Apple M1 MacOS 12.4 and above - compatible controllers

[niet3sche77]

Hello. I'd like to create the sort of thread that I wish I had when I moved my development over to a MacMini M1 box.

Controllers that DO NOT work with non-Electron Steam games* on an M1:

- XBox 360, wired

Controllers that MAY work with Steam games on an M1:

- Dualshock PS4

Controllers that DO work with Steam games on an M1:

- 8BitDo Pro2[www.8bitdo.com] (not a sponsor, not an affiliate link, it JUST WORKED via Bluetooth. Dead easy. /thread?)

(I'll try to keep this updated as replies come in. I've just bought yet another controller to try, so we'll see if that one works.)

* Vampire Survivors "just works" because it's made using Electron, so has access to V8/JS hooks.

[Cockpits! Booby Traps!]

thanks! i am def curious on the 8bitdo pro2. been using an 8bitdo usb block on the switch to connect a wiiu pro and it's been great. i was a longtime 360wired user on mac prior the lvl up to a m1; have not tried that 8bitdo usb on new comp.

dualshock ps4 - i have had greater success when connected via usb wired vs bluetooth but it's still been a coin-flip if the controller responds to a steam game

[hello]

thanks boys!

[matt]

I don't have much experience with Steam but I was hoping to start playing games on M1 MacBook Pro with an Xbox Wireless Controller. The controller works fine with the machine. It plays Apple Arcade games fine and even works fine moving around Steam in Big Picture mode. I can see Steam recognising the controller in game settings (I've tried all the ones I can find) but the controller either doesn't work or there's a partial mapping in game (joystick and wrong button works). I did try Vampire Survivors as mentioned above and that seemed to work fine. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[NCBaker]

Just to add on here, I have an M1 Pro running Monterey (12.4), I just got an 8Bitdo Pro 2, and it does NOT work for the two games I've tried so far: Stardew Valley and Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe. I've tried it several ways: wired vs. bluetooth, configured as DS4 vs. Switch Pro, the best I can get is running it as a Switch Pro and Stardew will respond, but the mapping is not consistent and seems to change randomly. I've tried all the "fixes" I've found so far and still nothing. Controller works fine for the BPM menus, but not once the game starts.

So, I'm genuinely curious, before I return this controller, if your Pro 2 controller "JUST WORKED," under what conditions/settings did it work, and with which games? Because I'd love to recreate that; if nothing else I could give another data point since it looks like we have similar set ups.

(I have tried Enjoyable to map the controller to the keyboard, which works ok depending on the game; e.g. Stardew has a lot of menus and tabs to flip through in-game that don't translate well to straight keyboard mapping)

[tintingaroo]

Try this for Stardew Valley.
Disable Steam Input/Configuration Support:
Steam > Preferences > Controller > General Controller Settings > disable Configuration Support for the different controller types.

If connecting in Switch mode, do it over BT.

If using DS4 mode over BT, power off/on the controller if it had been connected when PS Configuration Support was enabled. If wired, it doesn't matter if it's connected or not when you disable PS Config Support.

You should also attempt Windows/Xinput mode, it can prove successful.

[NCBaker]

Originally posted by tintingaroo:

Try this for Stardew Valley...

Well alright, this seems to work so far for SV:
Pro 2 controller is connected via BT in Switch mode.
All controller config support in Steam is turned off.
Steam input and overlay for the game are disabled.

It didn't work until I disabled the input and overlay, but it also didn't work previously when I had those disabled and had any other combination of options going. Really a lot of hoops to jump through, but thanks for your help! I'll see if I can get things going with other games.

This makes me wonder though if the OP just happened to have the right combo of options and settings toggled that their Pro 2 worked right off the bat, whereas I had to come upon that combo as my last effort. *shrug*

[niet3sche77]

That’s disappointing and a lot of hoops to jump through. I own SV; I’ll have to see what happens and if I will have a similar experience.

I do have overlay turned off by default, as I stream and don’t want a pop up to suddenly come up.

And I do have the controller in Apple mode.

And I do not have controller config mode turned in in Steam.

Maybe I got very lucky here, but I’ll try SV and I suspect I will have hoops to jump through too. That’s … unfortunate.

Originally posted by NCBaker:

Originally posted by tintingaroo:

Try this for Stardew Valley...

Well alright, this seems to work so far for SV:
Pro 2 controller is connected via BT in Switch mode.
All controller config support in Steam is turned off.
Steam input and overlay for the game are disabled.

It didn't work until I disabled the input and overlay, but it also didn't work previously when I had those disabled and had any other combination of options going. Really a lot of hoops to jump through, but thanks for your help! I'll see if I can get things going with other games.

This makes me wonder though if the OP just happened to have the right combo of options and settings toggled that their Pro 2 worked right off the bat, whereas I had to come upon that combo as my last effort. *shrug*

[Paddzilla]

I've been running into this intermittently with my Stadia controller. And wouldn't you know it - my other controller is a wired 360. I have a wireless series S and a PS5 controller, but they both have their own issues.