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Valve have now updated the Steam Client and the firmware for the Steam Controller to allow Big Picture Configuration editing and more.
Adjusting what happens when you press the middle Steam button, the "Chord" button while pressing another is a very nice addition. It opens up yet another button to be used for other things.
You could make it so pressing X and the Chord button minimizes Steam Big Picture, shut down your PC, turn volume up or anything like that.
They added in a new screen-zoom option, apparently it works on SteamOS and other desktops are possible too, but I haven't been able to get it to work on Ubuntu Mate. Not that I can ever see a need for it personally.
You can now power off the controller, or the system using the controller. Turning off the system from the controller is a pretty nice addition. Especially if you're using it for some sort of media centre, or in bed and a quick tap of a button.
What I would really like them to fix, is the on-screen keyboard not actually working on Linux. You can get it to appear, but not actually give any input to an application when using it. Making it useless on Linux. I opened a bug report for it in March, still not fixed or even replied to by Valve despite them marking it as "reviewed". To be clear I am talking about desktop Linux, not SteamOS.
See the full changelog here.
What is annoying me right now, is for some reason unless Steam is open I now can't even use my controller on the desktop as a mouse. Not sure if I'm missing something from when I installed Ubuntu Mate ages ago, or if the new firmware has messed up the desktop use outside of Steam. Has anyone else noticed anything? Upon more investigations, it appears to work fine if plugged in via USB. But when it's in wireless mode, nothing works without Steam itself open. To be clear again I am talking about desktop Linux, not SteamOS.
Edit: I've had this issue confirmed be others now. Bug report here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Adjusting what happens when you press the middle Steam button, the "Chord" button while pressing another is a very nice addition. It opens up yet another button to be used for other things.
You could make it so pressing X and the Chord button minimizes Steam Big Picture, shut down your PC, turn volume up or anything like that.
They added in a new screen-zoom option, apparently it works on SteamOS and other desktops are possible too, but I haven't been able to get it to work on Ubuntu Mate. Not that I can ever see a need for it personally.
You can now power off the controller, or the system using the controller. Turning off the system from the controller is a pretty nice addition. Especially if you're using it for some sort of media centre, or in bed and a quick tap of a button.
What I would really like them to fix, is the on-screen keyboard not actually working on Linux. You can get it to appear, but not actually give any input to an application when using it. Making it useless on Linux. I opened a bug report for it in March, still not fixed or even replied to by Valve despite them marking it as "reviewed". To be clear I am talking about desktop Linux, not SteamOS.
See the full changelog here.
What is annoying me right now, is for some reason unless Steam is open I now can't even use my controller on the desktop as a mouse. Not sure if I'm missing something from when I installed Ubuntu Mate ages ago, or if the new firmware has messed up the desktop use outside of Steam. Has anyone else noticed anything? Upon more investigations, it appears to work fine if plugged in via USB. But when it's in wireless mode, nothing works without Steam itself open. To be clear again I am talking about desktop Linux, not SteamOS.
Edit: I've had this issue confirmed be others now. Bug report here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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17 comments
Hm, the screen-zoom and the keyboard, I have them both working here.
Oh, and the controller working with steam closed, that one is working too. And I mean that is always working, even in the motherboard's bios or while using the grub etc.
Last edited by dubigrasu on 1 September 2016 at 8:04 pm UTC
Oh, and the controller working with steam closed, that one is working too. And I mean that is always working, even in the motherboard's bios or while using the grub etc.
Last edited by dubigrasu on 1 September 2016 at 8:04 pm UTC
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Hm, the screen-zoom and the keyboard, I have them both working here.Really the "Toggle Magnifier" option actually works for you?
Oh, and the controller working with steam closed, that one is working too. And I mean that is always working, even in the motherboard's bios or while using the grub etc.
What distro and desktop are you on?
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I'm on SteamOS. I tested a bit the zoom option and what it does is scaling a bit the image (I couldn't find an option to increase/decrease the zoom) and you cam move it around with the right pad.Hm, the screen-zoom and the keyboard, I have them both working here.Really the "Toggle Magnifier" option actually works for you?
Oh, and the controller working with steam closed, that one is working too. And I mean that is always working, even in the motherboard's bios or while using the grub etc.
What distro and desktop are you on?
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As for the the keyboard input you can see here at min 1.05 opening the keyboard and entering the name "test":
View video on youtube.com
View video on youtube.com
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Mohandevir Sep 1, 2016
The problem I have is something else... In BPM, when I try to read the description of a game via store, I can't scroll into the pop up window... Did I broke something, is it a long standing problem that I just noticed or is it new since last controller update?
