Steam input polling rate locked at 125 hz on Linux instead of the 500hz utilized in Windows
Officially, Valve states that the .deb from steampowered.com or the Flatpak are the only supported versions of Steam. The packaged version on rpm-fusion is made by a 3rd party and valve has no control over what dependencies are bundled.
Please retest with the flatpak version of steam and attempt to reproduce. Or install Ubuntu LTS as the Readme on this repo suggests.
you can still report issues with distro-packaged steam versions. also they're on an arch distro so nothing to do with rpm-fusion.
No you cannot. The very first section of the readme in this repository states:
Steam for Linux requires the following:
OS: Latest Ubuntu or Ubuntu LTS with a 64-bit (x86_64, AMD64) Linux kernel
Older Ubuntu LTS branches are not supported and may stop working in a future Steam release, especially the branches in ESM status (Ubuntu 18.04 or older).
Regardless if the 3rd party packaged version of Steam came from the AUR or rpm fusion. If you're not using what Valve states as a requirement for the application, then it is unreasonable to open a bug report against the application. You have 2 options:
- Follow up with the package maintainer on Arch and file a bug report there
- Replace your operating system with "Latest Ubuntu or Ubuntu LTS with a 64-bit (x86_64, AMD64) Linux kernel"
these labels exist for a reason and i'm not sure why @kisak-valve wouldn't just auto-close issues from other distros if that was a strict requirement. if anything, the README should probably be updated since most of that was written before SteamOS was Arch-based. SteamOS issues that relate to the Steam client are regularly moved from the SteamOS repo to here as well, and it is not a reasonable expectation to ask users to install Ubuntu onto a Steam Deck for testing purposes.
anyway, all of this is off-topic to the issue at hand, which should probably be evaluated by a Steam developer regardless.
Broadly speaking I agree with your sentiment about how Valve triages issues, and the need for an update of the Readme. In order to help facilitate with reproduction of the issue and/or addressing it, could you provide steam client logs and information about what kernel you're using?
Hello @truefakts, whether an OS is officially supported or not by Valve, parroting bureaucratic red tape across every issue report you come across is an off topic digression and non-productive noise for those issue reports. While Steam Support has limits to what it can handle, this issue tracker has historically not been restricted to official distributions of Linux and users can troubleshoot amongst themselves. I'd appreciate if you'd discontinue the off-topic chatter.
As a side not, there's a feature request to consider Flatpak packaged Steam as supported at #11620, so you've been spreading as much misinformation as noise.
I'm attempting to reproduce this on a supported distro to rule out any environmental issues/missing dependencies. However, I do not have a controller with a gyroscope, only an X-input enabled Logitech F310 that appears as an Xbox controller to the Steam client on Ubuntu. This is the output from Evtest when I move the left joystick in a circle, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be seeing but is this essentially what you're talking about?
Event: time 1762716532.074888, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1762716532.082890, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 0 (ABS_X), value -28913
Event: time 1762716532.082890, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1762716532.090886, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 0 (ABS_X), value -30712
Event: time 1762716532.090886, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1762716532.098888, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 0 (ABS_X), value -31997
Event: time 1762716532.098888, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1762716532.106885, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 0 (ABS_X), value -32768
Event: time 1762716532.106885, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1762716532.370883, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 0 (ABS_X), value -30712
Event: time 1762716532.370883, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1762716532.378880, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 0 (ABS_X), value -26857
Event: time 1762716532.378880, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1762716532.386876, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 0 (ABS_X), value -22745
Event: time 1762716532.386876, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1762716532.394876, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 0 (ABS_X), value -18633
Event: time 1762716532.394876, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1762716532.402878, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 0 (ABS_X), value -14521
Event: time 1762716532.402878, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1762716532.410874, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 0 (ABS_X), value -10409
Event: time 1762716532.410874, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1762716532.418876, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 0 (ABS_X), value -6297
Event: time 1762716532.418876, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1762716532.422873, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 0 (ABS_X), value -2699
Event: time 1762716532.422873, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1762716532.430874, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 0 (ABS_X), value -129
Event: time 1762716532.430874, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1762716532.438873, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 0 (ABS_X), value 128
Anecdotally, I do not notice any perceivable input lag and use this controller while playing online multiplayer games. Could you describe what input lag you're encountering, and is it specific to the gyroscope? (Again, I'd like to help but I don't own a controller with a gyro)
I'm attempting to reproduce this on a supported distro
As stated in the comment directly before yours:
whether an OS is officially supported or not by Valve, parroting bureaucratic red tape across every issue report you come across is an off topic digression and non-productive noise for those issue reports
This is the output from Evtest when I move the left joystick in a circle, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be seeing
Clearly stated in point 5 of the original report:
Measure the time differences between inputs. You'll notice an average time gap of 0.008s (indicating a polling rate of 125hz)
Please do not attempt to triage issues without reading them in full.
