5+ controllers no longer working with Steam Input

[Sawtaytoes]

As of the last few weeks (since May 11, 2024), Steam Input no longer supports more than 4 Xbox controllers.

I have 8 Xbox series controllers with an 8-player Microsoft Wireless adapter. I used to use an older 16-player model, so maybe it's that.

1. Steam input used to work with 8 players in various games with the Xbox Enhanced Features driver installed.
2. I had 5 players working with Steam Input enabled a few weeks ago in Unspottable, but I think one controller was wired. If so, it would've been the Thrustmaster eSwap X.

Here are my findings in games I tested today:

12 orbits
Works with 5+ players only when Steam Input is disabled.

Boomerang Fu
Works only when Steam Input is disabled and "Use X-Input" is disabled.

I swear I've played this game with 5+ controllers without disabling Steam Input or X-Input. It's possible I used PS4 controllers for other players (I've had to do that in the past) or that I'm not remembering correctly for this particular game.

ClusterPuck 99
Works with 5+ players only when Steam Input is disabled.

Crashnauts
No longer working with 5+ players. Pretty sure it did at one point.

Duck Game
Works with 5+ players only when Steam Input is disabled.

Hidden in Plain Sight
Doesn't work at all with 8 Xbox Series controllers regardless of Steam Input. Other folks are saying players 5+ need to be using D-Input like PlayStation controllers.

Pretty sure it worked when I had 4 Xbox and 4 PS4 controllers in the past.

Laser League
The game used to work with 8 players, but it was bought by another company, converted to a single player online-only game, and Valve hasn't refunded me or better yet, given me back the game I purchased years ago.

Killer Queen Black
Works only when Steam Input is diabled and X-Input is disabled in the Options.

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/app/663670/discussions/0/3594464430433094462/

Knight Squad 2
Works with 5+ players only when Steam Input is disabled.

Pixel Cup Soccer
Disabling Steam Input removes controller support.

This game used to work with 8 players. I'm not 100% sure, but I know it I played it a few years ago when I had a bunch of family over, and I thought we had 5 players.

Plunder Panic
Works with 5+ players only when Steam Input is disabled.

ROUNDS (using the Rounds with Friends mod)
Disabling Steam Input removes controller support.

Has to be on the "old-rounds-for-mods" beta and the Rounds with Friends mod, or it won't allow 3+ players.

Runbow
Works with 5+ players only when Steam Input is disabled.

Super Bomberman R
Disabling Steam Input removes controller support.

Doesn't work with 8 controllers anymore even though I've had 8 players in the past.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Works with 5+ players only when Steam Input is disabled.

TowerFall 8-Player
Works with 5+ players only when Steam Input is disabled.

Got this from Itch.io, but I run it through Steam because I use Big Picture on my TV.

Unspottable
Works with 5+ players only when Steam Input is disabled.

A week or two ago, I played this with 5 of us, and I had Steam Input enabled. It was working fine.

Velvet Guard
Only working with 4 controllers. If I disable Steam Input, no controllers work.
trollers work.

[Roman]

Postat inițial de Sawtaytoes:

I'd also like to know if that person had 8 official Microsoft Xbox One controllers as I was able to get it working in the past with a Thrustmaster eSwap X controller (Xbox Series version) + 4 wireless Microsoft Xbox Series controllers.

According to them, they used "8 xbox one controllers connected to a receiver".

With all their extra functionality, I could imagine that the Thrustmasters would identify as something other than a regular Xbox controller to Windows / Steam. BTW on that note, reWASD has a one week trial period, if you want to try out an easy way of having your controllers identify as something different. I feel like I am advertising at this point, and there might be other tools that do the same, but this happens to be the one I know 😅

Postat inițial de Sawtaytoes:

I went so far as to uninstall the extended feature driver and Steam. I restarted, then restarted again, and tried it. They show up in Windows, so it's a Steam issue, but it's crazy I can't get this working even after reinstalling everything. I must have some old driver or something installed.

