A place to discuss and support all things Steam Deck.
Replacement for r/steamdeck_linux.
As Lemmy doesn't have flairs yet, you can use these prefixes to indicate what type of post you have made, eg:
[Flair] My post title
The following is a list of suggested flairs:
[Discussion] - General discussion.
[Help] - A request for help or support.
[News] - News about the deck.
[PSA] - Sharing important information.
[Game] - News / info about a game on the deck.
[Update] - An update to a previous post.
[Meta] - Discussion about this community.
Some more Steam Deck specific flairs:
[Boot Screen] - Custom boot screens/videos.
[Selling] - If you are selling your deck.
These are not enforced, but they are encouraged.
Rules:
These controllers were all working on SteamOS before as far as I know, so I'm interested to see what this changes. My understanding is that previously their controllers just show up as generic xbox controllers, and now they will be properly recognized. We'll see if this has any other benefits like custom bindings for back buttons and things like that.
Months back, I submitted a support ticket asking if they had any plans to support a d-input mode with both analog triggers and gyroscope inputs enabled, like the steam-licensed controller that just came out at the time did. They said they had no plans, but they'd forward the question. I wonder if this is a result of that. Would be cool if they also started reporting the back paddles as separate inputs as well, but I didn't include that in the ticket.
How do I update my controller on my steam deck when the update software is only on windows?
You can update via Android or iOS I believe
So it's just bullshit marketing. Got it thank you
So how do you update firmware with just a Steamdeck? 8bitdo does not seem to supply Linux software support anymore, so it feels a bit hilarious that they support SteamOS without any official way of updating controllers there.
I found the fwupd tool on github, but it seems a hacky way that cannot update everything. Can the 8bitdo tool be run via proton/wine?
We call this marketing bullshit.
Tried it, not it cannot
Isn't fwupd already included in SteamOS? Or is there a specific 8bitdo fwupd tool?
maybe it is (don't have my deck with me to check) but even so, it is not an officially supported tool and I can see from issues on Github that people cannot find their controllers on there. not sure if that's very old or very new ones.
https://fwupd.org/lvfs/devices/
In the devices list of lvfs/fwupd there's a bunch of controllers supported. But it seems like it's mostly their retro controllers. XBox-style controllers like their Ultimate C etc. are not supported.
Has anyone gotten this to work? I have both the SN30 Pro and the Pro 2, both display the latest firmware update as 2.06 which just lists Switch 2 compatibility. Steam doesnt seem to recognize the back buttons on the Pro 2 either.
Instead of pressing the L+R buttons press the button with the 8bitdo logo while in the change grip/order menu.
8bitdo controllers now offer Steam compatibility!
Full compatibility details coming soon.
What a non-announcement announcment.
I've been using these for years, including with my docked steam deck, and they already work great.
I also wonder what they could've changed.
How do you make them work?
I just connect with Bluetooth like normal, and then in steam you can tell it to treat it like whatever type of controller layout you want: switch, xbox, playstation, etc.
The issue is that the back paddles weren’t unique buttons. You could configure them to press existing buttons, (like telling it to press A when you hit the right paddle,) but they weren’t listed as individual inputs. Now they are, so you can actually map unique actions to L4, R4, etc… This is particularly important for games that have a lot of unique inputs. Plenty of games are optimized for controller, but lots still rely on having more buttons (on a keyboard) than what a traditional controller has.
Honestly I’d love to see more of this. Wheels and panels as well, not just gamepads. I’ve always wished for fully assignable controller support where the icon and HUDs etc change, ETS2 is looks so much better now that the icons don’t flicker twice per second because of my hodgepodge DS4Windows control scheme anymore. And with multi-button combinations and stuff making more things doable from the controller.
I do kind of wish Steam Input was a separate piece of software though, sort of like Xpadder back in the day. Some kind of open button-mapping standard with an API and everything.
My Ultimate 2 wireless lets me bind the extra buttons to any command as well as detect and configure the gyro controls. This is with Steam Input; so you can bind those buttons to keyboard and mouse inputs.
Came here to say exactly this ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Friendly marketing reminder to those who haven't bought one....
That's cool to see but I've gone through about 3 8bitdo controllers (gave the last one to my partner). I like them but I wish there triggers were not the rubber magnetic pads. I'm a bit heavy handed when using the triggers and it eventually crushes the pads to not work. Other than that great controller.
Upside, usually the controllers are extremely easy to fix. I'm not sure if they give free replacement pads still, but they used to if you asked support.
I've had other problems than shoulders on my pros, and never with the ultimate one I got, those seem to have a pretty solid build.
I took apart the first one and had to order the pads. They were cheap and available. I sent the second one back to be replaced because disconnecting the board from the controls stripped the connection. It was easy and had it back fast.
I just got their ultimate 2 wireless today. It's really nice and works very well on Linux. I just wish their app worked at least through wine. I couldn't even make it work in a Windows VM. Hope they bring it over.
I have a Pro 2 and my only complaint with it with "SteamOS" (Bazzite) is that the back paddles don't actually work with Steam Input directly. You can program them with the Ultimate Software, but that means they're stuck only repeating the input of another button on the controller. So if this update brings full Steam Input support that would be awesome, as it would mean you can set all kinds of other functions to them. Plus not having to use a seperate software, and controller-based profiles, would be awesome.
So if this update brings full Steam Input support that would be awesome
It does!
I have a Pro 2 too and switched from Xinput to Dinput at the back of the controller and my Steam Deck now identifies the back buttons like L4/R4 (but with the name PL/PR) and I can map it to anything I want
Ive been waiting for this. Which one is the best one to get for both my Steam Deck and desktop?
I'm personally a fan of the pro 2. I find it to be the most comfortable controller I own. Their QC does seem lacking for the hall effect sensor version though, I had to set up a small dead zone because it idled with a little bit of input. Still a smaller deadzone than a non hall effect, but I wanted to make note of it.
Ultimate 2. It’s got a gyroscope and back paddles.
Is there a symmetrical version, like a PS controller, or just the Xbox-like layout?
Pro 2 is symmetrical. Looks like a SNES controller with handles. The ergonomics of it are very different between it and the ultimate, and I prefer the pro 2 by a lot, but they are both good controllers.
Do y'all use a controller in heldheld mode or only docked? I'm curious what the use case is here.