A recent Steam Controller update (possibly beta only update) added a second Bluetooth pairing slot, letting you pair two Bluetooth devices (just like how you can pair two pucks). To start the controller in the second Bluetooth slot, you turn the controller off, and then hold L1 + B + Steam to turn it back on (versus R1 + B + Steam for 1st BT slot, or R1/L1 + A + Steam for the two Puck slots).
That said, the main thing I wanted to talk about in this post is how happy I’ve been with my Steam Controller. I know it’s been overshadowed by the Steam Machine/Steam Frame, and there’s been supply issues/over priced, but it’s been a really great controller for me. I find it fits my hands really well, and I’ve been playing my Steam Deck docked a lot more since getting it.
The magnetic puck for charging works great, it’s been effortless to keep it fully charged between sessions. I’ve never really gotten to test the controller’s supposedly great battery life because it’s so convenient to charge. Having the track pass/gyro/back buttons has been great, I found myself missing them a lot when using other controllers. It’s also great having a controller with track pads for times I need to reply to a steam message or type something in a game.
I haven’t really used the grip sensors. I can imagine some uses for them in games where I want to use gyro without touching the thumbsticks/track pads, but realistically I haven’t encountered a game where that applied. I could also imagine using them to pause a game when I set down my controller, but that’s not really much of a need and I could imagine it backfiring. They’re an interesting tech but less useful than the capacitive sticks imo.
A minor inconvenience is that the waking up the steam deck via the steam controller (through the puck) seems to only work if the steam deck was connected to the puck before going to sleep. To get around that, I’ve paired the controller to my deck via Bluetooth as well, so I can swap to Bluetooth to wake it up, and then swap back to using the puck for latency/etc.
Legitimately the best controller I’ve ever used, no exaggeration. Every single thing about it is exactly what I’ve wanted for ages. Feature parity with the Deck controls makes it so much easier to go back and forth between the two.
The only thing I don’t really use is the grip sensor. I can’t really think of a use for it since it’s just always active while you’re holding the thing? Maybe it can be used to make a one-handed layout for mindless grind games or something, idk
Maybe it can be used to make a one-handed layout for mindless grind games or something, idk
That’s kinda a cool idea, I like the idea of having a 1 handed control layout for grinding in JRPGs that it switches to automatically when I’m only holding the controller with one hand.
I got one of these and it’s great. Fits the controller perfectly, is nicely weighted and connects/disconnects the puck effortlessly. Plus, if you don’t feel like spending money on it and have access to a 3D printer they provide the design files for free!
My only major gripe with the SC2 is that the control layout makes the D-pad only accessible with the left thumb. I’m firmly an Xbox layout supremacist, and that’s partly because it allowed me to reach over to the D-pad with my right thumb without releasing the left stick (e.g. using a healing item while bravely running away).
Other than that, my main issues are related to Steam Input’s integration. If a game is running inside Gamescope, even if it’s launched from Steam, I can’t use the controller to send keypresses or mouse inputs to the game.
(e.g. using a healing item while bravely running away).
In games where the dpad is used to heal, I usually always bind one of the back grip buttons to it for this exact reason
Modeshift may come in handy. It can be used to temporarily shift the right joystick or facebuttons into a dpad when one of the grip buttons like L4 is held down.
If dpad modeshift on right joystick is done I recommend setting it to 4 way no overlap to avoid diagonal inputs. This would allow dpad functions without having to take the right thumb off the right joystick. If tactile feed back is desired then modeshift on the facebuttons would work.
It’s pretty simple to assign custom actions and commands to the right trackpad. The left one too, but you specifically mentioned using your right thumb.
How long did you have to wait to get your steam controller? I signed up for it at the initial announcement and still haven’t been told I can buy one yet
Steam page says
Your estimated order availability: 2027
So I’m not holding my breath
I bought mine during the initial availability window, before they switched to the queue system. Got mine on May 12th.
I love everything about the Steam Controller!
Whoever decided to keep the same faulty D-pad membrane design and contact points from the Steam Deck needs to be taken out back and Old Yeller’d.
