Steam Deck Trackpad Basics

Quick tutorial that shows of a few things that you can do with the trackpads using Steam Input on the Steam Deck. If you want to see more of these, let me know!
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#SteamDeck #SteamInput #Tutorial

[@Moskeeto]

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".

[@GRAv111]

Agreed

[@alfwaibel4773]

He is a touchpad nerd and pro - also on the steam controller, for a long time now :)

[@carlosmoreira8835]

Yeah, I don't know what's up with some KZbinrs and their steam deck content to be honest, it's severely lacking.

[@wendywatch3386]

My man. Ive watched thousands of deck videos to see thoses inputs features with the pad and back triggers. NONE. im a mobile player and i choose the steam deck for the track pads. And youtubers just talking about performances performances and performances. Okay. Great. Now we need inputs tutorials. Thank you Nerd Nest

[@catfjsh]

@@wendywatch3386 Seriously, it's one of the best things about using a Deck vs other handhelds/consoles - and nobody has even touched on it yet! More people really should know what this thing is capable of.

[@Horrorz95]

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.

[@Rhomagus]

When I eventually get mine that's all I'll be doing with it. By the time I got a Steam Controller it was pretty much on the way out. Now with the Deck incoming, I feel the need to proselytize the touchpads through overt propaganda.

[@thefirstone4864]

Because valve is really bad at advertising thier features like Samsung that their killer features are mysteries it's the developers job to properly push the features not the reviewer.

[@thefirstone4864]

@@Rhomagus Also people needs to push duelsence touchpad agenda because people even steamdeck fans forget about it. You can basically split the touchpad and it's the only controller that handle steamdeck docked mode or give pc steamdeck experience. But the question is how we can convince people poor man's comment can't do shit.

[@nomac5]

I've been using a steam controller since release and I consider myself pretty pro at the steam Inout layouts at this point and people have no idea how good it is for the most part still I swear. It's the unsung hero of valve for sure

[@deemey95]

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.

[@AdmiralBison]

It would come in handy, but hopefully both Valve and gaming community will make optimized or recommended profiles that would be pre-loaded/or easily available for many users who are not familiar. I play PC games with controller as well, but there is no way I’m wanting to go customize each and every PC game I play not designed with a controller. I think when it comes to game development in the future, there should be tools with many popular pre-configs for multiple inputs to allow develops to just “enable” for their games. It would be less work, cost and trying to figure for devs and give users multiple preferred choices for input. Those inputs will be and not limited to: -control pads -m/kb -touchscreens -VR/AR controls -voice gestures -gyro We are living in a post desktop PC world with many kinds of inputs.

[@MrChanw11]

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

[@destroyermaker]

Per game input profiles would be sick. Really wish we could share them directly

[@RambleCan]

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.

[@JohnDoe-tq5hy]

Yo it’s the steam controller guy

[@chrisallen9638]

Let's just hope we don't lose that awesome keyboard when they push the new version of Input to the desktop.

[@EliSantana]

The legend himself! Happy to see you in the comments, can't wait to see your Steam Deck videos.

[@8BitCerberus]

Yeah the new radial menu look really popped out at me. Love it! Q2 can’t get here fast enough. I was trying to reserve mine within seconds of them going live, but as we all know the store…broke that day. Ended up taking about 20-25 minutes to finally get my reservation placed. I was selfishly hoping I’d be able to get a unit early for being one of the 300 Steam Machine & Controller beta testers back in the day, but ah well! I guess I wait and try not to be too jealous of everyone ahead of me. 😅

[@Ziggenvox]

10000%

[@LycoLoco]

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

[@NerdNest]

Share it to places and it will! Thank you

[@frankconsidine5989]

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

[@phased3941]

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

[@FeniksGaming]

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

[@chasenthehype]

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

[@antwanefort]

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.

[@grafeaux4456]

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!

[@carlosmoreira8835]

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

[@noobcaekk]

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

[@KnightMD]

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

[@EpicCyndaquil]

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!

[@Boba19423O]

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

[@antwanefort]

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

[@morallytainted1]

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

[@joeblack7262]

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

[@Beastly_Chariot]

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 🙂

[@Chris52]

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.

[@MyurrDurr]

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

[@AndreVandal]

can't wait to get one and apply these ideas

[@catfjsh]

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.

[@cheesedish6018]

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)

[@mntfksa7156]

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

[@DavidKirwanirl]

Cheers, learned a number of things about steam input

[@bohiles]

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

[@repinaboxx]

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

[@Rojke88]

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

[@thedesucomplex4365]

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.

[@AdmiralBison]

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.

[@Ray-dl5mp]

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.

[@chrisallen9638]

Just link them to RambleTan's channel, he's spent the last few years doing exactly that.

[@teneesh3376]

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

[@frontiergaming7572]

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?

[@sandtrick]

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

[@TheJackiMonster]

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!

[@NerdNest]

And these are just the basics. More to come.

