Using Mouse+Keyboard on Steam Deck?

[Miklik]

I've enjoyed this game on Steam Deck, but I recently got a dock, as well as a mouse and keyboard to go with it. But I can't figure out how to get the game to switch the UI to KB+M mode.
Based on what I can figure out, the game is detecting a controller, so it's forcing controller UI, and if that controller was disconnected, it would switch to KB+M. But, since it's a Steam Deck, I don't believe I can prevent the game from detecting the controller.
I'm stumped. I am kinda dumb, though, so maybe I'm overlooking an easy solution. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

[MagiKarp]

I'm too lazy to go grab my Steam Deck but can't you just switch control profile in the game's control settings or even make your own if needed?

[Miklik]

Originally posted by MagiKarp:

I'm too lazy to go grab my Steam Deck but can't you just switch control profile in the game's control settings or even make your own if needed?

I'm by no means 100% sure of everything the Steam Deck is capable of, but when I look into the control profiles, I only see things from a controller standpoint. "A button causes that button to be pushed." "Right Trigger causes that button to be pushed" Stuff like that. I don't see anything from a Keyboard standpoint. Whether or not I have a keyboard hooked up has no impact on this, from what I can tell.

[HandyVac]

From what I've heard, the Steam Deck uses the same control-remapping tool as the Steam Controller, so the same trick I regularly use with my Steam Controller should, theoretically, also work on the deck. (I don't own a deck)

That trick being: map all the physical buttons/triggers/sticks on the controller so they output a mouse or keyboard command.

E.g. set the trackpad to "mouse move", the thumbstick to "WASD", the left trigger to "right mouse-click", the ABXY buttons to "shift, enter, space, tab", and so on.

So long as the game is hearing only keyboard/mouse outputs it should not detect a controller, and so stay in KB&M mode.

Just be careful to remap *all* the controls, because if you leave even one button with a controller-output the game will switch to controller-mode when you press that.

[Miklik]

What a tedious solution. But it worked! Thanks so much for the help.