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About Valve not responding to bugs on GitHub, they don't use GitHub for bug tracking, they use their internal tracker (JIRA) and just copy them from here and mark them as reviewed. Because of this we don't have any information about bug priority, expected milestone and bug resolution progress.
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To be clear, I am not talking SteamOS here, but desktop Linux.Ay, my bad.
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The problem I have is something else... In BPM, when I try to read the description of a game via store, I can't scroll into the pop up window... Did I broke something, is it a long standing problem that I just noticed or is it new since last controller update?Probably something new, I can't scroll either. But you can add the up/down arrows to the left pad in the Big Picture Configuration (default section), or the scroll wheel etc.
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It never worked as a mouse for me unless it was plugged in. When wireless, it doesn't work at all unless Steam or the open source controller application is running.
Last edited by melkemind on 1 September 2016 at 9:17 pm UTC
Last edited by melkemind on 1 September 2016 at 9:17 pm UTC
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Comandante Ñoñardo Sep 1, 2016
It never worked as a mouse for me unless it was plugged in. When wireless, it doesn't work at all unless Steam or the open source controller application is running.
Is there a driver for the wireless device?
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Mohandevir Sep 1, 2016
The problem I have is something else... In BPM, when I try to read the description of a game via store, I can't scroll into the pop up window... Did I broke something, is it a long standing problem that I just noticed or is it new since last controller update?Probably something new, I can't scroll either. But you can add the up/down arrows to the left pad in the Big Picture Configuration (default section), or the scroll wheel etc.
In fact, something happened to the left trackpad. I have a family share code and it doesn't react (numbers 7 to 0).
This is annoying!
Edit: I tried changing the trackpad layout but nothing works.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 2 September 2016 at 12:03 am UTC
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1mHfoksd1Z Sep 2, 2016
On Arch Linux there was a special file that had to be created to make the wireless mode work at all (with or without Steam open), it was a udev rule file. You can find it on Arch Wiki on the "Gamepad" page, it may help you on Ubuntu as well... it's worth a shot :)
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On Arch Linux there was a special file that had to be created to make the wireless mode work at all (with or without Steam open), it was a udev rule file. You can find it on Arch Wiki on the "Gamepad" page, it may help you on Ubuntu as well... it's worth a shot :)
Blessings of Tux the Mighty be upon you for sharing this!! I haven't checked if it works yet on my Ubuntu rig yet, but just havng someone confirm that it is possible warrants dancing in a circle singing, "Yeah!! Yeah!! Uh-Huh!! Linux rocks!! Oh Yeah!!" Or similar.
I can't believe Ubuntuneans haven't been more aggressively working on a fix for this. Or that I've not been able to come across said aggression if they have.
Addenda:
1. This update, cool as it was, caused Payday 2 to crash faster than a coked-up Hindenburg every time I tried to join a mission lobby. It's the stable client for me for awhile.
2. Regarding the new Zoom feature. I hadn't thought about it until now, but that will be blissfully useful when I use the desktop client because BPM is still too limited for my taste. Now I'll be able to read the text on the desktop client without squinting.
Last edited by Nanobang on 2 September 2016 at 1:12 pm UTC
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Huh? I wrote about that specfici issue on Ubuntu ages ago: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/steam-controller-on-ubuntu-a-tweak-you-need-to-do.6081On Arch Linux there was a special file that had to be created to make the wireless mode work at all (with or without Steam open), it was a udev rule file. You can find it on Arch Wiki on the "Gamepad" page, it may help you on Ubuntu as well... it's worth a shot :)
Blessings of Tux the Mighty be upon you for sharing this!! I haven't checked if it works yet on my Ubuntu rig yet, but just havng someone confirm that it is possible warrants dancing in a circle singing, "Yeah!! Yeah!! Uh-Huh!! Linux rocks!! Oh Yeah!!" Or similar.
I can't believe Ubuntuneans haven't been more aggressively working on a fix for this. Or that I've not been able to come across said aggression if they have.
They fixed it ages ago, the problem is now it seems a firmware update has messed with the wireless dongle.
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Mohandevir Sep 4, 2016
Nailed it!
I just "turned off" the Steam client beta. Everything is back to normal, now.
I just "turned off" the Steam client beta. Everything is back to normal, now.
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