How to use any* controller with Steam In-Home Streaming using x360ce

[Dkazyo]

Compatibility

*only controllers supported by x360ce will work, you will also need a driver for your controller

Games with Denuvo won’t work as they are not supported by x360ce. You can check Denuvo protected games here[en.wikipedia.org]

There is an official list of x360ce supported games here[github.com]
However I have played about 3 games that are not on the list and they all worked fine with x360ce.

This guide was tested on 3 different machines, 2 with Windows 8.1 64-bit and 1 with Windows 10 64-bit in several different host/client configurations.
I have tested this with Wii controller (Nintendo RVL-CNT-01) and Vjoy virtual controller, both worked fine. Afaik anything from a wheel to Nintendo Switch numchucks to a guitar controller should work as long as you manage to set it up in x360ce.

Also please excuse my english as it is not my mother tongue.

What is the goal of this guide

The goal is to use any controller on the client PC by emulating a xbox360 controller, because xbox360 controller is suported by Steam In-Home Steaming. To do this, we will need a program caled x360ce.

Steps for client PC

1. Go to the x360ce github page[github.com] and download 32-bit version of x360ce from the “Download” section. Also make sure that you have all the system requirements at the “System Requirements” section.
   
2. Place the x360ce.exe to the Steam folder, which is likely located at “C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam”
   
3. Open x360ce.exe , it will ask you to create a xinput1_3.dll file[i.imgur.com], click “Create”
   
4. It will then ask you to search for setting[i.imgur.com], click “Next”, now this can take a while to load. After it is done click “Finish”.
   
5. Now you can rebind your controller if you want. You can also do stuff like set your dead zone or to do something like combine controllers (for instance with the Nintendo Switch numchucks).
   
6. After you are done, go to “Game Settings”, select the x360ce application from the steam folder and then check this checkbox[i.imgur.com], this should create xinput1_4.dll file in the Steam directory. If for whatever reason that does not happen, copy the xinput1_3.dll file and rename it to xinput1_4.dll

Steps for host PC

1. Follow step 1 from “Steps for client PC” (download x360ce and check system requirements)
   
2. Find directory of the game you want to stream (it is propably located at “C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common” if it is a steam game). Go to the directory where the game’s executable is located and put x360ce.exe there.
   
3. Open x360ce.exe and as before, let the application create a xinput1_3.dll file. You can close the x360ce application now. You can copy xinput1_3.dll to any other game folder, if you want to stream a different game.

Start streaming

Now everyhing “should” work. Log in to steam on both PCs, make sure you have home-in streaming enabled. Now stream the game you wanna play from the client PC. If everything works, then thats great! However, if not, well, then there is...

Troubleshooting

Different dll files:
Some games will require different xinput file. For instance, Deus Ex Human Revolution uses xinput9_1_0.dll (afaik all the dll are the same, they just have a different name). To find out which files does your game need, you can check the official Compatibility List here[github.com]
There is also information if a game needs hook mask. Those can be toggled from the “Games settings” tab. Do that on the host PC if necessary.

If the game is not on the list, the most logical solution that cames to my mind is to create all the xinput files by checking all the checkboxes like so[i.imgur.com]
Some games are also running as a 64-bit application and you will need to download a 64-bit version of x360ce and create 64-bit dlls. This is however very unlikely to happen. A single 32-bit xinput1_3.dll should work for most games.

Drivers:
If you are stuck at step 5 because x360ce won’t register any of your inputs, make sure that you have driver for your controller. You can check by opening x360ce, now click “Game Controllers...”, select your controller, click “Properties” and then “Test” tab. Now you will either see nothing or something like this[i.imgur.com]
If you see nothing, you propably don’t have a driver for your controller. If you see the test interface, but it is not responding to your controller actions (or not to all of the actions), you propably need to update your controller driver. You will have to get the driver yourself, Google is a good start.

If you want to use a Nintendo RVL-CNT-01 controller, you can check this site https://www.julianloehr.de/educational-work/hid-wiimote/ . It worked for me, might as well for you.

If everything fails
If you still have problems, first double-check everything, try restarting your computer (especially if you have been doing something with drivers), if that doesn’t solve the problem, make sure to check these links:
https://github.com/x360ce/x360ce - Check the “Troubleshooting” section
http://ngemu.com/threads/various-x360ce-guides-by-resolutespider5.156807/ - If you still have problems, you can check these forums. Those didn’t help me, but might help you.

If even that doesn’t work, try Google, again. At this point I am afraid I can’t help you.

Final Words

I have tried getting this to work for about 6 hours. Hopefully you don’t have to suffer the same after reading this guide. I would like to thank Fadolamxd for helping me here and there. Feel free to ask me anything (on the topic if possible).

[James]

Nice!

[TDA003]

Dkayzo,

Thanks for sharing. I wonder if the latest steam client update breaks this like it did for most games using XBOX360 with IHS.

VALVE Customer support, do you care to respond?