How To Change The Steam Deck Controller Order


How To Change The Steam Deck Controller Order

Have no idea how to change the Steam Deck controller order? We've got you covered!

As you are aware, you can connect multiple controllers to the Steam Deck for multiplayer gameplay. And sometimes, there arises a need to rearrange the Steam Deck controller order to play certain games with your favourite gamepad. But how do you do that?

That's exactly what we are going to discuss in this article. So, without further ado, here's how you can change the Steam Deck controller order.

How To Change The Steam Deck Controller Order

There are some games that only allow the first controller to do anything in-game and reject input from other ones. To play these games with an external controller, you may need to reorder the external one to become the first one.

Here is how to change the Steam Deck controller order.

  1. While in the game, access the Quick Settings menu.
  2. Go down and select Rearrange controller order.
  3. Here you can order the controllers as you wish.

Alternatively, you can find the option to reorder in the Controller Settings as well. Within the game, press the Steam button > press right twice > hit A on Controller Settings > Reorder.

How To Change The Steam Deck Controller Order
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Credit: Steam

It is worth mentioning that you need to do it every time you launch a game as your Steam Deck doesn't save your preferences. By default, the controller order is determined by the order in which it receives input from each controller when launching a game.

Can't Change The Steam Deck Controller Order?

Many people are having trouble changing the Steam Deck controller order. For some, the setting is greyed out and for others, the option is not even there. If you are suffering from this issue, here are the reasons why you can't change the order of your controllers.

  • The option will be available only when two or more controllers are connected to your Steam Deck. So make sure of that.
  • The Steam Deck controller order can do this only in Big Picture Mode. So if you are not in BPM, switch to Big Picture Mode.
  • Finally, this setting is not available for games that use Steam Input API (SIAPI), and there is nothing you can do about it.

A software bug can also be one of the reasons why you can't change the order of the controllers. A factory reset allowed this Reddit user to rearrange controllers in the quick access menu. So you may want to do a factory reset if you are having a problem with changing the Steam Deck controller order.

Since you are here, have a look at the list of Steam Deck games that you can run on your handheld gaming PC.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Gaming page.