USB Mouse in Game Mode doesn't work right

[Guru3]

I think using USB mice in Game Mode is broken.

I couldn't get two different mice to work in three different games. In Doom (2016) and Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, once the level had loaded any mouse movement resulted in the player character looking down at the ground and spinning around. In OpenTTD the mouse movement on screen lagged behind actual mouse movement - sometimes the mouse was even visibly moving left while I was actually moving the mouse right.

The USB mouse worked fine in desktop mode, but it would ideally work in all modes so that you could quickly attach a mouse if you wanted a break from the thumb-sticks for a little bit.

[Sulphite]

This is a massive issue for me and a friend too. Using our Decks for LAN parties, we prefer to use M+KB for shooter games, but this leads to big issues for us as well. It's an issue where there's a conflict between the in-built Gamepad and the M+KB (as far as I can tell), as in Desktop Mode the gamepad disables.

Really hope a fix to this is pushed soon.

[Codex404]

This definitely is a big issue, I saw somewhere that switching to Keyboard and Mouse configuration worked for them but it didnt fix it in Minecraft for me.

[Schorsch Wadschinken]

I was told to "give a +1" and I'm not sure what that means, but perhaps I'm just supposed to say that I am aware of this issue?

Originally posted by Sulphite:

It's an issue where there's a conflict between the in-built Gamepad and the M+KB (as far as I can tell), as in Desktop Mode the gamepad disables.

The gamepad does not disable in Desktop Mode. Regardless of that though I highly doubt there are any hardware conflicts but that's not up for me to figure out anyways

[Breadroll]

+1 from me. There does not seem like an easy way to default games on the deck to use mouse and keyboard.

It always loads a controller configuration even if you turn steam input off.

[Schorsch Wadschinken]

Originally posted by Breadroll:

+1 from me. There does not seem like an easy way to default games on the deck to use mouse and keyboard.

It always loads a controller configuration even if you turn steam input off.

That's not what the bug is, having a controller profile load doesn't prevent mouse and keyboard from working

[Breadroll]

Originally posted by We Be Leaving You:

Originally posted by Breadroll:

+1 from me. There does not seem like an easy way to default games on the deck to use mouse and keyboard.

It always loads a controller configuration even if you turn steam input off.

That's not what the bug is, having a controller profile load doesn't prevent mouse and keyboard from working

What is the issue you are experiencing?

Mouse and keyboard in general do not work well when trying to use them in game on steam deck. Outside of playing games they have been fine.

What the original poster is talking about above, characters spinning looking down when trying to use a mouse, is because of the steam deck loading a controller profile and the mouse is bound to it.

This is on a game-by-game basis, as I have found Valheim keyboard and mouse to work fine even when the default controller template is loaded. But most games do not play so nicely

[Schorsch Wadschinken]

Originally posted by Breadroll:

What the original poster is talking about above, characters spinning looking down when trying to use a mouse, is because of the steam deck loading a controller profile and the mouse is bound to it.

No, it's not. What makes you say that? How can a mouse be "bound to a controller profile", what does that even mean?

Originally posted by Breadroll:

This is on a game-by-game basis, as I have found Valheim keyboard and mouse to work fine even when the default controller template is loaded. But most games do not play so nicely

Like you note yourself, it doesn't happen in every game despite controller profiles, so how could that be the issue? Controller profiles load on desktop as well, and on Windows. This has never prevented mice and keyboard from working

It appears to be a bug with how input from external mice is handled in the compositor in game mode. It is the exact same thing that happens as if you were to try and play those games over software like TeamViewer or AnyDesk, I would assume the problem is similar in that external mice, unlike the trackpad mouse, are "on top" (i.e. in the SteamOS desktop, which is also what the overlays are, rather than inside the desktop of the specific game you're running) and not bound to the desktop mouse limitations

Games that spin you out of control have the mouse cursor locked in place in the middle of your screen. Games that have a limited range of mouse view like Orcs Must Die 3 don't lock the cursor in place, but stop it at the screen's edges. And games like Valheim don't appear to have any built-in lock so it works like you'd expect

[Breadroll]

Again, what is the exact issue you're experiencing? Are you having mouse problems while playing games on steam deck like the original poster and I are?

I'll use Warframe as an example: depending on the steam input controller template you use, the mouse and keyboard will respond differently - I'm thinking the templates are treating both the controller and mouse and keyboard as essentially the same thing. Minimizing to desktop your mouse and keyboard of course work as normal.

On steam deck, each game loads a controller template and there does not seem to be a way to override this, the steam deck controller is listed as 'Enabled, always required,' even when you disable steam input.

If each game did not load a controller template, it would just default to standard mouse and KB controls, but it always ends up loading since the controller is always enabled.

[weczi]

Have exacly the same issue
Mouse and keyboard in general do not work well when trying to use them in game on steam deck. Outside of playing games they have been fine.

[midnightmatrix]

+1 on this issue as well.

[Viqsi]

Also getting this issue in Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. Renders those games utterly unplayable with a mouse, which is kind of Not Okay. I find this particularly worrying and troublesome since L4D2 is Steam Deck Verified.

[Jaide]

Been experiencing issues like this too. For example in Anger Foot demo, can only rotate about 270 degrees with the sensitivity cranked up.

Found a few similar issues on Reddit and seems the general solution is to run the game from desktop mode but have not tried it yet,

Would be great if support could be added to gaming mode for mouse & keyboard.

[shake128]

definitely a problem for me too. I would like to see mouse and keyboard working in game mode too. +1

[Recovery One]

Same issue. Mouse in game mode causes weird behavior. Camera or character spins and spins.

[Jaron]

+1
This is a huge issue with docked mode that basically makes it pointless for anything more than web browser since gaming straight up wont work properly in most games with a mouse and keyboard. Really need a way to change order or straight up disable the controller input being forwarded to the game if a mouse and keyboard is in use. Something needs to change so that gaming while docked can be as easy to use as an actual desktop