10 mo. ago • 88%

is there an alternative to joy con for steam deck? (or pc in general)

one thing i miss the most about my switch is the joy con. i love being able to game while my arm is pretty much free.

i was thrilled when valve announced joy con support but when i tried it on my pc and my deck the connection is spotty and the input lag is really bad, i tried with multiple joy cons but it still the same, do you guys have the same experience or is there something i have to do with it first.

cheers.

14 comments

Joycons are bluetooth, right? That is always a shitshow in tems of latency.

And I asume you mean a split controller? I've never really seen the appeal to or any significant difference from having a detached gamepad (I genuinely do not understand the "strain" people find from keeping their hands together-ish while holding a gamepad...) but https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Category:Split_Controllers might have something worth grabbing. Mostly VR controllers but a few look like actual gamepads.

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- isnt all other controllers also bluetooth? its just way worse on joy cons.
  
  (I genuinely do not understand the "strain" people find from keeping their hands together-ish while holding a gamepad...)
  
  its just my preference but thank you for the info ill look into it
  
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  isnt all other controllers also bluetooth? i
  
  No.
  
  In the PC space, it is worth keeping an eye out for peripherals that use "2.4 Ghz". And in the console space, there are either "generic" radios or "non-standard" uses of bluetooth in the case of devices that rely on it.
  
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I’ve had terrible experiences with anything Nintendo on PC or Deck. Have you tried any third party joy cons? Something like the hori split pad pro or similar.

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- thats what im looking for
  
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You can pair switch joycons to a steam deck as Bluetooth controllers, only issue is you need to remember to power them off.

Personally the only strain I found is the joy cons are so damn small, I prefer to current xbox controllers (also Bluetooth) as I find them comfortable even though they are not separate.

We already had both types of controller in our house we just use what ever works best on our Steamdeck at the time.

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- in my experience the connection is really spotty and sometimes it disconnects on its own even if its just less than a meter away from the deck. so its really unusable
  
  i have a small hand so its size is non factor to me
  
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I found some stuff that might be helpful.

Here is a blog post about using Nintendo switch controllers on Linux. Maybe try installing the utilities it recommends and see if that helps? https://joaorb64.github.io/2020/04/08/using-nintendo-switch-controllers-on-linux.html

There is also a utility called BetterJoy which should help but I think it is made for windows. If you add the .exe install files to steam as a game and force run them with proton experimental compatibility they might just install and run (you can also use bottles). It might not work at all but it is worth a try! https://github.com/Davidobot/BetterJoy

Bluetooth is great but man what a headache it is lol

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- this is really helpful, thank you for the info
  
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I'm in the same boat. I've looked around and there really isn't anything. You could buy some third-party joy-cons but you'll have the same issues.

Workaround for now is to make sure you have line of sight between the joy-con and the steam deck. Their reception is fine when unobstructed.

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- thats a bummer, thank you for the info
  
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If you don't specifically need a split controller, the Guilikit KK3 Max looks like it has all the right controls for the Steam Deck including 4 back paddle buttons and gyro (no trackpad though). It's basically modeled off the Xbox Elite 2, but it's compatible with the Switch and Deck.

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- On your deck?
  
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  -1
- i have gulikit kingkong 2 pro and it works flawlessly on my deck. idk if its bluetooth or not but i think it is?
  
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