This should not be a problem on linux. The old controller has a basic linux driver included in the upstream kernel, and there is a userspace driver too called sc-controller which I have used.
Uh interesting 🤔 I will probably just wait and see if that is actually the case and working. Right now I have an xbox one controller with the wireless dongle for which I need to compile a kernel module to work and I'd like to get rid of that 😅
You should generally always wait and see with basically all tech products. There is never really a reason to buy freshly released products except for FOMO stupidity. Same applies to games.
Valve could easily release normal Windows drivers to fix this for everyone. There are doubts that they would do so, wanting to keep users firmly planted in their ecosystem.
Raise your hand if "your ecosystem" is built on free and open source software. Yeah. Literally no one else. STFU.
Steam isn't FOSS...
Linux, my guy...
Me running Linux does not make me feel better when I have to run a pre-compiled binary from some (currently liked) company, valve could do better on this particular instance. How many people will actually run using the fully open source drivers? I'm guessing not most since it's not the one valve provides (unless I read that wrong).
The man point is that it's not a hardware lockout. The open-source userspace driver is a working proof of concept that the hardware will still work if you ditch steam.
Would I prefer it if they severed steam-input from the steam client and made it open source? Sure! But the community is not completely dependent on Valve.
What are you trying to say? Valve gets a free pass because SteamOS is based on Linux? How d'ya figure that one out?
Since the Linux drivers are open source wouldn't it be possible for anyone to write a driver for another OS based on those?
As far as I understand, the original Steam Controller presented as an un-useful pair of HID devices by default, and someone wrote a 3rd-party open source driver for it. So, a similar poorly-supported situation to other hardware that the F/OSS community consistently and rightfully criticises.
Yeah, that's true.
They got better with the Steam Deck. Without Steam running its controller acts like the desktop profile. By default you get keyboard and mouse controls and can switch to a generic gamepad mode by holding down the start button.
I expect/hope that it will be the same with the new controller. Maybe it'll just use the Steam Deck's driver. It has been upstreamed for quite a while now.
It is kinda the same as with the steam deck where I noticed that the inputs just don't work until steam is launched.
That's just the moment when Steam is launching and in the process of taking over the controls. You can try it by shutting down Steam. The controller will continue working like the default desktop profile.
By default it presents mouse and keyboard functionality. And when you hold down the start button it switches to the pure gamepad mode. I play plenty of none-Steam-games that way. All with the native Linux FOSS driver. Without Steam or any other additional userspace software.
Oh interesting 🤔 So yeah maybe this isn't actually a problem for me (using Fedora and the deck)
It should really come with an XInput mode. That's pretty much a basic feature for any PC controller.
I’m surprised people think this is odd since the original Steam Controller was the same - it’s a Steam Input device, not XInput.
If you consider what it was designed for, it makes sense. This isn’t another generic controller but a controller designed for a Linux/PC-based video games console (Steam Machine).
If you boot into a desktop UI without Steam running, desktop UIs don’t support xinput devices to navigate around them.
The Steam Controller thus defaults to presenting itself as a keyboard and mouse so that the UI can be navigated without Steam running.
If it was xinput, you’d be reaching for a keyboard and mouse to plug in just to click Steam and then immediately no longer need them.
That’s why it’s not an xinput device.
It makes sense for Valve trying to create a walled-garden ecosystem of the kind we all rightfully shit on Nintendo for creating. It does not make sense for the consumer.
If it needs to present a KB+M device for OS navigation, it can fucking well do so at the same time as presenting a game controller device and having a way, using its many inputs, to switch between the two. Then it would work on everything that works on Windows and Proton. Then it would work on XBox, and any console that works with standard USB HID devices.
It’ll have that on Linux like last time. You just need to set the uinput driver for the device. They had a generic gamepad one in the kernel for the OG. But not loaded by default as it’ll look like a kb&m out of the box unless you set a user-level driver config for the HIDs.
Valve were very supportive of Linux if people didn’t want to use Steam/Steam Input but other OS didn’t get their efforts beyond the Steam client.
