this post was submitted on 20 May 2026
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Steam Hardware

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Getting the most out of your Steam Controller: Trackpads

Getting the most out of your Steam Controller: Virtual Menus

I see people ask a lot about what to use Trackpads for. These are great guides and really can help with getting the best experience out of these controls.

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[–] tiberius@lemmy.ca 24 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Virtual menus are a blessing when playing modded Stardew Valley as you quickly run out of physical buttons.

[–] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Virtual Menus are great for any PC first games imo. Being able to setup direct weapon shortcuts (instead of cycling through) or having direct shortcuts to map/journal/inventory/etc is really nice. Also things like quicksave/quick load menus.

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

They are CRITICAL, I can make control schemes for complex games like Cold Waters DotMod that I could never dream of doing with a normal gamepad and no virtual menus... or rather the gamepad control scheme would be too complicated to remember.

[–] als@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

My thumbs always cramp up when I use the deck's trackpads for any length of time. I imagine the same will be true for me with a steam controller :/

[–] Rigal@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

I don't know if it helps, but in my opinion the controller and console are designed so you have to grip it from a lower position to use them, that gives a more natural posture.

[–] kartoffelsaft@programming.dev 2 points 2 weeks ago

Trying that with my steam deck right now, the amount I have to shift my hands down for the trackpads to feel natural is so low that I can't even reach the X/B buttons, and my hands aren't even that small. Kinda sucks I've never found a use for the bottom 2/3 of them.

[–] Baggie@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 weeks ago

Also much much lighter. I love the steam deck, but the weight is no small consideration.

[–] pieberry@lemmy.today 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I would love to get the most out of my trackpads, but trackball mode is currently broken on the new steam controller. Valve is aware of the problem, so hopefully they are working on a fix.

[–] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Oh I hadn't even noticed that. Are you talking about where you can "fling" the virtual ball and have momentum carry the cursor across the screen?

Also is your username based on the Witchspring character? Or something else?

[–] pieberry@lemmy.today 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Yeah, the inertia only works like 60% of the time. I have the exact same trackball settings set on my steam deck, steam controller 1, and steam controller 2.

For inertia:

-Steam deck trackpads work perfectly.

-Original steam controller trackpads have interia about 90% of the time i flick my thumb.

-New steam controller trackpads work poorly and only have interia about 50-60% of the time.

Also is your username based on the Witchspring character? Or something else?

Yes! Love that series 🙂

[–] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 weeks ago

I probably enjoyed 2 & 3 the most of the series, but I've been meaning go back and play the Steam version of the first one. The english translation wasn't great when I played it, and I had mixed feelings about the day time limit.

[–] DarkPassenger@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I'd love to get the most out of my steam deck if only I get actually get one. Been checking the site almost daily for months

[–] GottaHaveFaith@fedia.io 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

my bad, i bought two... Jokes aside, the first one I bought had a waiting list of months, I wonder if they're not using it anymore because of RAM prices

[–] DarkPassenger@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

It's all good. My fault for waiting so long. I build a game boy and played that but the screen is getting small for these old man eyes

[–] directive0@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

They really need to fix the bug that won't let you change from the default profile on steamdeck.

[–] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 weeks ago

Thankfully haven't encountered that myself, sounds terrible.

I am on the beta update channel, so might be worth switching to beta for awhile to see if it fixes it for you.