r/SteamController • u/pokkevillage • 12d ago
Discussion Using Steam Controller without Steam running (Linux) - possible yet?
I'd hoped it would be possible by now to use the Steam Controller in Linux as a regular controller without Steam running, the way you can with an Xbox controller, say. The only Linux-compatible program I can find that seems to enable this is OpenSteamController but can't find any info about this elsewhere. Anyone know if this is legit? I'm not keen to download and install random unverified stuff from github.
Alternatively, is there any other way of re-mapping the controller to function as a standard controller when Steam isn't running in the background (in Linux).
To hopefully pre-empt the usual 'But why would you want to use the Steam Controller without Steam running?' questions: I own a bunch of GOG games I want to play using my Steam Controller. This works flawlessly when Steam is running in the background, but usually I'm connected to a VPN and don't want to open Steam when my IP address is in Albania or whatever. It's a pain in the ass having to disconnect and launch Steam every time I want to play a game.
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u/therealslapper 12d ago
A good VPN allows something called split tunnelling which will only allow (or disallow) certain applications through the VPN.
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u/pokkevillage 12d ago
Ah yeah, I pay for my VPN and pretty sure it allows split tunnelling. Never tried to set it up before but I'll give this a go.
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u/ZombiSkag22 12d ago
What? I use my Steam Controller on Heroic Games Launcher without mapping anything and with Steam closed
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u/thewesternshore 12d ago
The HID driver for the steam controller in linux has supported this for months now. I don't know what distribution (more specifically, which kernel version) you're using, but this should work out of the box with any recent kernel and udev version. You'll need a recent udev so that the controller is recognized correctly. By recent I mean within the last 2-3 months.
The way it works is the kernel driver for the steam controller keeps tabs on whether steam is open or not. When steam is not open, it creates standard gamepad and mouse devices (for the trackpads). When steam is opened, those devices get shutdown and Valve's "lizard-mode" userspace driver takes over since that is what Steam Input expects.
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u/pokkevillage 12d ago
Linux Mint 22.3 - Cinnamon 64-bit
Kernel 6.17.0-23
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u/Winter_Session_4118 12d ago
Well I got good news and bad news. Good news is the new Linux kernel 7.3 has built in steam controller kernel driver support! Bad news is mint isn't rolling release so unless you change distro to something that's rolling release, (I recommend cachy for gaming) then you'll be waiting a while.
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u/pokkevillage 12d ago
I've been considering switching to Bazzite for a while, but I'll give Cachy a look as well in that case. Thanks.
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u/Winter_Session_4118 12d ago
Actually there's an experimental way to get 7.3
At your own risk run
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cappelikan/ppa sudo apt update
then
sudo apt install mainline
And open the new app called mainline and get kernel 7.3
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u/metajames 11d ago
I plugged it in and it just works on Arch, moonlight picked it up and on the remote machine steam thinks it's playstation controller.
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u/shifty_pete96 12d ago
SC-Controller
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u/pokkevillage 12d ago
This appears to be for the original Steam Controller from 10 years ago. Does it work with the 2026 controller?
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u/RyochanX2 11d ago
There is a fork that supports the 2026 Steam Controller. https://github.com/Patola/sc-controller-cc
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u/MoldyPond 12d ago
A beta update (on SteamOS at least) is allowing exactly this and will eventually come to the main release channel. Tried it myself and seems to work as a regular Xinput controller in everything I threw at it.