8BitDo announces it's controllers now have Steam/SteamOS compatibility
-
For the Souls games, binding sprint and use item to them is a game changer (though I haven't played them with my 8bitdo, but I did with my Steam Controller). Normally you have to claw grip to run, move, and look, but with back buttons you can avoid that.
That may the problem, I don't happen to have any of my FromSoft titles on PC, and the PS4 won't talk to my 8BitDo.
-
maybe it is (don't have my deck with me to check) but even so, it is not an officially supported tool and I can see from issues on Github that people cannot find their controllers on there. not sure if that's very old or very new ones.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]https://fwupd.org/lvfs/devices/
In the devices list of lvfs/fwupd there's a bunch of controllers supported. But it seems like it's mostly their retro controllers. XBox-style controllers like their Ultimate C etc. are not supported.
-
How can it be so hard for devs to just include some additional sets of glyphs and allow the player to switch manually? Then nobody would have this problem.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]It isn't, and many now do.
Autosetting the glyphs correctly is actually one of the requirements for a Steam Deck Verified badge and Steam supplies a library that has them all, so modern games are pretty good at it. And if you implement that, you might as well add a menu option to change "Auto" to "Switch" or "Playstation".There just was a quite long period where majority of games used Xinput thanks to Microsoft, basically only working with Xbox controllers, and as a response a whole bunch of controllers identify as Xbox controllers when plugged in. Therefore, xbox icons were the only thing they were "designed" to ever work with.
-
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.
How do you make them work?
-
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
If you don't care about what the physical button shows, steam has an option the swap the layout of the face buttons from Nintendo to xbox in the input settings.
-
No wonder performance has been bad! The Deck is not meant to be a 4k system.
1080p looks abysmal on my 65" though. Is there any solution?
-
Someone mentioned fwupd in another comment. I haven't tried it, but hopefully it works.
Limited hardware support for fwupd. Mostly older models, ones mentioned don't appear to be compatible.
-
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.
How do I update my controller on my steam deck when the update software is only on windows?
-
How do I update my controller on my steam deck when the update software is only on windows?
-
How do you make them work?
I just connect with Bluetooth like normal, and then in steam you can tell it to treat it like whatever type of controller layout you want: switch, xbox, playstation, etc.
-
So it's just bullshit marketing. Got it thank you
-
Someone mentioned fwupd in another comment. I haven't tried it, but hopefully it works.
It doesn't.
-
How do I update my controller on my steam deck when the update software is only on windows?
You can update via Android or iOS I believe
-
1080p looks abysmal on my 65" though. Is there any solution?
Not that I'm aware of. I've never had a 4k TV.
-
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.
Months back, I submitted a support ticket asking if they had any plans to support a d-input mode with both analog triggers and gyroscope inputs enabled, like the steam-licensed controller that just came out at the time did. They said they had no plans, but they'd forward the question. I wonder if this is a result of that. Would be cool if they also started reporting the back paddles as separate inputs as well, but I didn't include that in the ticket.
-
I don't know of any that controller would be better than keyboard and mouse though, so if you're that engaged with comp, shouldn't you just sit at your computer?
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Than you are like most mouse and keyboard players where you confidently assume mouse and keyboard is the best control method end of story. You don't know what you are talking about and neither do any reply guys who will try to obliterate this point with a salvo of "um actually" killer rhetorical points.
https://steamdeckhq.com/news/steam-deck-shown-being-used-in-ukraines-war/
That is a Ukrainian soldier using a steam deck to control actual weapon systems real humans (likely mouse and keyboard players who have no ability to use a gamepad) are counting on to survive an actual war.
Honestly if I sound snarky it is because I have grown to love how unshakably mouse and keyboard players believe they are using the only method to play competitively. Especially in a battlefield type FPS game with aircraft, mouse and keyboard players will hilariously refuse to fly with anything other than mouse and keyboard or a crazy complex flight simulator setup with a flight joystick they talk about but will never get.
Meanwhile there is an xbox one controller sitting in the other room that in 5 minutes they could learn to pull off flight maneuvers smoothly and confidently with that are next to impossible to do with mouse and keyboard...
I point this out to mouse and keyboard players directly and they don't listen even why I fly literal circles around them. They respond with some form of "mouse and keyboard works badly enough for me". Computer people are truly so much smarter than the rest of us!
me flying circles around people
https://lostpod.space/w/id9wMqsEmHSD9xQCTchQ9r
https://lostpod.space/w/fYo9DBAxwWSace7X7X486t
https://lostpod.space/w/qUyc9YLX69RK4xokm98qCW
Recording of me playing the best arena shooter, Xonotic, with joysticks and gyro. Sure there are plenty of quake players that could annihilate me, such is life, but I am able to play fluidly and competitively enough that the issue is my skill at the game and to a lesser extent the limited framerate and field of view of the Steam Deck screen not a fundamental limitation of joysticks and gyro. Note that Xonotic is one of the fastest competitive games period, which means slower competitive games are comparatively in terms of dynamic aim and movement skill FAR easier to master the mechanics of than Xonotic, so Xonotic is the perfect proving ground to prove this.
-
Ive been waiting for this. Which one is the best one to get for both my Steam Deck and desktop?
