8BitDo announces it's controllers now have Steam/SteamOS compatibility
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I've been using these for years, including with my docked steam deck, and they already work great.
I also wonder what they could've changed.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]The issue is that the back paddles weren’t unique buttons. You could configure them to press existing buttons, (like telling it to press A when you hit the right paddle,) but they weren’t listed as individual inputs. Now they are, so you can actually map unique actions to L4, R4, etc… This is particularly important for games that have a lot of unique inputs. Plenty of games are optimized for controller, but lots still rely on having more buttons (on a keyboard) than what a traditional controller has.
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Anybody else find a use for the back buttons? I like the idea of them but I haven't really found a great use yet.
I mostly use them for mode shifts. For instance, shifting to emulated mouse when holding R4, so I can use desktop stuff easier.
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Anybody else find a use for the back buttons? I like the idea of them but I haven't really found a great use yet.
I play a lot of beamng drive an having them for extra binds is nice, like the horn and changing gears
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Anybody else find a use for the back buttons? I like the idea of them but I haven't really found a great use yet.
I just map it to the abxy that steam suggests. Works great when I wanna keep using the trackpad or joystick at all times.
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These controllers were all working on SteamOS before as far as I know, so I'm interested to see what this changes. My understanding is that previously their controllers just show up as generic xbox controllers, and now they will be properly recognized. We'll see if this has any other benefits like custom bindings for back buttons and things like that.
Edit:
According to @[email protected]
got the 8bitdo Ultimate 2 wireless controller with the latest firmware update, and can confirm dinput mode lets me map the back buttons and extra bumpers to different inputs through Steam Input. Analog triggers and gyro work too.
I just got their ultimate 2 wireless today. It's really nice and works very well on Linux. I just wish their app worked at least through wine. I couldn't even make it work in a Windows VM. Hope they bring it over.
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I have a Pro 2 and my only complaint with it with "SteamOS" (Bazzite) is that the back paddles don't actually work with Steam Input directly. You can program them with the Ultimate Software, but that means they're stuck only repeating the input of another button on the controller. So if this update brings full Steam Input support that would be awesome, as it would mean you can set all kinds of other functions to them. Plus not having to use a seperate software, and controller-based profiles, would be awesome.
I have a Pro 2 too and switched from Xinput to Dinput at the back of the controller and my Steam Deck now identifies the back buttons like L4/R4 (but with the name PL/PR) and I can map it to anything I want
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I'm still holding out on the next generation of steam controller for playing games on my deck while docked. Until then, my 8bitdo pro 1 has been wonderful.
I'm in the same boat. But I'm still using my steam controller right now. Really hope a V2 comes out sometime this year or next
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These controllers were all working on SteamOS before as far as I know, so I'm interested to see what this changes. My understanding is that previously their controllers just show up as generic xbox controllers, and now they will be properly recognized. We'll see if this has any other benefits like custom bindings for back buttons and things like that.
Edit:
According to @[email protected]
got the 8bitdo Ultimate 2 wireless controller with the latest firmware update, and can confirm dinput mode lets me map the back buttons and extra bumpers to different inputs through Steam Input. Analog triggers and gyro work too.
Do y'all use a controller in heldheld mode or only docked? I'm curious what the use case is here.
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These controllers were all working on SteamOS before as far as I know, so I'm interested to see what this changes. My understanding is that previously their controllers just show up as generic xbox controllers, and now they will be properly recognized. We'll see if this has any other benefits like custom bindings for back buttons and things like that.
Edit:
According to @[email protected]
got the 8bitdo Ultimate 2 wireless controller with the latest firmware update, and can confirm dinput mode lets me map the back buttons and extra bumpers to different inputs through Steam Input. Analog triggers and gyro work too.
That's cool to see but I've gone through about 3 8bitdo controllers (gave the last one to my partner). I like them but I wish there triggers were not the rubber magnetic pads. I'm a bit heavy handed when using the triggers and it eventually crushes the pads to not work. Other than that great controller.
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Do y'all use a controller in heldheld mode or only docked? I'm curious what the use case is here.
Ultimate 2 wireless I use with 2.4Ghz through the docking station. It works well but it was annoying that the back paddles and L4/R4 buttons (secondary bumpers) could only be mapped as another button, instead of being their own function. It will be nice to have the extra buttons if that is what’s working now. I had the beta firmware on them but steam still did not recognize them yet (but the beta firmware did allow Switch 2 to recognize them!)
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Ultimate 2. It’s got a gyroscope and back paddles.
I love the trigger locks for Switch 2 use as well. It’s nice to have a controller I can go between both systems with.
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Do y'all use a controller in heldheld mode or only docked? I'm curious what the use case is here.
I only use controllers when docked personally
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I only use controllers when docked personally
Nice, thanks. How has your docked experience been? I've only been able to get it working well with low-power games like Monster Train. Any 3d game seems to run horribly, even older titles.
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I just got their ultimate 2 wireless today. It's really nice and works very well on Linux. I just wish their app worked at least through wine. I couldn't even make it work in a Windows VM. Hope they bring it over.
Having the same issue and I don't know how to update to the latest firmware without the app.
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Ultimate 2. It’s got a gyroscope and back paddles.
Is there a symmetrical version, like a PS controller, or just the Xbox-like layout?
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Nice, thanks. How has your docked experience been? I've only been able to get it working well with low-power games like Monster Train. Any 3d game seems to run horribly, even older titles.
Recent updates have caused some crashes actually when docking to my TV, but I'm on beta OS updates and have a lot of deck plugins, so it might not be affecting other people.
Other than that docked play is pretty good in my experience. There's a major performance hit if you have upscaling set to use fsr though, especially on 4k monitors.
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These controllers were all working on SteamOS before as far as I know, so I'm interested to see what this changes. My understanding is that previously their controllers just show up as generic xbox controllers, and now they will be properly recognized. We'll see if this has any other benefits like custom bindings for back buttons and things like that.
Edit:
According to @[email protected]
got the 8bitdo Ultimate 2 wireless controller with the latest firmware update, and can confirm dinput mode lets me map the back buttons and extra bumpers to different inputs through Steam Input. Analog triggers and gyro work too.
I really wish you could swap the buttons easily to match the system. The 8-bitdo controllers tend to have the Nintendo layout which kind of sucks because most games don't support that they use Xbox. And then of course if you get into emulation nothing will match the PlayStation so I either need several controllers around or to memorize locations
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Recent updates have caused some crashes actually when docking to my TV, but I'm on beta OS updates and have a lot of deck plugins, so it might not be affecting other people.
Other than that docked play is pretty good in my experience. There's a major performance hit if you have upscaling set to use fsr though, especially on 4k monitors.
Interesting, I'll have to play around with it. I've been docking it to my 4k TV so maybe I need to force a lower res.
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Interesting, I'll have to play around with it. I've been docking it to my 4k TV so maybe I need to force a lower res.
That's usually ok if you're not using fsr, but for the deck I personally recommend capping the external display resolution at 1080p.
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That's cool to see but I've gone through about 3 8bitdo controllers (gave the last one to my partner). I like them but I wish there triggers were not the rubber magnetic pads. I'm a bit heavy handed when using the triggers and it eventually crushes the pads to not work. Other than that great controller.
Upside, usually the controllers are extremely easy to fix. I'm not sure if they give free replacement pads still, but they used to if you asked support.
I've had other problems than shoulders on my pros, and never with the ultimate one I got, those seem to have a pretty solid build.
