(Steam Input) Trackpads unresponsive when touched on the inner sides near the screen ONLY when in Mouse or Joystick mode.

[FapMan]

https://youtu.be/_CnFVwIgH1o

I've shared a video demonstrating the problem pretty well. When in Mouse or Joystick mode, the inner sides (near the screen) of the trackpads don't register any input. This is surely a software issue with Steam Input, not a hardware one, since configured in any other way, the trackpads work just fine, as shown in the video. I only show off a Touch Menu to save time, but I've tried everything else and it works fine as well. I even show them registering my finger across their entire surface in the Device Input Test in the controller settings.

Not only does this leave you with less surface area to use, it is a huge problem when using the trackball mode, because if you stop your finger within the unresponsive zone, it doesn't register the stop and instead "flings" the trackball. I demonstrate this clearly in the video as well using the right trackpad - every time I flick to the left and stop near the edge, it doesn't stop and does a trackball "fling" instead. This doesn't happen when flicking to the right.

At the end is the most obvious example - I double tap the trackpad to change it into a mouse region over the minimap in Dota 2, and as a mouse region it works just fine. As soon as I let go of it to change back to Mouse emulation, the exact region of the trackpad which worked just fine now stops working.

With how tiny the trackpads are it sucks to lose 3-4 mm of surface area due to this issue, and it makes the trackball mode basically unusable for me. It seems like it should be a simple fix.

[ugafan]

Thank you so much for taking the time to post a video which shows the bug very clearly.

Let's hope Valve fixes this soon!

[FapMan]

So I contacted Steam Support and it turns out this is an intended feature (sorry for snitching). There is supposed to be a dead-zone on the inner sides of the trackpads to prevent your finger from "hooking" the trackpad as you lift it off the surface.

I can sort of imagine what "hooking" means: your finger is extended when reaching for the inner edge of the trackpad, giving it a curve towards the trackpad. If you lift your finger from the inner edge - while the tip of your finger might be off the surface, the curved part towards the knuckle might still touch it. This obviously cannot happen on the outer edge as your knuckle is bent instead of extended.

But honestly I don't really buy it. Maybe it's because of my slim, long fingers, but when I play around with the Touch Menu (which lacks the dead-zone) it doesn't seem to be an issue for me - I could stop at the edge, or I could swipe and lift up at the edge and my finger wasn't "hooking" the Touch Menu - it disappeared exactly when I lifted my finger.

I really hope they add the ability to turn this dead-zone off somewhere in the trackpad settings, since this might be a problem for some people, and not at all for others. Especially once you factor in finger/hand anatomy.

Steam Input has a billion settings anyway, an extra one buried deep within the trackpad settings doesn't seem like the straw to break the camel's back.

[ugafan]

On the Steam Controller there was a small deadzone and the explanation that was given all these years was that it was there because of the face buttons being so close to the trackpad.

But it definitely wasn't as noticeable as what I'm seeing on the Steam Deck. Perhaps because the trackpads on the Steam Deck are smaller, the deadzone takes up a larger percentage of surface area?

I think it's more likely a carry over from the Steam Controller that they didn't change for the Deck. Regardless, the Steam Deck has no such buttons next to the trackpad, so it shouldn't be necessary.

Please give us the option to disable the deadzone.

[FapMan]

https://youtu.be/NZQXbDvLAcg

Ok so upon further investigation, I think I finally understand what "hooking" is. I attach another video demonstrating it. It doesn't happen when you lift your finger off the trackpad, it happens when you "overswipe" towards the screen. As you can see, your fingertip goes off the surface, but your knucle bulges towards the surface as you extend your finger, touches the trackpad, and literally "draws" a hook. Notice my fingertip stays horizontal, but it doesn't matter since it's off the surface.

I then show that it doesn't happen if you stop the swipe right at the end of the trackpad, when your fingertip feels the edge. It's difficult to see how much it affects a swipe + lift of the finger at the edge, since the Touch Menu disappears when you lift your finger. It's hard to judge when I can't actually see how it affects aiming.

This seems like something you can learn to avoid (the overswiping into the screen), so I still hope they add an option to remove the dead-zone.

[Mennenth]

This deadzone existed on the steam controller as well, with the excuse given that it was to prevent accidental trackpad activation when using abxy.

