Steam Controller Issue: No way to add a Double Tap input for Pads with the new Big Picture Controller Layout

[Swifty Magee]

I am currently using a Steam controller, and in the old Big Picture mode there was a way to assign double-tap bindings on the left and right pads. For example, if you set the style of the right pad to Mouse Joystick and go to Additional Settings, there was a option to set up a double-tap binding.

The issue I've recently noticed is that there is seemingly no way to do that in the new Big Picture mode. In the new Big Picture, if you click on the gear icon for either the Left or Right Trackpad Behavior, you can see options for double-tap - specifically how fast you need to double-tap ("Double Tap Duration") and whether it beeps or not ("Double Tap Beep"). But there is no actual way, as far as I can see, to set up a double tap.

I'm currently in the Steam Client Beta and was trying to set up a Right Pad double-tap binding for a Surge 2 controller layout I'm working on when I noticed this issue. My only solution was to leave the Steam Client Beta for the normal client, and set up a double-tap binding through the old Big Picture.

After I successfully set up the double-tap binding and re-entered the Steam Beta Client, there was now a "Double Tap" entry in the new Big Picture Controller Layout. So the functionality is there, but the user can't seem to access it under any normal standards.

In the end I found a workaround, but the obvious problem with all of this is that with the current Steam Beta Client (and assumedly the stable client in the not-so-distant future), there is no way to access the old Big Picture Mode. To use old Big Picture this time I had to leave the Beta Client, go to the stable client, and launch The Surge 2 before I had access to the old Big Picture overlay.

I wasn't sure if this was a legit bug or not with the new Big Picture Mode, so I just created this thread in the Beta Feedback section. I don't expect any official fix to come soon but hopefully something happens eventually, and the new Controller Layout app gets heavily fleshed out over time. As it seems the old Big Picture is going to be permanently shelved at some point and it would suck to have controller features locked away due to glitches or oversight.

[Galgum(twitch.tv/galgum)]

Yeah, they oddly didn't add something called Double Tap in the new UI. My Halo profile has it built in OBP and it's listed as Double Tap. If you wanted to replicate it the closest you can do is go to the Touch binding under the track pad you want to use, bind the key, then change it from Regular Press to Double Press. I'm pretty sure that works

[Swifty Magee]

Originally posted by Galgum:

Yeah, they oddly didn't add something called Double Tap in the new UI. My Halo profile has it built in OBP and it's listed as Double Tap. If you wanted to replicate it the closest you can do is go to the Touch binding under the track pad you want to use, bind the key, then change it from Regular Press to Double Press. I'm pretty sure that works

I actually discovered the method you're describing when I was trying to figure things out, but it doesn't work well with Mouse Joystick style. At least if you use Mouse Joystick with trackball on, which is one of the options and is turned on by default. If you do this double-tap method, any time you spin the pad the double-tap binding continually activates. Hard to explain, but try it out for yourself. Just make sure it's Mouse Joystick style and trackball is turned on.

I just think it's weird that double-tap was in the old Big Picture, and is technically in the new Big Picture, but you just can't use it normally. Seems like whatever team that's in charge of the new Controller Layout app just forgot to put double-tap in as a native option, and I just worry that when the old Big Picture mode goes away I won't have access to it anymore.

[Galgum(twitch.tv/galgum)]

I think I get what you're saying. Since mouse-like joystick just tries to make the joystick output like a mouse would(compensating for response curves and deadzones), you're saying with trackball mode on that it'll repeatedly trigger the double tap binding back that way when you swipe across the pad? I guess I can see that since if you're using trackball mode, to get that continuous motion it likely it probably sends more "joystick commands" than move in this direction.

Does making the double touch binding interruptable help?

I wish they would just re-add the double tap binding from OBP. I also wish they'd add the ability to bind button combos to individual commands. Like press A and B together, get a separate command from A and B by themselves. Even allow for 3 or 4 button combo bindings. Would certainly open things up.

[Swifty Magee]

I just tried your suggestion, as it sounds like a good idea. But it seems like Touch Double Press inputs don't even have the option to be interrupted. At least I don't see the option for it for Mouse Joystick. So yeah, hopefully Double Tap will just be added into new Big Picture Controller Layout one day soon.

As for your wish for combo buttons, are you talking about Button Chords, because they allow button combinations? For example you could set up a Button Chord for the A Button: you can have it set so when you press and hold the A Button and then hit the B Button, the X Button could activate. Chord presses are the only way I know how to do button combinations, and depending on the game it can open up a lot of options.

