Steam overlay closes instantly when controller tab is open

[markichnich]

In the past few days, whenever I open the In-Game Overlay (Shift+Tab), and the controller tab in it is open, the Overlay just instantly closes.

Even worse, when I reopen it, the controller tab is still open so it immediately closes again. To get the overlay back to a working state I have to spam shift+tab and click the "X" before it closes (which i estimate happens in around 50ms) to close the controller tab.

To clarify: everything else in the overlay works fine. As long as I don't open the controller tab the overlay stays open and works perfectly. Using Big Picture Overlay as a work around seems to work but I dislike that overlay.

This happens in every game, with every controller.
I can't seem to find anything on this online -- Has anyone here had this issue before or know what might be going on?

[Bjørn]

I have the same issue, have you found any way to fix it?

I'm on Linux Mint 22. Are you on Windows?

[markichnich]

Originally posted by Bjørn:

I have the same issue, have you found any way to fix it?

I'm on Linux Mint 22. Are you on Windows?

Nope, I'm on Arch and my fix is still big picture mode... Might make sense to open an issue on the steam-for-linux github repo if this isn't just me

[user]

Same issue here, do consider reporting it! (I'm on Fedora 40)

[markichnich]

Issue opened -- here[github.com] it is if anyone wants to track it or add more details.

[Kulma]

I can confirm this issue on OLED model Steam Deck when using the Deskop mode: the Steam overlay starts closing soon as opening it if I have the controller settings open. This happens regardless if have external controllers connected to the dock or not.

The overlay stays around 15 seconds open if I open the overlay just after starting a game, but after it just keeps closing again.

[that green neko]

K, how do we actually bring bugs like this to the attention of developers? I posted an issue on their GitHub and besides the dev adding tags to my issue, it isn't being acknowledged.

[Kulma]

If we want attention to this issue we would have to find a reliable way to repeat this issue with a clear "cause & effect" steps. Also it would help a lot if we would be able to find either error logs related to this issue.

Considering how many customization options there are in the Steam controller options trying to brute force to find the source of the problem can be rather time consuming if you do not have any leads to start from.

Unfortunately it's not trivial to "factory reset" the controls back to default state in Steam to debug the problem.

[PyranoTheDev]

Hey. I am a Linux user using PopOS and I noticed a way to stop it from repeating, but this may be a part of a different issue.

I was playing Mortal Kombat and using Xbox One Drivers with Steam Input is annoying. So I disabled it. It has automatically enabled itself so many times. However, I am also having this issue, and when I disable Steam Input for Mortal Kombat, the overlay no longer closes during the game while on the controller tab.

EDIT: This isn't consistent though as it just closed again and Steam Input re-enabled itself. :(

[Kulma]

I also noticed something: once you start a game but do not touch any USB game controllers at all the menu stays open.

Once you press a single button or touch any of the sticks of one controller the overlay does not open anymore.

[ratijas]

I managed to close the Controller tab after spamming Shift+Tab and clicks for about two minutes. Quite frustrating tbh.

[Mike]

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