Steam Deck D-Pad Needs Work

[oki]

Has anyone else noticed problems with the steam deck's dpad? It's fine in games like tetris where you're typically only moving stuff left/right and up/down, but for games like celeste, it's hard to consistently do some parts of that game because the steam deck's dpad has a really hard time with diagonals. If this could be mended in a future hardware revision or potentially modded to be fixed, that'd be a godsend.

[Platsys]

Oh yeah the D-pad sucks imo, trying to press up-left is near impossible to do comfortably for me

[Vitameanslife]

Really? Dang, I was really hoping the d-pad would be good on this thing. Which of the current top handheld PCs have the best d-pad?

[oki]

It'd honestly be a LOT better if the membrane was a little bigger. I'd do it myself but valve made sure that the buttons & dpad would be harder to reach than the peak of mount everest

[Dusday]

Yeah my d-pad is trash for up-left

[imbrock]

I was talking with a guy on reddit the other day who mentioned that he fixed this by pushing each direction down firmly and kind of rolling around the outside of the d-pad. Sounds like it needs to be broken in a bit.

[invision2212]

the D-pad is a 3/5 at best. i wouldnt want to play a fighting game with it

[Falkentyne]

You can mod the dpad to fix the diagonals. But you need to do the mod perfectly in order to not make the primaries so sensitive that they TRIGGER diagonals when you press a primary hard, or end up creating a mushy, imbalanced, overly sensitive section.

This mod is very easy to do. It's just time consuming and very easily reversible once you have access to the dpad, AFTER the Deck is disassembled. No "permanent" modification is done to any part of the Steam Deck.

The hardest part of this mod is taking apart the Deck to reach the d-pad. (and removing the Trigger assembly).

The problem:

Diagonals are often a problem on membrane dpads. The Xbox 360's membrane dpad was one of the worst dpads on existence, probably tied--or even possibly worse, than the NDS (Nintendo DS) Lite's dpad on level of atrocious. A good membrane diagonal response requires that the plastic dpad itself be designed CORRECTLY underneath the dpad, and this takes quite a bit of work and testing prototypes in order to make it proper.

The problem is that the stubs that push down the membranes are simply not the correct dimensions.

To fix: you just need some 3M Polyimide 1/4" kapton tape (don't use anything wider, it will just make the job harder as you will have to do more trimming).

Disassemble the Steam Deck and remove the dpad itself.
Follow these exact instructions.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Steam+Deck+D-Pad+Button+Replacement/148937

The first part is the hardest--getting the back shell off and getting one side of the plastic clips to unlatch (the first clip is the hardest). This arguably becomes slightly easier on future attempts. You do need a proper tool if you want to avoid slightly damaging the chassis around this area so be careful. Start right by either trigger and go around through the "front" side of the Deck.

Unplug the battery connector as soon as you get the back removed, by removing the shield over that area (save the foil tape for later).

Everything else is very easy except for the Trigger itself. That requires careful levering. Take your time so you don't break anything.

Now once you get the dpad removed, the fun begins.
Look at the back of the dpad. Notice its construction? You will see a small curved area around each of the four sections, for the four primary directions, that contacts the membrane. You need to basically 'extend' the depth of this section without creating any extra overlap.

What you need to do is cut about SEVEN to EIGHT stacks of Kapton tape, to add each stack per "dimple" of membrane, so, let's say, 32 total square cuts, small square strips of kapton tape and stack the seven-eight square strips on TOP (the dimple part) of the top of the membrane itself (the membrane bump that touches and FACES THE UNDERSIDE OF THE DPAD). So in other words, the part of the membrane that is compressed downwards by the underside of the dpad when you press a direction, which makes the bottom end of the membrane contact the PCB below it (this creates an 'interrupted circuit' which triggers an input press).

**DO NOT** put tape between the membrane and PCB! The tape only goes on the 4 dimples facing towards the dpad. You're basically increasing the depth/thickness of the membrane dimples, so it becomes easier to get diagonals to work.