I'm personally a fan of the pro 2. I find it to be the most comfortable controller I own. Their QC does seem lacking for the hall effect sensor version though, I had to set up a small dead zone because it idled with a little bit of input. Still a smaller deadzone than a non hall effect, but I wanted to make note of it.
-
Is there a symmetrical version, like a PS controller, or just the Xbox-like layout?
Pro 2 is symmetrical. Looks like a SNES controller with handles. The ergonomics of it are very different between it and the ultimate, and I prefer the pro 2 by a lot, but they are both good controllers.
-
Months back, I submitted a support ticket asking if they had any plans to support a d-input mode with both analog triggers and gyroscope inputs enabled, like the steam-licensed controller that just came out at the time did. They said they had no plans, but they'd forward the question. I wonder if this is a result of that. Would be cool if they also started reporting the back paddles as separate inputs as well, but I didn't include that in the ticket.
It sounds like back paddles will be treated as separate inputs, I found where some people got to try out beta firmware for some of the 8bitdo controllers some months back, and that was specifically mentioned as some of the new functionality.
-
Than you are like most mouse and keyboard players where you confidently assume mouse and keyboard is the best control method end of story. You don't know what you are talking about and neither do any reply guys who will try to obliterate this point with a salvo of "um actually" killer rhetorical points.
https://steamdeckhq.com/news/steam-deck-shown-being-used-in-ukraines-war/
That is a Ukrainian soldier using a steam deck to control actual weapon systems real humans (likely mouse and keyboard players who have no ability to use a gamepad) are counting on to survive an actual war.
Honestly if I sound snarky it is because I have grown to love how unshakably mouse and keyboard players believe they are using the only method to play competitively. Especially in a battlefield type FPS game with aircraft, mouse and keyboard players will hilariously refuse to fly with anything other than mouse and keyboard or a crazy complex flight simulator setup with a flight joystick they talk about but will never get.
Meanwhile there is an xbox one controller sitting in the other room that in 5 minutes they could learn to pull off flight maneuvers smoothly and confidently with that are next to impossible to do with mouse and keyboard...
I point this out to mouse and keyboard players directly and they don't listen even why I fly literal circles around them. They respond with some form of "mouse and keyboard works badly enough for me". Computer people are truly so much smarter than the rest of us!
me flying circles around people
https://lostpod.space/w/id9wMqsEmHSD9xQCTchQ9r
https://lostpod.space/w/fYo9DBAxwWSace7X7X486t
https://lostpod.space/w/qUyc9YLX69RK4xokm98qCW
Recording of me playing the best arena shooter, Xonotic, with joysticks and gyro. Sure there are plenty of quake players that could annihilate me, such is life, but I am able to play fluidly and competitively enough that the issue is my skill at the game and to a lesser extent the limited framerate and field of view of the Steam Deck screen not a fundamental limitation of joysticks and gyro. Note that Xonotic is one of the fastest competitive games period, which means slower competitive games are comparatively in terms of dynamic aim and movement skill FAR easier to master the mechanics of than Xonotic, so Xonotic is the perfect proving ground to prove this.
Than you are like most mouse and keyboard players where you confidently assume mouse and keyboard is the best control method end of story.
No, it's great for driving and flying. It's also the best option for most souls-likes and third person melee games.
That is a Ukrainian soldier using a steam deck to control actual weapon systems real humans...
OK, this is a stupid point. This is a much different scenario than someone sitting at home. The Deck is portable, light, and has control and display built in. It's perfect for this, where a desktop wouldn't really work. Even if the control scheme isn't ideal (which it's great for controlling a drone, but that's beside the point), setting up a keyboard and mouse with a monitor and power would be horrible for them.
Honestly if I sound snarky it is because I have grown to love how unshakably mouse and keyboard players believe they are using the only method to play competitively.
For aiming, it's almost always better. Controller is better for movement usually. Controller inputs are between 0 and 1. Mouse is unrestrained, so it's more precise and faster at the same time.
Especially in a battlefield type FPS game with aircraft, mouse and keyboard players will hilariously refuse to fly with anything other than mouse and keyboard...
Again, controller is great for driving and flying. You can swap inputs freely though. Use both if you want. Driving and flying on KB&M is not that bad though, and aiming with a controller is significantly worse, so if you're choosing one KB&M is the right choice.
me flying circles around people
*Recording of me playing the best arena shooter, Xonotic, with joysticks and gyro. Sure there are plenty of quake players that could annihilate me...
I like that these follow each other. Of course you can get clips that look good, and also you know there are clips where you look bad. What does that prove?
Note that Xonotic is one of the fastest competitive games period, which means slower competitive games are comparatively in terms of dynamic aim and movement skill FAR easier to master the mechanics of than Xonotic, so Xonotic is the perfect proving ground to prove this.*
This is irrelevant to the conversation, but there are different types of mechanical skill. The skill you use in Quake is not the same as the skill you use in Counter Strike, for example. Both of them require incredible skill at high level play. Largely it's down to accuracy VS precision. Quake style you need to be more accurate (shoot in the right area) but less precise. CS you'll be aiming in the right spot already, so you need less precision and more accuracy. You've got a fraction of a second to get a headshot, and you have to hit it. Gyro aim is likely only going to make that harder.
There's a reason top level players of all competitive shooters (and gaming in general usually) on PC use KB&M even though controllers are usable on PC. If there was an argument here you'd see at least a few using controllers.
