steam deck controller not working

The Steam Deck’s built-in controls go through Steam Input. When a game is launched as a non-Steam title, or the controller template is wrong, input disappears inside the game while the menus still work. Fix the routing, not the hardware.

Get the Deck to read the pad

1. Re-enable Steam Input for the game
   In Steam, right-click the game → Properties → Controller, and set it to "Enable Steam Input" (or a specific template). "Use default" can leave a non-Steam game with no controller at all.
   The controller configurator shows the layout active for that game.
2. Set the per-game controller config
   In the controller configurator, pick the "Gamepad" or "Official Controller" template rather than a mouse/keyboard one. Emulators in particular need the Gamepad template to receive stick and button input.
   Button presses register inside the game, not just in menus.
3. Toggle the built-in controller in Quick Access
   Hold the ... button, and confirm "Steam Deck controls" is enabled. If it was disabled globally, no game gets input from the pads.
   The ... menu shows the controller as enabled.
4. Let the emulator own the gamepad
   If you're running an emulator, make sure its own gamepad settings map to "SDL" or "XInput" and that it isn't set to a blank profile. Steam Input and the emulator both reading the pad is fine; only a missing mapping breaks it.
   The emulator's controller test screen responds to every button.

If only one game breaks

A per-game template conflict is the usual culprit — reset that game’s controller config to the official template and re-test, rather than changing the Deck’s global input settings.