Right trigger showing no response; Nintendo Switch controller

[Jase]

I'm using a wired Nintendo Switch controller to play a few games. Recently I've noticed that the right trigger specifically *does not work*, but ONLY on Steam. Playing other games with the same controller does not present the same issue.

In the controller testing section of the settings, I can see that when I pull the right trigger, there is absolutely no response—the number stays at 0, while the left trigger jumps from 0 to ~30k when pulled.

In Windows' built-in controller config, I can see that there IS a response when I pull the right trigger—the button's icon lights up just like all the others. This seems to be a problem exclusive to Steam Input; there are no issues playing games outside of Steam on the same PC, or on the Switch console.

It's been pretty hard to search for solutions to this problem, but so far the ones I've found—"Analog Off" and disabling Steam Input's desktop layout—have not helped me.

The only other thing of note is that this issue seems to have cropped up within the last week or two, because there was a time when I could use RT perfectly fine, and it even worked as a normal left click in the desktop layout. Any help or insight is greatly appreciated!

[tintingaroo]

In Steam's tester try Reset Device Inputs. If still broken after that, try the manual setup with Setup Device Inputs.
(Depending on the controller (official/known controller vs unknown to Steam), Reset Device Inputs may lead back round to the Setup Device Inputs process).

If still broken, choose Copy to Clipboard and paste the mapping here - maybe it'll be something we can manually fix.

[Jase]

Originally posted by tintingaroo:

In Steam's tester try Reset Device Inputs. If still broken after that, try the manual setup with Setup Device Inputs.
(Depending on the controller (official/known controller vs unknown to Steam), Reset Device Inputs may lead back round to the Setup Device Inputs process).

If still broken, choose Copy to Clipboard and paste the mapping here - maybe it'll be something we can manually fix.

After trying both of these, the issue has persisted. Steam recognizes the controller as "Nintendo Switch Pro Controller," and I can see in Windows' built-in calibration utility that RT *is* correctly sending a signal. It's very strange that Steam in particular doesn't pick it up.

Here's my layout for perusal:

03009f42d620000013a7000000016800,BDA NSW wired controller,crc:429f,platform:Windows,b:b1,a:b0,y:b3,x:b2,dpleft:h0.8,dpright:h0.2,dpup:h0.1,dpdown:h0.4,leftx:a0,lefty:a1,leftstick:b7,rightx:a2,righty:a3,rightstick:b8,leftshoulder:b9,lefttrigger:a4,rightshoulder:b10,righttrigger:~a5,back:b4,start:b6,guide:b5,misc1:b11,hint:!SDL_GAMECONTROLLER_USE_BUTTON_LABELS:=1,steam:2,

Edit: and thank you in advance for helping me look into this!

Edit2: I forgot to mention, but during the "Setup Device Inputs" process, RT is *also* not recognized. Setup sits idle for a couple seconds while I press the trigger, and eventually just moves onto the next step (I'm guessing it just resets to default after a few seconds of no input).

[tintingaroo]

Believe Steam is reading RT inverted (don't think it should be - but we'll see) and is formatting inversion in the mapping incorrectly (the tilde is supposed to go after the axis e.g. righttrigger:a5~).

The formatting error is fixed in the latest Steam client beta but if RT is being read incorrectly, you'd end up with an inverted RT and need to manually address things anyway.
So lets stick with Steam stable & try with the tilde removed. If things are OK then it indicates Steam was reading RT incorrectly.

Normally we'd Copy to Clipboard, paste into notepad, make the edit, copy the mapping, then choose Setup Device Inputs > Paste from Clipboard but looks like Paste from Clipboard is bugged... So we go even more manual

Quit Steam
Navigate to and open with Notepad [Steam Install]\config\config.vdf
Do a search for: SDL_GamepadBind
and see if you find the mapping there (or could search with the long number (the GUID) from the mapping string)
Remove ~ from the righttrigger bind
Save and close file
Check things out in Steam


If the trigger works but is inverted (means Steam had been reading RT correctly), do the process but change things to righttrigger:a5~

[Jase]

Originally posted by tintingaroo:

Believe Steam is reading RT inverted (don't think it should be - but we'll see) and is formatting inversion in the mapping incorrectly (the tilde is supposed to go after the axis e.g. righttrigger:a5~).

The formatting error is fixed in the latest Steam client beta but if RT is being read incorrectly, you'd end up with an inverted RT and need to manually address things anyway.
So lets stick with Steam stable & try with the tilde removed. If things are OK then it indicates Steam was reading RT incorrectly.

Normally we'd Copy to Clipboard, paste into notepad, make the edit, copy the mapping, then choose Setup Device Inputs > Paste from Clipboard but looks like Paste from Clipboard is bugged... So we go even more manual

Quit Steam
Navigate to and open with Notepad [Steam Install]\config\config.vdf
Do a search for: SDL_GamepadBind
and see if you find the mapping there (or could search with the long number (the GUID) from the mapping string)
Remove ~ from the righttrigger bind
Save and close file
Check things out in Steam


If the trigger works but is inverted (means Steam had been reading RT correctly), do the process but change things to righttrigger:a5~

This is pretty interesting, thanks for guiding me here. So, assuming the GUID is the string of numbers at the front of the config I sent in my last post, the layout simply...does not exist in config.vdf. There are three others, all labeled "Steam Virtual Gamepad," none of which match the GUID or the text of the layout I pasted here.

Within the same folder there's "virtualgamepadinfo.txt," which has an entry for the controller I'm using.

[slot 0]
name=Nintendo Switch Pro Controller
VID=…
PID=…
handle=…
type=switchpro

(Note: I'm typing on my phone so I didn't copy all the numbers from this file, but if they're important or can be used to further narrow down the issue then I absolutely will!)

But this file obviously doesn't include any configuration, so my next guess is that maybe I could just seamlessly paste the config into the beginning of the section in config.vdf to test it out—I just don't want to do so without knowing how to avoid messing things up more.

EDIT: Aha. I pasted the config WITHOUT a tilde into the file, and RT now works seamlessly. I would absolutely love to know how this became an issue, because if the config never existed (or was at some point removed) within that particular file then it's odd that the rest of the buttons worked flawlessly while RT in particular didn't.

But... Thanks a bunch for helping me track this weird issue down. Editing the file manually was indeed the correct call here!

[tintingaroo]

Hmm, I'm thinking do Setup Device Inputs but do something like swapping X & Y then see if it generates the mapping in config.vdf.

Or might be able to just copy-paste your mapping into SDL_GamepadBind area. Quit Steam etc then after the comma of the last mapping press Enter then paste in your mapping. I can't remember if I've ever tried this out though.

EDIT: lol good job. I hadn't refreshed the forum so didn't see your edits.