2y ago

Anyone having controller / multiplayer split-screen issues on Steam Deck?

I use primarily 8bitdo controllers (in xbox emulation mode, so they show up as xbox controllers), and so far I've ran into several major bugs; wondering if others have experienced the same (i.e. it's something wrong with my setup) or found any workarounds

The controllers show up as 2 controllers when steam input is turned on -- to workaround this, I need to go into Steam's controller settings and turn off "Steam Input for XBox controllers", and they show up as one again.
It seems to have controllers working, they need to be connected before the game starts.
When loading a game with 2 controllers connected to the same computer, if you go into the session manager to move characters around (hit start -> LB I think), your first player's screen disappears forever and is unusable.
When a controller disconnects, you have to restart the entire game to reconnect them -- I can't figure out how to rejoin if a controller goes to sleep.

Edit: forgot to mention this is on (stock) steam deck. Turns out the problem was Proton Experimental, it works a lot better when I turn off "Force use of specific compatibility version".

5 comments

8bitdo owner here - I’m having exactly the same issues. I’m playing on Linux, so I thought that might’ve been the issue but probably not then. As long as the controller is connected before starting the game, and I keep it awake during the game, all is good. Awkward, but I suppose we’ll have to manage for now.
- Oh, forgot to mention so am I (steam deck). Which gave me a clue to check ProtonDB -- it works a lot better when I turned off using Proton Experimental to leti t use the default Proton version.

I'm playing local split screen coop with two xbox wireless controllers and haven't ran into any issues with them. At the very least, I certainly haven't had any of the issues you're reporting. Possibly check out Hairy's comment, might be some known 8bitdo issues with steam?

I play with my PlayStation 5 controller (I has also used my Xbox controller but like the PS controller's touchpad). I have set the Steam controllers inputs set to off for the game.
I don't play multiplayer. But haven't had any issues with the controller in single player.
I have never heard of 8bitdo controller. It may be causing the issues? Not sure.
- I looked up what 8bitdo controller was and it looks nice. I looked at some of the issues the controller was having with steam and found this. Different problem but may help.
  You're using the stable Steam client? Check in Big Picture mode if it offers you the option to setup the controller BPM Menu Settings Controller Setup Device (or a similar name). I wouldn't have expected this for Xinput mode but can see it happening for Dinput.
  Said some guy on the Internet.