I even did an `sfc /scannow` and the `dism` commands and a chkdsk. Something.

Yeah I know the struggle with these kinds of problems. At this point, if it takes more than a few hours to solve, I usually just make a backup of the main drive and then test if reinstalling Windows helps. Because once there is an unidentifiable problem, it often goes downhill from there anyway

[Sawtaytoes]

Postat inițial de Roman:

According to them, they used "8 xbox one controllers connected to a receiver".

Strange. From what I saw, Xbox Series and Xbox One worked on the same receiver in the same way. No difference except that plugging in an Xbox One controller disconnects it from the wireless receiver whereas that doesn't happen on the Xbox Series controllers.

One thing I did change, maybe in May?, was changing from a 16-controller to 8-controller model which could also change something maybe?

One of my kids bumped the 16-controller model and bent it a bit. I had thought that caused issues with controllers dropping off randomly, something that never happened before, but I think the 8-controller models do the same thing. I'm wondering now if it's USB-power-related instead like how that Thrustmaster controller won't show up anymore. I got it powering up once and then not again.

Since the Thunderbolt port on this AM4 board has power and powers a 10Gb Ethernet adapter, that might be causing issues if it's sharing that power with USB now that I think about it. Even a powered USB hub with 5A of power doesn't solve the issue. It's the board itself that's having issues I'm thinking.

Sadly, this is a mini-ITX X570 board with only 1Gb onboard Ethernet. In that form factor, it only has 1 PCIe slot, so I'm not quite sure what to do without swapping the board. It's a bit late to upgrade my AM4 board with the AM5 Ryzen 9000 series right around the corner.

Postat inițial de Roman:

With all their extra functionality, I could imagine that the Thrustmasters would identify as something other than a regular Xbox controller to Windows / Steam.

The Thrustmaster controllers don't identify differently in Windows, but Steam does see them differently yes.

Postat inițial de Roman:

BTW on that note, reWASD has a one week trial period, if you want to try out an easy way of having your controllers identify as something different. I feel like I am advertising at this point, and there might be other tools that do the same, but this happens to be the one I know 😅

I only knew about x360ce, and I tried that too. So maybe reWASD is my savior. I will definitely try that out!

Postat inițial de Roman:

Yeah I know the struggle with these kinds of problems. At this point, if it takes more than a few hours to solve, I usually just make a backup of the main drive and then test if reinstalling Windows helps. Because once there is an unidentifiable problem, it often goes downhill from there anyway

I would love to make a backup (I have the backup on my NAS already) and reformat, but I don't wanna spend the few nights it make take to figure that out. I also don't wanna potentially lose something by accident. It's worth a shot only if it solves the problem.

I upgraded from Win 10 Pro using the free upgrade method, but I don't have a Windows 11 Pro license for this PC outside of that upgrade, so I'd probably have a lengthy install + upgrade install process. Not excited about that.

I'll first test on another PC, see if that works, and if not, I'm going to assume it's a Steam driver issue; although, all my PCs are Win 10 upgrades except my Surface tablet, so I guess that's an avenue I could test.

[Freqsync]

Not sure if these options exist for everything.



Read:
Change from fast startup Run Powercfg.cpl
experience; to have a proper shutdown, updates and changes will execute
read; same thing

Read:
Disable USB selective suspend
quickest route seems to be RUN control.exe powercfg.cpl,,3

Read:
Run devmgmt.msc
Universal serialbus controllers
Update drivers pick from a list for each one

Read:
Same Run devmgmt.msc
Uninstall Host controller in Universal serial bus controllers
Restart computer
Using tab TAB|<-,->| to access if loss of mouse

Read:
Run devmgmt.msc
Check for any disabled that lil black arrow
if yellow exclamation point; fixes can be driver install, reboot, disconnect properly reconnect etc

Read:
same
USB root Hub properties
check for power saving turn off function to uncheck

Read:
same
scan for hardware changes

Consider lanes when a ssd is attached reduces a gpu slot from x16 to x8 and usb ports could be from data to only charge this is something to be aware of and is a manufacturer and possible OS updates. how? good question.
DETAILS tab of properties from devmgmt.msc can find your object device purpose. If have dictionary
POWER MANAGEMENT TAB is also something to look at since it turns off objects to save power and that many objects......

