When Will Steam Input Support Thrustmaster eSwap X Pro Controllers?

[Balderick]

Steam Input with xbox configs and xbox extended feature set drivers enabled does not detect Thrustmaster eSwap X Pro properly as a gen 3 xbox one controller with four buttons on back and share button on front.

Steam Inputs "define layout" does not allow setting of location of share button and four buttons on back of Thrustmaster eSwap X Pro controller.

Newbigpicture does show share button as mapped to "take screenshot" action for game configs but never works like expected in game.

Guide button on Thrustmaster eSwap X Pro controller doed not work reliably for opening steam overlay in games with steam running in large, oldbigpicture or newbigpicture modes.

Steam Input obviously does not support Thrustmaster eSwap X Pro controller very well at all and just palming end users off with a xbox360 (generic gamepad) or a xbox one gen 1 controller is unacceptable.


I want to know why Valve are so slow in adding support for Thrustmaster eSwap X Pro controller to Steam Input? and why they expect MS Xbox Elite controller users to rollback to older firmware version so it works in Steam Input but not on xbox or pc ref: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/0/5144805327263762385/

I do not care about Steam Deck and find the bug riddled mess called Steam Input is really all because of Steam Deck. I find it odd Steam Input suported gen 3 xbox one controllers with share button and buttons (or paddles) on back two years ago but it doesnt today. How, why ...?

[austinp_valve]

For the 3rd party Xbox controllers we've tested so far, the rear button bits are not sent to the PC. Instead, they are only used to remap the state that is sent over USB.

Similarly, we are unable to support the later versions of the Elite controller because of changes to the FW of the device which removed the button bits, so we cannot read them anymore. We've reached out to Microsoft and they confirmed that they do not plan to restore the old way the rear buttons worked. We hope to in the future turn back on the feature for newer FW if we're able to figure out a way to read the rear button bits independently from the buttons they're mapped to.

[Balderick]

Sadly that does nothing to help explain why or how Guide button behaviour is wonky in Steam runtime with regards to opening BPM/focusing Steam, Steam Overlay and Steam Chord Button Shortcuts not working like expected. Share button and mic and vol buttons are never shown either.

I have several threads and posts about multiple issues and appreciate the explanation of how Windows handles controllers differently nowadays.

This recent post confirms other controller types are having issues with Steam for windows with regard to Steam Input not showing appropriate buttons in Steam Input UI too. https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/0/3731826842452623149/

Just looking at the feedback and bug reports shared by other controller users the issues i see with unsupported Thrustmaster eSwap X PRo is what Xbox Elite, PS, Nintendo and other "supported" controller users see too.

[Balderick]

So thought i would get some gaming in while the turkey is roasting and launched MW2 with usual steam input config but game felt weird. Right stick was really twitchy and even drifting. Left stick kept canceling tact sprint almost as if double input was occurring to cause that so i switched off steam input from in game overlay but then game couldnt detect controller.

Restarting game got controller detected again but no right stick was not working at all and game was telling me mouse and kb were active when they werent (steam input mapping mouse and or kb actions to controller for some reason?)! so i had to switch off xbox configs in Steam INput to get controller working without steam input game config being applied.

Sorry Steam Input is so FUBAR it is unusable. Nothing is working like expected.

[VOXER?]

a

[Ian]

Similarly, we are unable to support the later versions of the Elite controller because of changes to the FW of the device which removed the button bits, so we cannot read them anymore. We've reached out to Microsoft and they confirmed that they do not plan to restore the old way the rear buttons worked. We hope to in the future turn back on the feature for newer FW if we're able to figure out a way to read the rear button bits independently from the buttons they're mapped to.

I happened to notice that reWASD seems to support the back paddles on newer Series 2 firmware. Indeed, I just downloaded and tried it out and, by my quick test, this appears to be true. Create 3 blank profiles in the accessories app to ensure no dual inputs, and after I could independently map the back paddles flawlessly.

This is a link to their post about it, saying that support for remapping was re-enabled on Elite Series 2 controllers with firmware 5.11-5.13 in September 2022 with version 6.3 and later of reWASD:

https://www.rewasd.com/blog/post/how-to-map-paddles-on-xbox-elite-2-controller

Hopefully you can figure out whatever they did, and then implement these changes into Steam Input?

[Balderick]

Now that is interesting info. Thanks for sharing.

Hopefully austinp_valve sees your post and appreciates what is being described there so they can get the info to the valve devs working on Steam Input .

That link you share confirming reWASD supports back button mapping completely contradicts what is described in post #1 here.

Hopefully reWASD supports other gen 3 xbone controllers

[Balderick]

reWASD does not detect Thrustmaster eSwap X Pro back buttons as it just gets detected as xbox one s/x controller.
How windows os sees licenced gen 3 xbox one controllers is dependent on third party software not xbox accessories app to manage firmware. ThrustmapperX is th eonly gui that shows back buttons.

reWASD (and Steam Input) do not allow using Elite controller type as supported controllker type when creating virtual gamepad config

An option for "gen 3 xbox one controller" is needed in list of supported controllers to help provide a template for all controllers that have four or more buttons on back

but if those buttons can not be read when unmapped they will not be mappable

[LAN021]

Publicado originalmente por Balderick:

An option for "gen 3 xbox one controller" is needed in list of supported controllers to help provide a template for all controllers that have four or more buttons on back

but if those buttons can not be read when unmapped they will not be mappable

Do you know of any controllers other than Elite where it has been possible to read and remap the back paddles/buttons separately on PC? It's something the controller manufacturers must add themselves and it may require some additional work. It may be easier for controllers with DirectInput, perhaps, as there are more buttons available. It must be possible for XInput controllers as well, however, as it works with Elite controllers. Maybe controller manufacturers need to get in touch with Microsoft so that they can use the same methods? I don't know how it's done, exactly. Might be worth writing to Thrustmaster and ask for that feature in a Firmware update. They also may need to work together with the Steam (Valve) and reWASD (Disc Soft) teams directly to get it to work.

