• 17 minutes

    I hate to be a fanboy for a corporation, but this move is rad. I really wish every company would release models of their products.

    It took me ages and ages to try to accurately measure the inside curves of a 3M respirator so I could work out a glasses holder mod. I ended up just giving up and fashioning something out of sculpey.

  • Steam released the CAD files of the Steam controller, on gitlab, under a creative Commons license !

    I was on the edge about wanting to buy a steam controller but now definitely want one. I’ll keep an eye open for when they are back in stock.

  • 15 hours

    Your Steam Controller is yours, and you have the right to do with it what you want. That said, we highly recommend you leave it to professionals.

    Talk about mixed messaging…

    • 2 hours

      Ehhh… Reads like the standard “we’re happy with you tweaking it, but don’t want to be liable for you breaking it.”

      If you try to sue them, they can point to this section of their docs and say you didn’t follow their recommendations.

    • It’s a warning to those who would likely just break their expensive controllers. Some people know stuff about electronics and can make custom parts and other things. It could spawn a cottage industry.

      • 12 hours

        Do people really need a warning to know that they might break something if they open it up without knowing what they’re doing?

        • Yes, and there’s nothing mixed about the messaging. If you know what you’re doing, go ahead. If you don’t, dont.

          Usually compsnies would just say no to everyone and throw around words like “unauthorized”.

    • 14 hours

      Personally I don’t think it’s mixed

      As someone who (outside of basic game modding) hates to tinker out of fear of breaking something, that second part is aimed at people like me.

      In other words I read this is “Hey FlipFlop, you could make all these changes, but let’s leave that to your buddies who actually know electronics and hardware so you don’t end up with $100 steam brand paperweight “

      Edit: check out the page and that’s pretty much what was said right after “Any damage you do will not be covered by your warranty” “You might break your controller”

    • 13 hours

      They are addressing a diverse audience with their messaging. Not just you.

          • 12 hours

            Why are you fabricating all of these presumptions about me?

            • 12 hours

              I can infer from all your replies in the thread that you are seething underneath all of these “composed” messages.

      • 12 hours

        They release CAD files for DIYing “sweaters”, tell you you can do with it whatever you want, and then tell you they “strongly recommend” hiring someone else to do it for you in the next sentence, and you don’t think that’s mixed messaging?

        Would you say the same if Framework told you they “highly recommend” hiring a professional to swap your SSD?

        • 12 hours

          “Your house and electrical wiring is yours, and you have the right to do with it what you want. That said, we highly recommend you leave it to professionals.”

          This is not mixed messaging, this is just advice. Mixed messaging would be something along the lines of: “Your house and electrical wiring is yours, and you have the right to do with it what you want. That said, you are not allowed to do what you want.” Mixed messaging colloquially means contradictory statements.

          • 12 hours

            “Your house and electrical wiring is yours, and you have the right to do with it what you want. That said, we highly recommend you leave it to professionals.”

            Your house is not delivered with documentation for the wiring. Further, fucking up the wiring in your house can literally kill you, so no, this is not an apt analogy.

            Mixed messaging colloquially means contradictory statements.

            No, that’s a contradiction. “Mixed” is exactly what it sounds like. The messaging is unclear.

            • 5 hours

              Your house is not delivered with documentation for the wiring

              Contact whoever sold you the house - it should come with a full mapping of electric, water and heating systems.

        • I didn’t expect changing an SSD to be such a technical task for you… I mourn your lego-less youth.

          • 11 hours

            I have no idea where you got the idea that that would be “such a technical task” for me. Nor why you think I had a “lego-less youth”. I’m >35 y/o and have been repairing computers since I was 15.

            • Then the warning obviously isn’t directed at you, chill out. It’s for everyone who does need to be told that tinkering with the electronics in the controller can break it if they don’t know what they’re doing.

              “Welcome to your new linux system. You can delete or modify anything you want in the root directory, but we recommend leaving that to someone who knows what they’re doing.”

              It’s not a mixed message.

              • 8 hours

                Then the warning obviously isn’t directed at you

                Once again, I didn’t think it was.

                It’s for everyone who does need to be told that tinkering with the electronics in the controller can break it if they don’t know what they’re doing.

                Anyone dumb enough to need to be told this would pay it no heed.

                “Welcome to your new linux system. You can delete or modify anything you want in the root directory, but we recommend leaving that to someone who knows what they’re doing.”

                No Linux distributor in their right mind would tell you anything like that. They would tell you to learn.

                It’s not a mixed message.

                It very much is.

    • 14 hours

      Sometimes you want someone else to do it. I added a 2nd SSD to my laptop a few years back. It resulted in a new drive and a few broken plastic tabs.

      • 13 hours

        Did you not know that you might damage something if you open it? If someone told you that, would you have taken it to a professional?

        • 12 hours

          For a screen or CPU replacement, yes. For memory, no. Gotta break what’s not broken to fix something.

          • 12 hours

            This is not a screen or CPU or memory, this is the exterior shell. It’s like removing the cover from the back of your laptop.

            • And what would be the reason to open up the shell in the first place? To mess with the electronics inside. Which is only recommended to people that know what they are doing because of the risk to break it.

              • 7 hours

                And what would be the reason to open up the shell in the first place?

                There’s no reason to speculate, they spell this out plainly in the OP:

                Feel free to use these to make your own Puck holders, Controller sweaters, or whatever else you want to create!

                • You don’t need to open the shell and access the internals if you are making a controller sweater and it wouldn’t void your warranty. That is not what Valve is warning about. They ask you to not fuck with the internals unless you know what you are doing.