Steam Deck Trackpad Basics 

I can't believe it took this long for someone with a Steam Deck to actually show the potential of Steam input. You're a hero! Thank you so much for showing off some of my favorite features. I hope lots of people see this to understand why the trackpads aren't "useless and taking up space".

Holy shit finally someone who actually knows what he's doing with Steam Input. It was VASTLY disappointing how not a single reviewer even bothered to tackle the insanity which were trackpad customization.

I feel like this is exactly the kind of content that Valve hoped creators would make when they sent decks to channels like yours. People are going to have no idea what to do with the trackpads, and will come looking for your video.

DO MORE OF THESE. It will really help people dial in their settings who are overwhelmed by steam input.

I really like the new way they're displaying radial menus in steam input. Hopefully it's not too long before we get that on Desktop Steam for all controllers using Steam Input.

First video I've seen about Steam Input on the Deck. I hope this gets some traction!

Fantastic video as always I wish more mainstream channels descovered how powerful steam imput is.

Please keep making more videos like this. Us Steamdeck fans need more videos like this to show people that the Steamdeck can do WAY more than a Switch.

Another great video. I'm so glad they sent you a steam deck for review. Thank you for these videos.

Man Bill, you are really digging in! Love that you’re coming with the info as a Steam Controller veteran :)

I'm suprised that I didn't realize you were a teacher when I initially watched this video. That fact shows so very well...no other videos on the Steam Deck have gotten into the nuts and bolts of using it like you do. I'll be glad when I get mine and I will work through your videos with one in my hand. Thanks so much for what you do!

Subscribed, I don't know why other RU-vidrs with access to a steam deck are not showing these kind of features

One of my favorite things to do with trackpads is play a dance pad style game like slay the metronomicon because it feels way better than any other input

WOW I'm SO pumped for the Steam Deck even MORE! This is the best Steam Deck video I've seen. Thanks for showcasing how awesome the trackpads are! For some reason, no one else is diving in to them

Thanks for the guide. This is way, way more versatile than I ever expected.

Finally! Someone that is really using the Steamdeck. Can’t wait to watch more of your videos

Loving the video. A nice tour of the new Steam Input UI and some good explanations of why its so good. Going to share this with some friends for sure.

Thank you so much for the great Steam Deck content and this very useful tutorial.

can't wait to get one and apply these ideas

I would genuinely watch a video showing off useful Steam Deck control customizations every day. It's amazing that this is the first Deck footage I've seen that shows off that radial menu - you've inspired me to go play with Steam Controller customizations on my PC while I wait for my deck!

Amazing video. Thanks for giving us an in-depth view of how the track pads work on the steam deck

Thanks so much for doing these videos my guy. Got my SD last week and your videos have been an invaluable source of helpful information 🙂

Yessss, thank you! Looking forward to seeing how the rest of it has changed, super excited with the extra possibilities from a SC users perspective. Btw would love to know if the touchpad keyboard is still a feature [If so, you could keep the pads as perma-keyboards for certain apps, acting almost like the keyboards you can attach to console controllers]. Also, on freeing up the touchpads: you could have it so that you touch the pads for mouse/dpad control, and then pressing them will let you access radial menus/abxy/etc. That alone should make the pads a lot more appealing to people who don't know about this.

I didn’t have a problem with the Steam Controller’s trackpads in and on themselves. I had a problem with the Steam Controller’s trackpads because they were a replacement for the tried and true D-Pad and thumb sticks. It was a very, very smart decision by Valve to include trackspads as an addition, not a replacement this time.

