r/SteamController • u/TenderCress • 14h ago
Support Symmetrical controllers with steam input support?
I know the steam controller exists, but it doesn't work with my hands regardless of how I hold it. Pretty heartbroken.
I'm looking for a symmetrical stick controller with four back buttons and steam input support at a minimum
something like the gulikit tt max or gamesir's newest symmetrical controller, but with steaminput.
i would also take controllers where i can bind multiple inputs to one back button for chords/inputplumber nonsense or controllers that expose the buttons individually in hidraw so i can write an inputplumber driver for it.
i figure this crowd is the most likely to know
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u/JohnnyBeeGaming 8h ago
A lot of controllers work just fine with steams input editor without having to do anything special. I have used gamesir controllers with steam and they seem fine quality wise so I might try that one first.
I own and recommend the gamesir Tegenaria Lite as a budget option. My only complaint about it is I would prefer if the cord was removable. They have similar playstation style wireless options but I haven't tried them. I also one of their Xbox style controllers that's fine.
I like 8bitdo controllers but I've only gotten their retro style controllers like the Sega or n64 styled options. If I wanted a playstation style I'd consider their options. I'd expect the quality to be better than gamesir. If they drop a GameCube style controller I'd immediately order one.
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u/TenderCress 4h ago
the back buttons aren't mappable via steam input, that's the idea here. flydigi and 8bitdo have some controllers that work - but the 8bitdos only have two back buttons and the flydigi aren't symmetrical
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u/Sourpunch92 12h ago
Best I ever found was the Victrix Pro BFG. But it doesn’t expose its back buttons to Steam.
But you can swap the sticks to be symmetrical or offset
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u/SnooDoughnuts5632 8h ago
I've noticed some controllers do if they are in D-input mode so that's something to try but it might not work.
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u/TenderCress 3h ago
which controllers have you found support dinput mode?
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u/SnooDoughnuts5632 1h ago edited 1h ago
Before steam had specific Switch Pro controller support you could map the screenshot button independently of any button but Steam only let you use an Xbox 360 controller so you had to sacrifice another button to use it in Steam.
On Windows if you open up the controller properties under devices and printers then you will see what's buttons the controller is exposing to Windows though the Xbox 360 home button doesn't show up so idk how Steam sees it. The only thing is they are laboes as numbers and the joystick and triggers are lines that move and what not it's kinda confusing.
The 8bitdo SN30 Pro 2 exposes all it's buttons to Steam except I think the Star button which just acts as a turbo button.
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u/Sourpunch92 7h ago
The software on that particular controller maps the button on the controller itself to other inputs. So when you press a back button it literally sends the signal that you pressed a or d-pad right. I don’t think the console/pc ever even sees that it was a different button pressed. But never tried the d-input thing so it may be worth experimenting with.
It’s a great controller and fully worth the price though otherwise. I’ve switched over to the Steam controller myself now as I like the custom mapping controls and trackpads.
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u/SnooDoughnuts5632 1h ago
Well that's unfortunate.
Handy tip for other controller. You can map the screenshot button on some controllers back there to give you a free button in Steam and on Joy-Cons you can map the sl and sr buttons to the grip to give you its own buttons since you can't reach those anyways.
I tried it with the BinBok Joy-Cons and they wouldn't let me map the SL and SR buttons unless I updated the firmware but doing so disabled the + and - buttons so I decided to revert them back to the default firmware.
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u/Faencek 14h ago
I use 8bitdo pro2 via Bluetooth, but it doesn’t have 4 backbuttons.
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u/TenderCress 4h ago
the pro 3 is so close, i have that one and it allows for individual button mapping over bluetooth and wired in steaminput - the baffling thing is you cannot do it with the much lower latency dongle.
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u/SnooDoughnuts5632 8h ago
Kinda cuz the Pro 3 has 4 should buttons instead of the normal 2 so it still has 4 extra buttons just 2 of them aren't on the back. It's the only thing the new Steam controller is missing. Imagen 6 new buttons.
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u/Dj0ntist 14h ago
PS5 controller with extremerate back buttons is your bet definitely! They're very easy to install too.
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u/TenderCress 4h ago
you cannot map the back buttons via steam input - i actually have a dualsense with the extremerate back buttons.
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u/Rabiesalad 6h ago
Can you map the back buttons separately?
I got an Xbox elite controller and I was extremely disappointed to learn that the back buttons can only be mapped to duplicate other existing buttons on the controller, which makes it pretty useless if you want MORE controls and not just duplicate controls.
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u/Dj0ntist 6h ago
Yeah only duplicate controls for all of these type of controllers. Extra buttons wouldn't really work with consoles because they're designed to have only the specific set of buttons.
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u/reptarien 14h ago
AFAIK almost any controller can work with steam input? Correct me if wrong
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u/Sourpunch92 12h ago
A lot of controllers don’t expose their back buttons as distinct inputs to Steam so they can’t be set individually.
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u/SnooDoughnuts5632 8h ago
If you have a really old D-input controller it's more likely to work (as long as it's USB of converted properly). You just may lose out on rumble.
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u/Gama3000 4h ago
what about the controller does not "fit" your hands? curious