Triggers do not work anymore in some Unity Engine based games

[Starfox]

When the controller is used in controller mode, of course. Triggers don't work but all other buttons, axis and pads are working as they should.

That's for the following titles (tested):

- Firewatch
- Wasteland 2
- Zenith

The issues both appear with the current stable and beta versions of Steam.

There might be other Unity based games affected but I didn't had time to check. Apparently it's only some version(s) of the Unity Engine being affected as some other games using Unity don't exhibit this behavior (like Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales or Dreamfall Chapters) and still respond to triggers pressed as they should.

Note that until recently two of the games mentioned above, specifically Firewatch and Wasteland 2 didn't have any problem acknowledging the triggers being pressed. I played them with the Steam Controller for quite some time with no problems until recently then this particular issue crop up.

Games not based on the Unity Engine don't seem to be affected (at least none of those I play).

[ThreeSon]

I have reproduced this bug in Zenith, as well as another Unity game - Tyler Model 005.

The bug can be reproduced in both games by playing the tutorial for a minute or two - In both cases the games instruct you to use the triggers to attack or defend, and in both cases the triggers don't work at all.

I have tested this using both the Switch Pro and DS4 gamepads. Regardless of what the triggers are assigned to (half-pull, full-pull, analog input), no input is recognized by the games.


Note that even if the trigger inputs are assigned to different buttons on the controller, the games will still not respond. For example, if the DS4's Circle button is assigned to input a Right Trigger press, the games will then ignore input from the Circle button.

I am using Windows 7 Pro 64-bit SP1, and the stable branch of the Steam client.

[Starfox]

Like ThreeSon says (I forgot to mention that previously) configuring another button or a bumper to act as trigger doesn't work either on the Steam Controller.

What I didn't know is that the problem extended to other controllers. So I tested with my old Xbox 360 controller and yes, triggers don't work either as long as you let Steam handle the controller. If you uncheck "Xbox controller support" in Steam controller settings then the triggers on the Xbox 360 controller work again as intended.

Of course, this is an option we don't have with the SC.

[ThreeSon]

It doesn't appear to be caused by a specific version of Unity. This is because I've just encountered the problem again in Valfaris, which is a brand-new game, compared to Zenith which is 3 years old.

The issue has been widely reported in the Valfaris discussion board. One temporary workaround that has been found is to connect (or re-connect) the gamepad after the game has been started.

However, I really hope someone from Valve will look into this.

[Starfox]

One workaround I discovered that works with most (but not all) games affected is to turn off the controller, launch the game so that BPM doesn't come up then turn on the controller again. That works with both Wasteland 2 and Firewatch but for some reason not with Zenith.

In any case the problem seems to be rooted in the Big Picture Mode handling of the controller as it does not appear (in most cases) when the game is launched with the controller off (preventing Steam to switch to BPM) then turning the controller on. Downside is that one cannot access the configuration page for the controller without BPM being enabled (but a profile already programmed still works).

Here's hoping for a proper fix.

[Starfox]

Another game running on the Unity engine to add to the "triggers not working" list:

TITANIC Shipwreck Exploration

A temporary workaround is the same as mentioned in my previous post; turn off the controller, launch the game and when you get to the "press any key to continue" turn on the controller and press the A button.

Bypassing Big Picture Mode allows the triggers to function as they should in those games.

[ThreeSon]

According to the Valfaris dev, Valve is aware of the problem now and will hopefully be able to fix it.

[Starfox]

Well, good, and thanks for the heads up.

[austinp_valve]

I'm not sure that this is a Steam issue. For example in FireWatch in the very beginning of the game I can use the trigger to grab the backpack and put it in the trunk, but later when you first pick up the journal only the A button works.

[Starfox]

Thanks for your feedback.

As I stated above if I plug a Xbox 360 controller and let Steam manage it (checking the "Xbox configuration support"), triggers do not work. If I use the Xbox 360 controller without letting Steam manage it (unchecking the "Xbox configuration support") trriggers work as they should. When I launch the game controller off and turn it on after the game is launched (hence preventing Big Picture Mode to kick in) the triggers work (both with the Xbox and the Steam controller -- of which I own three units and yes, all exhibit the same problem even though one of them is reserved to the Steam Link so no way to test that one without BPM enabled).

What I see myself there is BPM = no triggers: no BPM = triggers. And I'm pretty sure that both Firewatch and Wasteland 2 were working without a problem several weeks ago when I played them with the Steam controller (that would be back in August for Wasteland 2 and early September for Firewatch). And to my knowledge none of those two games were updated since.

You can test yourself in Firewatch. When you are to the point when the triggers don't work, quit the game, turn off the controller, launch the game, wait for the menu screen, turn on the controller and load the save with this sequence the triggers work (but of course one doesn't have access to the controller configuration page as BPM is off in this case).

As for Firewatch I started a new game the other day and the trigger didn't work even once, not even to pick up the backpack at the beginning.

[ThreeSon]

Originally posted by Starfox:

You can test yourself in Firewatch. When you are to the point when the triggers don't work, quit the game, turn off the controller, launch the game, wait for the menu screen, turn on the controller and load the save with this sequence the triggers work (but of course one doesn't have access to the controller configuration page as BPM is off in this case).

I don't even think you need to quit the game to "fix" the problem. At the beginning of Tyler Model 005, the game tutorial instructs you to press the trigger to attack, which does not work if the gamepad (Switch Pro or DS4 in my case) was already turned on and connected to Steam before the game was launched.

However, simply turning the gamepad off and on while the game is still running will then allow the triggers to work correctly.

Originally posted by austinp_valve:

I'm not sure that this is a Steam issue.

If it isn't, then I hope that you are able to somehow communicate with the Unity developers to find out what part of their engine is causing the problem. I've encountered this bug on around every 3rd or 4th Unity engine game I've played on Steam recently (add Volume to the list), so I get the impression that there are hundreds of Steam games in total that are affected.

The Valfaris developer has fixed the gamepad trigger issue in their game, but they didn't describe how they did it. Before they issued the patch, they said they were talking to you you about it. Did they identify what the eventual solution was?

[austinp_valve]

The bug is in Unity's input layer. The Valfaris dev said switching the InControl plugin's setting to "Native Input mode" from Unity input was what fixed it. I think Firewatch is also using Unity's input.

[Starfox]

Maybe but why were the controls of Wastelands 2 and Firewatch working perfectly a couple of months ago and not anymore? Those titles haven't been updated in a long time so even if there is a problem with their engine (and I don't say there isn't because Unity is notoriously finicky regarding controls) why was it that Steam was able to ignore the problem a couple of months ago but not anymore? The problem was already there then since it wasn't patched out. Not to mention that the problem doesn't occur when Steam is not involved directly -- for example when using a Xbox 360 controller without letting Steam handling it.

I mean Unity may be a part of the problem but somehow Steam was able to get around the issue before, whether it was voluntary or not. It just doesn't seem to be able to get around it now.

Edit: add Tides Of Numenera to the list. Another game where the triggers were working perfectly a couple of months ago and not anymore. Another game that wasn't updated in ages (so if the problem is with the engine it always existed).