Redefining controller layout does not work.

[Mad Vlad]

I recently bought a PS4 controller to hook up to my PC so I could play some Steam games with controller, as you do. After hooking the controller into the PC, the games were not recognizing the commands, so I went into controller settings and went through the "Define Layout" process for my controller.

The buttons registered alright and the games recognize the commands.

But the problem is that something got messed up with the left analog stick. When I push in a direction, the command received in the game go in a completely wrong direction. For example.

If I tilt the stick up, Steam and the game register it as "right". If I tilt the stick right, the registered command is "down" and so on.

So I went back into the "Define Layout" menu and noticed that Axis Y and Axis X had gotten mixed up. No biggie, I can redefine the layout and save, right? Well, I tried that 5 times, but every time X and Y axis get reverted after I save and leave the menu. How can I get Steam to remember the reconfiguration?

[xboxesco1]

Controller layout wont save in steam, defined layout wont save in steam, for the searches =)

this problem still exists in 2020, atleast it did for a while til i fixed it, now my defined layout saves like every single time, all i did was unplug the internet cord, unplug my controller from the pc, plugged the controller back in the pc, opened steam, it will say no internet and ask if you want to enter offline mode, enter offline mode, goto steam> settings> controller> general controller settings> choose controller from detected devices> define layout..make the layout how you want or to match your controller, you match it to your controller so when you set a configuration for an individual game it wont act so wacky, defining the layout isnt exactlly remapping, your telling steam what button lays where, now onward, after youve defined your layout how you want, click save, it will come up to export your layout, you dont have to put a name, just click no thanks, click refine layout again to confirm your changes were saved, which they should be now, close steam settings, close steam, plug in your internet cord, restart steam only this time it will load the online version, goto steam> settings> controller> general controller settings> pick controller> define layout. this should show you the updated saved version you made in offline mode, now to configure for a game, open big picture mode>library>choose your game> manage game> controller options> steam input device should be forced on, otherwise the native controller support will override i believe, now in the same manage game screen click controller configuration, this is where you remap your controller, this is why you want your defined layout to match your controllers buttons, you remap the buttons here for the individual games, once you do that, it should be good, it was wishy washy when i was tryin to get this to work but now it saves everytime, one thing i did do when i was tryin this was.. goto steam> settings> cloud> disable steam auto sync, idk if this helped but it may have so if it doesnt work the first time disable this option while in online mode, i tried to make a youtube video for it to be easier but my defined layout kept saving, and i didnt want to reinstall steam to break it again, so hopefully this helped you out, thanks

[AED]

Originally posted by xboxesco1:

Controller layout wont save in steam, defined layout wont save in steam, for the searches =)

this problem still exists in 2020, atleast it did for a while til i fixed it, now my defined layout saves like every single time, all i did was unplug the internet cord, unplug my controller from the pc, plugged the controller back in the pc, opened steam, it will say no internet and ask if you want to enter offline mode, enter offline mode, goto steam> settings> controller> general controller settings> choose controller from detected devices> define layout..make the layout how you want or to match your controller, you match it to your controller so when you set a configuration for an individual game it wont act so wacky, defining the layout isnt exactlly remapping, your telling steam what button lays where, now onward, after youve defined your layout how you want, click save, it will come up to export your layout, you dont have to put a name, just click no thanks, click refine layout again to confirm your changes were saved, which they should be now, close steam settings, close steam, plug in your internet cord, restart steam only this time it will load the online version, goto steam> settings> controller> general controller settings> pick controller> define layout. this should show you the updated saved version you made in offline mode, now to configure for a game, open big picture mode>library>choose your game> manage game> controller options> steam input device should be forced on, otherwise the native controller support will override i believe, now in the same manage game screen click controller configuration, this is where you remap your controller, this is why you want your defined layout to match your controllers buttons, you remap the buttons here for the individual games, once you do that, it should be good, it was wishy washy when i was tryin to get this to work but now it saves everytime, one thing i did do when i was tryin this was.. goto steam> settings> cloud> disable steam auto sync, idk if this helped but it may have so if it doesnt work the first time disable this option while in online mode, i tried to make a youtube video for it to be easier but my defined layout kept saving, and i didnt want to reinstall steam to break it again, so hopefully this helped you out, thanks

Thank you! Offline Mode -> General Controller Settings -> Define Layout -> Make changes -> Save -> DO NOT ENTER A NAME, then no thanks works as a temporary fix.

It seems like there are old configs saved in Steam Cloud, which you can see here:
https://store.steampowered.com/account/remotestorageapp?appid=241100&index=0

Trying to figure out how to clear them. Asking around.

[Ancalagon]

This worked for me (based off this thread):

I fixed it by manually editing the Steam/Config/config.vdf file for my controller around where "SDL_GamepadBind" occurs. I could see the name of my controller and the mapping it had, and reverse engineered/guessed what the other axes I needed to bind were called. When I change anything in Steam it still just resets to what is in the config, but at least the config has the correct setup now.

If any Dev happens to be looking at this, when I save the config in steam, the controller (very) briefly disappears and reappears in Steam's list (idk if this is normal). I'm using a Gamesir G4 Pro over USB on Ubuntu 20.04.

[JellyMyst]

To add to the workaround @Ancalagon gave, I find you have to redo the fix each time you reboot Steam, which due to unrelated bugs I find myself doing often. Each time I have to manually fix bindings in the config.vdf file, then do it again through the GUI to get it to stick. I'm using a HyperX Clutch over USB on Mint 21.1.

I can confirm the fact that the controller briefly disappears from the list after attempting to change the bindings.

Of this controller, and this seems to be consistent even outside of Steam, the left and right triggers are as standard bound to right stick left and right respectively, while the right stick is left unbound.

In addition, I'm seeing no fewer than 4 configurations for this one controller in the config.vdf file, all under SDL_GamepadBind. Two of them keep getting messed up, and the other two are seemingly never read or written to.

[Ancalagon]

@JellyMyst ah that sucks, my config stays the same after restarts, and the controller works fine in windows and other programs (I think). You could change the write permissions of the conf file so steam can't modify the file assuming you are a sudoer, although that would lock other settings stored in the file though.

[s4nctu4ry]

hey, uhh first post on the steam forums. personally, i just opened config.vdf then removed everything about the controller but keeping } and hit save then set it again to find that it actually set. it works on online mode too.