Nonsteam games not accepting steam input

[Raging Panda]

So I have standalone retroarch as a nonsteam game, the idea being I can launch each rom individually as it's own non steam shortcut, but steam input has stopped working with this setup. I was unable to perform any controller input until I disabled steam input for the game.

[Balderick]

Using a third party app that supports sdl for managing controllers like ds4windows can be used to remind steam how sdl is supposed to work

I found using ds4windows to emulate ps4 controller in steam is a great way to make steam detecet my 8BitDo Pro 2 controller as a ps type controller again. Added bonus is i dont even have to use ds4windiows to get steam to detect ps4 controller ater steam wrote gamepad bindings in config.vdf for ps4 controller.

Doing this works around multiple known issues with steam sdl not working like expected. by multiples i mean scores. literally dozens and dozens

We can also use https://gitlab.com/ryochan7/sdl2-gamepad-mapper to replace the broken Define layout (large and oldbpm) ui; where we used to be able to manage controller type and not just controller layout, and the broken Setup Input Device ui in nbpm controller settings to write gamepad bindings to steam config.vdf by copying and pasting ourselves.
ref: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/0/3781372783240974556/

Steam uses sdl2 and sdl3 dlls where sdl3 is the new sdl. So controllers and steam ui are behaving unexpectedly.

afaiu both of those third party sdl apps are pure sdl2, though latest open issues for ds4windows are starting to look like here or steam for linux open issues on github due to the way sdl3 is being rolled out.

[Raging Panda]

It seems to be a bug that is solved, at least temporarily, by rebooting steam.

[buckysrevenge]

I was having this problem this morning even, it's still a problem. Disabling Steam Input fixes it for non-Steam Controllers

[Raging Panda]

Originally posted by buckysrevenge:

I was having this problem this morning even, it's still a problem. Disabling Steam Input fixes it for non-Steam Controllers

that didn't help me, but restarting it has solved it

[buckysrevenge]

Weird, it works for me in some instances, but not others, e.g., Heroic Games Launcher recognizes the gamepad with Steam Input enabled for my generic gamepad, but Fall Guys (launched from a shortcut or through HGL) thinks it's a keyboard and mouse. Disabling Steam Input allows the gamepad to be recognized by both

[Raging Panda]

has nothing to do with gamepad. I cannot Launch Any Games. its as if the computers cant see eachother, but settings says they can

[buckysrevenge]

Oh yeah, different issue probably, my bad

[Raging Panda]

Originally posted by buckysrevenge:

Oh yeah, different issue probably, my bad

Np. I'm just exceptionally frustrated by this issue. I can apparently remote play games from my Steam deck to my desktop, but this is pointless for me. Meanwhile, remote play from desktop to pc remains broken no matter what I do

[Balderick]

Originally posted by Raging Panda:

So I have standalone retroarch as a nonsteam game, the idea being I can launch each rom individually as it's own non steam shortcut, but steam input has stopped working with this setup. I was unable to perform any controller input until I disabled steam input for the game.

Originally posted by Raging Panda:

Originally posted by buckysrevenge:

Oh yeah, different issue probably, my bad

Np. I'm just exceptionally frustrated by this issue. I can apparently remote play games from my Steam deck to my desktop, but this is pointless for me. Meanwhile, remote play from desktop to pc remains broken no matter what I do

These are related to Steam Input/sdl issues but are different issues.

Not sure if first is actualy describing latest expected behaviour as recent changes to sdl source code show there are now checks made for other drivers and other controller mapping software being active. Disabling Steam Input to get working controller indicates something other than steam input is using device at same time. Check how retroarch supports controllers and how windows is handling that controller without steam running at all on host pc.

How steam remote play works is by using a different virtual gamepad driver for controller and will likely load different steamxbox.sys driver for that device compared to using that device on same host steam machine without remote play or remote play session being active.

In steam link app on android tv my Thrustmaster T500 RS gets detected as FFB wheel but Steam Input/SDL is applying bad layout. Define Layout ui does not block android guide button acting as google home so cant create a full config but can see in config.vdf on host pc the virtual gamepad sdl bindings. windows cant load the vendors drivers for that device so can never start. windows cant start device using the virtual gamepad bindings set by steam link app. steam does not detecet t500 rs at all when the proper oem divers are available i.e. when windows shows device as connected and working in joy.cpl

imo the issues i see with all controller types (not just T500 RS) and what you are describing confirms steam input is not working well ootb and has lost all of its configurability. Seeing the client side controller config editor for detected controller in Steam Link for android app is a great reminder of how and why end users should always have a working gamepad editor so they can configure steam sdl to what is needed or wanted for their input device.

VirtualHere used to be an awesome tool for getting usb input devices working through Steam Remote Play in steam games exactly like on local/host pc. But it is struggling to work like it used to for T500 RS too. Windows cant start device because it not using latest drivers from Thrustmaster website for T500 RS.

What controllers are you using?