Here's what it says in reWASD's guide:

We have made a huge research and came to the conclusion that reWASD is not able to detect the additional buttons/paddles, since they are not reported to Windows as separate controls, unlike Xbox Elite 1 and 2 paddles. Please contact the controller manufacturer, we will gladly cooperate to bring the full support to all the controllers.

[Balderick]

what you share there backs up and expands on what was explained in post #1 and your dinput suggestion is a good one.

It would be cool if there was a kb article on thrustmaster support webpage that gave instructions on enabling extended xbox drivers in steam settings indicating eswap controller fully supported Steam Input.

[Balderick]

Am surprised i did not confirm Jan 5th 2023 beta update changelog indicated Valve have officially added support for eSwap. Am sure I did in other related threads for guide button bug and share button bug.
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/announcements/detail/3653013849007354968

Publicado originalmente por Valve:

Steam Input

• Added support for the ThrustMaster eSwap PRO Controller Xbox

which really just meant a working share button
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2913386812

But that was/would be waste of time as next client update now means i now do not have a working share button for in game steam screenshot AGAIN

The question remains when will Valve add proper support for eSwap controller? All gen 3 xbox one controllers are now NOT SUPPORTED in Steam client as many more users are now reporting same issues i have been for months.


Why cant i just define layout and save as gen3 xbox one controller type?

oooh thats FUBAR tooo and gen 3 xbox one controllers are NOT listed as supported controller type to save as when saving defined layout.

All of this means the xbox extended feature set driver methodology being used to trigger gen 3 xbox one controller mode is broken too.

[Gurkoel]

Does this mean next update will support the back paddles again?

[Ian]

Publicado originalmente por Gurkoel:

Does this mean next update will support the back paddles again?

We've gotten no indication that that is the case. austinp_valve hasn't responded to anything in this thread, and I haven't read anything elsewhere to indicate their stance has changed.

I noted that reWASD - a 3rd party program - was able to reinstate paddle configuration months ago, so it must be possible. In absence of any Valve communication on the topic, I purchased the $7 version of reWASD to work with my Series 2 controller (as well as other benefits). I'd love for Valve to officially support it again, but in the meantime you can give reWASD a look.

[Balderick]

In many threads specific to ps type controller issues an awesome steam user has shared some insight into how chnaging environment variable to add sdl variables and pid/vid info, usb modes and other stuff can force steam to detect controller properly. How Steam Input works is by converting everything to sdl for mapping afaiu

imo the sdl code in Steam client specific for Deck controls is messing up many other supported controller types by Steam Input. Even when no Deck is involved. newbigpicture has broken guide and share button behaviour on all my xbox type controllers even when using large and oldbigpicture instead.

austinp did explain why eSwap X Pro controller may or may not eventually have back buttons seen by Steam Input.

There is a thread specific to the Elite controller firmware thing but that seems to be broken now too going by recent bug reports. Maybe an upstream DEck update or other Steam Input updates elsewhere broke Elite back paddles and eSwap share button, so yes we can expect these to be working again soon.

[Gurkoel]

Publicado originalmente por Ian:

Publicado originalmente por Gurkoel:

Does this mean next update will support the back paddles again?

We've gotten no indication that that is the case. austinp_valve hasn't responded to anything in this thread, and I haven't read anything elsewhere to indicate their stance has changed.

I noted that reWASD - a 3rd party program - was able to reinstate paddle configuration months ago, so it must be possible. In absence of any Valve communication on the topic, I purchased the $7 version of reWASD to work with my Series 2 controller (as well as other benefits). I'd love for Valve to officially support it again, but in the meantime you can give reWASD a look.

Do you know if rewasd works when the controller input is passed through by steamlink? Will rewasd needed to be installed on the PC or do i have to mod my steamlink somehow?

[Neuromancer]

Publicado originalmente por austinp_valve:

For the 3rd party Xbox controllers we've tested so far, the rear button bits are not sent to the PC. Instead, they are only used to remap the state that is sent over USB.

Similarly, we are unable to support the later versions of the Elite controller because of changes to the FW of the device which removed the button bits, so we cannot read them anymore. We've reached out to Microsoft and they confirmed that they do not plan to restore the old way the rear buttons worked. We hope to in the future turn back on the feature for newer FW if we're able to figure out a way to read the rear button bits independently from the buttons they're mapped to.

SDL already has support for the paddles. There is no firmware quirks going on here. Just update the library and your calls to the SDL library. If it would break functionality for whatever reason, you could even sideload the newer version of the SDL dll just for newer controller support and still keep all of your old code with the older SDL dll.