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Did you do a big system upgrade recently and notice you're having gamepad issues? You're not alone. Time to downgrade perhaps.

To be clear this might only be an issue for the more bleeding-edge distributions which update more often, or those of you who are doing some manual updates to their system. The distributions that update more slowly like Ubuntu are likely unaffected right now.

First we have systemd version 243 released around September 3rd, this appears to be causing problems with Steam Input. A Valve developer jumped into the comments there, to note that the update seems to have broken Steam's udev rules to support gamepads—ouch. The systemd developers have been responsive trying to fix it, so hopefully it won't be too long before the issue is solved there.

Another problem is the more recent release of the Linux Kernel 5.3, which appears to have a regression with the DualShock 4 over Bluetooth not working. As of yet, no Kernel developer has commented on that report.

Hat tip to Vash63.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Vash63 Sep 18, 2019
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Quoting: 14Are you the Vash6318 from the Battlefield 1942 days that's on my Steam friends list? Fancy seeing you here!

Yep, that would be me.

Quoting: HoutwormI run Kernel 5.3.0 and Systemd 243.0, My controllers are all working just fine with Steam and anywhere else actually. I use Xbox One S controllers and Dualshock 4 controllers I use them all using Bluetooth.

You can connect a DS4 via Bluetooth on kernel 5.3? That's interesting, are you sure you've tested that specifically since updating? As for the systemd issue it only impacts XInput emulation for games that don't support generic (non-X360) gamepads.
Houtworm Sep 19, 2019
Quoting: Vash63
Quoting: HoutwormI run Kernel 5.3.0 and Systemd 243.0, My controllers are all working just fine with Steam and anywhere else actually. I use Xbox One S controllers and Dualshock 4 controllers I use them all using Bluetooth.

You can connect a DS4 via Bluetooth on kernel 5.3? That's interesting, are you sure you've tested that specifically since updating? As for the systemd issue it only impacts XInput emulation for games that don't support generic (non-X360) gamepads.

Yes I am sure, https://imgur.com/a/cyxTpgc

Battery information is not being shown for the DS4 tho.

The other 3 controllers are Xbox 1 S controllers
slaapliedje Sep 19, 2019
Wonder if they'll ever fix that weird mapping issue that xbox 360 controllers have (and their clones).
Supay Sep 24, 2019
Quoting: Houtworm
Quoting: Vash63
Quoting: HoutwormI run Kernel 5.3.0 and Systemd 243.0, My controllers are all working just fine with Steam and anywhere else actually. I use Xbox One S controllers and Dualshock 4 controllers I use them all using Bluetooth.

You can connect a DS4 via Bluetooth on kernel 5.3? That's interesting, are you sure you've tested that specifically since updating? As for the systemd issue it only impacts XInput emulation for games that don't support generic (non-X360) gamepads.

Yes I am sure, https://imgur.com/a/cyxTpgc

Battery information is not being shown for the DS4 tho.

The other 3 controllers are Xbox 1 S controllers

Ahh, I just checked your images. I am the same, the controllers still connect just fine via Bluetooth using bluetoothctl, but they are completely unusable in Steam. Have you tried loading Steam up and seeing if they work in there?
Houtworm Sep 25, 2019
Quoting: Supay
Quoting: Houtworm
Quoting: Vash63
Quoting: HoutwormI run Kernel 5.3.0 and Systemd 243.0, My controllers are all working just fine with Steam and anywhere else actually. I use Xbox One S controllers and Dualshock 4 controllers I use them all using Bluetooth.

You can connect a DS4 via Bluetooth on kernel 5.3? That's interesting, are you sure you've tested that specifically since updating? As for the systemd issue it only impacts XInput emulation for games that don't support generic (non-X360) gamepads.

Yes I am sure, https://imgur.com/a/cyxTpgc

Battery information is not being shown for the DS4 tho.

The other 3 controllers are Xbox 1 S controllers

Ahh, I just checked your images. I am the same, the controllers still connect just fine via Bluetooth using bluetoothctl, but they are completely unusable in Steam. Have you tried loading Steam up and seeing if they work in there?


I can connect it it shows up in Steam and it also works for games that normally work with a PS4 controller

https://imgur.com/a/Bwl8lxm

I am on 5.3.1 now tho, I have not tested the controller with Steam on 5.3, So maybe it was not working on that kernel with Steam, not sure about that.


Last edited by Houtworm on 25 September 2019 at 5:21 pm UTC
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