Controller Lag

ItsJustAC

From a gamer perspective, many people are noticing controller lag and issues with thumbstick detection.

Is there a concise answer as to whether this can be resolved by future software updates or if it will require purchasing a retail controller with improvements?

Further to that, have these technical improvements been made?


~AC

SpoonThumb

It's not a single problem with a single solution. In no particular order, here is the known list of things that can cause controller lag, and how they've been solved:

Using the old Unity plugin
Solution: gamedevs update their plugin/game

Downloading lots of stuff
Solution: reset the console. OUYA still working to improve

Lag increasing over time
Solution: OUYA still working to improve. May be games causing memory leaks?

TV input lag
Solution: Adjust TV settings for "game mode" or get a better TV

Bluetooth range:
Solution: Sit closer to the OUYA. Make sure no furniture between OUYA and controller. Take OUYA out of TV cabinet, or even out of it's metal case

When 4 controllers connected, processing input from all 8 analogue sticks takes more than one game tick:
Solution: Gamedevs poll controllers or use last known input values

There is also the issue of deadzones and analogue stick input values snapping to axes. If gamedevs don't account for this, it can cause them to fail to detect input, cause characters walking around to move in squares and turn abruptly / at right angles, rather than in smooth arcs
Solution: Early production run controllers need a firmware update, which requires sending them back to OUYA. Later controllers (from May/June onward?) should be fine. Check this for more details http://forums.ouya.tv/discussion/1275/analog-stick-state-of-the-world/p1

There could be other problems/solutions as well I've not come across. From a developer perspective, you should be fine using older controllers from an input lag perspective (if your game is lagging, reset the console, and if it is still lagging, it's at your end). Sat one foot away from my OUYA on my desk hooked up to my PC, I've gone weeks of development without really downloading or playing any other games, and not experienced any controller lag on my own game

ItsJustAC

I appreciate the detailed response, sheds a lot of light.

Krussell

I haven't seen this solution mentioned before but I was experiencing an extreme amount of lag with my ouya. Especially in Unity based games. I initially plugged in a USB keyboard to enter account information during setup and then just left it plugged in. I finally unplugged my USB keyboard and the lag completely went away. Now that it's unplugged I'm pretty much lag free.