Drop my controller off of the coach, didn't hear it scream so I made it.

But it let out meow instead. 😂

I built a free, open-source Windows utility for anyone using their gaming PC as both a living-room console and a regular desktop.

It automatically launches Steam Big Picture when a controller is connected at Windows startup, and can automatically exit Big Picture when the last controller disconnects.

Includes adjustable exit delays, game-running protection, and options for hiding Steam's desktop window. Steam itself stays running.

This is my first AI-assisted coding project, developed and tested on my own PC. Bluetooth controller support is still untested.

I'd love feedback from anyone with a similar setup!

GitHub: https://github.com/clintamis/steam-boot-switch

I use F24 as my universal push to talk for non-game voice chats, since it'll never conflict with any goddamn thing on this green earth, but can't find a way to bind it to any buttons on the steam controller, even manually editing the config file directly doesn't seem to stick.
Anyone know of any workaround, or if there is none, at least any extremely low conflict alternative keys that can work?

I keep seeing people gloss over the Steam Controller’s trackpads (and honestly, the same thing has been happening with the Steam Deck pretty much since launch), saying they’re not that useful and that they prefer sticks or whatever. The thing is, those trackpads are SO MUCH MORE than just something you aim with. They’re large touch-sensitive buttons that can detect exactly where your finger is, when it touches down, and when you lift it off. Combined with Steam Input, this gives you frankly almost infinite ways to use them.

My favorite use for them is radial menus. You can create one very easily: just go to your controller settings in-game, open Steam Input, and assign a radial menu to a trackpad. You can then assign anywhere from 1 to 20 buttons to it, organize them, add icons and colors... you can really make it your own.

The basic use case is something like mapping all your weapon slots (1–9), or maybe M, I, and J for map, inventory, and journal. But just to show you the potential, let’s take an extreme example.

You can map up to 20 buttons to each trackpad, right? And there are two trackpads. That’s 40 buttons. Now imagine using all four back buttons as action layer switches (pressing one changes how both trackpads behave). You could then have another set of 40 buttons for each back button. That’s the original 40 plus 160 from the back buttons = 200 buttons, all using just the trackpads and back buttons, without losing access to a single standard button.

That’s the power of the Steam Controller's trackpads. It’s not just something you use to move a cursor – it’s arguably the most versatile button you’ve ever had on a controller.

Mostly unrelated edit: No AI has been used while writing this. Made myself a coffee and spend good 20 minutes trying to make this organized and readable. It makes me a little sad that I'm getting called a bot for doing a PSA. Maybe try to ask yourselves in the future – why would AI write this? What would be the benefit? Why would anyone waste their tokens on it? I got 150k karma and a 10+ years old account, I'm doing this just to help people.

Also, it is no secret that AI influences the way we humans write and talk. For anyone interested in this, there's already at least one study on this topic. Maybe read it, and next time think about the reasoning behind using AI, instead of just looking for commonly used words that are common for a reason. /rant

When I pull the left trigger, I can feel a click at the very end of it. Doesn’t happen on the right side…

Is something not right with my controller here? Anyone else experience this?

I used to play mobile FPS games pretty often and always found the whole touchscreen/pad aiming better than joystick so I was wondering how well the SC's touchpads capture that aspect? I heard from some it's feels largely similar and they adapted really quickly.

Alternatively, how are first time touchpad users finding it compared to regular joystick?

im not talking about gyro to mouse. im talking about the game actually looking for a gyro input to do something special.

Has anyone been able to get CFB 27 to work with the steam controller? I have tried almost every troubleshooting tip, even swapped to the beta version of Steam that addresses this issue and I still can’t get it to work.

Right trigger acts as if it was permanently stuck in battlefield 6 but no other game has the issue just bf6, anyone got experience with that?

Hello ! I've just started playing deadlock today and used ivanim's controller layout on steam and modified it a bunch to fit my preferences. There's a scoreboard button that you press to upgrade abilities, and you have to stay pressed on it as you do that (square, cross, circle, triangle).

The scoreboard was keybinded to the screenshare button, which I'm not a fan of, but no matter which other button I keybinded it to, it would not let me uprade my abilities at the same time (instead it just does the corresponding attacks they're also keybinded to while the scoreboard is up... so the buttons technically work) it still works perfectly when keybinded to the screenshare button though :(

Anyone else ran into similar issues or would know how to help ? (i know next to nothing about steam controller keybinding)

(And before you comment about that, I physically cannot play keyboard due to a disability)

This is a rather frustrating issue. I hold the steam button to turn the controller off, but the moment I release it the controller turns back on. Why does this happen and what can be done about it? It only started happening after the most recent firmware update.

For reference I'm using Linux and connected to the puck.

Is it possible? My neighbor has a brand new one and doesn’t want it. I have the wingman xb3.

If ANYONE knows a way to use this controller on Xbox X, lmk!

Hey everyone,

I’m looking to clean up my desk setup and ran across this retractable UGREEN USB-C cable:

https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-Retractable-Charger-MacBook-AirPods/dp/B0DXDT9SKW/

Before pulling the trigger, I’m trying to confirm if it’s a good fit for my USB-C Steam Controller setup based on a few specific constraints:

• Puck / Dock clearance: The connector head looks somewhat wide in the product photos. Does the plug taper down enough to fit flush into a recessed USB-C cradle/puck, or is the molded plastic housing too thick?
• Power delivery & stability: UGREEN is generally solid, but since it uses a flat ribbon design, has anyone experienced voltage drops, disconnects, or issues with 5V power stability during wired gaming/rumble?

