Steam Controller no longer works after updating to version 10.2-beta-2

[jedigu]

Hey, guys. Just updated to the latest beta (Launchbox 10.2-beta-2) and Steam Controller immediately stopped working in BigBox. Steam overlay (Big Picture mode) is active and Steam detects the controller; and the Guide button works inside BigBox to show the Steam overlay and navigate through said overlay (inside Big Picture Mode the controller is working just fine, but BigBox doesn't register any controller's input).

*Edit: just to make it clear, I launch BB through Steam's Big Picture Mode as a non-Steam game, so that BB would see Steam Controller as a gamepad. Oh, I've also tried to uncheck "allow desktop config in launcher" on Steam after the LB/BB update, but it didn't work (see, I never unchecked this option before and the controller was working before the update, so unchecking it would probably change nothing anyway, but it was worth the try).

The controller was working until the update; I even used it, while on BigBox, to select the option to update to the new beta - and after the update, I can't seem to use the controller inside BB anymore. And using the keyboard to navigate to "Options" and trying to remap joystick keys didn't solve it: no matter which button I press on the joystick, nothing happens and no controller button seems to be recognized. I even tried restarting Windows a few times, but nothing's changed.

Also, if I use the keyboard to select any game inside BigBox, I can play using the Steam Controller just as usual with every emulator (like Retroarch, PCSX2 and RPCS3). 

I haven't had this kind of problem with any previous version of Launchbox / BigBox, by the way, so it must be something specifically in version 10.2-beta-2.

Edited September 21, 2019 by jedigu
Edited to add the BB is launched as a non-Steam game in Big Picture Mode and making the text clearer

[Dyluk]

Hello guys,  I noticed this too after the update. I launch BB and LB through Steam and use a Playstation 4 controller and never had an issue before until today. The controller is detected by LB but is not working if you try to remap a key or use the pad to navigate through games. If you try it on BB is the same.

Edited September 21, 2019 by Dyluk

[Jason Carr]

Hi guys, I fixed a bunch of Direct Input controller stuff in beta 3, which just came out. Please let me know if you're still seeing issues with beta 3 in the above scenarios.

[klepp0906]

wonder if its related to the issues im having.  I literally JUST bought launchbox so beta 2 was my first go at it.  

the short of it is, I can control things fine at my pc, but over steam link with bigbox - cant even navigate the menus unless i map my controller to be a keyboard.

this was tried with a steam controller.   a xbox controller, and DS4 controller. 

Edited September 23, 2019 by klepp0906

[Jason Carr]

14 minutes ago, klepp0906 said:

wonder if its related to the issues im having.  I literally JUST bought launchbox so beta 2 was my first go at it.  

the short of it is, I can control things fine at my pc, but over steam link with bigbox - cant even navigate the menus unless i map my controller to be a keyboard.

this was tried with a steam controller.   an xbox controller, and DS4 controller. 

Thanks for the purchase.

I would highly recommend though sticking with the official 10.1 release for your initial setup though. Jumping straight into the betas probably isn't the best idea.

[klepp0906]

30 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

Thanks for the purchase.

I would highly recommend though sticking with the official 10.1 release for your initial setup though. Jumping straight into the betas probably isn't the best idea.

yw, thanks for all your work on the project.  ive been really impressed thus far.   Excited to flesh it out but Im not gonna put a minute more work into that until I figure out the control issue as that was by far my motivation for buying it. 

I'm getting old, my kids have beaten me up.  When i game i do it from on my back in my bed lol.   So far steam remote play has taken good care of me with minor obstacles along the way.   Bigbox though I just cant get working no matter what I do.

Do you think its possible that the controls not passing properly could be due to the fact im using a beta build?   Is rolling back as simple downloading the stable version and extracting right over top?

if so it would certainly be easy to test as a process of elimination at least.  ive tried damn near everything else.  

[Jason Carr]

4 minutes ago, klepp0906 said:

yw, thanks for all your work on the project.  ive been really impressed thus far.   Excited to flesh it out but Im not gonna put a minute more work into that until I figure out the control issue as that was by far my motivation for buying it. 

