[SOLVED][Linux] Steam controller doesn't work at all

[rosenpin]

I really appreciate the time and effort of porting this game to Linux, thank you.

I'm using Arch Linux.
The game doesn't seem to respond at all to the Steam controller.
When I tried it with a Xbox 360 controller it worked just fine.
Please help me overcome this issue.

Solution:

Originally posted by Mr. Brewski:

I had the same or a very similar issue in that my xbox 360 controller worked perfectly but my Steam controller refused to perform any actions at all. I tried templates, community configs, big picture and normal. One community config I tried allowed the mouse cursor to move in the menu screen but only with the gyro activated, the touch pad did nothing.

It may not work for everyone but the solution for me was very simple, I unplugged the xbox 360 wireless receiver from the usb port. The Steam controller worked instantly and I have not had an issue since. I'm running Ubuntu 16.04 with an R9 380 using AMDGPU drivers. I hope somebody finds this helpful.

[76561198140997333]

The Steam Controller works with the game however the Steam Controller itself is known to have issues with not communicating correctly with some Steam setups. Make sure you are in big picture mode with the default setup for your Steam Controller and you should be fine.

Make sure you only have one pad plugged in at once.

[rosenpin]

I was in big picture mode while trying.
I had only the Steam controller plugged in.
It seems to be an issue with this game, since it does work for me with pretty much any other game.

[LiNuX-leillo]

I use the Steam Controller in Tomb Raider without problems. The only thing that I need to configure (in game) is the sensitivity of the (emulated) Right pad

[76561198140997333]

Originally posted by rosenpin:

I was in big picture mode while trying.
I had only the Steam controller plugged in.
It seems to be an issue with this game, since it does work for me with pretty much any other game.

It's unlikely (but possible) as we use Valve's API code so we have very little control over the pad apart from setting it up. I would check you settings for the game and the Steam Controller in BPM as it sounds like a setup issue with your defaults.

[rosenpin]

How can I provide more information about this bug?
I tried to reset the settings to default, it still doesn't work.
Could this issue be happening because I'm using I3WM?

[Hidi]

Steam Controller works perfectly on my ArchLinux machine. (by the way, best Steam controller integration i have seen until now)

[spool]

Originally posted by Hidi:

Steam Controller works perfectly on my ArchLinux machine. (by the way, best Steam controller integration i have seen until now)

The game has no native Steam controller integration whatsoever, at least that I can see. It's even directly hostile towards it as it has a dynamic control switching system that only wants you use either keyboard and mouse, or a 360 controller, not both at the same time, and as it switches you can briefly lose look control and the button prompts will constantly switch around.

If this is the best you've seen, you should check out Portal 2. That game actually has Steam controller integration.

[76561198140997333]

Originally posted by spool:

Originally posted by Hidi:

Steam Controller works perfectly on my ArchLinux machine. (by the way, best Steam controller integration i have seen until now)

The game has no native Steam controller integration whatsoever, at least that I can see. It's even directly hostile towards it as it has a dynamic control switching system that only wants you use either keyboard and mouse, or a 360 controller, not both at the same time, and as it switches you can briefly lose look control and the button prompts will constantly switch around.

If this is the best you've seen, you should check out Portal 2. That game actually has Steam controller integration.

It isn't directly hostile to the Steam Controller. There are some Steam Controller functions that need to be deeper integrated into the game to allow some of the more complex options to work. It's not a matter of allowing both pad and keyboard and mouse at the same time as conflicts with controls will also need to be fixed making the problem a more complex that first appears.

The Steam Controller should work fine and we tested the entire game using Steam Controllers during development so you should be able to complete the game just fine using the standard pad defaults Steam client suggests.

[spool]

Originally posted by FERAL Edwin:

Originally posted by spool:

The game has no native Steam controller integration whatsoever, at least that I can see. It's even directly hostile towards it as it has a dynamic control switching system that only wants you use either keyboard and mouse, or a 360 controller, not both at the same time, and as it switches you can briefly lose look control and the button prompts will constantly switch around.

If this is the best you've seen, you should check out Portal 2. That game actually has Steam controller integration.

It isn't directly hostile to the Steam Controller. There are some Steam Controller functions that need to be deeper integrated into the game to allow some of the more complex options to work. It's not a matter of allowing both pad and keyboard and mouse at the same time as conflicts with controls will also need to be fixed making the problem a more complex that first appears.

The Steam Controller should work fine and we tested the entire game using Steam Controllers during development so you should be able to complete the game just fine using the standard pad defaults Steam client suggests.

First, thank you for responding.

Every game works "fine" if the only criteria is whether you can pick one of default setups and get through the game, but that's true whether the developer tested the game or not. The game would have worked anyway. It just doesn't work ideally, it doesn't take proper advantage of what the Steam controller has to offer.

It doesn't have simultaneous mouse and joystick controls. It doesn't have native button prompts. Games with real Steam controller support should have that. Instead, what you did was to test that the hacky workarounds that Valve created to make non-Steam controller games playable on the Steam controller were enough to at least finish the game, but little or nothing else.

