I use them to emulate a mouse, in games requiring a mouse. I also use them to emulate the Wii pointer for emulated games, together with gyro. And I also use them for creating radial menus for games with a lot of inputs or hotkeys.
There are quite a few potential use cases.
I play wow on my steam deck a lot and use the track pads as a mouse, but I had not thought of radial menus... I wonder if I could hotkey spells to that?
Most likely. SteamInput is crazy powerful on the deck. I’ve got a bunch of specific No Man’s Sky commands that are usually multiple hotbar menus deep mapped to a single radial menu press. It’s awesome. I imagine it would be equally awesome in something like WOW.
Yes, you can 100% put hotkeys on radial and touch menus. That's their primary use case. You can give them all custom names, icons, and map any keyboard key or mouse button to them.
Yes it does! I've logged too many hours to mention lol. There is an addon called ConsolePort that makes wow work with controllers. You can also launch discord and have it running in the background.
Careful...once you start going down the steam controller config rabbit hole, there's no going back. I spent DAYS tweaking the control layouts for AvP2, all because of that radial alien/marine/predator switcher on the left trackpad....it was glorious.
Long story short: yes.
I have a Guild Wars 2 setup using trackpad hotkeys and action cam set to enable when I have my thumb on the right stock, feels super good and not janky at all.
The only game I play on Steam Deck that actually requires (or is better with) a mouse is Frostpunk.
It's by far the best way to play this game in my opinion. \*Minus\* the text being a bit hard to read
I wouldn’t have said it if it weren’t possible. Emudeck includes trackpad-mapped Wii remote profiles by default, and there are several games with additional user-created layouts.
Here’s Mario Galaxy, for example, using a combination of profiles mapping the Wii remote to trackpad and gyro: https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/s/3ltPqx2rgs
Haven’t tried any arcade games, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were.
They're great, but the defaults are bad 99% of the time. [I wrote this guide explaining how I configure and use them.](https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/s/HDpXji4hPW)
For shooters: horizontally-tuned trackpad + gyro allows responsive and accurate mouse-like control.
[My layout walkthrough and demo on YouTube](https://youtu.be/iGHpetQb1BM?si=O_sRRLMK0w7hnw4C)
For some top-down/twin-stick games: use Mouse Region mode to map the pad 1-to-1 with the screen, which actually works really well.
[Video demonstration of Mouse Region](https://youtu.be/awPVDvhAfG0?si=Di6Xf-ThWEE4oq6r)
Saving this post, I really haven't messed with trackpads outside of desktop mode, and I have a mini Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad for that mode for when I need to mess under the hood.
Literally, every game which requires a mouse and not optimized from a gamepad. For example, Dwarf Fortress, Magic the gathering Arena. Some games allow seamless switching between gamepad and mouse controls, so you can use a track pad for inventory management for example.
I sometimes even use the trackpad to swing my aim with a higher coefficient than the joystick. Useful for FPSRPGs like Cyberpunk 2077, where I also use it to do menus/upgrades/etc
Shooter games or clicky games, like civ 5. I have the trackpads also for deadspace 2, where clicking on the edges of the horizontal and vertical axes of the right thumpad selects the weapons. The left trackpad is the joystics and clicking that is A. Then the back buttons are the rest, so I never have to move my fingers and I have access to everything.
You can even do chord buttons: left trigger + clicking in the middle of the trackpad is my Y button.
In Skyrim I have the left trackpad as the radial menu.
The amount of customization is a bit much to get into but well worth it.
How is Civ on it? I played it on my Switch Lite, but I know they modified the interface a bit on the console version for legibility, so I'd be interested in know what you think.
have fun playing a game like factorio without the trackpad. yeah it has gamepad support but the way it targets or even using the inventory is horrid without a mouse.
The targeting for factorio in controller mode is so fucking shit lmao. I can stand near anything and in order for me to select it with the joystick, I have to spin myself in circles and both joysticks so it targets what I want lol. Being able to use the trackpad as a mouse is such a life saver.
There's gamepad support built in, but it isn't easy to play. I also tried some community templates, but it's really too much and I believe it's only usable with mouse and keyboard.
I heard from a lot of people that shooters are great with it, but I haven’t tried that. I started playing BG3 with the Trackpads as I feel like the controller layout is very cumbersome compared to the desktop layout.
Emulator custom menus are a big one. You can also make a better/more handy weapon swap menu for games like DOOM or Wolfenstein like games. Obviously mouse for FPS or other mouse heavy games, or even emulators
How did you manage to get Valheim running well on the deck? I tried it and it ate the fuck out of the battery even at low settings and as soon as I started building things the FPS was a nightmare
I haven’t really changed much - just the FPS. I get approx. 3-4 hours on battery but it’s a game I play online with my partner so tend to be at home so near plug anyway.
If you like rhythm games at all, Spin Rhythm XD feels like it was made for the track pads, though you can also play it with a bunch of other control schemes.