I'm getting old, my kids have beaten me up.  When i game i do it from on my back in my bed lol.   So far steam remote play has taken good care of me with minor obstacles along the way.   Bigbox though I just cant get working no matter what I do.

Do you think its possible that the controls not passing properly could be due to the fact im using a beta build?   Is rolling back as simple downloading the stable version and extracting right over top?

if so it would certainly be easy to test as a process of elimination at least.  ive tried damn near everything else.  

Yes, I do believe that is most likely a beta issue, or at least there's a good chance that it is. I'm actually working on overhauling controllers with the betas. And yes, you can just install the official version over top of your existing folder. Just make sure you install to the correct folder, and not a subfolder.

[jedigu]

Thanks for the reply, Jason. I'm a big fan of all things Launchbox (including the Android app, it's been working great so far); thanks for all your work.

I updated to beta 3 and tested it again, and unfortunately the same issues remain.

[Jason Carr]

15 hours ago, jedigu said:

Thanks for the reply, Jason. I'm a big fan of all things Launchbox (including the Android app, it's been working great so far); thanks for all your work.

I updated to beta 3 and tested it again, and unfortunately the same issues remain.

Okay, good to know. When you connect through Steam remotely, what controllers show up in your controller list? What are their names?

[klepp0906]

16 hours ago, Jason Carr said:

Yes, I do believe that is most likely a beta issue, or at least there's a good chance that it is. I'm actually working on overhauling controllers with the betas. And yes, you can just install the official version over top of your existing folder. Just make sure you install to the correct folder, and not a subfolder.

Ironically enough - really strong chance it was literally the beta.  I downgraded this morning, left to the gym - came home, put on my big boy pants and fired it up ready for more frustration and disappointment.   Low and behold.

the steam overlay wreaks havoc with it still which is a shame.  it pops up improperly scaled, the graphics get stuck inside the screen/intermingled with the bigbox rendering etc.  Ive disabled it for now, but the loss of functionality stinks, ESPECIALLY in this case where certain emulators could use from being able to change mappings on the fly (im looking at you cemu).

still huge leap forward, now im faced with the more daunting prospecting of actually configuring it lol.  The defaults wont do.  Not with the options you guys have out there for themes n such.  That coupled w/ my OCD - yea still gonna be a bit before i can play, but at least i can move forward

One thing to note (i only caught this with the xbox one s controller) is during an attempt to test out the overlay and if it could be useable even with the glitchy scaling and rendering, when it popped up - my controller sort of hung and stopped working.

I had to come to my pc to close bigbox/remote play that way and I saw that it had triggered steam to launch virtualhere which it shouldnt have done.   Unsure if thats related to my previous problems (unlikely) or something unrelated to anything, or can help point to something that explains why the overlay and bigbox arent playing well (which is why i mentioned it).  Its likely that if anything, the overlay causing some sort of breakdown in the passage of controls is what triggers virtualhere and not the other way around.   Above my paygrade though >.<

Either way, lessons have been learned.

Ive always used betas, whenever I could.   its the pc hobbyist in me i guess.   Rarely has it ever presented any issue, even with the varying states of readiness that developers like to call beta.

Still twice this week ive been bitten.   Once with steam pushing that crazy library UI to the beta channel which wreaked havoc on my set up, and now (presumably) with this.   (im certainly not going to roll back forward to find out lol)



  

Edited September 23, 2019 by klepp0906

[jedigu]

5 hours ago, Jason Carr said:

Okay, good to know. When you connect through Steam remotely, what controllers show up in your controller list? What are their names?

When I launch LB or BB through Steam Big Picture Mode, both LB and BB see the Steam Controller as a XInput Xbox 360 / Xbox One controller (and whether I check or uncheck "Use all attached controllers", no input from the controller is registered, not even when trying to remap the joystick buttons). Pics attached below:

[Jason Carr]

On 9/23/2019 at 2:57 PM, jedigu said:

When I launch LB or BB through Steam Big Picture Mode, both LB and BB see the Steam Controller as a XInput Xbox 360 / Xbox One controller (and whether I check or uncheck "Use all attached controllers", no input from the controller is registered, not even when trying to remap the joystick buttons). Pics attached below:

This is really puzzling me. I've never set this up before, but it looks like I'm going to have to in order to get it figured out. Does this happen even without streaming from another computer? Does it happen just by running LaunchBox through Big Picture Mode? Or does it require streaming?

