I had a disappointing and headache inducing exchange of mails with Quantic Dreams tech support (? the word "support" being a bold overstatement)
So far, the only solution they provided was to add the GOG version of heavy rain to Steam as non-steam game, then launch it through steam ! (yes, i know, this sounds so stupid and ludicrous)
Apparently, the explanation is that ONLY Steam is capable of supporting controllers on Windows operating systems ! And so, Quantic Dreams coded their stuff by relying exclusively on the controller-management layer included in Steam client...
It seems some people could be lucky with Sony Playstation official controllers, because as the game initially was a Playstation exclusive game, i suppose most of the code can handle recognition and handling of a Dualshock gamepad... But for non-Sony controllers (official Microsoft Xbox ones, or generic/third party ones), it's STEAMM or nothing.
I wish i could scream to those folks' ears and face that Microsoft Windows can support controllers right out of the box (especially Xbox ones with official drivers), that xinput is a thing, and that countless of other games from the same time than heavy rain release (console original version or sloppy pc port of theirs) never had any problem using controllers WITHOUT steam for more than a decade... but... well... It seams that many devs manage to make games that have GOG versions and that work without Steam client AND (oh the miracle) manage to support controllers quite fine by themselves and the OS's built-in features since more than a freaking decade ! It seems only Quantic Dreams cant do this... Even PC ports from other japanese publishers/devs (not brightly known for good understanding of PC hardware and software environement) can do that ! (example: CAPCOM's Dragon's Dogma)
Quantic Dreams seems to live with blindfold, in Sony's dreamworld, and they absolutly know nothing of PC's APIs and SDK stuff or Operating Systems. they just relied heavily on premunched Steam various blocks and features and never bothered going further because, as always, PC=Steam and that's it.
The problem is: the game is barely playable with keyboard and mouse (i'm not even sure that some moments of the game would completely lock you off if you try just to use mouse and keyboard, and they just hastily threw in some half baked mouse+kb support just to stay within the scope of consummers laws...); the problem is that they are screwing up GOG in their deal with them, and cascading from that, screwing gog customers as well
I mean: if i'd ever wanted to launch Heavy Rain from the Steam client, i would purchase it on Steam; if i purchased it on GOG, it's for reasons ! i cant find stupid enough analogy to mimic their support talk and solution, because it's just ludicrous.
I dont know if GOG can fix that at all, i doubt they can... so basically people are forced to buy third party controller/key mapping softwares like reWASD (and again, keep in mind they are just binding controller inpiuts to Mouse+KB initial support... If Mouse+KB support is so sloppy it makes the game barely playable for various reasons, cheating out your KB and Mouse with a controller wont do much good) and that's not even the problem: on STEAM forums, people are complaining about the game as well ! Players who dare not using Sony's allmighty Dual Shock controllers experience problems with sticks clicks, or other control issues even with the so miraculously wonderful Steam controller support layer :)
I knew Quantic Dreams were sloppy and were just developping for Playstations, and as such, any pc port was suspicious and bound to be flawed, but for a moment, when i saw those games coming to GOG, i wanted to give the benefit of the doubt, i wanted to be happy, i wanted to try by myself... But i didnt think it would be flawed to such extent ! Their pc ports are surfing on the thin oborder of scamming and i dont understand why or how they were allowed to release such products publicly...
And i dont know if GOG techs even have enough access to the code to ever be able to correct that by themselves for the GOG version or if they are even willing to do so, considering how much work the GOG tech/dev team already have with all the other games... The other solution would be a refund but it would really sound sad, as it would obviouly mean GOG felt into a scam/trap from Quantic Dreams who dont give a damn, and they brought their customers down with them in said trap :(
TL;DR:
Official soluion from Quantic Dream tech/customer support is to add GOG version of Heavy Rain to Steam client, and launch it from STEAM, because only steam is technologically capable of supporting controllers (!?) and no game can ever work with controllers outside of Steam...
Other solution not officially proposed by tech support is to use Sony Playstation Dualshiock controller, because as the game used to be a Playstation exclusive, it obviously holds some bits of code inside of it to recognize and handle sony gamepads...
But if i had wanted to launch the game from Steam clioent, i would have purchased it on Steam, and would not have bothered to buy it here on GOG to be again treated like third-class customer by DEVS (not blaming GOG at all here)... and if i wanted to use a Sony controller, i would already have bought one since long as well !
Post edited October 02, 2023 by Djaron