What you want is for the square strip of Kapton tape to be NO LARGER than the round section of the membrane. This is VERY important. So what you will do is cut a small square section of 3M Polyimide tape, apply it directly on top of the "dimple" itself, and then trim any excess amount so it's positioned right on top of the dimple. You can't make it completely round to match the roundness but you want it about as close as possible.

You want about 7-8 "stacks" per dimple. This is enough. I wouldn't do more than eight, but 8 should be fine for most people.

If you want to save time, just cut out the squares first (as close to the size of the dimple without making them to large), apply the 8 stacks per dimple, then once you do all 28-32 (depending on if you did 7 or 8 stacks of 3M polyimide tape here), then take scissors to any amount of tape that is "overhanging" the round dimple, and very carefully trim it to remove any excess overhang. The closer you get the tape to matching the roundness of the dimple, without any overhang, the better.
BE VERY CAREFUL that in your quest for perfection, that you do NOT cut the membrane! Otherwise you'll be buying a new one from ifixit...

Failure to do this trimming can cause anything from extreme mushiness to diagonals being pressed when you don't want them to be. That's because remember the little curved section of the dpad underside by the 'contact' parts? You don't want tape touching that section! That's the key. That's why you need to trim so the tape matches the "circle" section of each dimple. And you want it perfectly on top of the dimple as best as you can.

Once you get your 8 stacks * 4 on each dimple and nicely trimmed so there is no overhang or imbalance, then reassemble the dpad.

NOW--the IMPORTANT PART--
1) don't connect the trigger that you removed--this will save you time and frustration.
2) Don't connect the battery.

Put the shield back on and then 'lightly' put the back chassis on, without fully snapping it in (to make future removal easy). Only push down on the part by the USB-C connector as that has to be flush.

Now plug in the AC adapter and turn on the Deck.
When you get to the game mode, press power and go to desktop mode.

Then click on bottom left, go to settings and system settings and look for "Input controls" and game controllers. Open game controllers and you will be able to test your dpad mod.

Values will be 32767 to -32767, with diagonals triggering two at once.

If you're happy with the results, click shutdown, then unplug USB-C, reinstall the trigger, and then reconnect the battery (make sure the battery cable is FULLY INSERTED), foil tape and then fully secure the Deck. The hardest part again is putting on the Trigger.

If you find you messed up and need to re-trim the tape or re-center the tape, all you have to do is just unlatch the button board cables and remove the screws and get to the d-pad again, without having to put the Trigger back on.

[KingStrife]

I use the Dpad often in fighting games with the Steam Deck.

[El Tanuki Fuerte]

Not fan of the dpad on fighting games, moves like dragon punch are difficult pull off. Trying to figure out how to mod it but I'll probably stick with my ps4 or 8bitdo pro controller for fighters

[Falkentyne]

Originally posted by El Tanuki Fuerte:

Not fan of the dpad on fighting games, moves like dragon punch are difficult pull off. Trying to figure out how to mod it but I'll probably stick with my ps4 or 8bitdo pro controller for fighters

I wrote an extremely long post explaining how to mod it. I thought I was thorough enough.
8 stacks of 3M polyimide tape on each of the raised dimples on the membrane (trimmed carefully to match the size of the dimple without any overhang.

This gives you pretty glorious diagonals without sacrificing dpad response, but you do have to push on the diagonals harder than the primaries (which is expected--this is not an Xbox Series X controller, which has the best diagonals outside of arcade Sanwa sticks). Also makes the primaries respond better (they respond as soon as you reach resistance pushing down).

[Davee]

I have the exact same issue - but it seems to improve the more I use the D-pad. It needs less force now - and the problematic diagonal(s) too.

[CyberiaKnights]

I agree with op 100%! I just got the future hardware revision limited edition and I have the same problem. I tried playing Street Fighter A3 using the D-pad and had trouble not only performing a shoryuken but even the basic whirlwind kick. Also the D-pad would be more enjoyable for me to use if it was flat instead of concave. The D-pad is the thing I dislike most about my steam deck.