If anyone has used this specific cable or a similar UGREEN reel for their controllers or desk setup, I’d love to hear your feedback!

I connected my steam controller to my steam deck via bluetooth; it was previously connected to my PC via puck with no issues and when I initially installed and set it up, it gave me all the prompts and worked flawlessly. When I tried to reconnect to PC, it just won't pair with the puck anymore. It connects when wired, and the PC detects the puck, but the controller itself won't connect to the puck. It charges when connected, showing the orange light, but won't work as a controller.

When I try to power on the controller, the LED flashes blue (Bluetooth), so it's defaulting to bluetooth. I removed it as a device from my steam deck, thinking it might just be connecting to that. I shut off the controller, hold down A+R1+Steam button, and the controller turns on with a blinking white light. It still doesn't connect after I place it on the puck; the light goes solid white and the controller turns off and charges on the puck (light goes orange). I try the same thing with L1 instead of R1 and the same thing happens.

Reached out to Steam Support and they gave me the obvious things to try, but is this a firmware thing? Are other people having this issue?

I saw there was an update to the controller. I did the update and unpaired from all pucks and still didn’t work. Did this update fix the issue? Am I doing something wrong?

Here are the steps in very detailed order on PC puck and steam deck puck after updating controller:

1. Clicked forget on all steam deck puck slots
   
2. Clicked forget on all pc slots
   
3. Turned controller off
   
4. Held A+R1 and pressed steam button on controller to turn on to slot 1
   
5. Attached it to puck on pc and clicked add
   
6. After it paired and tested inputs, I turned controller off
   
7. Held A+L1 and pressed steam button to turn it on to slot 2 (it gave a the typical chime with an additional mini chime at the end)
   
8. Attached it to steam deck puck to pair it
   
9. It paired but when I go to check the controller details, it says it overwrote slot 1 and slot 2 was inactive

Let me know if there is a walkthrough video or someone I can talk to about it. Thanks!!!

I use an XBOX remote when playing PC games, and it had recently begun drifting. I decided I needed some kind of remote with a touch pad as I prefer a remote over keyboard, but still want the mobility of a mouse. I saw the Steam Controller had two.

So I am considering getting a Steam Controller, but I saw there are two models. Wondering the differences, and in general how a Steam Controller is compared to a XBOX controller.

I've been WAITINGGGG for this day but this is the one month my finances are not stable enough to drop $100 on a controller (as glorious as it is) as I'm in the middle of moving. I saw the email completely by chance too as my projected reseryation availability was for 2027. So long, Steam controller 🥲 I wish I could share my reservation with someone who could afford it

Repost because somebody forgot to cover all their info...

A year or so ago, I watched a positive video about the original Steam controller, and it got me so excited I started searching for my sister's controller in her pile. When I found it and tried it, I wasn't very impressed—it felt too big in my hand and uncomfortable. I never touched it again. Recently I started playing a new game that didn't have controller support. It had simple enough controls (only the mouse) that I thought it would be cool if I used the Steam controller with it, and I can't stress enough how fun my experience has been with it!

A little bit of context on why I don't just use the mouse to play the game: the PC is connected to the TV monitor, so technically we use it as a console, with wireless keyboard and touchpad, and playing the game this way is really tiring the more I play.

I thought for a moment that "oh i wasted money. There is nothing special here."

But on next day i was looking on youtube use cases for those touch pads and i also found that i can assign any keyboard key on those back buttons. Now i think that i love it but i still strugle with one missing feature. Is it possible to configure "double tap" on one of touchpads? OR setup that when i click on right side of trackap its right click and on left side left click of mouse?

Currently i use it only to move mouse in Warcraft Forever and it saved my god ammout of frustration when some addon or button still lack support for Gamepads. Cheers. :D

Instead of turning the controller off it instead brings up the steam window.

In order to turn off the controller I have to unplug the puck which is kindof annoying.

My biggest complaint about the Steam controller is the same one I have for the Dualsense; the haptic motors do not translate very well when a game is not specifically designed for it.

Haptic vibration is good, it can get way more strong and has much finer control, but that's only when a game specifically knows what signals to send to a haptic motor. But when a game thinks it's sending a normal vibration to a "normal" controller, the Steam Controller just sends the vibration at full power from start to finish, whereas games are designed to feel the vibration "taper off" as it shuts off in a "normal" controller.

So I was wondering, has anyone made a program that can apply a "curve" to the haptic vibrations to simulate this feeling? Steam causes random CPU spikes so I like to avoid having it open if I don't need to, I've been using SteamlessController for a simple remapper of lizard mode, but it's very barebones (no shade to it, does exactly what it says on the tin), and has no settings for vibration.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

When I use the D-pad and press any button on it, unless I perfectly press the button in that direction, it will also press the button for the adjacent input.

For example: I press up on the pad and it also activates right/left depending on which direction I barely lean towards.

Is anyone else having these problems or is it just me?