Course damage could be also the cause
batteries themselves, possible loss of connection wear outs, radio signal matching like back in the day changing with cmd prop your 192. for multiple connections in a home just for bluetooth, got lucky and now luck ran out


Yet read that those who went from windows 10 pro to windows 11 home these options were altered. Deeper chose not to go. Congrats on issues beginning to be improve.

[Sawtaytoes]

Just tried on my son's PC which already had the extended feature driver installed. It worked there with 5 Xbox One controllers, but to be clear, the 5th one was the Xbox Adaptive Controller. Still, they all worked. I swear a similar combination didn't work on the TV PC, but you know what? I didn't do only Xbox One, I had a mix with Xbox Series controllers. I wonder if it's those controllers in particular causing issues.

As far as I understand it, these controllers pair to a PC, not an adapter when using the Microsoft Xbox Wireless Adapter. With the 360 controllers, they paired to the adapter itself, but my 8-controller adapters are interchangeable from my testing. I tried swapping them out before and didn't have to re-sync controllers.

No, it's weirder than I thought. First, I didn't have to re-sync the controllers at all! They were all already synced. WHAT? It's a completely different Microsoft Xbox Wireless Adapter too. Maybe the controllers can be synced to multiple PCs or adapters or user accounts?

Either way... I tried it on my TV PC and no, it did not show all 5 controllers like it did on my son's PC. There we go! That's the issue.

I'll try reWASD too.

[Sawtaytoes]

Postat inițial de Freqsync:

Not sure if these options exist for everything.



Read:
Change from fast startup Run Powercfg.cpl

Read:
Disable USB selective suspend
quickest route seems to be RUN control.exe powercfg.cpl,,3

Read:
Run devmgmt.msc
Universal serialbus controllers
Update drivers pick from a list for each one

Read:
Same Run devmgmt.msc
Uninstall Host controller in Universal serial bus controllers
Restart computer

Read:
same Run" "
Check for any disabled that lil arrow

Read:
same
USB root Hub properties
check for power saving turn off function to uncheck

Read:
same
scan for hardware changes

Course damage could be also the cause


Yet read that those who went from windows 10 pro to windows 11 home these options were altered.

I've been on Windows 11 for at least a year now on this PC, but I'll try these steps regardless. I didn't do much gaming over the last year until recently.

What's Fast Startup? You mean Fast Boot in the UEFI? Any reason why?

I was in High Performance power mode. I changed it to Balanced. I've heard that is the correct setting for the Ryzen 5000 series.

Disabled USB Selective Suspend.

These are my USB controllers: https://imgur.com/a/Rj0opoz
The one that says "Unknown USB Device". I have no clue what that is. I thought it was my 2003 Media Center IR receiver, but that's the Home Infrared Receiver I thought. So I'm not sure what that is.

I realized I hadn't updated my AMD Chipset drivers in a while, so I'm trying that too.

Which Host Controller do I uninstall? I'm afraid of losing my mouse and keyboard and being unable to restart.

You said Run" ". Run what? Which one has the arrow?

Removed power saving on USB hubs.

Removed those root hubs and re-added them. Interesting that my keyboard went from 915TKL to LIGHTSPEED Receiver.

[Sawtaytoes]

I have a feeling that it was the chipset drivers that needed updating, but either way, my Thrustmaster controller showed up AND all 5 Xbox controllers! https://imgur.com/a/eFLvieZ

But... all the Xbox lights are blinking. I can't easily explain it, but they're going from bright to off and dimming off and on.

My Thrustmaster controller's power light is blinking on and off every 3 seconds and comes back on at 4 seconds.

