selection	Inventory Selection	Use stick as d-pad?
Right Directional	Use selected item on self/unequip	Inventory 1 - like the keybindings	Move Half
Left Directional	Use on world/store/repair	Inventory 2 - like the keybindings	Move one
Up Directional	Inspect item	Inspect item	Zoom Out in game
Down Directional	Drop item	Drop item	Zoom In in game
Cross / A	Action/Accept	Action/Accept
Square / X	Attack	Attack	Force Attack - ie target walls, friendly mobs, etc
Triangle / Y	Inspect world item/sew	Inspect world item/sew
Circle / B	Alt Action/Cancel	Alt Action/Cancel
R1/RB	Rotate Camera	Use selected item on self/unequip	Rotate Camera
L1/LB	Rotate Camera	Use on world/store/repair	Rotate Camera
L2 / LT	Open Crafting Tabs	Shift Button	N/A
R2 / RT	Open Inventory/Pause Game	Open Inventory/Pause Game	Open Crafting Tabs
Options / Menu	Pause	Pause
Press Touch Pad / View	Map	Map

 

19 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

when Switching Between them it will misplace the Darksword in your inventory slots

The movement of the weapon to inventory when switching seems to be similar to PC iirc.  When the item is swapped out, it will attempt to go to the last inventory position it was in.  If however something else has since taken that slot, then it appears to move.  I am not sure if it switches with the item you are swapping with or if it moves to the first empty slot.  On PC when learning to switch I would often spread items through my inventory so it was full.  This forced the items being switched to swap.

What's with my character swapping targets if I leave target locking on?  I left it on during a Klaus fight and it kept switching the lock to the deer.  With target lock off, I tend to have issues where I often swing away from the mob I am attacking.  Feels totally weird since on PC if you press F you automatically move toward the nearest mob to attack.

I saw another post that helped with farming.  If you plant the seed before tilling the next spot, it won't ever move the same pile around.  Still hard to get 9 crops in a tile, but it is much easier using this method than trying to till 9 spots and then planting. 

[Vinja]

Honestly the biggest time you’ll ever notice these issues is fighting fuel weaver. Just set up catapults and forget about the weatherpain. As for the other issues you mentioned, you’ll just have to play around them. Try to avoid needing to quick swap inventory items if you can, even if that means having to fuel mag midfight or go out of your way to put down a cobblestone arena. That’s all you can really do on console unfortunately.

 

As you can tell, the game is not optimized on console.

[Mike23Ua]

35 minutes ago, Vinja said:

As you can tell, the game is not optimized on console.

And Klei says they had hired a team of devs who’s sole purpose was to improve the quality of the game for consoles.

I am sad.. mega sad, what happened to this team of devs who only had one job?? They weren’t hired on to help with reworks or content updates, their single purpose was to make the game function the best (& as comfortably) as it possibly could for consoles.

[Vinja]

12 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

And Klei says they had hired a team of devs who’s sole purpose was to improve the quality of the game for consoles.

I am sad.. mega sad, what happened to this team of devs who only had one job?? They weren’t hired on to help with reworks or content updates, their single purpose was to make the game function the best (& as comfortably) as it possibly could for consoles.

You seem like you play a lot of console as well, perhaps we should work on a list of issues and possible fixes to help Klei better understand issues consoles face and how console players themselves would like to see them improve. Some issues aren’t so apparent unless you put a lot of hours in on the game, which game developers may not reasonably have the time for.

A niche one I can think of off the top of my head is the lock on function. It has the potential to be very good but it’s current implementation is kinda janky.

When I’m trying to lock onto enemies near structures like walls, think a decorated pig farm as an example, for some reason it loves locking onto the walls over the pigs or werepigs. Why do walls have such high priority? Very weird, I think the priority on them needs lowered. Also, when you defeat a target I think it should try auto locking on to another target after, maybe prioritizing targets that are the same as the one you just killed, that way I stop accidentally punching walls after I kill something instead of killing the next thing.

[1moregame]

Ok, here is an annoyance with the controller that I can't recall if it is similar on PC.  When selecting rot to use as fertilizer, the the left d-pad if not over a fertilizable crop is 'eat'.  Normally eat would be be a right d-pad action.  The fact that it switches means instead of fertilizing my grass tuft, I fertilize myself .  Feels like unless I am over a tilled tile, that the current right d-pad of fertilize plot shouldn't come up and that is when the option to eat should appear, keeping the command the same in all places.