Steam Deck Issues Connecting 4 Controllers

northernLLAMA · August 16, 2024

I have a 256GB LCD Steam Deck and the official Valve Deck Dock. I’m trying to connect 4 wireless controllers (the 8BitDo ultimate wireless C) with 2.4GHz USB dongles so that I can do 4 player split screen games from the couch.

Each controller connects fine, and I can test and configure the inputs from the built in SteamOS controller settings with no issues. Everything working fine.

But when I load into a game, I run into 2 problems:

ISSUE #1: CONTROLLER ORDER - Every game I try seems to map the 4 controllers in a different order. Thankfully, the settings menu to “REORDER CONTROLLERS” will fix the issue, once I solve the guessing game of figuring out how the game set the original order to begin with. But… This reorder DOES NOT fix the next game that I try, and I am constantly having to reorder them in each different game.

***Another fun wrinkle is that the deck’s built-in controller is mapped as 1st in SteamOS by default (touchpads, d-pad, sticks, triggers and buttons) and I haven’t been able to figure out how to disable it (so really, by the time all 4 8bitDo controllers are connected, the system has 5 controllers mapped). DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO DISABLE THE BUILT IN STEAM DECK CONTROLLER?

ISSUE #2: DISCONNECTS - Randomly after a minute or 2 in a game, one of the controllers will just disconnect and eventually power off (even though the dongle is powered on and trying to pair). And when any of the controllers disconnect, the mapping order in the game gets all screwed up, and you have to start over reordering the controllers, sometimes restart the game. There’s no rhyme or reason to which controller disconnects, and it’s not consistently associated to a specific USB port.

TROUBLESHOOTING SO FAR: The controllers are all NEW, fully charged, and I have tried another dock AND a powered AND unpowered USB 3.0 hub. I’ve also had the same issue when one of the controllers is connecting over Bluetooth, and I’ve never had luck connecting more than a single Xbox controller (which is why I went with these 8BitDo controllers to begin with).

Anyways, just to absolutely eliminate the 8BitDo controllers as the issue, I connected all 4 of them to my Windows gaming PC, and have had zero issues. No remapping/reordering, and no disconnects.

The 4 player games that I’ve tried so far are Minecraft Dungeons, Sausage Wars, and Hole.io

2 Player games don’t seem to have this issue.

I know this is a niche use case for the Deck, but it IS supposed to support 4 controllers and 4 player games. I need someone to try this and tell me that I’m not crazy. Because it’s either that, SteamOS 4P controller support is flawed, or something is wrong with my Deck.

GrimAndrey · September 11, 2024

Funny enough this is one of the reasons i wished to use my steam deck for, as a portable party game machine. I've actually was able to connect up to 8 controllers (xbox one, and ps5s) before by Bluetooth and i can tell you that was not a great experience. I think 5 is the limit I've noticed the ps5 controller seems to work great with the bluetooth, while the xbox one seems to have a lil bit more latency. I then kept 5 ps5s on bluetooth and connected the 3 xbox one controllers by usb to the unpowered hub and that seemed to work. I was mostly playing pummel party with them and didn't have any controller mapping issues. Possible it has to do 8bitdo ultimate wierless? I dont have personal experience with it, but i was close to buying the non wireless version of them before reading the reviews saying it doesnt work on their steam deck.

Have you tried connecting your xbox one controllers directly by usb, might need to hit the xbox home button multiple times before it syncs.

northernLLAMA · June 3, 2025

UPDATE - MOSTLY Solved!

ISSUE #1: CONTROLLER ORDER - Unfortunately, it's not possible to disable the built in deck controller without some hacky linux commands. As such, the built in steam deck controller still always maps as controller #1 buuuuut the workaround is to change that controller to "Mouse Only" mode/profile in the steam controller settings. *This was especially an egregious game-breaking issue in Minecraft Dungeons, but with the workaround, as soon as a controller button is pressed, the game figures out that a controller is being used, and switches inputs.

ISSUE #2: DISCONNECTS - I've narrowed this issue down to 3 things.

#1 - My 8BitDo controllers and 2.4G USB dongles needed firmware updates.

https://support.8bitdo.com/firmware-updater.html

#2 - Steam Input is just not great for many of the cheapo indie party games that I'm trying to play. If you notice that your controllers are duplicated, or are switching between which players are controlled, or just not working at all IN game, try disabling steam input from the games setting/properties > Controller > Disable Steam Input. This got Horizon Chase Turbo and Rubber Bandits working much better for me.

#3 - If you have an 8bitdo ultimate controller that came with a charging cradle, plug the 2.4g dongle INTO the included charging cradle, and then plug the charging cradle into the steam deck dock. For some reason the cradle helps eliminate some USB3 oddity that causes the dongles to reset randomly or cause lag.