Controllers Do Not Work on Steam (Fixed)

[Shagger]

They really don't. I recently tried to play one of my games on Steam using a controller, and it wouldn't work. This isn't the first time something like this has happened, but before it was something up with the settings or compatibility with a specific game, which is annoying but it can happen. This time, there was not a single game on Steam that worked, not one.

 

I tried with games on both Epic and GOG, and there was no issue, only on Steam. My laptop also recognised the controller just fine. I tried going through the controller configuration and calibration menus on both windows and Steam, made sure the drivers were up to date, changed every setting I could find on Steams easy to use, but pitiful and useless controller option and nothing worked.

 

But did I find a solution? Yes I did, but the solution is so absurd that it's just further proof that controllers on Steam don't work. Credit to The Windows Club for this answer. Check out the article if you so with, but here is a video of me going through the process.

 

 

To answer a couple inevitable questions;

• No, going into big screen mode was not a personal preference, it's something you literally have to do as the menu option I changed at the end can only be accessed this way. This alone is really annoying when one had to troubleshoot using a web browser as one has to memorise the entire sequence instead of following it step by step as exiting big picture mode to check on the sequence means having to stat all over again.
• You may have noticed the the setting I changed is within a menu for a specific game (in this case Tales of Arise, a game that used to work fine with a controller on this computer, by the way). Does this mean you have to do this for every controller compatible game in your Steam library? Yes. it does. Every single one of them. One. At a damb. Time.

 

I don't know why people praise Steams controller support. As I said, I never have any issue with this on Epic, EA Desktop, Xbox on Windows or GOG. OK, some games on GOG have compatibility issues with modern controllers, but that down to the games. The service, the launcher itself, works fine without having to piss about with menus and configurations, just like the rest, except Steam.

 

According to what I read, this is what has to happen for anyone who is not using an official Steam controller. I was using a third part EasySMX branded controller that gets recognised as an Xbox controller, just for reference sake. Hopefully putting this thread up will save somebody some time, and pleas feel free to talk about other similar issues you have had and how you fixed them to help others out.

[Shagger]

As it turns out, that didn't fix it at least not for Tales of Arise. After going through all that, the controller still doesn't work. The game is recognising that there is a controller input to some extent as the mouse cursor disappears from the main menu when I press a button on the controller, but there is no action. It turns out that Steam is auto-disabling the Steam controller input when I go into the game. I checked it before booting up the game, everything was enabled, but when I exit, I find this.

 

 

And I cannot get it to stay on.  Choosing any option other than "forced off" for the controller application options menu in big picture makes the controller not work at all. This didn't happen with another game I tried it with, it stayed enabled, so it's my change to the controller application options that triggered this.

 

I have the controller set to player one, I tried playing a game from EGS and it worked fine and as aforementioned I tried doing the stupid process I described and showed in the video for another game on steam and that worked for that game (and no, the controller didn't work on that before changing that setting, I checked.). So this Steam making a complete arse of this yet again. I'll update when I find the answer.

Edited April 10, 2022 by Shagger

[Shagger]

OK, so it turns out there is some kind of problem with Tales of Arise that I didn't know about that affects some controllers. I won't go into details as this thread was never meant to be about this particular game, but suffice to say I tried everything. Eventually, I gave up and will plug in one of my old Xbox controllers to use as a wired controller rather than my nice and shiny EasySMX wireless for this particular game. I'm pissed off that that is the answer, because it shouldn't be.

[killamch89]

16 hours ago, Shagger said:

OK, so it turns out there is some kind of problem with Tales of Arise that I didn't know about that affects some controllers. I won't go into details as this thread was never meant to be about this particular game, but suffice to say I tried everything. Eventually, I gave up and will plug in one of my old Xbox controllers to use as a wired controller rather than my nice and shiny EasySMX wireless for this particular game. I'm pissed off that that is the answer, because it shouldn't be.

I was literally just about to ask if it was an Xbox controller you were having the issue with or some other gamepad. Honestly, it's just lazy coding and it can be fixed via a patch but they probably haven't had many complaints as most PC gamers tend to use Xbox controllers so they probably won't ever fix it.

[Shagger]

15 minutes ago, killamch89 said:

I was literally just about to ask if it was an Xbox controller you were having the issue with or some other gamepad. Honestly, it's just lazy coding and it can be fixed via a patch but they probably haven't had many complaints as most PC gamers tend to use Xbox controllers so they probably won't ever fix it.

 

According to what I've read, uses of Xbox controllers have had issues as well. I don't see a pattern to it unless it's affecting wireless controllers only. The fact is though, if Steam didn't auto disable the the stem input function when launching the game, I wouldn't have this issue. Steam appeared to be disabling the steam input function because of how I have to set the controller application option to get the controller to work at all. I find it hard to believe than Bandai Namco are solely at fault for that.

[Shagger]

OK, I finally found a solution to this problem indigenous to Tales of Arise. I got the inspiration from somebody who suggested fix involving setting up the controller. It didn't work, but he/she mentioned that steam reads a wired Xbox controller and a wireless on differently. I don't understand that applies to a third party wireless controller with a dongle that you have to plug in anyway, but whatever. Knowing this, I tried disabling the Xbox controller profile in the general controller settings leaving only the Generic gamepad profile active (Which prompted my computer to restart for some reason), opened steam, opened the controller setting again, unplugged then plugged the controller dongle that made it work.

 

 

Hopefully nobody else will have to go through this maze hell I've been through.