Hooking being a phenomenon when overextending the thumb on the Deck sounds like yet another excuse (the decks pads are already annoying to use due to their physical location).

Power users requested being able to remove it back on the steam controller too. They never did.

To Valve, if you are reading: why do you think you know better than us how to use our gear? Why do you not trust our ability to build the muscle memory needed to use our gear to it's fullest extent? Stop doing hard coded bs like this and give us control over such things. Have it on by default, but power users really should have the "no training wheels" option.

[T-n-T]

I have the same Problem, in desktop mode when i close the steam app, everything works fine, you can use every milimeter of the trackpad but as soon as i open the steam app or switch to the gaming mode the inner edges of both trackpads are not responsive and it drives me crazy..... when i test the trackpads everything is fine. there has to be a solution for this! they have to give us the ability to adjust the deadzone at least!

[Grey/GX]

+1 agreed. I'm not really affected by this, but I want the rest of you to have a solution.

[Brunhylde]

Hello,

I guess I have same issue, on my steam deck :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoBkNKy8sZ0

and on my wife' steam deck :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPknBBsV-Bs

I like the spin edge feature to easily rotate the camera, but now it's more difficult to use.

I don't remember this behavior last year when I did Doom for exemple. I hope valve will correct this, or at least, make it possible to disable this "feature".

[FapMan]

Originally posted by Brunhylde:

Hello,

I guess I have same issue, on my steam deck :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoBkNKy8sZ0

and on my wife' steam deck :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPknBBsV-Bs

I like the spin edge feature to easily rotate the camera, but now it's more difficult to use.

I don't remember this behavior last year when I did Doom for exemple. I hope valve will correct this, or at least, make it possible to disable this "feature".

Yes, this dead-zone on the inner edge of the trackpad does interfere with the edge spin feature. I actually wanted to try to use it, but gave up on it because of this issue. Yet another reason for Valve to let us disable this dead-zone, imo.

[T-n-T]

I had another similar Problem with my trackpads.

I keept getting little "dead zones" on my trackpads/touchpads. This lasts about 5 seconds or until I press somewhere else on the trackpad/touchpad, after which everything works normally. The problem occurs randomly, but is of course most felt in strategy games.

These "dead zones" are usually either in the middle or in the vicinity, but it's always just a small spot. I've already done the input test and it appears even more rarely.

Someone Else has These problems?

[El_Bardacus TTV]

Over a year since I got my Steamdeck and this is still a problem, sadly trackball/mouse mode for FPS games is unplayable for me and when I posted about this in the /r/steamdeck discord everyone thought I was r*******d and said I must have dropped my Steamdeck and broke it and other stupid accusations.
Sad to know that there is still no fix for this issue. Ugh.

[Lancetm]

Originally posted by Dovah:

Over a year since I got my Steamdeck and this is still a problem, sadly trackball/mouse mode for FPS games is unplayable for me and when I posted about this in the /r/steamdeck discord everyone thought I was r*******d and said I must have dropped my Steamdeck and broke it and other stupid accusations.
Sad to know that there is still no fix for this issue. Ugh.

Same for me, makes quite a few FPS games less fun to play without the full capabilities of the machine being available. I don't get why they won't let us disable this feature. I'm sure when I first got my steam deck this also wasn't an issue

[Boba Phat]

Originally posted by FapMan:

So I contacted Steam Support and it turns out this is an intended feature (sorry for snitching). There is supposed to be a dead-zone on the inner sides of the trackpads to prevent your finger from "hooking" the trackpad as you lift it off the surface.

I can sort of imagine what "hooking" means: your finger is extended when reaching for the inner edge of the trackpad, giving it a curve towards the trackpad. If you lift your finger from the inner edge - while the tip of your finger might be off the surface, the curved part towards the knuckle might still touch it. This obviously cannot happen on the outer edge as your knuckle is bent instead of extended.

But honestly I don't really buy it. Maybe it's because of my slim, long fingers, but when I play around with the Touch Menu (which lacks the dead-zone) it doesn't seem to be an issue for me - I could stop at the edge, or I could swipe and lift up at the edge and my finger wasn't "hooking" the Touch Menu - it disappeared exactly when I lifted my finger.

I really hope they add the ability to turn this dead-zone off somewhere in the trackpad settings, since this might be a problem for some people, and not at all for others. Especially once you factor in finger/hand anatomy.