Cheers, learned a number of things about steam input

Thanks for the video. I appreciate the in depth looks at the OS and menu options. It gets me even more excited to get my Steam Deck after Q2 (whenever that is)

I was already able to do a lot of stuff with my Steam Controller so just the fact that Steam Deck has more inputs available is enough to get me excited. With a Steam Controller when I played games that utilizes a d-pad, the option that made the most sense on a Steam Controller was setting it to left trackpad, and that limited, in some cases, what I could do with trackpads. Since the Steam Deck comes with plenty of inputs methods combined (d-pad, ABXY, triggers, bumpers, two sticks, four grip buttons, two trackpads, touchscreen and gyro), I find it hard to imagine a game that would have trouble working with the Deck as far as the controls are considered, or if there are some games then I'd be ready to blame bad game design for the controls rather than accusing the Steam Deck. Also, as great as the trackpads are, I have noticed, when using a Steam Controller, that there are times when they can't fully replace the feel of a mouse input. For things like mouse camera they work perfectly but if there are UI elements you need to click, or absolutely have to control character's movement by clicking where you want to go (especially during combat), trackpads may not be as great as a real mouse. Also, some games that rely on a lot of keyboard shortcuts combining Shift, Alt, Ctrl (or even Ctrl+Shift, Alt+Shift, Alt+Ctrl, Alt+Ctrl+Shift combinations) buttons together with numbers and letters (such as Shift+1, Ctrl+K, etc.), can easily bring the total number of different combinations to over 250. And sure, you can get far with Steam Input with multiple action sets and action layers but at some point it can get hard to memorize even if you could map it all. Although, the same applies to complex keyboard mappings too in my opinion. Anyway, I can hardly wait to get my hands on a Steam Deck but unfortunately that's gonna take a long time. There is one thing I'm getting a bit more anxious about though and that's the increasing number of unsupported games in my library. Currently this is the status of my library, Verified: 36 games (6.19%), Playable: 24 games (4.12%), Unsupported: 27 games (4.64%), Unknown: 495 games (85.05%). For the first time the number of unsupported games has become higher than the number of playable games (playable + verified is still higher). Some of these unsupported games aren't even multiplayer games with anti-cheat or VR titles. Some of the titles include CLANNAD, Megadimension Neptunia VII, Senren * Banka, Tales of Berseria, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III, Ys: Memories of Celceta, just to name a few, so the titles include even JRPGs and visual novels. As someone who would have loved to play many of these on Steam Deck, this definitely stings. I really hope they can improve the game support because if I can't play games I want on it then I won't really be needing it. And yeah, among the 36 verified and 24 playable games there are games I absolutely could play on the Deck but it is still depressing how many unsupported games among my favorite games, series or genres are being added. So, as much as I'd love to have a Steam Deck on my hands right now, I think I don't mind too much that I'm after Q2 because it gives me more time to see how the game support improves over time.

Working like charm !!!! thanks for sharing and keep up !!!

I use a Steam controller all the time and I didn't even know that there are such awesome options. The default presets are many times good enough but I've never seen this radial menu. So cool!

Nice vid! great help for people who are doubting to actually buy the SD!

Great job with this video. You went in depth into really cool control features people may never even think about without you doing this. I think a cool video would be to take 5-10 popular recent games that you would suggest control changes for. That would definitely come in handy. And then walk people through what those changes are and why.

Finally someone posting a video dedicated to some trackpad experiences. Thanks!

Thank you so much for the super detailed video!!!

The trackpads are the steam deck's defining feature for me. There might be many (expensive) competitors which are better built, more powerfu, better battery et cetera but none of them come close to the steam deck in terms of input customizability and its thanks to both steam input and the trackpads

O.o So much possibilities :O I LOVE IT!!!! I am even more excited to get mine in like 7 months from now....

thank you so so much. I've had a Steam controller for years, and despite all of my girlfriend's help I've found it incredibly hard to try and work around Steam Input to create the things that I want. It really helps to have someone running through these things step by step and explaining how to get from A to B, and using the touchpads for Retroarch hotkeys is something I never even considered.

It's great to see someone finally talk about steam input on the steam deck. That being said, the UI for this looks a lot more cumbersome that the other version of steam input. A lot of sub menus to go through

I'm literally more excited to mess about with controller options in games, than I am actually playing the games 😂

people need simple tutorials explaining the idea of all the options for changing around controls like this.

