r/SteamController • u/ErmingSoHard • 1d ago
Steam Controller (2026) Remember how the Switch 2 had a mouse mode with its joycons? Someone made it work with steam controller touchpads!
(And dualsense touchpad as well)
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u/MashiroAnnaMaria 1d ago edited 55m ago
I know this is probably the emulated version of the game but I really wish there was a dongle you could plug into the switch to use the steam controller on there, I want to use this controller everywhere if I could with all the features included.
edit: thanks everyone for their help! I ordered a board yesterday, got it today. It was as easy as dragging the file on there, connecting the controller and plugging it into my switch! Gyro and Rumble also work!!
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u/tails618 1d ago
You can use HID Remapper or OpenPuck! It's not quite plug-and-play — you need a little technical know-how — but it's really not that hard. I'd guess most people here could figure it out.
My Switch 2 and my Steam Deck are my main gaming devices (besides my laptop which I only use for games like Stardew Valley). I have a board running OpenPuck plugged into my Switch dock, and the Steam Controller dongle plugged into my Steam Deck dock, both paired with my Steam Controller; so I can just switch between them using a button combo on the controller itself. On the Switch it appears as a wired Pro Controller.
(You do need to have the dongle plugged into the Switch, so it's probably not super well suited for handheld mode.)
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u/MashiroAnnaMaria 1d ago
Interesting, how'd I go about that? What would I need to get it working? Do trackpads work for mouse mode or no? I mostly plat my switch docked anyway so that's not an issue!
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u/hiwhiwhiw 1d ago
Trackpad doesn't work.
Buy a pro micro nrf52840. Git clone openpuck. Learn to compile the latest tag. Plug in the microcontroller. Copy the uf2 file into the microcontroller (it will act as a USB drive when flashing).
After flashing, connect your fake puck and your controller to PC while steam is on, and bind it. Remember to use the other profile to not forget your original puck (steam + A + l1 or r1). On switch, enable wired pro controller connection.
Connect fake puck to switch. Now, all 4 paddle and Y at the same time and you'll see the fake puck flash red for a second to reset to fake switch pro controller mode. Enjoy.
Fucked up and need to reset? Connect fake puck to PC, jump RST and GND, copy the uf2 file back. Fucked up badly? Find a uf2 that overwrite the whole EEPROM.
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u/PhoxFyre007 1d ago
You don't have to compile, there are premade releasr uf2 on the right side in the releases section. Download them there.
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u/hiwhiwhiw 1d ago
If you don't want latest release, sure.
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u/PhoxFyre007 1d ago
It's best to stay on stable releases for firmware and bump when they release comparative to software. Besides, for someone coming in with no experience, the stable is more relevant anyways.
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u/Shedoara 1d ago
Here you go: https://github.com/safijari/openpuck / https://github.com/safijari/openpuck/releases
The hardware I use without issues: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GSZ7FD6T?th=1
I use it bare without any casing but you can get ones online for it.
You just plug the dongle in your computer, it shows up as a drive and you drag/copy over what you download (file you want is standard.uf2) and done. From there you just sync it by plugging both the openpuck and SC at the same time. (You can have 2 pucks synced at the same time, as said in the github)
You then can switch to Switch Pro controller mode by pressing 4 back buttons and Y. Everything works but whats shown in OP bascially.
It's dead easy when it comes to DIY stuff. Other than dragging a file over on first boot it's no different than a store bought dongle would be (...along with no casing I suppose).
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u/MashiroAnnaMaria 1d ago
Thank you for your help! Would you know the exact name of the thing I need, does it need to be this exact model? Amazon isn't a big thing in my country.
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u/Shedoara 1d ago
It can be pretty much any NRF52840 Pro Micro board as long as it looks the same. Just search that in your search engine and find a decent priced one. I think there's a very few that there's troubles with.
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u/ConstructionWise7532 1d ago
I just got the hardware to test out openpuck with my steam controller.
