this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2025
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Steam Deck

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8BitDo announces it's controllers now have Steam/SteamOS compatibility (sopuli.xyz)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz to c/steamdeck@sopuli.xyz
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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.

Source

Edit:

According to @dualpad@lemmy.zip

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.

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[–] MycarHolmes@quokk.au 21 points 6 days ago (3 children)

So how do you update firmware with just a Steamdeck? 8bitdo does not seem to supply Linux software support anymore, so it feels a bit hilarious that they support SteamOS without any official way of updating controllers there.

I found the fwupd tool on github, but it seems a hacky way that cannot update everything. Can the 8bitdo tool be run via proton/wine?

[–] seralth@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago

We call this marketing bullshit.

[–] seliaste@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 6 days ago

Tried it, not it cannot

[–] klangcola@reddthat.com 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Isn't fwupd already included in SteamOS? Or is there a specific 8bitdo fwupd tool?

[–] MycarHolmes@quokk.au 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] thezeesystem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 6 days ago (2 children)

How do I update my controller on my steam deck when the update software is only on windows?

[–] ewo@lemmy.sdf.org 11 points 6 days ago (1 children)

7a0tc7-589363266

[–] thezeesystem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

So it's just bullshit marketing. Got it thank you

[–] dualpad@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 days ago

Probably have to use Windows to update it. Once the proper firmware is applied then going into dinput mode on the 8bitdo Ultimate 2 wireless controller allowed me to map the back buttons and extra bumper buttons through Steam Input. Was also able to set up gyro too.

[–] Based_and_Cool@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

You can update via Android or iOS I believe

[–] SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 2 points 6 days ago

Unfortunately not the SN30 Pro, only Pro 2 and newer.

[–] poke@sh.itjust.works 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] dualpad@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I 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.

[–] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 1 points 4 days ago

That's fantastic, thanks for sharing

[–] CodingCarpenter@lemmy.ml 12 points 6 days ago (4 children)

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

[–] forgedchaos@sh.itjust.works 7 points 6 days ago

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.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I wish so many games didn't default to the Xbox layout with no option to change it. Having grown up with the SNES layout, the prompts fuck me up every time.

[–] Don_alForno@feddit.org 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

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.

[–] ISolox@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

You can! They have replacement buttons for whichever layout you want for fairly cheap. I'm using the original ultimate Bluetooth with an Xbox layout.

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[–] DonutsRMeh@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago (4 children)

I just got their ultimate 2 wireless today. It's really nice and works very well on Linux. I just wish their app worked at least through wine. I couldn't even make it work in a Windows VM. Hope they bring it over.

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[–] Matty_r@programming.dev 8 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Ive been waiting for this. Which one is the best one to get for both my Steam Deck and desktop?

[–] DireTech@sh.itjust.works 11 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

Ultimate 2. It’s got a gyroscope and back paddles.

[–] VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Is there a symmetrical version, like a PS controller, or just the Xbox-like layout?

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[–] bonn2@lemmy.zip 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Has anyone gotten this to work? I have both the SN30 Pro and the Pro 2, both display the latest firmware update as 2.06 which just lists Switch 2 compatibility. Steam doesnt seem to recognize the back buttons on the Pro 2 either.

[–] Schmeckinger@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

Instead of pressing the L+R buttons press the button with the 8bitdo logo while in the change grip/order menu.

[–] Souyo@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

That's cool to see but I've gone through about 3 8bitdo controllers (gave the last one to my partner). I like them but I wish there triggers were not the rubber magnetic pads. I'm a bit heavy handed when using the triggers and it eventually crushes the pads to not work. Other than that great controller.

[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Upside, usually the controllers are extremely easy to fix. I'm not sure if they give free replacement pads still, but they used to if you asked support.

I've had other problems than shoulders on my pros, and never with the ultimate one I got, those seem to have a pretty solid build.

[–] Souyo@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

I took apart the first one and had to order the pads. They were cheap and available. I sent the second one back to be replaced because disconnecting the board from the controls stripped the connection. It was easy and had it back fast.

[–] Localhorst86@feddit.org 3 points 6 days ago

I can get this to work on my steam deck. Back buttons and gyro.

But on my PC, it doesn't work. Does anyone know what the requirements for this to work are? Do I need a specific Bluetooth version?

[–] Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Do y'all use a controller in heldheld mode or only docked? I'm curious what the use case is here.

[–] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 8 points 6 days ago (9 children)

I only use controllers when docked personally

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[–] als@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

I'm still holding out on the next generation of steam controller for playing games on my deck while docked. Until then, my 8bitdo pro 1 has been wonderful.

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