A little extra info from playing today:
[2026-06-25 20:08:51] attempted to delete /data/Steam/userdata/8277618/gamerecordings/video/bg_1868140_20260624_003427, maxKeepMS=1552304, newDurationMS=1551956: OK
[2026-06-25 20:09:08] Cannot transition thread 00000000000005d8 from RUNNING with DONE_BLOCKING
[2026-06-25 20:09:08] Cannot transition thread 000000000000053c from RUNNING with DONE_BLOCKING
[2026-06-25 20:09:08] Cannot transition thread 00000000000005d4 from RUNNING with DONE_BLOCKING
[2026-06-25 20:09:08] Cannot transition thread 0000000000000530 from RUNNING with DONE_BLOCKING
Maybe they are related somehow?
I have attached the steam logs from this session in case they provide any additional info:
Also, this time I was able to disconnect my controller from bluetooth and reconnect it, and it started working again.
One new correlation I have noticed is that xalia.exe starts using 100% of a single CPU core at the same time that the controller disconnects when playing Dave the Diver.. I'm haven't been able to tell if one is causing the other, or if it is a coincidence.
I've checked dave the diver twice, yesterday for around an hour and half, and today for around two hours, this with a wired dualsense, steam input enabled and proton experimental. No oddities noticed yesterday, one oddity noticed today, once during the transition between boat and diving I found I couldn't move with the stick, but controls went back to working within 1 second of noticing this, possibly as a result of interacting with face buttons, and the game continued working normally after this short hitch for over half an hour, when I decided to close the game.
Despite this there are many instances of controller layout changes in my controller_ui log, so I think those are red herrings
[2026-07-17 12:37:48] Loaded Config for Local Selection Path for App ID 1868140, Controller 5: /home/sym/.local/share/Steam//controller_base/templates/controller_ps5_gamepad_fps.vdf
[2026-07-17 12:38:31] OnFocusWindowChanged to game window type: AppID 1868140, 1868140
[2026-07-17 12:38:31] Loaded Config for Local Selection Path for App ID 1868140, Controller 5: /home/sym/.local/share/Steam//controller_base/templates/controller_ps5_gamepad_fps.vdf
[2026-07-17 12:39:07] OnFocusWindowChanged to window type: k_nGameIDControllerConfigs_Desktop, AppID 413080
[2026-07-17 12:39:07] Loaded Config for Local Override Path for App ID 413080, Controller 5: /home/sym/.local/share/Steam//controller_base/empty.vdf
[2026-07-17 12:39:56] OnFocusWindowChanged to game window type: AppID 1868140, 1868140
[2026-07-17 12:39:56] Loaded Config for Local Selection Path for App ID 1868140, Controller 5: /home/sym/.local/share/Steam//controller_base/templates/controller_ps5_gamepad_fps.vdf
[2026-07-17 12:40:17] OnFocusWindowChanged to window type: k_nGameIDControllerConfigs_Desktop, AppID 413080
[2026-07-17 12:40:17] Loaded Config for Local Override Path for App ID 413080, Controller 5: /home/sym/.local/share/Steam//controller_base/empty.vdf
[2026-07-17 12:41:42] OnFocusWindowChanged to game window type: AppID 1868140, 1868140
[2026-07-17 12:41:42] Loaded Config for Local Selection Path for App ID 1868140, Controller 5: /home/sym/.local/share/Steam//controller_base/templates/controller_ps5_gamepad_fps.vdf
[2026-07-17 13:11:24] OnFocusWindowChanged to window type: k_nGameIDControllerConfigs_Desktop, AppID 413080
[2026-07-17 13:11:24] Loaded Config for Local Override Path for App ID 413080, Controller 5: /home/sym/.local/share/Steam//controller_base/empty.vdf
[2026-07-17 13:11:51] OnFocusWindowChanged to game window type: AppID 1868140, 1868140
[2026-07-17 13:11:51] Loaded Config for Local Selection Path for App ID 1868140, Controller 5: /home/sym/.local/share/Steam//controller_base/templates/controller_ps5_gamepad_fps.vdf
[2026-07-17 13:12:17] OnFocusWindowChanged to window type: k_nGameIDControllerConfigs_Desktop, AppID 413080
[2026-07-17 13:12:17] Loaded Config for Local Override Path for App ID 413080, Controller 5: /home/sym/.local/share/Steam//controller_base/empty.vdf
[2026-07-17 13:12:29] OnFocusWindowChanged to game window type: AppID 1868140, 1868140
[2026-07-17 13:12:29] Loaded Config for Local Selection Path for App ID 1868140, Controller 5: /home/sym/.local/share/Steam//controller_base/templates/controller_ps5_gamepad_fps.vdf
[2026-07-17 13:21:12] OnFocusWindowChanged to window type: k_nGameIDControllerConfigs_Desktop, AppID 413080
[2026-07-17 13:21:12] Loaded Config for Local Override Path for App ID 413080, Controller 5: /home/sym/.local/share/Steam//controller_base/empty.vdf
[2026-07-17 13:22:23] OnFocusWindowChanged to game window type: AppID 1868140, 1868140
[2026-07-17 13:22:23] Loaded Config for Local Selection Path for App ID 1868140, Controller 5: /home/sym/.local/share/Steam//controller_base/templates/controller_ps5_gamepad_fps.vdf
[2026-07-17 13:27:54] OnFocusWindowChanged to window type: k_nGameIDControllerConfigs_Desktop, AppID 413080
[2026-07-17 13:27:54] Loaded Config for Local Override Path for App ID 413080, Controller 5: /home/sym/.local/share/Steam//controller_base/empty.vdf
[2026-07-17 13:28:01] Warming Config Cache 1868140
[2026-07-17 13:28:01] Loaded Config for Local Selection Path for App ID 1868140, Controller 5: /home/sym/.local/share/Steam//controller_base/templates/controller_ps5_gamepad_fps.vdf
controller.txt also shows one instance of changing pollstate from 0 to 1, and then many of going from 1 to 2 or 2 to 1.