The fact that this isn't a new thing doesn't mean that it's a good thing. Especially since nowadays there are good third-party controllers with remappable buttons that can also switch to a KB/M functionality at the push of a button. Also, I paid 5,50€ for my brand new original Steam Controller, so Valve kinda has to convince me to spend about 18 times that. I don't know if this is a dealbreaker for me, but I'd definitely consider it "not great".
You should definitely use those alternatives and they sound superior.
At the end of the day, this is the Steam Machine’s controller and it’s designed for use in the Steam and Linux ecosystem. Its behaviour and lack of generic xinput is intentional.
It's at least available with the generic Linux driver. When Steam isn't running you can switch between mouse/keyboard and gamepad mode by holding down the start button.
Wait, this is a 'problem'?
People didn't know this?
... can people not read?
Its... stated repeatedly, pretty plainly, that it works ... with Steam.
???
Its a problem that it works that way not that it wasent advertised. Sure it works with steam but im betting people expected it to work like a basic controller outside of steam as well like xinput. Even the Xbox controller does this. Yes theres an app you can get to use the extra functions but my elite controller works like a normal controller without that app especially because I mainly use linux now.
There are a lot of people who link controllers to their phone either to game on their phone or stream games to their phone and I do not think the controller would work in that case.
Edit for some clarification: Steam is required for the controller to work and it only works for games added to Steam according to the article this means that:
This only accounts for a small amount of users sure but why should they be getting shafted when they dont have to be?
Where is really bad though is unless the driver is initialized on the log in screen what happens to your controller when you dont have internet? What happens when servers go offline or Valve decides to block your VPN or whatnot? Itll be a brick. I do not want to give any more credit to them I promise you but my Xbox and DualShock controllers work just fine in this situation. (I still do want a Steam controller but I do not want to reward this sort of behavior)
Ok, I didn't downvote you, but...
Its a Steam Controller.
For Steam.
... If you just made up some expectation, contrary to everything that Valve has said about this thing, and marketed it as...
To a certain extent, that is magical thinking, that is abandoning any concept of checking your hopes or expectations against... reality.
If you... want to run... a game... with this controller...
You install Steam, and the game.
Steam is the drivers, for the controller.
If you own the game in a way that you can't add it to Steam... sorry about your DRM, I guess?
The Steam Controller has always been described by Valve as an evolution of the Steam Deck tech, both hardwsre and software... it pretty much literally is a Steam Deck, without the screen and PC, in a different shape.
EDIT:
IRT to your edit:
Point 1: Correct. The Steam Controller... works through Steam.
Point 2: ... I don't think the first half of this is correct. I'm not 100% sure, but I think you can do this via Moonlight/Sunshine. I mean... I know you can in general stream Steam games from a PC using Moonlight/Sunshine, I'm not 100% sure this will work with a Steam Controller... but it works on a Steam Deck, so... probably will work.
As to the second half of this... yeah, the Steam Controller probably won't generally work as a controller for a game on a phone. Though FeX may actually somewhat/eventually aid with getting that to being possible.
Any projects? Make your project support Steam Input. I can't speak for other engines too well, but Godot has GodotSteam, supports Steam Controllers, the SteamInput system.
As to your internet related concerns: Steam has an offline mode. Unless you are running a game via Steam that has its own/extra DRM that requires a constant internet connection, you'll be fine.
SteamInput works without internet. If it didnt't, a SteamDeck's controls would not work at all without internet access. ... It does.
EDIT 2:
Just for super duper clarity here:
Making a Steam account costs nothing.
Maintaining a Steam account costs nothing.
Any ... .exe or .sh or whatever... can be added to Steam, to be launched and played via Steam.
The... only kind of situation where this wouldn't work is essentially via a game that is installed/managed by some other platform that basically encrypts the exe in a way that only that platform can decrypt.
A GOG game, or something from Itch.io, with no DRM?
Plop it in Steam, it'll work.