[Galgum(twitch.tv/galgum)]

Originally posted by Swifty Magee:

I just tried your suggestion, as it sounds like a good idea. But it seems like Touch Double Press inputs don't even have the option to be interrupted. At least I don't see the option for it for Mouse Joystick. So yeah, hopefully Double Tap will just be added into new Big Picture Controller Layout one day soon.

As for your wish for combo buttons, are you talking about Button Chords, because they allow button combinations? For example you could set up a Button Chord for the A Button: you can have it set so when you press and hold the A Button and then hit the B Button, the X Button could activate. Chord presses are the only way I know how to do button combinations, and depending on the game it can open up a lot of options.

Chords are something actually quite different. I'll use the example from Doom 2016. I had the Left Back Paddle set to Jump and the Right one set to Chainsaw. I thought it would be cool to press both Paddles at the same time and have the BFG come out. If that worked, I was gonna set it to fire instantly too. But what happens is Chorded Press acts like a mode shift. I tried setting it to the Left Paddle with the extra action set to Y(the BFG) and the button chord being the Right paddle. When I tried to use it, it would execute BOTH commands set to Left Paddle at the same time. Then what I found was happening is all that holding the Left Paddle did was change the Right Paddle binding to Y, effectively a mode shift. What I was hoping for was it recognizing that I'm pretty two button simultaneously and giving me a 3rd binding between two buttons. Get what I mean now? Interestingly, I found that if I held the Left Paddle, the Right paddle would actually toggle between the BFG and Chainsaw.

Retroarch has built-in functionality to do that. You can set Start and Select to their normal controller buttons, but then bind Start + Select to something else. In my case, I set it to F1 to bring up the menu.

TL;DR Button Chord on a button that already has a binding will execute that other binding while also "mode shifting" whatever button chord you have set to whatever command. What I'd like is simultaneous inputs. A = binding 1, B = binding 2, A + B at the same time = binding 3.

[Swifty Magee]

I think I see what you mean. I'm all for adding extra functionality like that to Steam's Controller Layout app. The closet thing you could achieve like that right now is if you were really fast with the Chord press, but it still wouldn't be the same as it would still technically be more like a mode shift, as you've said.

If they ever do a Steam Controller 2.0, one thing I would love to be added is scrolling bumpers. Basically, bumpers but they would have a mouse-like scroll wheel that you could click. Just think about how cool that could be with something like an FPS. For example, if you played a game like Bioshock that had both weapons and some sort of magic system, the right scroll bumper could select your weapons and the left could select your powers. I heard a few months ago (maybe during CES) that some company is actually making a controller like that, but I can't recall who the company is or what the controller is called at the moment.

Anyway, to get back on track, a combination feature added to Steam's Controller Layout would be great. I just hope that in the future they keep adding controller functionality and not subtract from it.

[Galgum(twitch.tv/galgum)]

Originally posted by Swifty Magee:

I think I see what you mean. I'm all for adding extra functionality like that to Steam's Controller Layout app. The closet thing you could achieve like that right now is if you were really fast with the Chord press, but it still wouldn't be the same as it would still technically be more like a mode shift, as you've said.

If they ever do a Steam Controller 2.0, one thing I would love to be added is scrolling bumpers. Basically, bumpers but they would have a mouse-like scroll wheel that you could click. Just think about how cool that could be with something like an FPS. For example, if you played a game like Bioshock that had both weapons and some sort of magic system, the right scroll bumper could select your weapons and the left could select your powers. I heard a few months ago (maybe during CES) that some company is actually making a controller like that, but I can't recall who the company is or what the controller is called at the moment.

Anyway, to get back on track, a combination feature added to Steam's Controller Layout would be great. I just hope that in the future they keep adding controller functionality and not subtract from it.

Scroll wheels would be baller. You could bind them to radial menus and have them click. I really hope they do a SC v2. I would be incredibly sad if the SC is the last attempt at innovation. Although, I am happy that gyro aim is getting more mainstream acceptance(FINALLY). I'm an older gamer and I recall the Atari days where controllers were changing all the time. A dial to a stick, to a game pad with d-pad, etc. I had a silly idea for the Steam Controller a while back that I don't think would ever happen but would be cool nonetheless. Like how there'll likely be 4 back buttons like the deck, I was thinking how it would be cool if at the bottom of each handle there was button, and you could press down on it using your lap or palm if placed correctly. I'd probably set that to reload or something lol.

Back to the original problem then: So the only solution for you right now is to use OBP and add Double Tap that way? Maybe if we keep talking about it, giving it visibility, Valve may re-add it to the new UI. I would also like it if they re-added the ability to rename all your bindings. At the moment it only seems to work with regular normal bindings, not sub-commands.