Thank you very much for detailed explanation! Super usefull!

Very interesting and intuitive! Any videos regarding emulation will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much! Now I 'get' radial menus!!!

This video is great, thank you so much for this

I was waiting for a video like this. It really shows the amount of customizing you can do with this device, and cant wait to tweak mine! P.S can you make a video going more in dept on the game streaming feature on the deck?

We need more videos like this. Subscribed.

Awesome video. Would love to see a video dedicated to how to add ROMS to the Steamdeck.

I always use left trackpad for numbers on Steam Controller and seeing this being expanded pleases me.

Thanks for a great tutorial. I hope this channel blows up as more and more Steam Decks are delivered. One question, one thing I liked in the ipad version of star dew valley was the auto attack in dungeons. So with steam input, can I basically have it continously push a button while I for example touch one of the touch pads? I also think the back buttons are going to be great for a game like stardew valley. Just have one tool per button for quick select.

Seriously cool thanks for sharing that tip!

This is really neat!

Awesome video! Thank you so much!!!

Just subscribed buddy ur really good at explaining

absolutely genius. thanks for the break eown

Instead of setting the unused radial item as 0, you can set it to EMPTY. I would have also changed how I use R for rewind. Instead I would change it so that it was active as I was holding it. There are a couple ways of doing it. The first I would try is to use a toggle, but have two activators. One on start press, the other on release press.

Awesome video mate! Being a avid Steam Controller user myself I definitely feel like reviewers and Valve themselves have really not touched (no pun intended xD) the power of Steam Input. I think people need to understand how amazing Steam input ACTUALLY is! It basically allows you to play ANY game. Even if it is an obscure one, or a really old dos game with tons of keyboard shortcuts. Steam Input solves it all and makes it possible to play with a gamepad. Playing Dune II is great with a Steam Controller or Steam Deck. I would argue even better and more comfortable than mouse and keyboard.

Wow I didn;' realise the trackpads were so versatile.. awesome sauce

This level of customization is amazing

I missed tou guys. I need to feed my hype daily

Great video. Yes I would really like a ROM video!

I need to save this video so I can re-watch it when I get my steam deck about 6 months from now.

Would love to see a video on how to set up and play FF14 on the SteamDeck

This is amazing video with great works very well

Yes, I’d definitely like to see a vid on rom importing for the Deck!

Finally someone shows what I want

I love this content, it seems like nobody is covering this.

This is going to be amazing for playing Elite Dangerous and other such sims with a huge amount of specific controls.

Great video. How come in Dosbox for example, I set the radial menu with the H key (for a game where i need to access help) and selecting it resets the game? When I bring up the built in dosbox on screen keyboard and select the K key, help opens fine. Does this mean the radial menu is functioning as the emulator instead of the game within the emulator?

Awesome! Can you make an updated video on newer steam deck features

This is amazing for RTS

amazing video makes mmos possible, great video

The options available in steam input fill me with far more joy than seems reasonable.

Help with stick and trackpad, image moves up when touched Steam Deck OLED, only by placing the thumb on the trackpad or stick does the image move upwards. Especially with shooters this problem makes playing impossible. I have reset all controller settings and have already recalibrated the sticks in desktop mode. What can I do?

How do I slow down the track pad when playing games that use the mouse?

Really enjoying using the trackpads for shooters and games like Mordhau. Allows you to remain competitive against mouse and keyboard players. Takes A LOT of practice, but it’s well worth it. I recommend practicing in single player games that you’re already extremely comfortable with.

My Steam Deck should arrive in 2-3 days, but I already watch videos about setting different kind of controls :D This radial menu seems like a nice tip for some games that have some keyboard shortcuts (ie. some RPG games, with inventory, map shortcuts, team member selection etc.), but you don't necessary want to use all your other buttons on them :)

Directonal swipe function is clearly my favourite.

