protonscr

Steam reacts on gamepad (DS4) controller while game is running

steamopen Steam clientDistro Family: DebianGeneral controller / Steam Input
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#13391 · opened 2026-07-07 by shaohme · updated 2026-07-07 · 0 comments · github
Sshaohme 2026-07-07 github

Your system information

  • Steam client version (build number or date): 1782861641
  • Distribution Devuan freia
  • Opted into Steam client beta?: No
  • Have you checked for system updates?: Yes
  • Steam Logs: steam-logs.tar.gz
  • GPU: AMD

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

Steam, running under SwayWM, reacts on my DS4 gamepad after launching a game. I can hear Steam is reacting to button presses, so both game and Steam reacts to the inputs simultaneously. When exiting the game I see Steam has navigated to some weird place in its menus. Both steam and game fullscreens when opening, so the game should have the main window focus.

I have tried using gamescope on SwayWM gamescope -e -- steam -tenfoot. This fixes my DS4 input problem, but I am not happy with the performance. It stutters slightly on my system, and Steam seems to removes its "Exit Steam" button leaving it open waiting for a steam -shutdown command or similar.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

  1. Run swaywm
  2. Run steam -tenfoot
  3. Run any game supporting gamepads
  4. Check whether Steam still reacts on button presses and movements from the gamepad

Nothing extracted yet.