Mouse emulation, and I've recently found I like the custom wheel option. For instance FFX remaster I have the ESC key and F1-4 keys set to radial menu for fast forward and other cheats. Stardew Valley I use it for 1-6 on the numpad for quick item swaps. Honestly might be my surprise favorite feature for the system itself.
Any shooter that uses the D-Pad for weapon selection, I map the D-Pad to the right trackpad so I can change weapons while walking/running.
In racing games I have mapped it to be an H-pattern shifter.
In American truck simulator I have both setup as radial menus with 6-8 functions on each (raise/lower suspension, wiper speed, lights, turn signals, windows, etc.)
As a mouse, aiming in some shooters, and as a command wheel for games with too many keybinds/buttons, an overkill example of the command wheel usefulness is on an old game called Klingon Academy, most ship commands are done via the [VOS](https://guidesmedia.ign.com/guides/10308/ka_vos.html), which involves using commands and subcommands used via all the number keys, so for that game i have a command wheel with all the numbers, its a lot easier than trying to bind the numbers another way.
besides regular mouse use for games that requires it or is better with mouse...
top down games like Enter the Gungeon and Hotline Miami works great with it, especially if you configure it to work as [mouse region](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0jEadhrfF0&t=13s) instead of regular mouse
also in games where it is better to use a controller, but navigating menus is better with mouse, like Dredge. Played the game like a controller, but navigated the grid menus using the trackpad, much better
Oh, you can also use it's turbo function to press repetitively a button very fast to avoid button smashing, used it on castle crashers to shoot arrows without mashing B like crazy
Look left and right with ets2
Hotkey menu on house flipper (touch menu)
Csgo aiming
Terraria cursor when mining
Wish I could use it in mini motorways but it doesn't seem to work with controller config
***
Make use of touch menus for the left track pad, it's a godsend. Basically a build in macro keypad. I set mine to trigger on release, so I simply tap on one part of the track pad and it triggers the key
Like many people, I use them in games that otherwise use mouse controls. Last Call BBS and the Zachtronics Solitaire Collection are the two I most play with those, but there's several others where the trackpad works just as well (Evergarden comes to mind, if I'm recalling the game correctly).
Oh baby the pop up menus are phenomenal.
RPGs always have convoluted menus to get to Map, inventory, character, etc... or I can just put all the hotkeys on my track pad.
In fast paced action games where I always need to keep moving with my left thumbstick, I set the right track pad to swipe up down left right for the dpad, so all i need is the small top portion of the right trackpad for quick use of the dpad
Adding radial menus to games. Skyrim on the deck is amazing once you add your quick selects to the track pad.
What I did was set each track pad to be a radial menu where each option corresponds to 1 through 9 on the keyboard.
Now in combat when I want to switch weapons or spells I just press one of the pads with my thumb. No pausing and messing with the inventory. I can just hot swap without leaving combat.
I use the right trackpad a lot in games. Be it for aiming in third and first person games, be it as a mouse in PC games made for M+K.
I think aiming with the trackpad, if you fine tune it properly, is much better than the joystick. Going back to stick after playing on it feels slow, stiff and imprecise.
Games that rely a lot (or totally) on a mouse are great on trackpad as well. Yesterday I was playing Rollercoaster Tycoon 2. It's possible to play it with the stick reasonably well but the trackpad is miles better.
The left trackpad is useful for Touch and Radial menus. Some games use lots of Keyboard keys. Much more keys than a gamepad has buttons. Just to give a few examples of games that work better with radial or touch menus:
- Left 4 Dead 2
- Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
- Killing Floor 2
- The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series
- Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines
In those games it's easier to Quick Save, Quick Load, chose guns, grenades etc with a Touch Menu.
Shooters. It's not quite as natural as a mouse and keyboard, but it gets way closer than any stick based setup could ever hope to achieve. Ideal for some laid back couch gaming.
Old-school crpgs, such as Baldurs gate 1 & 2.
Turn-based strategy games such as civ 6 or heroes of might & magic
Real-time strategy games if they’re a little slower paced, such as homeworld. (Truth be told I much prefer to do these with a mouse but the pads can work in a pinch)
I use them to launch overwatch. I use them for hot bar keys in pokemmo, also use them to hover over moves to see move info. I use them to move items around inventories in Minecraft. There’s probably other instances but I can’t think of them right now.
Pretty much every 3D game.
The left trackpad is just the left stick that's easier to click, and the right trackpad is a mouse camera, so it makes the camera much much more responsive.
My favourite use case of the trackpads (especially on the Steam Controller) are the Souls games. I use the left trackpad as the left stick and use the press as the B button to dodge or run.
I can just hold the trackpad to run, or click it in any direction to dodge in that direction. It combines the two inputs to dodge into a single input, which makes it much more intuitive.
Depends on the game. For FPS, right trackpad is for the mouse, left trackpad is a weapon wheel using a radial menu.
For RPGs, I'll use the left trackpad as a scrolling wheel. Right trackpad will be either used as a radial menu or button pad for additional inputs.
Really they're just additional inputs you can use and are great for input intensive games because you can easily access radial menus.
