this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2025
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41
PS5 Controller Not Working - Linux Mint (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
37 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Hello,

No idea why this is happening, as apparently no one else is having this issue, but my PS5 controller does not work with linux. I did a clean install of Mint today, and on my old install it was working great. Now, Steam recognizes the controller, testing the inputs shows everything works, and Linux recognizes the controller is connected with the USB, but it is not registering with any game. None of the inputs work, and even more annoyingly pressing the PS button immediately launches steam big picture mode, which I do not want.

I've been trying for hours to fix this and everyone else is saying it works great out of the box, but that is the opposite of the case for me. Any advice?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Hi there, having two dualsense and one ps4 controller, using them for ages on Linux and they mostly run great, but your issues doesn’t sound completely new either.

It’s very important on how you installed Steam and whether it's native package or Flatpak. For Flatpak you might need special udev rules to allow the controller inside sandbox, usually can be installed using steam-devices package.

As others said, enable Playstation Controller support in Steam's controller settings page.

Check if Steam overlay is functioning. In-game, press Shift+Tab and you should see the overlay and then you should be able to get to controller settings. Try out both with Steam Input enabled and disabled - by default I guess it depends on the game, but mostly enabling it will make it work for games that have issues picking up ds natively.

Test your controllers using something like jstest-gtk. Perhaps there is something else connected that acts as player 1 controller.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I figured out the issue. Really weird. Steam compatibility mode was disabled so enabling it made my controller work. No idea why. Thanks for the reply though!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah, it's a bit counter intuitive and I had the same issue on Windows a couple years ago.

As I understood it, if games on PC don't have native PS5 Controller Support, steam needs to jump in to emulate it. That's why it needs to he activated.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

That makes sense. It was so annoying figuring it out

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Pretty much because for some reason it’s broken mess in native games with SDL, and works nicely when using Proton, I noticed that too.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

You may need to install steam-devices to get controller support to work.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I've had this exact same issue with a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller; IIRC, my fix was disabling Steam input.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Unfortunately this did not work. All of the steam input settings I have turned off

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

This was the solution for me as well

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

For me connecting it to a Windows machine and updating the controller firmware made it works. Apparently you could do that using Bottles (wine) directly on your Linux distro.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Im an arch user, a few days ago the same happened after an update of sdl3 and sdl2_compat. I switched to steam beta and things worked.

Might try completely removing the controller from bluetooth, rebooting and repairing.

Might make sure your using the same kernel that the other people are using. Been a very long time since i used mint and dont know how easy it is to change kernels but might be worth a shot.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm not even using Bluetooth I've just been using a wired USB connection. Very perplexing.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Ignore the bt part then. Id start with steam beta and see if that works. Then try a newer kernel? Worth a shot.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Ok thanks. I'm on the newest kernel

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Did you try to pair it with bt just to see if that works? Thats all I got. Hope someone comes along with some other options.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I just did. Same issue. Connected just fine, steam recognizes it, the second I launch a game all the controls stop immediately. Tried two different PS5 controllers.

You know, for linux mint spouting that they are useful right out of the box, I sure have had to spend a ton of time configuring things that didn't work.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Shit down Steam and see if Mint itself recognizes the controller as an input device. This is possibly a steam-input issue with an discrepancy in a library version. Alternatively, try Mint LiveUSB to see if it works there, if so, you have a library or config problem in your install.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Mint does recognize the controller (checked using lsusb). I've shut down and restarted steam and still no luck. I've done everything I could think of. No one has ever seen this issue, apparently. I'm absolutely stumped.

Just logged back into windows to test games and it worked flawlessly.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Then you have a problem with steam, not Mint.

  • Check the steam settings for controller input
  • Try a few different games
  • Try try Big Picture mode
  • make sure you don't have any other controller tools running
  • Open Steam via terminal and watch the logs to see if anything obvious shows up there
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I tried 3 games and none of them worked. Big picture mode the controller worked in the menus but when a game launched then nothing. I don't have any other controller tools. I could try Steam from the terminal didn't think of that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Go into preferences>controller>turn rumble and steam input off

Try again after that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'll give that a try

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

See my other comment. You just have the wrong controller profile selected. Controller and Steam are working properly.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

I responded to that. I opened the overlay and it says controller.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It would make sense that the setting to enable PS input was not enabled. I have had this issue before after a fresh install as i had forgotten to enable the input. I remember being very pissed about it then feeling dumb. I hope that's it cause its a simple fix.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The PS controller has been enabled in the settings since I've been testing. Regardless it doesn't work. When steam is open the right stick moves the mouse. The controller acts like a keyboard and mouse if steam is open, then stops altogether when a game is launched.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Then you have the wrong controller profile selected 🤣

Open the game overlay and change the controller to be a gamepad and not keyboard/mouse emulated.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I tried this already. The game is set to use the controller. I opened the overlay to double check, it says controller, I close it and none of the buttons work.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If it's detecting your input as a mouse and keyboard, which you confirmed, then it's configured wrong. Try different profiles until one works, but that's your issue.

What you've confirmed is that the controller is connected, Steam picks up, steam-input is working properly, and input is detected. That means this is a configuration problem, and nothing wrong with your machine.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I've tried every gamepad template and none work. The only one that registered any sort of input was the Keyboard and WASD Mouse profile, but obviously it was useless.

Honestly I'm this fucking close to just reinstalling mint. I had no problems at all on my first install, but this install has been a nightmare.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, but that's what I'm saying. Mint is not the problem here. It's behaving as it should be unless you've installed a conflicting module of some sort.

Have a look at this thread perhaps: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/7791

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Thanks for the link. I did have hid_playstation loaded, so I removed it. It didn't fix anything.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

So you went to the game, clicked on the gamepad icon on the bottom right of the game banner and selected enable steam input? Then selected a controller layout? I think its a little strange steam makes you do this per game as well as its general desktop setting.

Also did you try from a live usb environment? That was good advice as it could be something you/mimt installed after setup. Also you did do a checksum of your ISO before you burnt your install medium?

And there is no strange errors when starting steam from a terminal and running your game?

And you tried the steam beta?

If you have done all that might consider filing a bug report on steam.

Sometimes its worth waiting a few days for an update, might sort itself out.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

What do you mean checksum of the iso? The tool I used said the usb was successfully flashed.

How would I go about testing this in USB Live mode?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Disregard I figured out how to use checksum. The ISO is fine the hashes match

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

I had the same issue with my PS5 controller. For me the fix was to go to steam settings -> controller -> "playstation controller support" set to enabled (the default was "enabled in games w/o support). For some reason I had to change that option to make it recognize input in games.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago

The plot thickens. Just tried a wired Xbox controller and same exact deal. So no controller works.

Honestly I might just switch back to windows. This is infuriating