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Cursor 'jumping' distances with VOYEE wire xbox-360 controllers
The issue:
*When controlling the mouse cursor using these devices (via Joystick Mouse assignment in the Desktop Layout settings in Steam) the cursor will often 'jump' some distance rather than smoothly panning in the direction the joy-stick is tilted.
*This only occurs when transitioning from a neutral stick-position (no input) to some directional input.
*This behavior makes it very difficult to precisely move the cursor short distances. As a result, clicking on interface objects (e.g. hyperlinks on a website) becomes... problematic.

Examples of when the issue occurs:
*Start with no joy-stick input (neutral joy-stick position).
*Tilt the joy-stick ~20-degrees to the left. The mouse cursor 'teleports' left on the screen some distance (say 50-200 pixels) after which its movement continues smoothly.
*The problem only occurs when the joy-stick input is transitioning from 'no-input' to some directional input.

When the issue gets better/worse:
*If the joystick is moved very slowly from the neutral position then the issue does not seem to occur or is otherwise imperceptible.
*Fast joy-stick movements, like if your were to flick the joystick in some direction, can cause the cursor to teleport clear across the screen.

Affected devices:
*I have 4 of these controllers and they all have this issue.
*I have 2 steam-links and they both have this issue
*I use my steam-links to control both a windows 10 and Linux machine and the problem occurs on both.
*This has been happening since at least build 906.

Other notes:
*This didn't occur when using 'brand-name' xbox or ps5 controllers.
*I've tried many different sensitivity/deadzone/response-curve/etc settings and nothing has resolved the issue, the cursor is still able to 'teleport' some distance across the screen that seems to be otherwise impossible for the chosen sensitivity in the given time-frame.
*The issue doesn't seem to manifest in most games that have a joystick cursor. For example the menu cursor in Ultimate Chicken Horse doesn't seem to have this problem.

Final thoughts:
*I am fairly certain this is caused by some output of these cheap controllers. Given that many games seem able to handle this without issue, I'd expect the same from Steam.
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Showing 1-6 of 6 comments
Packetdancer  [developer]
Feb 14 @ 9:46am 
Does the problem ONLY happen when streaming via Steam Link, or does it happen when you've plugged in on the desktop as well? And if this is wired (which it sounds like it is), are you just using the controller directly or is it being exported as a USB device via VirtualHere?

That'll help track down if the issue is on the client (Link) side or the host (Windows) side. From what you're describing, I'd almost expect to see the same behavior when connected to Steam itself directly.

Other question -- since if I don't ask this, Slouken will -- do you happen to have an Amazon link for the specific controller? I do see at least three different VOYEE wired Xbox-style controllers on Amazon, and if we snag one to test with here, it'd be good to know that we're getting the right one! :)
#1
Namaste
Feb 14 @ 11:49am 
Here's the link to the exact controller on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082RC2N25
The model-number on the back of the controllers is "HY4102". For completeness: I have both black and white color variants from that page and they both have the same model-number and exhibit the same problem.

The controllers are plugged directly into the Steam link and I am not using VirtualHere. Having other USB devices plugged into the Steam link at the same time (e.g. a wireless keyboard or additional controllers) does not change this behavior.

I have two host machines: Windows-10 and Ubuntu 22.04, the problem occurs on both of them. This is all done over direct ethernet connection on my LAN.

When plugging the controllers directly into the host machines the issue /does not/ occur. I am reasonably certain that Steam is still handling the controller input in this direct-connection scenario because my controller key-binds are functional.

To be clear:
*Take two controllers, A & B
*Plug controller A into Steam link and connect to host machine
*Verify problem is occurring with A (it is)
*Unplug A from Steam Link, plug B into Steam Link
*Verify problem is occurring with B (it is)
*Take controller A upstairs and plug directly into host machine
*Verify problem is occurring with A (it is not)
*Walk back downstairs, pickup controller B
*Verify problem is occurring with B (it is)

Results of this test are the same with both the Windows and Linux host machines.

Also: I adore my Steam links and if this issue was resolved my wife and I would be over the moon.
#2
Packetdancer  [developer]
Feb 14 @ 2:32pm 
So as a little bit of explanation, when connecting to the PC, the controllers are being used as USB devices directly. When streaming, unless you are using VirtualHere (which exposes the USB devices on the Link as USB devices on the host PC), it is reading the controllers and turning them into a more generic representation of a gamepad which gets sent as part of the stream.

My suspicion is that if you enable VirtualHere for the controllers, they will (when streaming) work the way you suspect; that'd confirm it's definitely something in the client side parsing of the controller that's causing the issue.

(That said, having an Amazon link and the model number makes it a lot easier to track down; it sounds like it should be reasonably easy to reproduce.)
#3
Packetdancer  [developer]
Feb 17 @ 9:32am 
A couple of questions:

1. Is there a specific game you have which is affected that we could look at?
2. Can you share anything useful about the bindings you have active (just in case it's relevant)?

I've got the VOYEE controller here on my desk now and it has some... interesting... deadzone behavior, but haven't been able to directly reproduce the problem you describe. And using controller debug software on a bunch of different configurations -- plugged in locally, streaming with a Windows host, streaming with a Linux host -- the values seem pretty consistent whether streaming or otherwise.

(Mind you, they're not necessarily GOOD values, but they are CONSISTENT ones.)
#4
Namaste
Feb 18 @ 5:16am 
1) The issue occurs when using the controller to interact with the host desktop (joystick-mouse keybind assignment). It doesn't seem to occur in games.

I'll provide my keybinds and also a quick video of the issue occurring this evening when I am back from work.
#5
Namaste
Feb 18 @ 2:47pm 
I compiled screenshots showing my controller layout settings, specifically the settings for the right-joystick which is assigned to Joystick Mouse.
I also took a video recording demonstrating the cursor behavior when tilting it slowly, tilting it at a normal speed, and flicking it. The video includes the demonstration using both the controller plugged into the Steam Link and a controller plugged directly into the Host (the pause in the middle of the video is me walking upstairs to the Host machine).
Everything is zipped on my g-drive here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P9nD5prI4WUy2YsIqc46d09ss_X94h_s/view?usp=drive_link
#6
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Showing 1-6 of 6 comments
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Steam Link > General Discussions > Topic Details
Date Posted: Feb 14 @ 5:43am
Posts: 6
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