I'm curious if you have another device where dualsense stops working randomly, and if maybe firmware update in the controller could be a factor. I updated mine a few months ago and the update brought in the ability of storing 4 different profiles so you can use the dualsense between several devices without having to repair every time you change between them. I don't think it's possible to update from linux, however.
WORKAROUND: After noticing the xalia.exe correlation, I decided to try running Dave the Diver with PROTON_USE_XALIA=0 to disable xalia completely. I haven't had any issues since I added that option (and the game works just fine without xalia), which leads me to believe that xalia is definitely related, somehow. Either way, even if this isn't enough information for someone to identify the issue, hopefully it will help some others as a workaround.
Unfortunately, I don't have any other devices where it would make sense to try the dualsense controller (e.g. I could connect it to my server, but that is not set up to play games at all, so likely wouldn't be a good test). I also recently checked that the dualsense firmware was up to date using a Windows VM ( I had previously updated it this way as well), it appears to be at the latest version.
I have been having this same issue for a long time now and came across this post while searching for solutions. I believe I found the root of what was causing my issue and wanted to offer a potential solution because it was completely unexpected.
Do you use a wireless mouse? This issue was occurring because of my Logitech G903 Lightspeed mouse. When it is in wireless mode, it has a built in power save that kicks in after 5 minutes. If I am playing a game on steam, every time the mouse would go into power save mode, my controller stopped working, and some games would freeze, others would just keep going with no input. This particular mouse has an option to use on-board settings, and when switching to or from that mode, I would see the same effect, so I was able to induce the freeze/crash at will which then led me to see that as soon as the lights would go out on the mouse, controller goes away in steam.
I don’t know if this will help, but after months of searching for the issue, seeing the one other person who seems to be having the same issue, I couldn’t help but at least try and offer a solution. I hope this helps, and good luck.
Unfortunately, my mouse is a wired Logitech G502, so I don't think the sleep/power save mode is the issue for me. But thanks for the info, hopefully it will help someone else!
Your system information
Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:
Describe what you expected should happen and what did happen. Please link any large code pastes as a Github Gist
When playing a game with a controller, eventually the controller will stop working properly: buttons won't work, sticks won't work. When this happens with my DualSense controller, the track pad starts acting like a mouse pad (which is not part of the controller profile for either game, implying that the layout is getting changed). Disconnecting and reconnecting the controller does not cause it to stop working, and neither does toggling Steam Input. The only solution seems to be to completely close and restart the game.
Games that have manifest this issue:
Dave the Diver
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Controllers that I have tried:
Playstation DualSense
Steam Deck as a controller for my PC, using the steps here: https://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-use-your-steam-deck-as-a-pc-controller/ (Only tried with Indiana Jones)
-- Just to be abundantly clear: This doesn't happen when playing games on the Steam Desk itself, only when using is as a controller on my PC via Remote Play
I have watched dmesg and syslog on my system, and no seemingly relevant messages have occurred. This has occurred both when I have the controller connected over bluetooth and when it is connected via USB. If I remember correctly, this happened with Steam Input both enabled and disabled when playing Indiana Jones. I have only tried Dave the Diver with Steam Input disabled so far (since enabling it causes the wrong glyphs to display in that game).
After watching the log files closely while playing Dave the Diver using my DualSense, I noticed the following lines seemed to happen at the same time the controller stopped working (around 2026-06-24 20:43), and might be relevant:
controller_ui.txt:
[2026-06-24 20:43:56] OnFocusWindowChanged to window type: k_nGameIDControllerConfigs_Desktop, AppID 413080
[2026-06-24 20:43:56] Loaded Config for Local Selection Path for App ID 413080, Controller 0: controller_base/empty.vdf
controller.txt:
[2026-06-24 20:43:56] Add to Config Cache Request 0 413080
[2026-06-24 20:43:56] Queueing activation for controller: 0 app: 413080
[2026-06-24 20:43:56] HID: Add to Config Cache - full cache hit 0 413080
[2026-06-24 20:43:56] Controller PollState Changed from 1 to 2
console_log.txt:
[2026-06-24 20:43:56] Loaded Config for Local Selection Path for App ID 413080, Controller 0: controller_base/empty.vdf
There are other messages in other log files at the same time (they are in the tarball), but they didn't seem as relevant.
Steps for reproducing this issue:
I'm more than happy to troubleshoot this issue further, I'm just unsure where else to look.