Instructions to use MIDI controller with Steam Deck

[mcfoton]

Hi all,
Just wanted to share my successful setup of using a MIDI pad controller with the Steam Deck.

1. Connect your midi controller with a cable
2. Follow instructions here[superuser.com] to create a mapping configuration file, place it anywhere. Make sure it has the name of your MIDI device. Example file for 4b setup here[drive.google.com], "MPD218" is the name of my controller in this case.
3. Add launch options to the game

nohup /home/deck/Desktop/midi2key >/dev/null 2&1 & %command% ; kill $(pgrep -f "midi2key")

This command
- Launches the script before the game starts, hides any console output it produces
- Launches the game
- After the game is closed, finds the script process by its name and kills it
4. Start the game, update the button mapping in game settings accordingly and enjoy using your MIDI controller.

Few notes
- Game crashes for me in desktop mode after the epilepsy warning. Runs well in game mode.
- Couldn't figure how to map to special characters like `;`, so the example mapping is a bit non standard, make sure to update controls in game settings accordingly.