Troubleshooting Motion Controls

This is a generic troubleshooting guide that applies widely to all motion control settings and guides made by me, and often to motion controls in general.

Supported Controllers

These are the controllers I typically support with my motion control settings. Other controllers made for the same consoles will also typically work correctly if they are not a completely different type of controller, but there are a few known exceptions.

The PlayStation 5's DualSense controller
The PlayStation 4's DualShock 4 controller



The Nintendo Switch Pro controller



The Steam Controller



Other controllers may or may not work well if using Steam to convert the layouts made by me into layouts for those controllers.

Getting Started

Problem: Steam displays a Steam Controller but that is not what I have or want to use.

Solution: This is a bug in Steam. Applying the setting will display an image of the correct controller type as well as more accurately labeling the various details of the settings.


Problem: Steam displays an error message when I click a link instead of showing me the settings.

Solution: Enable the Steam configuration option for your controller.

• Steam (top left menu item)
  
• Settings (drop menu option)
  
• Controller (side tab category)
  
• General Controller Settings (Button)
  
• PlayStation/Switch Configuration support (Enable the relevant option)

Note that having this setting on may interfere with some normal uses of the controller until it is turned off, most notably Steam will in a sense hijack access to the controller and it will not function normally in games launched without Steam, and will input various mouse and keyboard functions intended to help navigate the desktop instead of being inert on the desktop or controlling a game as intended.

Advanced features for PlayStation 5 DualSense controllers may not work correctly in the few games that support them. These features include Adaptive Triggers, fine grained haptic feedback, and the playing of select game sounds from the controller's speaker.

Restoring normal controller functionality on a case by case basis as supported natively by any particular game that does so can be done by disabling Steam controller support for that individual game (in the case of running the game through Steam), or by loading an empty desktop setting for the controller (in the case of running a game outside of Steam while Steam is still running), or by shutting Steam down (also in the case of games run outside of Steam).

Sensitivity and Accuracy

Problem: The sensitivity is too high/low.

Solution: Note that the intended sensitivity of the motion control settings sometimes depends on the game settings being at the default. Please reset any in-game camera or aim sensitivity to the default and work from there.

Changing sensitivity settings is relatively simple. In the Steam controller layout menu, select the box for the gyroscope settings which is located between the controller grips. Then move the sensitivity slider to whatever setting you prefer. If the Mode Shift box on the screen is not empty, select that as well and modify the slider there.

If there are more Action Sets and Action Layers tabs at the top of the screen this process becomes more complicated. Also change sensitivity in each of those Action Sets/Layers, as well as in any non-empty Mode Shift box.

Changing settings named Camera/Look/Aim/Mouse/Joystick sensitivity in the game may also help, but you will need to refer to the layout setting's gyroscope setting for which input method is relevant. How these interact will depend on the individual setting and game, but typically you will want to change mouse settings.


Problem: My controller jerks around too much when I pull the trigger and throws off my aim.

Solution: Refer primarily to "Problem: The sensitivity is too high/low." immediately above, with an eye towards lowering sensitivity.

You may release the motion controls while firing to remove this problem for the purpose of a shot, but this will tend to increase the time between aiming and firing as well as lessening the ability to correct for recoil.

Some players like to place their controller in their lap to steady it against their own bodies, or to steady their elbows against a chair.

Another remedy is to steady the controller by grasping it very firmly and tensing the wrists and arms while pulling the triggers, although this becomes tiring.

Lowering the overall sensitivity also helps, but does come with the downside of a worse ability to quickly turn the character around.

More complicated remedies involve contextual sensitivity, such as using the Trigger Press Dampening setting in the Steam layout editor.

Comfort

Problem: I'm getting motion sick from these controls.

Solution: Most importantly see "Problem: The sensitivity is too high/low" in the Sensitivity section, with an eye towards lowering sensitivity.

Getting acclimated to the controls may also help, but make sure to only play for short enough sessions that you will not get motion sickness. Otherwise the problem may become worse over time.


Problem: Using these motion controls is exhausting my arms and shoulders.

Solution: Supplement motion controls with the joystick or touchpad swipes depending on the controller and settings you are using.

Some games feature a quickturn function to rotate 180° with a button or button combination, in which case it will be mentioned in my guide for the game.

Holding your arms out in front and swinging the controller around your body may help with rapid motions but may also fatigue a player more quickly, instead rest your upper arms flat against your seatback or rest your elbows on handrests, and twist the controller while keeping it relatively still in place, relying on the lower arms and wrists to make motions.

Also see "Problem: The sensitivity is too high/low" in the Sensitivity section, with an eye towards increasing sensitivity.


Problem: Using these motion controls is provoking carpal tunnel syndrome.

Solution: Supplement motion controls with the joystick or touchpad swipes depending on the controller and settings you are using.

Avoid twisting the controller far from the center, disengaging the motion control activation method and rotating it back to a comfortable center as often as needed.

Instead of twisting the controller in place using your lower arms and wrists, put your hands out in front of you and swing the controller around using your upper arms and torso while keeping the wrists straight.

Also see "Problem: The sensitivity is too high/low" in the Sensitivity section, with an eye towards increasing sensitivity.


Problem: My fingers become tired from gripping the controller firmly to steady my aim.

Solution: Refer to "Problem: The sensitivity is too high/low" in the Sensitivity section, with an eye towards lowering sensitivity.


Problem: Using the touchpad is uncomfortable or makes controls difficult.

Solution: Try using a setting other than the Motion Controls on Touch settings. While the touchpad activation scheme should work well with most adult hands on controllers with touchpads, many will not find this comfortable on PlayStation controllers, and multiple functions may become difficult to properly reach at the same time.

Customization

Problem: This doesn't work like some of the motion control schemes I like from some Switch games.

Solution: The convention of making the yaw axis relative to the ground and not to the controller's orientation is not universally supported in PC software, making it unlike how it functions in some Switch titles, so there is currently no easy solution to that problem.

Some games use rolling motions of the controller to make the camera yaw. This is not intuitive to most players so I do not use or recommend this setting. This option is available to change in the layout menu as are many others, so you may be able to modify the controls to work to your liking.


Problem: I don't like how the motion controls are activated. I prefer them to be always on and to have a pause/toggle button, or an invert axis button, or to use flick stick.

Solution: You may be able to modify the layout to suit your purposes, but I do not believe these are good defaults for most users and so do not use them in my schemes nor do I promote them. I may include Flick Stick settings in the future when software support for that feature makes it more accessible.

Other Fixes

Problem: The camera drifts in one direction.

Solution: Some controllers will calibrate their gyroscopic sensor when placed on a flat horizontal surface for a few seconds. Others may need to have their gyro calibrated in Steam.


Problem: Camera movements are choppy/rough.

Solution: Some controllers may experience poor gyroscopic sensor performance while wireless. Try to have a direct line of sight between the controller and the bluetooth receiver's antenna, else have as few bulky, heavy, metallic, or electronic objects in between as possible.

If the problem persists, use the controller in wired mode. While the controller is switched off, plug it into the computer so that it starts up in wired mode.

Poor performance of the computer may also be a cause of rough camera movements, in which case lower graphics settings until results are acceptable.

In some cases games respond poorly to mixing gamepad and mouse inputs, which is what settings made by me are usually doing. Please let me know if the game seems to run with worse performance when you are controlling it with my settings than when you use normal settings on a gamepad or a mouse and keyboard.