2.17.0 update breaks steamdeck controller input?

Games launched from gaming mode on steamdeck have zero control input from controllers or touchpads. Only touchscreen remains functional.

This only affects heroic launched games. Steam and non-steam apps work fine.

Desktop mode remains functional.

Steam input overlay window is also broken in gaming mode.

Any fix would be appreciated…

Prior to update everything was working this effected every game I gave launching from heroic in game mode.

Solution

after some time and tinkering I've discovered if you go into the advance game settings of a game and check disable umu box then immediately uncheck it.... this appears to fix this issue.... Im reluctant to mark this as a solution but this is as far as i can tell the current solution for my trouble.

Jump to solution

dry-scarlet•5/26/25, 6:12 AM

Same here, none of my Epic Games titles recognise the Steam Deck controls properly anymore. Everything worked fine before, but since the recent update, I get no gamepad or mouse input at all. Only touchscreen seems to work, which is useless for most games. I really don’t want to mess with switching WINE-GE versions either, since that usually creates new folders and breaks save files.

Any help is appreciated..

spotty-amber•5/26/25, 9:50 AM

Same here. Witcher 3 controller not working anymore since the update both of Heroic and SteamDeck. Logs: https://0x0.st/8x_h.log Controller works somehow in desktop mode, but all the controlls are messed up (navigating through menu are skipping, buttons assigned incorrectly). Controller not working completely in game mode.

sad-indigo•5/26/25, 11:41 AM

Same happens to me with The Witcher 3 if I use Wine-Proton, sometimes it doesn't even launch. It works if changing to ProtonGE, although you have to copy the saves to a different location then. This started after the latest SteamOS and Heroic updates.

HeroicBotAPP•5/26/25, 1:13 PM

Wine-GE is rather old now (last release is almost a year ago) and thus might not work correctly. Please follow these instructions on using GE-Proton:

Head to the Wine Manager in Heroic, click the "Proton-GE" tab, and install "Proton-GE-Latest"
Head to the settings for your game(s) (icon on game card in library). In the "Wine Version" dropdown, select "Proton - Proton-GE-latest"
Rename your Wineprefix (path is shown in game settings), e.g. from
```
current-name
```
```
current-name
```
to
```
current-name_bak
```
```
current-name_bak
```
. To clarify: Rename the actual folder on your hard drive, do not change the option in the game settings.
Note: This will make game-specific configuration data (e.g. in-game settings or save files) unavailable. If this is an issue, let us know & we'll help you restore them.

dry-scarletOP•5/26/25, 3:14 PM

update: So far today I have tried updating Proton-GE, I have attempted using multiple different wine types and versions, I have Uninstalled (deleting prefix and config files) and then reinstalling games. So far this has not worked.

dry-scarletOP•5/26/25, 4:32 PM

well I'm out of ideas. I went ahead and completely uninstalled Heroic Launcher and all related data from the steamdeck, restarted, reinstalled Heroic, Reinstalled Proton GE Via Heroic, Reinstalled a game.... and same result... No controller, touchpad, or controller overlay in game mode.... Guess ill stop there. unless someone else has a idea.

Solution

dry-scarlet•5/26/25, 6:55 PM

dry-scarlet•5/26/25, 9:28 PM

Still broken

dry-scarlet•5/26/25, 9:31 PM

Non of the epic game store games working with heroic. Also GOG games are broken. Is there an alternative launcher I can use ?

Ddry-scarlet after some time and tinkering I've discovered if you go into the advance game se...

dry-scarlet•5/26/25, 9:33 PM

Doesn’t work for me

Ddry-scarlet after some time and tinkering I've discovered if you go into the advance game se...

ordinary-sapphire•5/26/25, 11:22 PM

Having same issue. Am I stupid? I cannot see a disable umu box in the advanced section.

Oordinary-sapphire Having same issue. Am I stupid? I cannot see a disable umu box in the advanced s...

ordinary-sapphire•5/26/25, 11:23 PM

Im desperate at this point.

dry-scarletOP•5/26/25, 11:44 PM

What version of heroic are you running?