[@JBlaze8814]

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

[@alexanderchernyshev1714]

Thank you very much for detailed explanation! Super usefull!

[@Mizufluffy]

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.

[@Shmynkellbonkenstein]

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.

[@extrajava9175]

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

[@gdpiscopo]

This level of customization is amazing

[@derrickpham7987]

absolutely genius. thanks for the break eown

[@Rudgass111]

Awesome video! Thank you so much!!!

[@kmg2480]

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

[@MissyMalaprop]

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

[@Duck0fDoom]

This video is great, thank you so much for this

[@joshknowles7934]

We need more videos like this. Subscribed.

[@NerdNest]

Thanks! I have more videos about trackpads here on the channel. Welcome aboard.

[@chrisyboy53]

Seriously cool thanks for sharing that tip!

[@timsnyder8431]

Finally someone shows what I want

[@roakey182]

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

[@f.c.caetano]

This is really neat!

[@wendywatch3386]

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

[@cubanmex9233]

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

[@wesleybcrowen]

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

[@hexusmexus6971]

Just subscribed buddy ur really good at explaining

[@supervegeto7448]

This is amazing video with great works very well

[@b2gills]

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.

[@rawbeanuk]

Much simpler - there was an option listed as 'Continuous' which would presumably do the exact same thing.

[@b2gills]

@@rawbeanuk I wasn't paying too much attention to the video as I have been doing configurations and watching videos of how to do it for a while. They seem to have done quite a bit to make setting them up easier.

[@kazzykaz1981]

How exactly do you set a command to EMPTY on Deck though? I've been trying for quite a while and just can't find the option when adding the command

[@yllwboy1123]

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

[@postbodegt]

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

[@moncr79]

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

[@Felix_EN]

This is amazing for RTS

[@Cra1gst]

amazing video makes mmos possible, great video

[@PixelShade]

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.

[@foxtrotmp5]

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

[@theshinken]

Yes! ED is already possible with a regular controller but you have to use 3 or 4 functions on every button via mode switches to make it work. With Steam Deck controls, you have all the options for a layout that can be used more intuitively.

[@Nabelgold]

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

[@bibabutzemann5661]

Directonal swipe function is clearly my favourite.

[@Rich2799]

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

[@JedDungo]

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.

[@BB-nn9en]

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

[@RJSamonte]

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

[@8BitCerberus]

I don’t have Deck UI yet, but for regular Steam Input when you go to save your config, you can choose from Local, Personal, or Community. Local means it only exists on that machine. Personal saves it to your Steam Cloud and it will sync to all your machines. And then of course Community uploads it as a community layout that others can use.

[@randyfiglehorn9192]

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.

[@osohista]

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.

[@icymallard3]

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!

[@NerdNest]

That’s built in. Steam button plus left bumper.

[@grzegorz__]

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 :)

[@roakey182]

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

[@matthewsmith8168]

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

[@Rhomagus]

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?

[@itsJrodTV]

You should definitely do video on importing ROMs

[@Ultriix]

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

[@guest21984]

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?

[@kybercore1213]

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

[@porkopio9468]

Thanks bro

[@I9IIEIIYIIEIIS]

If you use Trackpad for left and right movement, and Gyro for vertical movement. It is extremely fast and accurate. The key is to turn off vertical movement for trackpad. And turn off most of the horizontal movement for the gyro.

[@kogoderonius7635]

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.

[@AQDuck]

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".

[@Tubes78]

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

[@Space_Pad]

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.

[@PiNPOiNT2K]

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.

[@NerdNest]

I mean. That makes sense. But then I shouldn’t be able to put something there.

[@grady92]

I would like to see how you use retroarch on the deck

[@joetomlinson5180]

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

[@crazytamal6938]

Hey they just launch a video of gabe dropping decks himself funny stuff man

[@iamharr]

My guess why the first button is in the middle and not above, is because it's indexed by 0 and therefore since it's an array of commands and they decided to place the first one in the middle, 0 is first. :) Could be intentional, like here's your basic default command when you touch the menu. (For instance, maybe you want to press enter or something) but it could also just be that it became that way logically when programming the UI and they just went with it. (Just my two cents here on the first command in the menu)

[@AdmiralBison]

I’m curious to see how the trackpads and paddles on the Steam Deckwill fair with RTS games like Star Craft and Command and Conquer. Command and Conquer was among the best converting a PC RTS to play on consoles with devs implementing ‘Radial menus’

[@Montisaquadeis]

Roms on sd card would be great for the different emulators as that is how I plan on using the Steam Deck

[@shrekshrek]

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

[@Drewkernick]

@NerdNest Is there a way to use the steam as just a controller connected to your pc with the decks screen showing game info as a second monitor?

[@NerdNest]

Not that I know of

[@WIImotionmasher]

Suddenly I'm curious about binding each trackpad to a button in a two (or four) button rythm game