Input method switching that drops input for a second as it switches *are* hostile to proper use of the Steam controller. If you listen to the talks Valve have made on the controller, they are clear on the fact that this is a really bad idea that interferes with the use of the controller. But my main reason for calling it hostile is that you didn't even raise the maximum joystick look speed in order for mouse joystick to work better. You could at least have done that.

I understand that implementing the controller on a native level takes work. If it at times meant more work than it'd be worth, I'd understand. Maybe Tomb Raider is one of those games. But Tomb Raider isn't an exception, it's the rule. Developers don't seem to care enough about the Steam controller, being content that it sorta works (but maybe you should just use a 360 controller instead), and I'm losing hope of that changing.

Valve considers it the default controller for their ecosystem. It has been a success in terms of sales. It's the controller that ships with the Steam machines. And it deserves better than "pick the 360 controller config and it works well enough to be playable", especially here in a SteamOS release. For future ports (because I'm sure there will be some), if it can't be done for Tomb Raider.

[rosenpin]

Originally posted by FERAL Edwin:

Originally posted by spool:

The game has no native Steam controller integration whatsoever, at least that I can see. It's even directly hostile towards it as it has a dynamic control switching system that only wants you use either keyboard and mouse, or a 360 controller, not both at the same time, and as it switches you can briefly lose look control and the button prompts will constantly switch around.

If this is the best you've seen, you should check out Portal 2. That game actually has Steam controller integration.

It isn't directly hostile to the Steam Controller. There are some Steam Controller functions that need to be deeper integrated into the game to allow some of the more complex options to work. It's not a matter of allowing both pad and keyboard and mouse at the same time as conflicts with controls will also need to be fixed making the problem a more complex that first appears.

The Steam Controller should work fine and we tested the entire game using Steam Controllers during development so you should be able to complete the game just fine using the standard pad defaults Steam client suggests.

So can you please explain to me why does the game not recognize my Steam Controller at all?
I'm still waiting for a valid solution from this thread so I can start playing the game.

[76561198140997333]

Originally posted by rosenpin:

Originally posted by FERAL Edwin:

It isn't directly hostile to the Steam Controller. There are some Steam Controller functions that need to be deeper integrated into the game to allow some of the more complex options to work. It's not a matter of allowing both pad and keyboard and mouse at the same time as conflicts with controls will also need to be fixed making the problem a more complex that first appears.

The Steam Controller should work fine and we tested the entire game using Steam Controllers during development so you should be able to complete the game just fine using the standard pad defaults Steam client suggests.

So can you please explain to me why does the game not recognize my Steam Controller at all?
I'm still waiting for a valid solution from this thread so I can start playing the game.

I am sorry but I can't tell you if I knew we would have posted a solution.

If you can send your specs to the support email we will definitely have a look and offer some suggestions to help try and fix the issue. It's not that we don't want to help just when something is this rare it takes a little longer to track down as it's something rare/specific on your setup that is causing this edge case compare to the majority of end users.

Hopefully we'll find out what it is and you'll be able to get the pad working.

[mikeym]

I don't know if it's the same issue, but I'm also experiencing issues with the steam controller. I have had it working with the controller but today it's refusing to work at all. Previously when I exited the game and reentered it started working. Now that's not working.

I have noticed that when the controller is not working in the game, if I hold the LT button and tilt the controller then it moves with the tilt acting as a mouse (when I am using the top rated community layout for the steam controller).

[mikeym]

Seems like it's the controller part that's not getting enabled.

Tested with a PS2 controller pretending to be an Xbox controller and everything behaves fine.

By the way, I'm running Fedora 23.

[Mr. Brewski]

I had the same or a very similar issue in that my xbox 360 controller worked perfectly but my Steam controller refused to perform any actions at all. I tried templates, community configs, big picture and normal. One community config I tried allowed the mouse cursor to move in the menu screen but only with the gyro activated, the touch pad did nothing.

It may not work for everyone but the solution for me was very simple, I unplugged the xbox 360 wireless receiver from the usb port. The Steam controller worked instantly and I have not had an issue since. I'm running Ubuntu 16.04 with an R9 380 using AMDGPU drivers. I hope somebody finds this helpful.

[76561198140997333]

Originally posted by Mr. Brewski:

I had the same or a very similar issue in that my xbox 360 controller worked perfectly but my Steam controller refused to perform any actions at all. I tried templates, community configs, big picture and normal. One community config I tried allowed the mouse cursor to move in the menu screen but only with the gyro activated, the touch pad did nothing.

It may not work for everyone but the solution for me was very simple, I unplugged the xbox 360 wireless receiver from the usb port. The Steam controller worked instantly and I have not had an issue since. I'm running Ubuntu 16.04 with an R9 380 using AMDGPU drivers. I hope somebody finds this helpful.

Thanks, this makes sense as the wireless adapter will pretend to be a pad even when no pad is connected which can confuse BPM and SDL in some cases.