Steam Controller settings breaking non-Steam game inputs

[Jarie 水栓 (Suisen)]

So, I have found a few posts about this, but they were a bit older and I'm not sure how well they currently apply (like if an update/feature change I'm not noticing applies).

To start, I play free-camera games on PC with a controller because if I use Mouse+Keyboard I get EXTREMELY motion-sick super fast; and even that isn't always enough of a camera slowdown to make a game playable for me. Decades of video games has only proven that to be a constant for me.

Anyway, I decided to play some Minecraft with my friend today when I found my controller was completely insane! The L-stick did nothing, the A/B/X/Y all did either seemingly nothing or else opened up an on-screen keyboard, and I had to use mouse+keyboard to just get out of a menu because nothing was working right!

I did a quick bit of hunting and found that Steam's Big Picture mode has a controller-input system that was overriding non-Steam application settings (or something like that?). Why whoever designed that system thought it was somehow not a stupid idea to deny gamers the option to completely disable that feature is beyond me.
I have Steam open at all times (starts with my computer) and I have never had this problem happen with Minecraft (or any other game) before, the last time we played was less than a month ago.

The only solution that has worked is to disable Steam starting up with Windows, reboot the computer, play Minecraft, and then if I relaunch Steam I have to reboot the computer again just to gain use of my controller in other games!

So my question is: Is there a better way for me to deal with this so I don't have to keep rebooting as if I were trying to play an old DOS game on Windows 95?

And is there a petition or something to get this idiot Big Picture design to be optional (the way a competent designer would have made it) or just not affect things outside of Steam?

[Jarie 水栓 (Suisen)]

Well, on the bright side, it seems that maybe I can just close Steam now and not have to reboot... though that is only once that has worked so far (the first time I did have to reboot, twice, before I was able to get controllers working again).

[tintingaroo]

Do you have configuration support enabled for your (Xbox?) controller? If so the desktop configuration will be enabled and I wonder if that's causing the interference to gameplay.

Config support setting found at: Steam > Settings > Controller > General Controller Settings

The desktop config is found at Steam > Settings > Controller > Desktop Configuration

I wrote this for another user regarding the desktop configuration:
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/3458220484815228420/#c3458220484821997518

[Jarie 水栓 (Suisen)]

Thanks! I had come across another post that pointed me to the option to blank out all the input settings, but the problem persists with making the controller inputs not be the Minecraft game inputs (instead being just no inputs except for the R-stick being the mouse).

Partially-fortunately, it seems after a couple of reboots at least I can just fully close Steam to prevent this problem. Still annoying, but at least it is less frustrating.

I'm not sure if any of the other controller related settings would help at all, even after reading your other post.

Either way, thank you for confirming that this is a reliable workaround for now!

[Vow.of.Light]

I have same issue since I got diablo 4 for some reason my buttons are randomized and I can't set them back to default.

[Keep Calm ...]

Following the advice of tintingaroo I disabled the xbox configuration assistance and the issue is now solved.

Originally posted by tintingaroo:

Do you have configuration support enabled for your (Xbox?) controller? If so the desktop configuration will be enabled and I wonder if that's causing the interference to gameplay.

Config support setting found at: Steam > Settings > Controller > General Controller Settings

The desktop config is found at Steam > Settings > Controller > Desktop Configuration

I wrote this for another user regarding the desktop configuration:
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/3458220484815228420/#c3458220484821997518

[General Fuct]

I was having this same issue with Diablo 4. Fixed by opening non steam controller layouts desktop settings and disabled Steam Input.

[FΞARHΞLDDΞAЯ]

update for 2025 for the tingtingaroo fix

Steam > Settings > Controller > click edit under both "NON-GAME CONTROLLER LAYOUTS"
proceed to unbind each button under all tabs

[apucito]

gg

[Puffy_btw]

I have the same problem when playing Fortnite. The first time it happened was about 3 months ago all inputs were randomized.

The R-Stick controls the movement and the camera at the same time and the on screen keyboard apears all the time and as you said I can only get rid of it with the mouse.

All of this makes the game 100% unplayable and the only way around that i found is compleatly closing everything called steam in the task-manager

[Puffy_btw]

Originally posted by FΞARHΞLDDΞAЯ:

update for 2025 for the tingtingaroo fix

Steam > Settings > Controller > click edit under both "NON-GAME CONTROLLER LAYOUTS"
proceed to unbind each button under all tabs

Ok that might work but what if I wanna Play a Steam Game with controller will I have to bind everything again?

[tintingaroo]

No need to unbind things, we can disable the Desktop Layout like this:
- Have controller connected
- Steam > Settings > Controller > Desktop Layout > Edit > Disable Steam Input

If you then want to enable it, return to that location and you'll see the button 'Enable Steam Input'


Sounds like your issue was with the Desktop Layout, so this is just info, you can disable/enable the Guide Button Chord Layout like this:
Steam > Settings > Controller > toggle off/on 'Enable Guide Button Chords for controllers'

[HellBooy]

ll

[FΞARHΞLDDΞAЯ]

Originally posted by Puffy_btw:

Originally posted by FΞARHΞLDDΞAЯ:

update for 2025 for the tingtingaroo fix

Steam > Settings > Controller > click edit under both "NON-GAME CONTROLLER LAYOUTS"
proceed to unbind each button under all tabs

Ok that might work but what if I wanna Play a Steam Game with controller will I have to bind everything again?

Ive yet to use my controller to operate windows or big picture on PC the bindings are useless, unless you plan to actually stop using keyboard and mouse completely. I didnt see any other options to temporarily disable the bindings. With that said, by unbinding, you understand that you are unbinding windows features correct? It shouldnt affect games within Steam.

You may want to keep the bind set for game record etc "xbox button+down on D pad" if im not mistaken

[Mike]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.