Wait, I didn’t know it supported two pucks. Today I learned. Which may help quite a bit, as I have an OpenPuck; and want to keep the charging puck at my desk; with my OpenPuck plugged into my Switch 2.
This controller is my favorite. It has great battery life. I don’t charge this thing hardly at all to be honest. The past week on multiple multi hour gaming sessions on my Switch 2 I habitually put the controller on my entertainment stand and have not bothered charging it.
Thank you for sharing!
I didn’t know that about the second BT slot, thanks for the info! I really enjoy my controller too, but I’ve only used it for a small handful of games. I’d like to test out the gyro function, but I’m not sure if I have a game in my library that would warrant using it.
A lot of game I play have a ranged ability you can use by holding L2 to aim (Such as Onimusha most recently), so I frequently bind gyro to that button. I really like it for helping with quick aiming in the middle of combat.
One thing I’ve noticed with using gyro on the steam controller vs the deck, is that the controller being much lighter makes it easier to mess up your aim by pulling the trigger too hard. I’ll sometimes twist the controller slightly right as I clench the trigger making it pull off the target at the last moment. This wasn’t really an issue with the heavier Steam Deck, and it’s not that hard to stop myself from doing it once I realized my mistake, but it’s basically the only gyro issue ive had.
Think of it as a happy accident. It’s like an immersive feature for gunplay. You shouldn’t pull the trigger when you’re shooting either
I haven’t really used the grip sensors. … They’re an interesting tech but less useful than the capacitive sticks imo.
I use both at the moment in two different modes for the same game, in combination with gyro control in Automobilista 2, a racing simulation:
- Gyro is ON by default mode: As long as the the left stick is touched, gyro stays disabled. So quickly touching the stick will recenter the gyro position. Or touch the stick constantly to take over control with the stick, in situations where using the gyro controls become awkward (especially in menus).
- Gyro is OFF by default mode: When I press on the left stick, the controller switches to a “gyro off by default” mode. Here gyro is only enabled, as long as both grip sensors are touched. If one of them is untouched, then gyro is off. Useful for navigating in menus, but on track controlling the car, its a bit awkward to have one side the grip sensor untouched, in case I want to take over to control with the stick.
Still in experimentation phase, but looks like the stick method is more useful to me for this particular game. On the other side for other type of games where the stick isn’t used much, the method to disable or enable gyro by grip sensors can be very handy too. So which of the tech, grip sensor or stick sensor, are being more useful depends on the game.
That’s pretty interesting, I hadn’t ever considered using thumbstick touch to disable gyro. I could definitely see an advantage there for having the grip sensor.
I still need to figure out, when I’m in the menus and untouch the stick to control menus with the d-pad.
In this situation the gyro is still enabled (in Mode 1 as described above). The problem is, we can only bind a single condition to when gyro is enabled or disabled. So we put any number of buttons to be touched or untouched, but the condition is defined by a single “untouch to disable” effect. That means I cannot have a separate rule with opposite condition for each key (enabled when untouched and disabled when touched).
Hope this isn’t too confusing in reading. Simply put, there can only be one condition to enable or disable per mode. That’s why I have two modes, but have to switch between them right now. I thought about incorporating the second right stick sensor… but it started to get complicated.
That’s cool but they should fix the wake issue too, especially for how much they’re charging now.
Wake issue?
Read the OP
Love my Steam Controllers. I got one when it first launched and used it quite a bit playing my main online shooters Overwatch and Marvel Rivals (both SteamOS/Linux) trying to learn how to aim with the trackpads. I got decent at it and for certain characters who aren’t as aim heavy it works great. I ended up getting a second Steam Controller with my Steam Machine and now I have one upstairs in the living room with the Machine and one downstairs by my PC setup. Been using the Steam Controller to play Selaco, Oblivion Remaster and Cyberpunk on SteamOS/Linux on both setups lately. Also was playing Fortnite with it on my Steam Machine yesterday (triple booted SteamOS, Arch Linux, and Windows 11) using Steamless Controller to emulate a DualShock 4, gyro aim worked perfectly. Also, there’s OpenPuck, which is a fantastic project. I want to build a 3D printed charging dock for the controller with an OpenPuck eventually.