Steam Input has a billion settings anyway, an extra one buried deep within the trackpad settings doesn't seem like the straw to break the camel's back.

Hey thanks for sharing this. Here I am years later, just finished a shell swap, and was halfway to crying because I thought I’d somehow damaged by trackpads. Nope apparently this dead space on the inner edge of both pads is some weird design thing?

FYI - Oled deck does not have this dead zone. My wife has one and part of the reason I freaked out was because hers doesn’t do this. Seems it’s an old LCD deck “feature” and they now agree with us it feels bad and should be disabled.

[FapMan]

Originally posted by Boba Phat:

Originally posted by FapMan:

So I contacted Steam Support and it turns out this is an intended feature (sorry for snitching). There is supposed to be a dead-zone on the inner sides of the trackpads to prevent your finger from "hooking" the trackpad as you lift it off the surface.

I can sort of imagine what "hooking" means: your finger is extended when reaching for the inner edge of the trackpad, giving it a curve towards the trackpad. If you lift your finger from the inner edge - while the tip of your finger might be off the surface, the curved part towards the knuckle might still touch it. This obviously cannot happen on the outer edge as your knuckle is bent instead of extended.

But honestly I don't really buy it. Maybe it's because of my slim, long fingers, but when I play around with the Touch Menu (which lacks the dead-zone) it doesn't seem to be an issue for me - I could stop at the edge, or I could swipe and lift up at the edge and my finger wasn't "hooking" the Touch Menu - it disappeared exactly when I lifted my finger.

I really hope they add the ability to turn this dead-zone off somewhere in the trackpad settings, since this might be a problem for some people, and not at all for others. Especially once you factor in finger/hand anatomy.

Steam Input has a billion settings anyway, an extra one buried deep within the trackpad settings doesn't seem like the straw to break the camel's back.

Hey thanks for sharing this. Here I am years later, just finished a shell swap, and was halfway to crying because I thought I’d somehow damaged by trackpads. Nope apparently this dead space on the inner edge of both pads is some weird design thing?

FYI - Oled deck does not have this dead zone. My wife has one and part of the reason I freaked out was because hers doesn’t do this. Seems it’s an old LCD deck “feature” and they now agree with us it feels bad and should be disabled.

🙄 great... another reason to be jealous as a LCD owner. The deadzone still annoys me, and it still negatively affects trackpad features like the trackball and edge spin.

[Aepoh]

Originally posted by Boba Phat:

Originally posted by FapMan:

So I contacted Steam Support and it turns out this is an intended feature (sorry for snitching). There is supposed to be a dead-zone on the inner sides of the trackpads to prevent your finger from "hooking" the trackpad as you lift it off the surface.

I can sort of imagine what "hooking" means: your finger is extended when reaching for the inner edge of the trackpad, giving it a curve towards the trackpad. If you lift your finger from the inner edge - while the tip of your finger might be off the surface, the curved part towards the knuckle might still touch it. This obviously cannot happen on the outer edge as your knuckle is bent instead of extended.

But honestly I don't really buy it. Maybe it's because of my slim, long fingers, but when I play around with the Touch Menu (which lacks the dead-zone) it doesn't seem to be an issue for me - I could stop at the edge, or I could swipe and lift up at the edge and my finger wasn't "hooking" the Touch Menu - it disappeared exactly when I lifted my finger.

I really hope they add the ability to turn this dead-zone off somewhere in the trackpad settings, since this might be a problem for some people, and not at all for others. Especially once you factor in finger/hand anatomy.

Steam Input has a billion settings anyway, an extra one buried deep within the trackpad settings doesn't seem like the straw to break the camel's back.

Hey thanks for sharing this. Here I am years later, just finished a shell swap, and was halfway to crying because I thought I’d somehow damaged by trackpads. Nope apparently this dead space on the inner edge of both pads is some weird design thing?

FYI - Oled deck does not have this dead zone. My wife has one and part of the reason I freaked out was because hers doesn’t do this. Seems it’s an old LCD deck “feature” and they now agree with us it feels bad and should be disabled.

Are you ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ kidding me? When you buy an OLED you’re supposed to be paying for the better hardware, not for software fixes. Valve needs to get their act together.