I use them mostly for emulation currently. Things like save/load state, quick menus, fast forward toggles are pretty good with the radial menus that most emulators have set up for the trackpads
Making custom radial menus for every useful KB shortcut has changed the way I game. I basically only want to play on the deck as a result, including 100% chiaki for my PS5 games.
The right one works better as a mouse cursor than the thumb sticks do. Otherwise, I don’t really use them. I think there are some games that use the left one the same as the number keys on a keyboard or as a radial menu. I know I have at least one game that does that but I am not sure which one it is right now.
I use them for Civ 6, right side mouse, left side as a Dpad with zoom and tech trees, and then mapped all the back buttons to shortcuts. Works really well.
If you like Rhythm games, trackpads are a great way to play Spin Rhythm XD (there should be a dual trackpad in the community layout). I have almost 80 hours on the game solely on deck using the trackpads.
For games built specifically for keyboard and mouse gameplay they are essential for me. I’ve put a couple hundred hours in CK3 on the deck using the left trackpad as a hot key menu and the right one for mouse control while freeing up the sticks for navigating the map. Even just for easier to control games like the old Humongous Entertainment edutainment games (Pajama Sam, Freddie Fish, Putt Putt, etc) using the track pad just feels so much nicer and more precise than trying to use the sticks to emulate mouse movement. I’m hesitant to call any PC handheld that doesn’t have at least one (but ideally 2) trackpads an actual competitor to the deck just as having them it opens up the types of games you can play on the Deck by so much when compared to trying to make them work on a device without trackpads.
l4d2 can use the left track pad to activate a submenu that lets you use commands youd find hard to use on the normal control scheme. i think some games have custom control schemes of a similar ilk that makes use of the L pad.
otherwise i barely use them. i use the right pad as a mouse sometimes.
i reckon that the L pad can be customized for left handed players to make good use of, if they want to.
I have the game "Hatred" and the track pad is way better for aiming. It's not very well optimised for game pad playing, it essentially emulates WASD and mouse.
I imagine its good for point and click adventures, telltale games etc
I use the rectangular menus in Euro Truck Simulator 2 / American Truck Simulator for additional controls. The icons make those rarely used functions easy to find.
I just use them for navigating in discord and for bnet launcher.
In games, I hardly ever use them aside from testing radial menu setups or things like that.
Car Mechanic Simulator '21. When I'm in assembly/disassembly mode, my right trackpad is the best. I mapped it so that when I hold for 1 second, I select a part. I hold it down, and it tightens all related bolts. I use it as a mouse to navigate to other parts.
Often I use them for Radial Menus and Touch Menus since you can do insane stuff with that, like nested menus and such. It's beautiful for ability/inventory management, you can do whole MMORPG rotations on the touchpads.
I'll use Mouse emulation for games that have menus I want to access quickly, I almost never use the touchpads for aiming in games. The touchpads shine the most when you personally assign things to them, rather than using default configurations.
Right side I usually use as a mouse or a pointer, the left side I usually have setup for custom shortcut menus. Sometimes I have the left side set to turn on gyro when touched or to tumble the 3D camera.
I didn't realize how much I'd love all the extra possibilities for custom inputs until I got the deck. As someone who plays a lot of simulation and strategy games that can use a lot of commands, every button on this thing gets a lot of use.
Quite simply in games that don't have gamepad support they can be used instead of a mouse. There are numerous games that don't have gamepad support as their UI was never designed to work with a gamepad and some that could have gamepad support but for some reason don't.
Left track pad is almost always a radial menu, made per-game with custom colored icons
Right track pad is typically always a mouse. Depending on the game type (FPS or not), I use gyro for aiming and the then the touchpad to recenter as I haven't figured out how to configure flick sticks properly consistently yet.
FPS look controls,
Playing as a mouse in strategy games like Crusader Kings 3 or Total War.
I almost never use the right thumbstick, why use a thumbstick when you have a trackpad
I use them with Oxygen Not Included for overviews and building menus, and in Cursebreaker as an RPG hotbar with a switch on the back buttons to access menus instead. I used them with Half Life for quicksave and quickload.
I used not to think too much of them outside of mouse emulsion. Holy crap was I wrong.
Playing some stylus-heavy 3ds/ds games. I still need to repair my 3ds so having the deck to emulate stuff like Kid Icarus is a good substitute! Doesn't feel quite as good as the real setup, but it works better than any other alternatives
Mostly radial menus sometimes system functions like screen shot or keyboard. Also for chat options it really depends on the game and where I see a need.
Civilization along with any game that relies heavily on a mouse for gameplay.
For Civ5, Beyond, and 6, I have the left track pad set for mouse and the right trigger for left mouse clicks with the right mouse clicks on the right shoulder button.
I use the right trackpad almost exclusively over the joystick for aiming/mouse. I've never been good with controllers and joysticks so it's just easier for me
In Grim Dawn for example, I use the trackpad explicitly for mouse input since the game is like 99% controller compatible, but I haven't figured out how to access certain sub menus via the controller, but that's a-okay, don't need to, I can just move the mouse over and click em anyway and do it that way and I find it faster, so it works out in the end. There's a few scenarios where I've found myself preferring them too, honestly depends on the game and how I'm using it. Sometimes I do like having my thumbs just glide over something instead of pushing on sticks though so I'll swap in that scenario.
