mirror of
https://github.com/ddeverill/SteamlessController.git
synced 2026-10-22 14:42:16 -05:00
Dylan DeverillandClaude Fable 5
5cd54be8d0
Control modes (tray 'Control Mode' submenu, persisted): - Manual: tray toggle only (grayed labels now explain why when disabled) - Auto - Off while Steam running: yield the controller whenever steam.exe runs; reclaim ~6s after it exits (debounced against Steam self-restarts) - Auto - Off ONLY while in Steam game: yield only while RunningAppID != 0 SteamWatcher polls the Steam process and RunningAppID every 2s with asymmetric debounce: transitions toward more Steam activity are reported immediately (yield fast), transitions away must hold ~6s. Taking the device from a running Steam requires invalidating its HID write handle. A new elevated helper (SteamlessDeviceCycle.exe) restarts the controller device node (unplug/replug equivalent) on demand via a highest-privileges scheduled task, registered by the installer or a one-time UAC prompt. The tray app itself NEVER runs elevated: an elevated foreground window blocks unelevated SendInput via UIPI, which froze Steam Input's desktop cursor whenever the tray menu was open. The same cycle mechanism hands the device to an already-running Steam on game launch (Steam only opens controllers on arrival events). Crash safety: an unhandled-exception filter best-effort restores lizard mode without taking locks; the firmware's own revert timeout remains the final fallback. ClaimExclusive now restores shared access on failure instead of leaving the device handle closed. Diagnostics for field disconnect reports: - Event log at %LOCALAPPDATA%\SteamlessController\events.log (512KB rotation, read-shareable): connect/disconnect causes, game mode transitions with failure reasons, battery changes, stalls, keepalive failures, auto-mode decisions. 'Open Event Log' in the tray menu. - Silent-stall detection: no reports for 4s while enumerated (battery death, sleep, wireless drop) is now detected, logged, and alerted with the last battery reading. - Disconnect/stall alert balloons, suppressed for intentional handoffs, with a 'Disconnect Notifications' toggle for users with odd setups. Startup reverts to the plain HKCU Run key (the elevated-logon-task variant from an interim build is migrated back and cleaned up). Installer ships and registers the helper and unregisters it on uninstall; version 1.8. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
SteamlessController
A lightweight Windows system tray app that lets you use a Steam Controller as a standard gamepad — without Steam running.
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, making it compatible with any game that supports XInput or the Xbox controller.
Features
- NEW - Rumble Support v2.0
- NEW - Support for multiple Steam Controllers! Long live split screen!
- NEW - New shiny UI for remapping L4/L5 R4/L5 back buttons!
- NEW - 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 — map R4/R5 (or L4/L5) to left/right mouse click
- 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
- Single-instance guard — safe to leave running
Requirements
To run
- Windows 10 or later (64-bit)
- ViGEmBus driver installed
- Steam Controller (VID
0x28DE/ PID0x1302) - Steam closed (Steam claims the controller when running)
To build
- Visual Studio 2022 with the Desktop development with C++ workload
- CMake 3.20 or later (included with Visual Studio, or install separately)
- Windows SDK 10.0.22000 or later (installed via Visual Studio Installer)
Building
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:
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.
Third-party
- ViGEmClient — MIT License, built from source as a static library