In Final Fantasy XIV the trackpad as joystick isn't slow if you set the in game analog sensitivity to zero and instead have Steam control the sensitivity of the analog stick. With that being said, you showed some very nifty things that you could do now that you have access to both analog sticks and dual trackpads. I especially love the touch sensitive caps on the joysticks. That opens up the possibility of an R3 and L3 without clicking for example, you can just use it as a touch release activator and have it interrupted if you actually move the stick. Very neat. Did you see any customization options for the joystick touch?

fun thing to set up would be to fast forward by running your finger on the trackpad clockwise and rewind by going counter-clockwise. like reeling a tape or moving the dials on a clock.

Awesome video! What about making the trackpad move like a mouse in skyrim? You see if I choose "as mouse" it doesn't respond at all, just like in FF14. However, skyrim doesn't use click and move function, rather you just move the mouse. The problem is for me that it is not very responsive. I messed around with the sliders a bit yesterday but I didn't quite get it to work as I wanted. The right joystick is fine for most movements in skyrim, however it would be nice to use the trackpad as a precision mouse. When aiming with a bow or picking up small items. Do you know how I could do that? Thanks again for your video.

Is it possible that the radial response 0 is for a simple tap instead of a swipe?

I can't use trackpads for my keyboard anymore? As i touch them the dot just goes ape-shit? When contact is made to pads i can feel it pulse? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Will steam input help with adding thumb stick support with games like unreal tournament?

This is exactly why when someone says the Steam Controller sucks, I know they're just too lazy to learn how to use a better and more customizable interface. This guy is not one of these lazy gamers. I'm happy Vavle didn't let their controllers lineage die and put it in their Steam Deck.

I really just see the Game Gear with Sonic on it. Wild

is the where i can set my touch pad to be Shift + F1 , F2 ect. ?

Hey! Amazing video :) ❤❤❤

the steam deck has been a game changer for me. It even let me play older games that did not support controller support, like Worms Armageddon or Extreme-G 2. At this point, I bet even Dota 2 will work great on it after I heard that they are planning to implement controller support.

You should definitely do video on importing ROMs

Steam Input, Performance overlay and suspend resume are awesome features that make steam OS3 worth it over windows.

Can you do a dpad modeshift tutorial. That is what I have set up for Doom Eternal with the steam controller so I can swap to a different weapon after every shot without having to use a radial menu and not have to lift my thumb off the pad either. Makes it so the flow of the game isn't interrupted whether it be movement or camera controls.

As a steam controller user, how easy is it to move your fingers from the trackpad to the buttons on the Steam Deck? I'm concerned of the ergonomics of it. I prefer trackpads for FPS like DOOM instead of sticks but still need to press the D-pad and buttons.

I'm kind of bummed that they got rid of the old Steam Input UI. I liked that it visualized the controls and not just said "left trackpad does this".

does anyone having an issue with the right trackpad? i got mine couple of days ago the left trackpad is clickable but the right trackpad is stiff and it doesn't click as the left one.

Thanks bro

Love it! And I'm assuming these settings can be shared with the community right? How would that be done?

0 is in the center to allow the user to cancel their choice if they activated the radial menu by accident. It would be nice to be able to adjust that.

for some reason my track pads want click when i press them in , they respod but nothing happends any idea?

I think someone mentioned being able to use the trackpad as a quick magnifier, zooming in on the part of the screen relative to where your finger is on the trackpad. Can you see if that is something one could set up? Also, if you do this, can you easily apply it everywhere? Or would you have to remake it every time you play a new game? Love this content, keep it up!

You can see now why theres two touchpads, this is game changing for keyboard heavier games on the deck. All the steam controller work they’ve done over the years is finally paying off

I'd like a comprehensive video about RetroArch. Can't wait to play X-men and Turtles the arcade game on the Steam Deck.