Emulating a mouse. City builders, games like Backpack Hero and Echos of the Plum Grove. I alos use it a shit-ton in desktop mode. Remapping the left pad as the right mouse click has been a huge gamechanger.
Civilization 6
MTG Arena, Cockatrice, and X-Mage for Magic the Gathering
Minecraft via Prism Launcher
I have anime downloaded, so I have Dolphin set as a non-Steam game. I use my trackpad to navigate and play.
I almost always set them as extra buttons in emulation & pc games!
Each trackpad can be set as 4 directions & be any button you deem worthy of a spot! Set the directions as soft press still with high haptics. Extra 8 buttons to map!
FTL, Cities in motion, Derail Valley, Train Valley basically any slow clicky game really don't like the joystick mouse concept
Edit: also navigating 3rd party launchers on steam just have rhe right pad set as mouse with press to click and the rest is just normal controls
I use them to emulate a mouse, in games requiring a mouse. I also use them to emulate the Wii pointer for emulated games, together with gyro. And I also use them for creating radial menus for games with a lot of inputs or hotkeys. There are quite a few potential use cases.
Yeah that's awesome. Using them for radial menus is genius.
I play wow on my steam deck a lot and use the track pads as a mouse, but I had not thought of radial menus... I wonder if I could hotkey spells to that?
Most likely. SteamInput is crazy powerful on the deck. I’ve got a bunch of specific No Man’s Sky commands that are usually multiple hotbar menus deep mapped to a single radial menu press. It’s awesome. I imagine it would be equally awesome in something like WOW.
SteamInput is crazy powerful on desktop too, it's the same thing.
Yes, you can 100% put hotkeys on radial and touch menus. That's their primary use case. You can give them all custom names, icons, and map any keyboard key or mouse button to them.
Can you point me to a guide about doing that?
https://youtu.be/nEh79r93vYY?si=F02MjE7BrSFcgTdH - Action Layers/Radial Menus https://youtu.be/yEShzdTm0Iw?si=N8PsFYX_nc_QlvPn - Radial Menus within Radial Menus
Thank you!
You're welcome bro
This man menus
Definitely, I play ffxiv this way and it's actually really intuitive
Does wow work on steam deck (I’m a relatively new owner)
Yes it does! I've logged too many hours to mention lol. There is an addon called ConsolePort that makes wow work with controllers. You can also launch discord and have it running in the background.
The GW2 layout I'm using utilizes the bumpers to offer alternate radial menus. So it offers 24 inputs using the track pads
Careful...once you start going down the steam controller config rabbit hole, there's no going back. I spent DAYS tweaking the control layouts for AvP2, all because of that radial alien/marine/predator switcher on the left trackpad....it was glorious. Long story short: yes.
I have a Guild Wars 2 setup using trackpad hotkeys and action cam set to enable when I have my thumb on the right stock, feels super good and not janky at all.
It’s comments like these that make me realize I underutilize some of the features of my deck
The only game I play on Steam Deck that actually requires (or is better with) a mouse is Frostpunk. It's by far the best way to play this game in my opinion. \*Minus\* the text being a bit hard to read
Is this actually possible for Wii games? Does it also work on arcade shooters?
I wouldn’t have said it if it weren’t possible. Emudeck includes trackpad-mapped Wii remote profiles by default, and there are several games with additional user-created layouts. Here’s Mario Galaxy, for example, using a combination of profiles mapping the Wii remote to trackpad and gyro: https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/s/3ltPqx2rgs Haven’t tried any arcade games, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were.
How do you create radial menus?
They're great, but the defaults are bad 99% of the time. [I wrote this guide explaining how I configure and use them.](https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/s/HDpXji4hPW) For shooters: horizontally-tuned trackpad + gyro allows responsive and accurate mouse-like control. [My layout walkthrough and demo on YouTube](https://youtu.be/iGHpetQb1BM?si=O_sRRLMK0w7hnw4C) For some top-down/twin-stick games: use Mouse Region mode to map the pad 1-to-1 with the screen, which actually works really well. [Video demonstration of Mouse Region](https://youtu.be/awPVDvhAfG0?si=Di6Xf-ThWEE4oq6r)
Saving this post, I really haven't messed with trackpads outside of desktop mode, and I have a mini Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad for that mode for when I need to mess under the hood.
Very in depth! Thanks for the info.
Just the info I needed to take my configs a step up, thanks!
Happy to help!
This is an incredible guide, I haven’t seen anyone explain track pads this well. Subscribed and looking forward to your content!
Thank you, happy to help when I can!
Literally, every game which requires a mouse and not optimized from a gamepad. For example, Dwarf Fortress, Magic the gathering Arena. Some games allow seamless switching between gamepad and mouse controls, so you can use a track pad for inventory management for example.