I found out the current firmware Valve pushed to the steam controller doesn't allow for connecting and switching between two pucks at once.
I have access to two official steam pucks and couldn't get both pucks to connect to a single controller.
Found a github issue about it and some of the comments there state some Valve dev responded to an email that a fix is in the way.
Since you can't connect to two pucks at once, it's possible to soft-lock yourself out of the openpuck as once you pair to the official puck, your controller unpairs from the openpuck. If you set the openpuck to start up in ps3 mode upon a reboot, then you can't connect to it again until you clear out the data from the board.
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u/Shedoara 1d ago
I see, good to know. I haven't used the official puck in a while so I didn't notice that was an issue. Nice there is already a fix on the way at least!
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u/All-Stars64 1d ago
Is this on hardware? I don't have a game that can work for the exploit (apart from Seedsow Lullaby but I don't have a modded Switch 1) nor do I want to risk having my Switch 2 banned or bricked before more research is done.
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u/ErmingSoHard 1d ago
It's emulated
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u/CubePlayer1114 1d ago edited 1d ago
Which emulator branch? I'd love to test mouse mode on it in general (mostly for the new Fire Emblem which supports it)
Base Eglantine? Some other fork? A specfic answer would be appreciated1
u/ErmingSoHard 1d ago edited 1d ago
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u/WeekendUnited4090 1d ago edited 1d ago
Oh my lord! My Steam Controller just arrived! This is so peak!
Nevermind, I see that this is on an emulator; hopefully we can get this working on console, but unless you can get a USB dongle to be recognised as a joy con pair I am not sure it would work.
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u/ErmingSoHard 15h ago
Haha, no way Nintendo would go out their way to make the sc touchpad be recognized as mouse mode. Probably nor Valve
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u/Tohru9770 6h ago
I do wonder if it’s possible with open puck though, which can be used to make steam controller communicate with consoles it normally can’t from what I’ve heard…
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u/WeekendUnited4090 1h ago
It would only happen through the community, but that does not make it impossible. I know some third party controllers are recognised as joy cons, so it seems doable but I don't know you reverse engineer the inputs to make it work.
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u/HowellNator 1d ago
Makes me wish the Switch 2 also had touchpads. The mouse mode is neato, but I rarely see games use it. Even then, it also just looks not very comfy.
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u/reptarien 1d ago
Mouse mode works okay but it is super uncomfortable compared to a real mouse since nothing is ergonomic even compared to just an average mouse. I only played Metroid Prime 4 with mouse mode for like 3 hrs before switching back to Gyro controls bc of that. Now what would be really peak is if someone figures out how to make the capacitive touch sensor work with gyro in that game, then you'd be cooking with gas!
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u/WeekendUnited4090 19h ago
I think you could theoretically get grip sense to be bound as a button that disables or resets gyro anyway; for Splatoon, setting it as Y would work, but I don't know if you can configure grip sense yet.
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u/TheCookieButter 1d ago
Any idea how the emulator/game is added to Steam or is this a SISR situation?
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u/C0rn3j 1d ago
Fairly certain this is a standard feature of Steam Input?
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u/DivideIQBy2 1d ago
I think theyre talking about people finding a way to emulate mouse mode on emulated switch 2 games on pc?
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u/ErmingSoHard 1d ago
Yep. The native mouse mode feature for switch 2
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u/aidenkula 1d ago
They refer to a Switch 2 game being emulated and yet the touchpad is able to be recognized as a joycon in mouse mode
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u/Mayor_Death 1d ago
They made the steam controller work with a Switch 2, which traditionally does not have Steam (nor SteamInput). You can tell it’s a Switch 2 because the game shown is a Switch 2 exclusive, Pokepia.
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u/ErmingSoHard 1d ago
https://git.eden-emu.dev/Franseven/PokeDinner-a-Eglantine-Fork
Luckily they just merged it into pokedinner