Oordinary-sapphire Im desperate at this point.

dry-scarletOP•5/26/25, 11:50 PM

I feel this desperation… some examples pictured

dry-scarletOP•5/26/25, 11:53 PM

What’s more odd to me is I only did this once on song of conquest and now other games are just fine too….

ordinary-sapphire•5/26/25, 11:57 PM

@JacknozwaD Literally as I just turned my steam deck back on it just appeared. Was not there before not even joking. Driving me crazy this honestly. Thanks. Will see if that works

Oordinary-sapphire @JacknozwaD Literally as I just turned my steam deck back on it just appeared. W...

ordinary-sapphire•5/27/25, 12:03 AM

And no still not working. Will probably just wait for next update and see if that fixes it.

dry-scarletOP•5/27/25, 12:07 AM

It’s a phantom problem….. I hate those….. that’s why I was reluctant to mark the solution….. there was a recent steam update on top of this… and I remember reading somewhere there were backend changes to Universal Linux launcher (that’s the only reason I checked and unchecked UMU) if I knew how to revert updates that was what I was going to attempt next if the UMU thing didn’t work.

Oordinary-sapphire And no still not working. Will probably just wait for next update and see if tha...

dry-scarletOP•5/27/25, 12:28 AM

Just wondering if games work correctly when in desktop mode? Like if you hold the start button down and switch to GamePass mode in desktop mode.

Ddry-scarlet Just wondering if games work correctly when in desktop mode? Like if you hold th...

ordinary-sapphire•5/27/25, 5:17 AM

Somewhat. Mafia 2 doesn’t run at all but runs fine in gaming mode but Lego Star Wars still has controller issues in both

Oordinary-sapphire Somewhat. Mafia 2 doesn’t run at all but runs fine in gaming mode but Lego Star ...

ordinary-sapphire•5/27/25, 5:58 AM

Well even then it’s strange as sometimes in desktop mode Lego star was’ controls will be perfect but ever since I uninstalled it and reinstalled it I think it just made it worse and the controls are not working properly in both but somehow even worse in gaming mode

dry-scarlet•5/27/25, 8:58 AM

Best solution is to go back to 2.16 or use different launcher.

dry-scarlet•5/27/25, 9:01 AM

Search google for 2.16 appimage

dry-scarlet•5/27/25, 9:05 AM

Or wait for an fix in 2 or 3 month

moderate-tomato•5/27/25, 12:34 PM

We are looking into that and might release a hotfix this week

moderate-tomato•5/27/25, 2:07 PM

@ComradeCharlatan @radi7777
Can you try going to the game settings set the Wine version as Proton-GE and then on Advanced check Disable UMU? this fixed a couple of games for me. do not enable it, just try to launch the game normally.

Oordinary-sapphire Somewhat. Mafia 2 doesn’t run at all but runs fine in gaming mode but Lego Star ...

ordinary-sapphire•5/27/25, 3:14 PM

Mafia 2 runs fine in desktop mode but not gaming I meant to say but was too tired

Mmoderate-tomato @ComradeCharlatan @radi7777 Can you try going to the game settings set the Wine...

ordinary-sapphire•5/27/25, 3:17 PM

Yeah that worked. Thing is I just realised I must have ticked to delete my save data when I deleted and reinstalled Lego Star Wars fml. Thanks for the help

moderate-tomato•5/27/25, 3:17 PM

I made an announcements with some workarounds

Oordinary-sapphire Yeah that worked. Thing is I just realised I must have ticked to delete my save ...

ordinary-sapphire•5/27/25, 3:23 PM

Oh no wait although mafia 2 is working now it got rid of my save as well. Never uninstalled it though.

nursing-lime•5/27/25, 3:23 PM

save files are in the prefixes https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Mafia_II#Save_game_data_location

Mafia II

Oordinary-sapphire Oh no wait although mafia 2 is working now it got rid of my save as well. Never ...

moderate-tomato•5/27/25, 3:24 PM

were you using wine before and changed to proton?

ordinary-sapphire•5/27/25, 3:26 PM