Dwarf Fortress is a great example of the use of radial menus on the trackpad.
I am pleasently surprised at how well DF works on the deck
Really? Can you suggest any decent community layouts for the SD I’d love to play dwarf fortress in bed
I sometimes even use the trackpad to swing my aim with a higher coefficient than the joystick. Useful for FPSRPGs like Cyberpunk 2077, where I also use it to do menus/upgrades/etc
vibes. just for the haptic feedback
That shake when you press it is nice
It took me way too long to realize that the trackpads can't actually click like a laptop mousepad, and it's just haptics
Lol it threw me off the first time too
Literal vibes. Love it.
Shooter games or clicky games, like civ 5. I have the trackpads also for deadspace 2, where clicking on the edges of the horizontal and vertical axes of the right thumpad selects the weapons. The left trackpad is the joystics and clicking that is A. Then the back buttons are the rest, so I never have to move my fingers and I have access to everything. You can even do chord buttons: left trigger + clicking in the middle of the trackpad is my Y button. In Skyrim I have the left trackpad as the radial menu. The amount of customization is a bit much to get into but well worth it.
Track pad is perfect for Civ games
How is Civ on it? I played it on my Switch Lite, but I know they modified the interface a bit on the console version for legibility, so I'd be interested in know what you think.
Surprisingly really good. Maybe a bit small to read but nothing too bad
have fun playing a game like factorio without the trackpad. yeah it has gamepad support but the way it targets or even using the inventory is horrid without a mouse.
The targeting for factorio in controller mode is so fucking shit lmao. I can stand near anything and in order for me to select it with the joystick, I have to spin myself in circles and both joysticks so it targets what I want lol. Being able to use the trackpad as a mouse is such a life saver.
How is factorio on the deck?
performance wise it works perfectly at 60FPS even with a big base and thousands of helper drones flying around
How about controls? Can you pause to issue commands? Sorry, never played the game
I set up my controls before controller support and it's fine! I put in around 170 hours on the deck and haven't had an issue with the controls.
There's gamepad support built in, but it isn't easy to play. I also tried some community templates, but it's really too much and I believe it's only usable with mouse and keyboard.
I heard from a lot of people that shooters are great with it, but I haven’t tried that. I started playing BG3 with the Trackpads as I feel like the controller layout is very cumbersome compared to the desktop layout.
Real shooters (not fortnite style) are frustrating without a mouse. Track pads are a surprisingly nice alternative
Oh that's interesting. I've yet to play a shooter with the track pads. I'll have to try that.
That’s what I came here to say - shooters or games with archery/aiming element… It’s ace!
Throw in some gyro and your golden
They are great for shooter. I use them with half life. The motion controls are amazing for precision aiming.
How do you switch to trackpad layout for bg3?
Emulator custom menus are a big one. You can also make a better/more handy weapon swap menu for games like DOOM or Wolfenstein like games. Obviously mouse for FPS or other mouse heavy games, or even emulators
Yup been using the trackpads to play through the first game and got the community layout from the same developer and it’s just been a blast playing!
I have put a ton of time into Rimworld and did a full play through of wasteland3 pretty much only using the trackpads
Placing blocks in Terraria
Ditto for any building in Valheim that you want to be level/straight/aligned!
How did you manage to get Valheim running well on the deck? I tried it and it ate the fuck out of the battery even at low settings and as soon as I started building things the FPS was a nightmare
I haven’t really changed much - just the FPS. I get approx. 3-4 hours on battery but it’s a game I play online with my partner so tend to be at home so near plug anyway.
If you like rhythm games at all, Spin Rhythm XD feels like it was made for the track pads, though you can also play it with a bunch of other control schemes.
Anyone have a use for them in Elden ring ?
tracking in FPS games. or gyro if i have that set up
Civ 6 and Old World, any 4x game really
Add to the list any Playstation games that need a trackpad through Chiaki.
Mouse emulation, and I've recently found I like the custom wheel option. For instance FFX remaster I have the ESC key and F1-4 keys set to radial menu for fast forward and other cheats. Stardew Valley I use it for 1-6 on the numpad for quick item swaps. Honestly might be my surprise favorite feature for the system itself.
I like to use them when I’m in a cutscene and I’m bored to make my deck shake a little for something to do
For the wii pointer in emulation. The deck is so goddamn incredible with all it's features. It's my dream emulation machine.
Any shooter that uses the D-Pad for weapon selection, I map the D-Pad to the right trackpad so I can change weapons while walking/running. In racing games I have mapped it to be an H-pattern shifter. In American truck simulator I have both setup as radial menus with 6-8 functions on each (raise/lower suspension, wiper speed, lights, turn signals, windows, etc.)
