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After updating to Ubuntu 18.10 today I noticed that a lot of games were either crashing to the desktop, not detecting my Steam Controller at all or detecting it as a second player.

With the Linux Kernel version 4.18, a driver is now included for the Steam Controller named "hid_steam" which seems to currently be conflicting with how Steam and plenty of games handle the Steam Controller resulting in behaviour we don't want.

For now, it seems you will need to blacklist that "hid_steam" module from loading if you want to continue using the Steam Controller as normal.

You can test it yourself, using this terminal command to see if it fixes it:

sudo modprobe -r hid_steam

That was only temporary though, a reboot quickly made it break once again (but it works for now). To have it permanently stay, you can do this:

sudo bash -c "echo 'blacklist hid_steam' > /etc/modprobe.d/sc.conf"

I did also run this command so the above was correctly detected:

sudo update-initramfs -u

Once you reboot, that will then make it stick.

Hopefully this situation will get sorted out, because that's really not ideal right now. For newer users especially, it's not a good look. I've opened a bug report with the Ubuntu team.

Update: As noted in our comments, there is a Kernel patch available if you wish to patch it manually yourself if you're confident doing that sort of thing. Hopefully the Ubuntu maintainers can pull it in for everyone.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Hardware, HOWTO
13 Likes
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22 comments
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theghost Oct 18, 2018
Thx for the quick fix.
I wonder if I still need sc-controller with Kernel 4.18 and hid_steam for Dead Cell's ?


Last edited by theghost on 18 October 2018 at 11:58 am UTC
JungleRobba Oct 18, 2018
The writer of the module is aware of the issue and seems to be working on a fix:
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/5645#issuecomment-429647198


Last edited by JungleRobba on 18 October 2018 at 12:05 pm UTC
Liam Dawe Oct 18, 2018
Quoting: JungleRobbaThe writer of the module is aware of the issue and seems to be working on a fix:
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/5645#issuecomment-429647198
Thanks, added a note about it.
slaapliedje Oct 18, 2018
Hmm, I have been running 4.18 on Debian Sid for a long time now and haven't had an issue. It has ran about the same as it always has. Wonder if they already blacklist it. Will have to check.
Keyrock Oct 18, 2018
The title of this article could also use quick a fix. :P

Yeah, I'm that guy.

/hides
MayeulC Oct 18, 2018
sudo bash -c "echo 'blacklist hid_steam' > /etc/modprobe.d/sc.conf"

how about making it

echo blacklist hid_steam | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/sc.conf

Instead? Does it make it simpler?
Liam Dawe Oct 18, 2018
Quoting: KeyrockThe title of this article could also use quick a fix. :P

Yeah, I'm that guy.

/hides
Well then. That was embarrassing.
Beamboom Oct 18, 2018
But the case of;
Quotea lot of games were crashing to the desktop
that was only related to the issue with the controller? So after this fix there was no more crashing to the desktop?
Liam Dawe Oct 18, 2018
Quoting: BeamboomBut the case of;
Quotea lot of games were crashing to the desktop
that was only related to the issue with the controller? So after this fix there was no more crashing to the desktop?
Bingo. A bunch of Unity games completely crashed to the desktop with the Steam Controller turned on without blacklisting it.

Edit: Spelling.


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 18 October 2018 at 2:38 pm UTC
Oli Oct 18, 2018
QuoteThen reboot.

Seems a bit redundant. The first commands handles this session The second and third handle future sessions. Just run all three once and get on with your life.
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