mirror of
https://github.com/ddeverill/SteamlessController.git
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Dylan DeverillandClaude Opus 5
0dc1d2855d
Version in resource.h and the installer script, which the header's own comment asks to be kept in step. Verified on the built binary rather than in the source: FileVersion and ProductVersion both read 1.20. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
116 lines
6.7 KiB
Markdown
116 lines
6.7 KiB
Markdown
# SteamlessController
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A lightweight Windows system tray app that lets you use a **Steam Controller** as a standard gamepad — without Steam running.
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<img width="263" height="154" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7f4a63f6-b700-47dd-aeac-1fa8f78fcd04" />
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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 (or PlayStation controller) via [ViGEmBus](https://github.com/nefarius/ViGEmBus), making it compatible with any game that supports the Xbox or PlayStation controller.
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## Features
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- Supports all connection modes! Puck, wired, and Bluetooth!
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- Runs alongside Steam! No need to close Steam to toggle modes or force you to use your PC in a weird way.
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- Brand new extensive remapping controls for back buttons and trackpads. Save custom mappings and load them per game!
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- Use a trackpad as a **directional pad** — press its outer edge for a direction and its middle for a button of its own — or as a **single button**. Each direction, the click and a tap are all rebindable.
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- Enable/Disable manually, or use new auto modes to turn on / off when it makes sense.
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- Start on launch, suppress notifications, make this utility your own.
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<img width="478" height="373" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/171522c4-71a3-46ff-bfa1-d7c5d4b845c6" />
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<img width="878" height="753" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/72b0e77b-8928-4e51-842f-0b2c854dd298" />
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## Requirements
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### To run
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- Windows 10 or later (64-bit)
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- [ViGEmBus](https://github.com/nefarius/ViGEmBus/releases/latest) driver installed
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- Steam Controller — wired USB (PID `0x1302`), wireless dongle (PID `0x1304`), or Bluetooth LE (PID `0x1303`, pair via Windows Bluetooth settings)
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- Steam **closed** (Steam claims the controller when running)
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### To build
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- [Visual Studio 2022](https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/) with the **Desktop development with C++** workload
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- [CMake](https://cmake.org/download/) 3.20 or later (included with Visual Studio, or install separately)
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- Windows SDK 10.0.22000 or later (installed via Visual Studio Installer)
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## Building
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```bat
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git clone https://github.com/your-username/SteamlessController.git
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cd SteamlessController
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cmake -B build
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cmake --build build --target SteamlessController
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```
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The executable will be at `build\Debug\SteamlessController.exe`.
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For a release build:
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```bat
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cmake -B build/release -G "Visual Studio 18 2025"
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cmake --build build/release --config Release --target SteamlessController
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```
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> If you have Visual Studio 2022, replace `"Visual Studio 18 2025"` with `"Visual Studio 17 2022"`.
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## Building the installer
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The installer is compiled from `resources\InnoInstallerScript.iss` with [Inno Setup](https://jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php). It needs two things a fresh clone does not have.
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**Release builds of all three executables it packages.** The command in the previous section builds only the tray app:
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```bat
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cmake --build build/release --config Release --target SteamlessController
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cmake --build build/release --config Release --target SteamlessDeviceCycle
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cmake --build build/release --config Release --target ViGEmBusProbe
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```
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`SteamlessDeviceCycle` is the elevated helper that restarts the controller's device node. `ViGEmBusProbe` is how Setup checks whether the driver actually installed, and it stays in the install folder afterwards as a diagnostic.
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**The ViGEmBus driver installer**, which is not in this repository — it is a 6 MB vendored binary, and `*.exe` is gitignored. Download it from [ViGEmBus releases](https://github.com/nefarius/ViGEmBus/releases/latest) and place it here:
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```
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resources\ViGEmBus_1.22.0_x64_x86_arm64.exe
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```
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The filename must match `#define ViGEmSetup` at the top of the script. Inno resolves `[Files]` sources when it compiles, so a missing or differently named payload fails the build outright rather than producing an installer that silently ships no driver. If you update the ViGEmBus version, change the `#define` to match the new filename.
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## CMake Targets
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| Target | Description |
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|---|---|
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| `SteamlessController` | Main system tray application |
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| `SteamlessDeviceCycle` | Elevated helper that disables and re-enables the controller's device node, run as an on-demand scheduled task. Shipped by the installer. |
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| `ViGEmBusProbe` | Reports whether a ViGEm bus is present by enumerating its interface. Used by Setup to verify the driver installed, and shipped as a diagnostic. |
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| `SteamProbe` | Console diagnostic tool — dumps raw HID report bytes as you interact with the controller. Useful for protocol research. |
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| `RawControllerProbe` | Checks whether `Windows.Gaming.Input.RawGameController` can enumerate the Steam Controller (requires WinRT). |
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| `GameLibraryProbe` | Console diagnostic — lists every application the per-game profile picker can find, with the source each came from and a per-source count. Ask for its output when someone reports that a game is missing from the picker. Given a directory, it instead runs only the Epic manifest reader against it. |
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## How it works
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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.
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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.
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The full input report layout is documented in [`src/steam/SteamController.h`](src/steam/SteamController.h).
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### Per-game profiles
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A profile can be attached to one game instead of applying everywhere. The game
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is chosen from a picker that draws on several sources at once: both Start Menu
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and both Desktop shortcut folders, the installed MSIX/Store package list, Steam's
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own manifests, and the records kept by the Epic Games Store, GOG Galaxy, Ubisoft
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Connect and Battle.net. Anything none of those know about — a portable build, an
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emulator, an itch.io download — can be added by hand, either by picking it out of
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the applications currently running or by browsing to its `.exe`.
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Whichever profile applies is decided by what is in the *foreground*, not by what
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is running: a launcher that stays resident long after the game exits would
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otherwise keep claiming the controller. See
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[`src/app/ForegroundWatcher.h`](src/app/ForegroundWatcher.h) for why, and
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[`src/app/GameLibrary.h`](src/app/GameLibrary.h) for the four shapes a game's
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saved identity can take.
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## Third-party
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- [ViGEmClient](https://github.com/nefarius/ViGEmClient) — MIT License, built from source as a static library
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