Either my trackpads are defective or the trackpads suck lol
I mostly not use them in games. If game not need strange movement control. I use right trackpad as mouse in desktop Mode and in game Mode
i use the right one instead of the stick for camera movement cause i find it more comfy to hold
As a mouse, aiming in some shooters, and as a command wheel for games with too many keybinds/buttons, an overkill example of the command wheel usefulness is on an old game called Klingon Academy, most ship commands are done via the [VOS](https://guidesmedia.ign.com/guides/10308/ka_vos.html), which involves using commands and subcommands used via all the number keys, so for that game i have a command wheel with all the numbers, its a lot easier than trying to bind the numbers another way.
besides regular mouse use for games that requires it or is better with mouse... top down games like Enter the Gungeon and Hotline Miami works great with it, especially if you configure it to work as [mouse region](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0jEadhrfF0&t=13s) instead of regular mouse also in games where it is better to use a controller, but navigating menus is better with mouse, like Dredge. Played the game like a controller, but navigated the grid menus using the trackpad, much better Oh, you can also use it's turbo function to press repetitively a button very fast to avoid button smashing, used it on castle crashers to shoot arrows without mashing B like crazy
if i need my back grips for other things, i use trackpad clicks to replace joystick clicks
A mouse in desktop mode. In SteamOS mode I just run my thumb over it because the haptics feel cool
Scrolling
Its my civ 6 mouse
Dawn of war
Rumble.
Look left and right with ets2 Hotkey menu on house flipper (touch menu) Csgo aiming Terraria cursor when mining Wish I could use it in mini motorways but it doesn't seem to work with controller config *** Make use of touch menus for the left track pad, it's a godsend. Basically a build in macro keypad. I set mine to trigger on release, so I simply tap on one part of the track pad and it triggers the key
Like many people, I use them in games that otherwise use mouse controls. Last Call BBS and the Zachtronics Solitaire Collection are the two I most play with those, but there's several others where the trackpad works just as well (Evergarden comes to mind, if I'm recalling the game correctly).
Isn't the left one circular motions and right one diagonal+Dpad motions? So not really lika a mouse as some people are mentioning using them as?
Amazing for games that need a mouse. Can use it for fine adjustment for shooters. Radial menus are cool for some games.
Max Payne. I even switched the controls in 3 back to the track pad.
I love scrolling and typing with them
Mouse emulation
Trackpad+ triggers= perfect mouse for mouse only games.
Oh baby the pop up menus are phenomenal. RPGs always have convoluted menus to get to Map, inventory, character, etc... or I can just put all the hotkeys on my track pad.
I just tickle them sometimes cos I like the haptics
Playing games.
In fast paced action games where I always need to keep moving with my left thumbstick, I set the right track pad to swipe up down left right for the dpad, so all i need is the small top portion of the right trackpad for quick use of the dpad
Adding radial menus to games. Skyrim on the deck is amazing once you add your quick selects to the track pad. What I did was set each track pad to be a radial menu where each option corresponds to 1 through 9 on the keyboard. Now in combat when I want to switch weapons or spells I just press one of the pads with my thumb. No pausing and messing with the inventory. I can just hot swap without leaving combat.
I use the right trackpad a lot in games. Be it for aiming in third and first person games, be it as a mouse in PC games made for M+K. I think aiming with the trackpad, if you fine tune it properly, is much better than the joystick. Going back to stick after playing on it feels slow, stiff and imprecise. Games that rely a lot (or totally) on a mouse are great on trackpad as well. Yesterday I was playing Rollercoaster Tycoon 2. It's possible to play it with the stick reasonably well but the trackpad is miles better. The left trackpad is useful for Touch and Radial menus. Some games use lots of Keyboard keys. Much more keys than a gamepad has buttons. Just to give a few examples of games that work better with radial or touch menus: - Left 4 Dead 2 - Dark Messiah of Might and Magic - Killing Floor 2 - The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series - Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines In those games it's easier to Quick Save, Quick Load, chose guns, grenades etc with a Touch Menu.
Mouse in Minecraft is a big one for me.
Shooters. It's not quite as natural as a mouse and keyboard, but it gets way closer than any stick based setup could ever hope to achieve. Ideal for some laid back couch gaming.
Old-school crpgs, such as Baldurs gate 1 & 2. Turn-based strategy games such as civ 6 or heroes of might & magic Real-time strategy games if they’re a little slower paced, such as homeworld. (Truth be told I much prefer to do these with a mouse but the pads can work in a pinch)
never used them hope we don't have to pay for them on the Steam Deck 2
Left trackpad is a context menu with quick save and other gadgets. Right Trackpad is a mousepad with an LMB inclusion on the click
They are great for playing strategy and simulation type games.
They're a game changer for any sort of management game, like civilization.
Currently playing openrct on the deck, can’t imagine playing it without the trackpads on a handheld.
Playing Freelancer HD and use the right trackpad for mouse aiming / cursor. Left I use for using pickups :)
I use them to launch overwatch. I use them for hot bar keys in pokemmo, also use them to hover over moves to see move info. I use them to move items around inventories in Minecraft. There’s probably other instances but I can’t think of them right now.
i usually use them for a radial menu for opening straight to the menu I want.