Can anyone else in this thread test the latest beta to see if they're seeing the same issue?

[jedigu]

20 hours ago, Jason Carr said:

This is really puzzling me. I've never set this up before, but it looks like I'm going to have to in order to get it figured out. Does this happen even without streaming from another computer? Does it happen just by running LaunchBox through Big Picture Mode? Or does it require streaming?

Can anyone else in this thread test the latest beta to see if they're seeing the same issue?

This happens when streaming (and LB/BB still sees Steam Controller as a XInput Xbox 360/XBox One controller - screenshot below); and also happens just by running LB / BB through Big Picture Mode without streaming.
I've tested it with beta 3 and beta 4, same issue.

Edited September 26, 2019 by jedigu

[jedigu]

After a few more tests, I've found a solution in order to use Steam Controller + BigBox that suits me for now : what I did was add an action set on Steam Controller config, mapping keyboard keys to the joystick in one action set (this way, I can use the joystick with BB as if I was using the keyboard), and switching to the default action set (the gamepad one) after launching a game / emulator.

I'll explain it below, in case it can be useful to someone else:

- on Steam Big Picture Mode, select the BigBox shortcut (BB must have been added to Steam as a non-Steam game);

- on Controller Configuration, edit the control config: it's originally mapped as a gamepad, so keep it that way, but you must also add an action set;

- on this new action set, map some of the controller's buttons as keyboard keys so you can navigate through BB (left analog as the keyboard directional keys; button A as Return/Enter; button B as Esc, and so on)

- map any of the joystick buttons to switch action sets (I assigned it to the right grip button); "change action set" is on the key binding screen: it's an icon at the top, right next to the box where you name the binding. Select the action set you'll switch to, or "previous/next action set".

- on the "default" action set (the gamepad one, without any keyboard keys assigned), map any joystick button to change action set too, so you can go back and forth after changing action sets.

Done! This way, you can change the action sets on the fly - meaning you can use the one with keyboard keys assigned on BigBox and, when you start a game / emulator, just press the assigned "change action set" button to use the joystick as a gamepad. After exiting the game / emulator, press the "change action set" button again.

 

I'm running LB/BB beta 5, by the way, and using the aforementioned action set has allowed me to keep using the controller with BB, even when streaming.

[Jason Carr]

@jedigu @Dyluk @klepp0906 I just tested running Big Box directly from Steam Big Picture Mode with three separate controllers with no issues. I tested an Xbox One controller, a PS4 controller, and an 8bitdo SF30 Pro. All controllers worked great, and mappings worked without issues.

This is of course on beta 5, which came out yesterday. However, I have not tested an actual Steam controller, and I have not tested streaming using a Steam Link. Can you guys test what you can and provide me details on what exactly is and is not working?

I'm going to try and hunt down my elusive Steam controller to hopefully do some testing with it. Streaming is going to require a bit more setup on my part though, so if anyone can test that for me, I would appreciate it.

[klepp0906]

yea, mine would all work unless it was remote via steamlinkapp  (through an nvidia shield).   I could run it at the pc through steam big picture mode and all was well.  Ill update to the newest beta and give it a rip at some point this evening and report back.

id be lying if i said i wasnt apprehensive but these things must be done
 

[Jason Carr]

I think I finally just figured this out. I was using XInput 1.3, because why not. But apparently Steam's XInput emulation only works with XInput 1.4. Everything (including the streaming stuff) should be fixed for the next beta (beta 6).

[jedigu]

That's great news! Thank you, Jason. When the next beta is out, I'll be sure to test it and give feedback.

[klepp0906]

1 hour ago, Jason Carr said:

I think I finally just figured this out. I was using XInput 1.3, because why not. But apparently Steam's XInput emulation only works with XInput 1.4. Everything (including the streaming stuff) should be fixed for the next beta (beta 6).

just updated to 10.2 beta 6

no problems with controls while streaming on my end  

Edited September 26, 2019 by klepp0906

[jedigu]

Updated to beta 6 as well; everything back to normal and working perfectly, even when streaming and using Steam Controller.