Use controller without launching from big picture?

[Macita]

I'm using a steam link and remote play, and I have a controller connected to my link. The controller works fine with games launched via big picture normally.

I want to use the controller with applications launched via desktop mode (adding the application to steam and launching from there does not work, it crashes the application). How can I make the controller available as a normal game controller when I'm streaming desktop mode? Currently, the controller is not recognized as a controller when I launch something without big picture. I've set the desktop mode configuration to gamepad but this doesn't seem to be enough.

[_I_]

you dont need to add desktop app as non steam game

steam -> settings -> controller -> [desktop]
bind as desired

[Macita]

setting the desktop configuration to the gamepad settings did not work, two different games launched outside of steam did not recognize any input from the controller (a dualshock 4).

bear in mind i'm using the DS4 via the steam link and not directly connected to the computer, so steam needs to be doing some forwarding via streaming. to be extra clear, the problem here is that steam link streaming is not forwarding gamepad inputs in desktop mode, even when the desktop controller configuration is appropriately set to gamepad

if you mean that setting the desktop configuration to gamepad should make the controller function as a gamepad in desktop mode for programs outside of steam, then i'm saying that's not happening. either this is a bug or a gap in functionality

i did get it to work with GlosSI, but this is an unofficial software being used in a nominally unsupported manner. surely i should not need to do this, and the gamepad desktop configuration should simply work? or big picture shouldn't be crashing programs but that seems like a bigger issue

[_I_]

remote play needs to use steam input for the controller

you need to add the games to steam as non steam games
then they will work with the controller

[Macita]

right, but the issue is that launching the game as a non-steam game causes the game to crash, so that isn't an option for me. (i'm trying to play Creature In the Well but on the epic games store). this is also an issue, but a different one

software exists to make this work so clearly it's possible, but it just isn't native functionality? it's not hard to imagine a world where i can use a controller via remote play without launching as a non steam game. i can provide keyboard/mouse inputs without launching anything as a non-steam game, so why are game controller inputs not streamed the same? it seems like such a glaring gap in functionality that i'm not sure it isn't a bug

[_I_]

oh, you need to add epic launcher to steam as non steam game, then you can run the game from epic