The Xbox Adapter Controller isn't blinking, but it's a different kind of controller, so who knows.

Any reason they're blinking like this?

[Sawtaytoes]

Ah, one other issue I've noticed: my Logitech M720 mouse has a significantly reduced range now too. It used to be able to work at the other end of my couch at least, now it has to be within 4' of the receiver, or it doesn't work anymore.

Not sure if anything we changed caused that. It's battery shows full.

[Sawtaytoes]

Quick update again. I moved the mouse wireless receiver to the back of the PC, and it's working fine now. Also, all controllers are lit up normally without that weird off-on dimming.

[supersmo]

reWASD makes the XBox controllers’ light pulsate when no controller profile is enabled on a controller. Pretty sure you can change the behaviour in the reWASD settings.

[Sawtaytoes]

That was the issue yeah. I'll disable it. I only installed reWASD to test it out. I do like how it shows the battery usage though. Windows doesn't do that natively I think. Xbox Game Bar might, but it's not easy to use.

[Sawtaytoes]

Thanks so much for your help Roman and Freqsync! Saved me a lot of headache!

Strange, Steam Input was re-enabled for every single game. That's probably because I reinstalled Steam the other day. Either way, that's fantastic because it's easier than re-enabling Steam Input in each game one-by-one.

Here are my findings in games I tested today after fixing the Xbox Extended Feature Support driver:

New thread as my data's completely different now: https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/11/4526764457369285740/

NOT WORKING

Crashnauts
No longer working with 5+ players. Pretty sure it did at one point. The game is expecting more than 4 controllers, but it's not seeing the others.

Hidden in Plain Sight
Doesn't work at all with 8 Xbox One or Series controllers even mixing in a wired Thrustmaster controller regardless of Steam Input. Other folks are saying players 5+ need to be using D-Input like PlayStation controllers.

Pretty sure it worked when I had 4 Xbox and 4 PS4 controllers in the past.

Laser League
The game used to work with 8 players, but it was bought by another company, converted to a single player online-only game, and Valve hasn't refunded me or better yet, given me back the game I purchased years ago.

WORKING

12 orbits
Works with 5+ players when Steam Input is enabled.

Boomerang Fu
Works with 5+ players when Steam Input is enabled and "X-Input disabled" in the game's options.

It incorrectly states you should turn off Xbox controller support in Steam.

ClusterPuck 99
Works with 5+ players when Steam Input is enabled.

Duck Game
Works with 5+ players only when Steam Input is enabled!

Killer Queen Black
This game got an update within the last few months. Not sure what changed though. It still takes a while to start up because the online servers are down.

Works with 5+ players when Steam Input is enabled and "X-Input disabled" in the game's options.

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/app/663670/discussions/0/3594464430433094462/

Knight Squad 2
Works with 5+ players when Steam Input is enabled.

Pixel Cup Soccer
Works with 5+ players when Steam Input is enabled.

Plunder Panic
Works with 5+ players when Steam Input is enabled.

ROUNDS (using the Rounds with Friends mod)
Works with 5+ players when Steam Input is enabled.

Has to be on the "old-rounds-for-mods" beta and the Rounds with Friends mod (I'm using `r2modman`), or it won't allow 3 or more players.

Runbow
Works with 5+ players when Steam Input is enabled.

I had to restart the game once. The first time, two of the controllers were doubled up. I seem to remember this issue the first time I played it as well.

Super Bomberman R
Works with 5+ players when Steam Input is enabled.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Works with 5+ players when Steam Input is enabled.

TowerFall 8-Player
Works with 5+ players when Steam Input is enabled.

You have to get this from Itch.io. I run it through Steam because I use Big Picture on my TV.

Unspottable
Works with 5+ players when Steam Input is enabled.

Velvet Guard
Works with 5+ players when Steam Input is enabled.

[Roman]

Nice! Thank you for the update, and I'm glad it worked out in the end.