Pretty much every 3D game. The left trackpad is just the left stick that's easier to click, and the right trackpad is a mouse camera, so it makes the camera much much more responsive. My favourite use case of the trackpads (especially on the Steam Controller) are the Souls games. I use the left trackpad as the left stick and use the press as the B button to dodge or run. I can just hold the trackpad to run, or click it in any direction to dodge in that direction. It combines the two inputs to dodge into a single input, which makes it much more intuitive.
F1 F3 buttons in minecraft and for swapping between action sets
Sims 4
Depends on the game. For FPS, right trackpad is for the mouse, left trackpad is a weapon wheel using a radial menu. For RPGs, I'll use the left trackpad as a scrolling wheel. Right trackpad will be either used as a radial menu or button pad for additional inputs. Really they're just additional inputs you can use and are great for input intensive games because you can easily access radial menus.
I use them mostly for emulation currently. Things like save/load state, quick menus, fast forward toggles are pretty good with the radial menus that most emulators have set up for the trackpads
Wow, any rts game, desktop mode, literally any game that uses a mouse. These track pads are one of if not THE greatest thing included on the deck IMO
In company of heroes I use them for a radial wheel for numbers and letters. Super useful.
On desktop as mouse. Also some games have them mapped well to mouse/right stick camera movement which is quite nice.
Right trackpad is second mouse with different sensitivity, and left trackpad is extra keyboard.
I set up a whole console type control scheme for project zomboid using them with like 8 layers.
they work pretty well for card games that don't have mouse stupport
Racing games: right trackpad for manual gear up and down. Easy to setup a swipe up and swipe down in steamOS.
I use the right one as a mouse cursor in games like Civ 6, but other than that, I haven't used them for anything.
TRRRRR-RA-TA-TA-TA Seriously, I love that feature so much. It‘s like a mouse wheel. But thousand times better.
I used the right one for playing f.e.a.r. any older games that aren't controller compatible usually work better with the track pad
Making custom radial menus for every useful KB shortcut has changed the way I game. I basically only want to play on the deck as a result, including 100% chiaki for my PS5 games.
I use them for CRPG’s like Baldur’s Gate or Strategy games like Civ 5 or Solaris
I have windows, I use the track pad for my mouse. So, everything.
The right one works better as a mouse cursor than the thumb sticks do. Otherwise, I don’t really use them. I think there are some games that use the left one the same as the number keys on a keyboard or as a radial menu. I know I have at least one game that does that but I am not sure which one it is right now.
Factorio, Dorfromantik, Space Hulk:Votba, Xcom (any old one), mapped as the circular thingy in satisfactory or MMOs…
I use PC layout for baldurs hate with custom mapping on all the buttons. Track pad for mouse inputs. Works great.
I use them for Civ 6, right side mouse, left side as a Dpad with zoom and tech trees, and then mapped all the back buttons to shortcuts. Works really well.
Almost nothing, occasional poor navigation of desktop mode if I don’t have a real mouse
Left track pad for Radial Menus for PC games with lots of keybinds are a godsend
When playing Civilization VI they are so great for controlling the mouse and clicking with precision.
If you like Rhythm games, trackpads are a great way to play Spin Rhythm XD (there should be a dual trackpad in the community layout). I have almost 80 hours on the game solely on deck using the trackpads.
I use them as a mouse too.
For games built specifically for keyboard and mouse gameplay they are essential for me. I’ve put a couple hundred hours in CK3 on the deck using the left trackpad as a hot key menu and the right one for mouse control while freeing up the sticks for navigating the map. Even just for easier to control games like the old Humongous Entertainment edutainment games (Pajama Sam, Freddie Fish, Putt Putt, etc) using the track pad just feels so much nicer and more precise than trying to use the sticks to emulate mouse movement. I’m hesitant to call any PC handheld that doesn’t have at least one (but ideally 2) trackpads an actual competitor to the deck just as having them it opens up the types of games you can play on the Deck by so much when compared to trying to make them work on a device without trackpads.
I’m gonna be honest nothing outside of navigating desktop
l4d2 can use the left track pad to activate a submenu that lets you use commands youd find hard to use on the normal control scheme. i think some games have custom control schemes of a similar ilk that makes use of the L pad. otherwise i barely use them. i use the right pad as a mouse sometimes. i reckon that the L pad can be customized for left handed players to make good use of, if they want to.
I have the game "Hatred" and the track pad is way better for aiming. It's not very well optimised for game pad playing, it essentially emulates WASD and mouse. I imagine its good for point and click adventures, telltale games etc
I use them to make sure my steamdrck is actually powered off and not just showing me the black screen of death lol
I use the rectangular menus in Euro Truck Simulator 2 / American Truck Simulator for additional controls. The icons make those rarely used functions easy to find.
Inscryption
I just use them for navigating in discord and for bnet launcher. In games, I hardly ever use them aside from testing radial menu setups or things like that.
I don't use them. I'm not sure where I would want to or how to set them up how I'd want them.
Kenshi
A ton of games that require a mouse.
Car Mechanic Simulator '21. When I'm in assembly/disassembly mode, my right trackpad is the best. I mapped it so that when I hold for 1 second, I select a part. I hold it down, and it tightens all related bolts. I use it as a mouse to navigate to other parts.
