Steam Link: Raspberry Pi 4 client, Ubuntu 22.04 host. No Controller Detected

[Passiday]

I am trying to set up Raspberry Pi 4 as a gaming device for my kid. The connection is fine, but I get stuck on the controller detection step. There are no any kind of special controllers connected to either Pi or the host PC. All I want is to be able to play with just keyboard and mouse. Initially I thought the problem is that I have wireless Logitech keyboard+trackpad connected to my Pi, so I connected wired keyboard and mouse, but that did not solve the problem.

Anyway, the display does not show the Steam menu on the Pi, just complains about no controllers detected and says on the blue connection screen. What's the deal here, is that "No Controller Detected" message meant to warn about any other controller type than plain keyboard+mouse? Do I need three green checkboxes (host name, controllers and connection) to move on?

[Falsus Te Deum]

Could be better to post in the linux forum? Check the various sub forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/

[Passiday]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Falsus Te Deum:

Could be better to post in the linux forum? Check the various sub forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/

Thing is I am not sure what is expected. Maybe the "No Controller Detected" is totally fine, when you want to use only the keyboard and mouse.

Here are the facts:
- I see green checkmarks by the PC name and Connection.
- There is no green checkmark by the "No Controller Detected".
- When I click on the "Start Playing" area, the screen (on Pi) goes dark, Steam icon in the center. Fancy startup sounds can be heard. But then the screen returns to the blue lobby(?) view, with text "Checking..." by the white controller icon, and that text is soon updated to "No Controller Detected".
- I see that the "Steam Big Picture Mode" is opened on the host PC, but the contents of that window never are reflected on the Pi.

Maybe the problem is not that "No Controller Connected", but something else? For starters, I'd just like to know whether the remote access should run also without any controllers (other than keyboard+mouse) attached. Maybe the problem is not related to the missing controller, but, for example, some problem with transferring the video from remote.

[Azer]

yessir

[Passiday]

Ok, the solution was surprisingly simple. I launched the Steam Link on the Pi from terminal, to see if there are any error messages/warnings. Right at the start I received "VCHI initialization failed" message, and at the same time I got the "You are running with less than 128 MB video memory, you may need to go to the Raspberry Pi Configuration and increase your GPU memory." message. I've previously followed these instructions (https://support.optisigns.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500010436341-Adjust-the-GPU-memory-on-the-Raspberry-Pi) to increase the GPU memory to 256 MB, so I thought it's a non-issue.
However, that "VCHI initialization failed" was telling that the logged-in user has some problems with accessing some video functions. I am using Pi with a new user, rather than the default pi user. And, all it took to solve the issue, was to add the user to video group:
```
$ sudo usermod -aG video <username>
```
Logout, login, launch the Steam Link, no more the "increase your GPU memory" message, and the streaming goes well!

[Watermelon {JESUS IS LORD}]

how do you get steam to run on raspberry pi 4?

it wont let me install steam cause the raspberry pi OS is no longer supported by valve

i dont want to install another os

[Bee🐝]

Glad you got it sorted OP!


The following is a general note for anyone who finds this thread in the future.

Link to the hidden Steam Link Raspberry Pi Forum section: https://steamcommunity.com/app/353380/discussions/6/

[Passiday]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Watermelon {♥♥♥♥♥ IS LORD}:

how do you get steam to run on raspberry pi 4?

No, you can not install Steam on Pi OS. What I am doing is running Steam on another computer, in my case, Linux Ubuntu on Intel CPU), and connecting to is from Pi, using Steam Link. This makes it possible to play any Steam game on Pi, as long as it is possible to run that game on the host PC.

[Watermelon {JESUS IS LORD}]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Passiday:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Watermelon {♥♥♥♥♥ IS LORD}:

how do you get steam to run on raspberry pi 4?

No, you can not install Steam on Pi OS. What I am doing is running Steam on another computer, in my case, Linux Ubuntu on Intel CPU), and connecting to is from Pi, using Steam Link. This makes it possible to play any Steam game on Pi, as long as it is possible to run that game on the host PC.

you used to be able to as there is a steam support article telling you how but i cant seem to do it

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6424-467A-31D9-C6CB

[dandancanfly]

I just hit this issue with Ubuntu 22.04. I installed Steam Link via flatpack, and connected the bluetooth controller. Steam Link said "no controller detected." I installed Steam, and when I loaded it, it gave a notification strongly suggesting I install steam-devices from my package manager.

I am not sure if the

flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam

was required, but between that and the

sudo apt install steam-devices

, the Steam controller is working with my Steam Link on Ubuntu 22.04.

Hope this helps someone!