# SteamlessController

A lightweight Windows system tray app that lets you use a **Steam Controller** as a standard gamepad — without Steam running.

<img width="263" height="154" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7f4a63f6-b700-47dd-aeac-1fa8f78fcd04" />

When **Steamless Mode** is active, the app disables the controller's built-in keyboard/mouse emulation (lizard mode) and exposes it as a virtual Xbox 360 controller via [ViGEmBus](https://github.com/nefarius/ViGEmBus), making it compatible with any game that supports XInput or the Xbox controller.

## Features

- **NEW in 1.9** - Bluetooth! Use the controller wired, through the dongle, or paired over Bluetooth LE
- **NEW in 1.8** - Automatically enable/disable based on if Steam is running, or a Steam game is running!
- **NEW in 1.8** - Advanced debugging and local logging to help diagnose issues
- Rumble Support v2.0
- Support for multiple Steam Controllers! Long live split screen!
- New shiny UI for remapping L4/L5 R4/L5 back buttons!
- Support for Xbox OR PlayStation controllers - with PS Touchpad and Gyro plumbing.
- System tray icon shows connection and mode status
- **Steamless Mode** — disables lizard mode and exposes controller as Xbox 360 gamepad
- **Trackpad Mouse** — use the right (or left) trackpad as a mouse cursor
- **Back Buttons for Clicking** — the upper paddles (L4/R4) left-click by default; rebind any paddle to a gamepad button, right click, or Off
- **Use Left Trackpad Instead** — mirror all trackpad/back-button functionality to the left side for left-handed users
- **Start with Windows** — launch automatically at login
- Settings persist across restarts

<img width="614" height="430" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/a8077a20-fd6b-4e1a-a3ea-ccd288a176c6" />

<img width="757" height="663" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9a53b632-82b6-4485-93b0-1238c2ec6a07" />

## Requirements

### To run
- Windows 10 or later (64-bit)
- [ViGEmBus](https://github.com/nefarius/ViGEmBus/releases/latest) driver installed
- Steam Controller — wired USB (PID `0x1302`), wireless dongle (PID `0x1304`), or Bluetooth LE (PID `0x1303`, pair via Windows Bluetooth settings)
- Steam **closed** (Steam claims the controller when running)

### To build
- [Visual Studio 2022](https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/) with the **Desktop development with C++** workload
- [CMake](https://cmake.org/download/) 3.20 or later (included with Visual Studio, or install separately)
- Windows SDK 10.0.22000 or later (installed via Visual Studio Installer)

## Building

```bat
git clone https://github.com/your-username/SteamlessController.git
cd SteamlessController
cmake -B build
cmake --build build --target SteamlessController
```

The executable will be at `build\Debug\SteamlessController.exe`.

For a release build:

```bat
cmake -B build/release -G "Visual Studio 18 2025"
cmake --build build/release --config Release --target SteamlessController
```

> If you have Visual Studio 2022, replace `"Visual Studio 18 2025"` with `"Visual Studio 17 2022"`.

## CMake Targets

| Target | Description |
|---|---|
| `SteamlessController` | Main system tray application |
| `SteamProbe` | Console diagnostic tool — dumps raw HID report bytes as you interact with the controller. Useful for protocol research. |
| `RawControllerProbe` | Checks whether `Windows.Gaming.Input.RawGameController` can enumerate the Steam Controller (requires WinRT). |

## How it works

The Steam Controller exposes a vendor HID collection (usage page `0xFF00`) that carries all game input in a 54-byte report (ID `0x42`) at ~60 Hz. By default the firmware runs in **lizard mode**, emulating a keyboard and mouse so the controller works without drivers.

SteamlessController sends HID feature reports to disable lizard mode, then reads the raw input reports and translates them into a virtual Xbox 360 controller via ViGEmBus. A background heartbeat re-sends the disable command every 800 ms to keep lizard mode off.

The full input report layout is documented in [`src/steam/SteamController.h`](src/steam/SteamController.h).

## Third-party

- [ViGEmClient](https://github.com/nefarius/ViGEmClient) — MIT License, built from source as a static library