Just pretend that that installing Steam is installing the driver software and you're fine.
What's that? Hmm? Oh, you say you don't need an 3rd party account to install driver software?
Have you touched a windows PC in the last 5 years?
This is a dealbreaker for me. I was tempted by it despite the price, but fuck this. I refuse to run everything through steam
I wonder what's stopping them from releasing dedicated win drivers if the native ones are inadequate.
You can add non steam games to steam, not sure if this works with the controller or not but possibly something to look into. No idea how that kind of thing works on windows though as I haven't used steam on windows
Yeah you can work around it, but it is still intentionally restricting you from just using it with non-steam games. I don't want to have to play every game through steam, even though I intentionally bought it from GOG for example
I guess it boils down to two options:
It's not a "work around" though, it's how it's supposed to be used
there were community build userland drivers for the original steam controller i hope for something similar for the new one.
but valve support for such things would be great.
The controller requires some sort of drivers to get out of lizard mode and work as a general controller (with remapping and everything). This has been known as it acts identically to Steam Deck and the OG Steam Controller.
If you want to use the controller without Steam being used (which, it's worth noting, you can add non-steam games to Steam to use the controller, or adjust the default desktop profile to be a normal controller), then you should be able to use SISR (formerly GloSC and GloSI): https://github.com/Alia5/SISR
Or, on Linux, use sc-controller: https://github.com/C0rn3j/sc-controller
I plan on using this specifically with my docked Steam Deck, so I don't mind. However, it's a good point to make.
I don't think it's a big deal, though. The entire reason to buy this thing is for the integration with Steam Input and all the cool things you can do with the track pads, Grip Sense and everything else. Steam Input absolutely blows away any third-party input app I've ever used in the past from Logitech, Corsair, or whoever. I suppose to be fair, they should release a stand-alone Steam Input program.
If Apple did this, and required... I dunno... fuckin' iTunes to run their Apple controller, I'd mock them and anyone who buys it, but I guess Valve gets a pass because I'm a fanboy.
I own one Epic game (Fenix Rising), and a few Humble games, and maybe a couple GoG, but 99.9% of the time I'm playing a Steam game anyway. I imagine the controller works fine for running a non-steam game that you've registered in your Steam Library.
You literally just make a shortcut in Steam to where ever it's from and it works fine. It even had a default desktop profile which you can set how you want. While it's no ideal, there is no problem.
Just to repeat myself:
Yeah you can work around it, but it is still intentionally restricting you from just using it with non-steam games. I don't want to have to play every game through steam, even though I intentionally bought it from GOG for example
Also: if you're playing every game through steam this way they can track whichever game you play and how many games you're playing that you bought from other platforms
I don't see it as a workaround as it's my preferred way of playing non-Steam games anyway.
I'm pretty sure Steam doesn't need to be connected to the internet to launch non Steam games. So your weird point about sharing game data with them is moot
a lot of the features of the controller are not supported by X input, I still think they should've added an X input switch somewhere somehow, ideally this device gets its own custom driver for windows, since it is fairly unique generic controller drivers just wouldnt provide full fearure set, hopefully valve makes a full open source in trww driver for it on linux which can be used as a basis for other devices like this,
hopefully valve also provides documentation on how provided ingame integration (basically the game turns on its own "steam" input) and a proper sdk, that would allow developrs to integrate natively the controller without needing steam
I don't have the impression that supporting xinput/directinput is a time consuming effort. Yeah extra buttons and trackpad wouldn't work, so what? The community will make something long term for Linux/Windows I have no doubt, but this was an easily avoided L on good will PR.
Personally doesn't matter much to me, I have 8bitdo controllers already. After owning Steam Deck for years now I really want the trackpads and gyro wherever possible.
This is only off putting if there weren't 3rd party apps and drivers, which there probably will be. Librepods made airpod premium features work on Android, no reason why it can't be done here.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft took their signing keys away, as they have been doing with other software, and Valve just shrugged it off instead of making it a big deal.
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