@kisak-valve: @truefakts and @LuminousHustler appear connected—both follow and sponsor @elementary, same verbose style and behaviour. The latter account was created yesterday and has only commented on issues that the former also commented on.
This misguided attempt at "triaging" by this group/individual is more like a social Denial-of-Service attack on other users, bombarding them with irrelevant questions until they give up and leave.
Archive links:
https://web.archive.org/web/20251110063358/https://github.com/truefakts
https://web.archive.org/web/20251110063423/https://github.com/LuminousHustler
Commented issues:
https://web.archive.org/web/20251110170505/https://github.com/search?q=is%3Aissue+commenter%3Atruefakts+org%3AValveSoftware&type=issues&s=updated&o=desc
https://web.archive.org/web/20251110170439/https://github.com/search?q=is%3Aissue+commenter%3ALuminousHustler+org%3AValveSoftware&type=issues&s=updated&o=desc
For context the f310 logitech controller polls at roughly 250hz https://gamepadla.com/logitech-f310.html so there being a difference of 0.008s instead of an average of 0.004s further proves the issue. Thank you for the second confirmation on another machine and on a confirmed distro.
To answer the question of whether this causes noticeable input lag for anyone that is curious, there's 4 factors to this:
-
Reducing controller input lag is usually not noticeable by the end user consciously. Yet any amount of lag from input to output degrades the quality of the experience at a subconscious level, the more lag, the more we subconsciously compensate for the delay in our inputs.
-
Since steam input locks the polling rate at 125hz compared to the natural polling rate of a controller, switching between steam input and native input can lead to inconsistencies in input timing for games, which can be of most importance in competitive environments or high difficulty games
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Since steam input polls at 500hz on windows without issue, this clearly demonstrates some sort of unintended Linux limitation
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Gyro to mouse in steam input is usually upscaled to 500hz even in low polling gyro devices for smooth mouse motion, thus ironically, even in SteamOS, gyro users will be at a disadvantage compared to windows users.
And thank you jn64 for commenting on the dismissive tone of certain commentors that hamper productive discussion and problem solving.
@garret-more-stories On Topic: thank you for the valuable information about the controller that I've been using! Since the hardware will not accurately reproduce the issue, I will not contribute to this thread any further.
@jn64 Off Topic: yes, I know @truefakts in real life and needed a Github account to play Halo with them. Since I'm on github anyways, I had 2 goals:
- Show them that honey attracts more flies than vinegar. Asking for relevant information in a positive tone, while remaining on topic is significantly more helpful and welcoming.
- Valve has limited time and resources. I work in software QA professionally, and wanted to use my a bit time to improve Steam for Linux. Software is complicated, and the relevancy of questions about the user experience may not always be obvious unless you've dealt with these issues in the past.
Lastly, please find a more constructive use of your time than a) stalking me and b) trying to get me banned from this repository because of my friend's comments.
I took special interest in Steam Input/Xbox controller support, because I am debating on purchasing my partner (also a halo fan) an Xbox Series S or a whole new computer + Xbox controller for Christmas. We're an Elementary OS household, but I do have an Ubuntu server that I tested out Evtest on in my previous post. Since OP is indicating that the xbox controller has noticeable input lag, I wanted to understand the severity before I make a purchasing decision.
Your system information
Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:
On windows Steam Input runs at a maximum of 500hz and upscales gyro inputs to 500hz when using Gyro to Mouse [Beta]. This ensures smooth gyro motion alongside respectable input lag for controllers that poll at high rates. This seems to occur with any controller that is being used.
Unfortunately on Linux, controller poll rates are capped to 125hz. This is strange given how it works differently when using steam input on windows and how controllers on Linux can natively poll way beyond 125hz when not using steam input without issue.
Steps for reproducing this issue:
Hopefully this issue will be solved to create parity between the OS's. It would be a shame if windows ended up being better for gaming due to a limitation in steam input polling rate.