Controls broken since October 2023 update(+fix)

[Ramun Flame]

I know this game isn't super popular, which is probably why no one has reported this issue yet. The last time I had a big group together in January, we tried playing this game, but the control detection was all wrong. It wouldn't take inputs during the player select screen, sometimes making multiple people the same controller, and every few seconds removing everything that was added. It's hard to describe, because it's like there were so many different issues going on. It was basically impossible to get through the character select. In preparation for the next meetup, I wanted to see if I could get it working. I stumbled upon the post talking about betas.

TLDR:
Switch to the last beta, "previous_version_01_456b" and it fixes it.

My setup BTW is 8 xbox one controllers connected to a receiver. Even testing with 360 controllers had issues on the latest update though. Not sure if there was anything needed added in the October update, but I figured I would at least let everyone know.

Love the game BTW!

[Roman]

Hi, I'm sorry this happened while you had the group together. But thank you for the report, and for letting others know about the fix!

I could not reproduce all of what you said yet, but the Gamepad I have here also has most of its buttons no longer working in the player select screen. I will try to get more controllers and find a proper solution next week.

But as another quick fix for now, it seems that disabling "Steam Input" also helps (as an alternative to using an older version):

• Right click on the game in your library
  
• "Properties..."
  
• "Controller"
  
• Set the dropdown next to "Override for 12 orbits" to "Disable Steam Input"

As you said though, there is not much of a reason to use the newest version, if the old one works fine for you. The newest update mostly added a new launcher with gamepad support (which ironically still seems to work).

The problem might have come from a change to how the "Steam Input" functionality interacts with the newest update, but I would be surprised if it wasn't fixable.

[Roman]

Just to keep you updated:
The problem seems to be fixable. But since the behavior can be quite different depending on the platform and controller, I will have to do some more testing before the update can go live.

[Ramun Flame]

Originally posted by Roman:

Just to keep you updated:
The problem seems to be fixable. But since the behavior can be quite different depending on the platform and controller, I will have to do some more testing before the update can go live.

Thanks for the update. It's easy enough to go to the previous version, but if the update will take awhile it may be worth reverting it until it's fixed. That said, since no one even reported til now maybe it's working for others, or no one is really playing. Or they just though it didn't work and didn't pursue further, who knows.

[Roman]

No worries about it taking a while. It'll probably be a matter of days, not weeks. Just wanted to give an update because I foolishly promised a solution within a week in the first post 😅

The game is actively played, though of course it's not as huge as others. But if the statistics I get from Steam can be trusted, the vast majority has always been playing with the keyboard only. "Everybody on one keyboard" is kind of a main feature. So I guess it is likely that, as you said, they just move on to the keyboard when their gamepad does not work.

On that note, once again thank you for taking the time to report the problem instead!

[Roman]

Alright, the patch is online, faster than I thought.

If it doesn't work for you right away, please have a look at the post I made for removing older settings:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/529950/discussions/0/4338735730270082776/

And of course I'd be interested to know if it works for you. And whether it worked immediately after the patch, or if you needed to follow the steps in the post.

[Ramun Flame]

Originally posted by Roman:

Alright, the patch is online, faster than I thought.

If it doesn't work for you right away, please have a look at the post I made for removing older settings:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/529950/discussions/0/4338735730270082776/

And of course I'd be interested to know if it works for you. And whether it worked immediately after the patch, or if you needed to follow the steps in the post.

It worked right away, but there's still a few issues.

-It now only allows 4 xbox controllers. It allowed as many as I wanted before.
-The initial configuration pop-up can't be controlled with a controller anymore(at least for me), which this was working before, despite the game itself not working. Not a big deal, since it didn't work on the old version either, but though I'd mention.

So I'll have to stick to the beta still, since I need to be able to use more than 4 controllers.

[Roman]

Thank you for the quick answer!

If possible, could you try 2 more things to narrow down the remaining problems?

Originally posted by Ramun Flame:

The initial configuration pop-up can't be controlled with a controller anymore

I assume you mean the screen with the black background and the resolution selection? If so, could you please try waiting a few seconds after the game started, and then try the controller again? It seems that with Steam Input active, it sometimes needs a few seconds to get going. At least that is what the testing on my end has shown so far after your post, and I'd be interested if it is the same problem for you.

Originally posted by Ramun Flame:

It now only allows 4 xbox controllers. It allowed as many as I wanted before.

Could you please try this again with Steam Input disabled on the current version, the way I described in my first post above? It seems that others have the same problem with multiple games since a few weeks, specifically when Steam Input is enabled.
( https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/11/4361250750315146108/ )

[Ramun Flame]

Originally posted by Roman:

Thank you for the quick answer!

If possible, could you try 2 more things to narrow down the remaining problems?

Originally posted by Ramun Flame:

The initial configuration pop-up can't be controlled with a controller anymore

I assume you mean the screen with the black background and the resolution selection? If so, could you please try waiting a few seconds after the game started, and then try the controller again? It seems that with Steam Input active, it sometimes needs a few seconds to get going. At least that is what the testing on my end has shown so far after your post, and I'd be interested if it is the same problem for you.

Originally posted by Ramun Flame:

It now only allows 4 xbox controllers. It allowed as many as I wanted before.

Could you please try this again with Steam Input disabled on the current version, the way I described in my first post above? It seems that others have the same problem with multiple games since a few weeks, specifically when Steam Input is enabled.
( https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/11/4361250750315146108/ )

I'll try these later, but more than 4 xbox controllers works perfectly on the previous version so even if disabling steam input fixes it, I'll still stick to the previous version.

[Ramun Flame]

Okay, I tried disabling steam input. The startup menu worked after waiting a bit, but it still only allowed 4 controllers. BTW, I have most of those games listed in the post you linked, and they all work fine with 8 controllers without disabling steam input. If this was due to an update/issue with steam input, the previous version wouldn't work either.

[Roman]

Thank you very much for the additional tests.

Not ideal, but at least the (4) controllers work in all configurations. And I am glad that the older version still works. I will add a note to the gamepad guide, to make that fix easier to find for others with the same need for more controllers.

Other than that, I'll get more gamepads at once, and see what I can do about the 4 gamepad limit. The current patch will stay online until then, because 4 gamepads is better than 0 gamepads 😅

[Roman]

There is a new patch for the patch, which I hope works for you as well.

Note that you might have to install Steam's "Xbox Extended Feature Support Driver" if you want Steam to be able to support 5+ controllers without disabling Steam Input.

Based on your setup, I wouldn't be surprised if you have already done that. But if not, the controller support thread now also has a guide on how to do that:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/529950/discussions/0/4338735730270082776/

Edit: ... and the possible delay at the start, until controllers start working for the menu, should also be gone in this version.

[Ramun Flame]

I finally able to test. Everything seems to be working fine now. Thanks.

[Roman]

Awesome! And thank you for testing it again.