[Swifty Magee]

My hope is that someone from Valve checks out this thread and at least adds a native way to add double-taps in new Big Picture, so I won't have to worry that the feature leaves when they eventually drop old Big Picture. It would also be cool if they saw my scroll wheel bumper idea and your combo press idea. Your idea could be implemented without much hassle, I think, while I'll have to wait for new hardware for my scroll bumpers.

As for four back pedals, that's almost something I would expect from a Steam Controller successor. The original controller was forward thinking in a few ways; I'll always defend the giant haptic pads, as I use them all the time and once you get used to them they are waaaay better than analog sticks!

There was some interview last year that I think Gabe or someone from Valve took part in about the success of the Steam Deck. I believe they expressed some interest in continuing the Steam Controller, although nothing was definitive.

But before getting a new Steam Controller or a new Steam Deck, I just want what is already out to be refined a bit. I hope improving the new Big Picture Mode is a higher priority right now.

[Galgum(twitch.tv/galgum)]

Originally posted by Swifty Magee:

My hope is that someone from Valve checks out this thread and at least adds a native way to add double-taps in new Big Picture, so I won't have to worry that the feature leaves when they eventually drop old Big Picture. It would also be cool if they saw my scroll wheel bumper idea and your combo press idea. Your idea could be implemented without much hassle, I think, while I'll have to wait for new hardware for my scroll bumpers.

As for four back pedals, that's almost something I would expect from a Steam Controller successor. The original controller was forward thinking in a few ways; I'll always defend the giant haptic pads, as I use them all the time and once you get used to them they are waaaay better than analog sticks!

There was some interview last year that I think Gabe or someone from Valve took part in about the success of the Steam Deck. I believe they expressed some interest in continuing the Steam Controller, although nothing was definitive.

But before getting a new Steam Controller or a new Steam Deck, I just want what is already out to be refined a bit. I hope improving the new Big Picture Mode is a higher priority right now.

Well consider me an ally to getting these features added/re-added. =)

[Swifty Magee]

Just in case anyone else has the double-tap issue I brought up and found this thread via Google, I eventually thought up a temp fix. I just went back into the default Steam client and launched a game so the old Big Picture Mode would load. Then I altered a normal Gamepad with Mouse Like Joystick template to have an empty binding for my Right Pad's Double Tap entry. I then saved the the layout as a custom template.

When I went back into the Steam Beta Client and launched Controller Layout, I then had a Double Tap entry with the custom template I created.

It would be better if a Double Tap entry was just there in the new Big Picture Mode, but until that gets patched in (hopefully it gets patched in at some point) this is the only way to get Double Taps natively.

[Swifty Magee]

Update to my last comment: as Steam just rolled out the new UI to the default client - and never added a native Double Tap input - that fix is now broken. I no longer can go back to the old UI, set up a Double Tap, and move back to the new UI. It's all the same interface now.

So there is still an issue and unless you created a template for Double Taps before June 14, you just can't add that into your controller layouts anymore.

Still hoping for a resolution to this issue, but I'm thinking it's a non-priority for Valve. The only real alternative is to use Double Press and make sure Trackball mode is turned off. Which isn't the same, but I guess it will have to do.

[Vladdie]

This is really annoying, I used double tap on the right touchpad all the time and haven't played much since the update and just noticed. Hopefully the devs add it...

[Swifty Magee]

Originally posted by Vladdie:

This is really annoying, I used double tap on the right touchpad all the time and haven't played much since the update and just noticed. Hopefully the devs add it...

Yeah, I hope more of the old Controller Configurator options eventually find themselves in the currect Controller Layout service, particularly the ability to add Double Taps. I just think it's so weird that the option to configure Double Taps is in place, but there is no actual way to set up a Double Tap. I'm thinking it has to be an oversight, but it's an oversight that should have been easily avoidable.

Anyway, like I said in my previous comment, an alternative to Double Tap inputs is to just set up a Double Press Extra Command on Right Pad Touch. It won't be exactly the same, but it should suffice for most circumstances, and if you have any issues with things like camera movement try going into Right Trackpad Behavior and switching off Trackball Mode.

[Vladdie]

Has there been any updates on this? I really liked using double tap touch as a regular use button in walking sim type games but can't any more.

[Swifty Magee]

No changes as far as I can see. Double Tap is still missing, and since the old Controller Configurator is dead there's no way to set up a template that has double tap set up unless you did it before the big UI change.

There may be some way to set up double taps by configuring a controller layout's ini file, but I'm not even sure what folder the controller layout files are kept anymore. I think they may actually be kept in the Steam Cloud now, but I'm not sure.