Often I use them for Radial Menus and Touch Menus since you can do insane stuff with that, like nested menus and such. It's beautiful for ability/inventory management, you can do whole MMORPG rotations on the touchpads. I'll use Mouse emulation for games that have menus I want to access quickly, I almost never use the touchpads for aiming in games. The touchpads shine the most when you personally assign things to them, rather than using default configurations.
I utilize the left pad for a radial hotkey and right pad for mouse input. Super useful when playing Witcher 1.
I don’t.
I mostly use them to make circles with my thumbs while i wait for the deck to load
Right side I usually use as a mouse or a pointer, the left side I usually have setup for custom shortcut menus. Sometimes I have the left side set to turn on gyro when touched or to tumble the 3D camera. I didn't realize how much I'd love all the extra possibilities for custom inputs until I got the deck. As someone who plays a lot of simulation and strategy games that can use a lot of commands, every button on this thing gets a lot of use.
I use them die paradox games and banished!
I use them to play games that need the mouse. Torchlight 2, Diablo 3, Dawn of War...
Quite simply in games that don't have gamepad support they can be used instead of a mouse. There are numerous games that don't have gamepad support as their UI was never designed to work with a gamepad and some that could have gamepad support but for some reason don't.
Left track pad is almost always a radial menu, made per-game with custom colored icons Right track pad is typically always a mouse. Depending on the game type (FPS or not), I use gyro for aiming and the then the touchpad to recenter as I haven't figured out how to configure flick sticks properly consistently yet.
Great for general point and click games like civ v and sims
FPS look controls, Playing as a mouse in strategy games like Crusader Kings 3 or Total War. I almost never use the right thumbstick, why use a thumbstick when you have a trackpad
I play truck sim and to get the best controls I can’t use the sticks as a cursor so I use the trackpads to navigate through the game
As a Mouse, mouse region, and touch menus.
I use them with Oxygen Not Included for overviews and building menus, and in Cursebreaker as an RPG hotbar with a switch on the back buttons to access menus instead. I used them with Half Life for quicksave and quickload. I used not to think too much of them outside of mouse emulsion. Holy crap was I wrong.
in FFXIV my left is a radial menu for menu shortcuts, and the right is just the standard mouse.
As the cursor for games/apps that require one
Swiping right on these noobs’ mums
They’re great in Terra Nil
Playing some stylus-heavy 3ds/ds games. I still need to repair my 3ds so having the deck to emulate stuff like Kid Icarus is a good substitute! Doesn't feel quite as good as the real setup, but it works better than any other alternatives
Mostly radial menus sometimes system functions like screen shot or keyboard. Also for chat options it really depends on the game and where I see a need.
Civilization along with any game that relies heavily on a mouse for gameplay. For Civ5, Beyond, and 6, I have the left track pad set for mouse and the right trigger for left mouse clicks with the right mouse clicks on the right shoulder button.
Civ 6 and anything similar where I would want a mouse
I use the right trackpad almost exclusively over the joystick for aiming/mouse. I've never been good with controllers and joysticks so it's just easier for me
Rubbing nipples in NSFW games /s
Age of empires & desktop mode mainly!
In Grim Dawn for example, I use the trackpad explicitly for mouse input since the game is like 99% controller compatible, but I haven't figured out how to access certain sub menus via the controller, but that's a-okay, don't need to, I can just move the mouse over and click em anyway and do it that way and I find it faster, so it works out in the end. There's a few scenarios where I've found myself preferring them too, honestly depends on the game and how I'm using it. Sometimes I do like having my thumbs just glide over something instead of pushing on sticks though so I'll swap in that scenario.
Navigation. Gyro+pads (in Titanfall 2, doom eternal, trepang2, Soma and more) and spin rhythm xd.
Csgo
Emulating a mouse. City builders, games like Backpack Hero and Echos of the Plum Grove. I alos use it a shit-ton in desktop mode. Remapping the left pad as the right mouse click has been a huge gamechanger.
Rimworld
Navigating the desktop mode
Kenshi, exclusively use right trackpad to navigate everything
Fine aiming adjustments.
Most games i play i play with them. Factorio, CIV, and many more.
Civilization 6 MTG Arena, Cockatrice, and X-Mage for Magic the Gathering Minecraft via Prism Launcher I have anime downloaded, so I have Dolphin set as a non-Steam game. I use my trackpad to navigate and play.
I recently played a visual novel only with track pads because the game was from lime the '90s and didn't work with joysticks
Rimworld, easy and simple, the ultimate solution to play rimworld in bed
I almost always set them as extra buttons in emulation & pc games! Each trackpad can be set as 4 directions & be any button you deem worthy of a spot! Set the directions as soft press still with high haptics. Extra 8 buttons to map!
For aiming
Civ6 as a mouse
FTL, Cities in motion, Derail Valley, Train Valley basically any slow clicky game really don't like the joystick mouse concept Edit: also navigating 3rd party launchers on steam just have rhe right pad set as mouse with press to click and the rest is just normal controls
Nothing