Xbox Series X|S controller issues on PC (non-Steam)

[dexx]

Chiming in to +1 thread. Same issues as everyone. Connected via Bluetooth, FFXIV does not recognize Xbox Core controller but a generic controller input. There is no "deadzone" with right analog stick. The camera just continues to pan without touching the thumbstick. Actually just jiggling it makes the camera full on rotate.

Done my basic troubleshooting. Other games are working fine.

[Crafter]

I’m glad I found this thread. I was about to exchange my Xbox Core controller I just purchased yesterday. After reading this thread, I tries it on other games and they’re all fine. It only drifts on FFXIV. So, it’s the game. Not the controller. I’ll be playing FFXIV on my older controller for now...

[Rufalus]

It only drifts on FFXIV. So, it’s the game. Not the controller.

Interesting. PS4 controllers get analogue drift in ffxiv pc after a while too. Took me a long time to notice that they don't do that in other games; I had previously thought my pads were toast. There's definitely some weirdness to the way ffxiv pc handles controllers, given various issues throughout its entire lifetime. I'm onto the Xbox Series X/S pad now but using it wired has avoided problems so far.

[Dynratygus]

Good afternoon and thank you for the reply.

I apologize for the delay in our response to your concern. Unfortunately, the game was not designed for use with a blue tooth controllers. We advise to make sure the drivers are up to date and installed properly. We apologize as we are only able to provide limited trouble shooting on the issue. In addition to double checking the drivers, you may want to try and see if there is a tool or program you can use to help trouble shoot any issues. Other than that, we advise to use a wired Logitech or Xbox360 controller as they work best.

Thank you for visiting the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums

[EatForMoxie]

I have the fix, it's counter-intuitive but it's the only solution I've found.

In case you REALLY want to play with a Bluetooth* controller, just add FFXIV.exe (client only non-steam version) as a "fake" steam game through the Steam UI:

On a Windows OS (haven't tried Mac), open Steam

Look at the "Games" menu in the top-left of your window

Click "Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library"

Add "FINAL FANTASY XIV ONLINE"

Launch the client through Steam

Enjoy playing FFXIV with your Bluetooth Controller.



(It should work 100%, quote me if it doesn't.)
*Edited to add Bluetooth, wired controllers should work without any workarounds.

[Inkin]

Good afternoon and thank you for the reply.

I apologize for the delay in our response to your concern. Unfortunately, the game was not designed for use with a blue tooth controllers. We advise to make sure the drivers are up to date and installed properly. We apologize as we are only able to provide limited trouble shooting on the issue. In addition to double checking the drivers, you may want to try and see if there is a tool or program you can use to help trouble shoot any issues. Other than that, we advise to use a wired Logitech or Xbox360 controller as they work best.

Thank you for visiting the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums

Sure, that's because the game is 7 years old and broad use of bluetooth controllers is quite "recent". I'm going to buy a USB-C cable just for this in addition to my controller, but I think it's a bad fix, if we can even call it that. I know devs are busy, but it would be great of them to do something instead of asking the players (customers, by the way?) to double check our drivers and ultimately telling us not to use bluetooth controllers...

I have the fix, it's counter-intuitive but it's the only solution I've found.

In case you REALLY want to play with a Bluetooth* controller, just add FFXIV.exe (client only non-steam version) as a "fake" steam game through the Steam UI:

On a Windows OS (haven't tried Mac), open Steam

Look at the "Games" menu in the top-left of your window

Click "Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library"

Add "FINAL FANTASY XIV ONLINE"

Launch the client through Steam

Enjoy playing FFXIV with your Bluetooth Controller.



(It should work 100%, quote me if it doesn't.)
*Edited to add Bluetooth, wired controllers should work without any workarounds.

Just tried it, doesn't work for me. But either way I need to launch my game via a vpn for reduced latency, so I can't launch it from Steam.

[EatForMoxie]

Sure, that's because the game is 7 years old and broad use of bluetooth controllers is quite "recent". I'm going to buy a USB-C cable just for this in addition to my controller, but I think it's a bad fix, if we can even call it that. I know devs are busy, but it would be great of them to do something instead of asking the players (customers, by the way?) to double check our drivers and ultimately telling us not to use bluetooth controllers...



Just tried it, doesn't work for me. But either way I need to launch my game via a vpn for reduced latency, so I can't launch it from Steam.

I don't think the mod can do anything about a programming issue, no need to take your anger out on him.

The solution I posted works with Dualshock 4 and the Xbox One Controller for sure as I've tried both on 2 computers. If you're using either of them and it still doesn't work, your problem lies elsewhere (Drivers or OS like Dynratygus mentioned).
If you want a fix or some help making it work, just let us know what kind of controller you're using.

[dexx]

I don't think the mod can do anything about a programming issue, no need to take your anger out on him.

The solution I posted works with Dualshock 4 and the Xbox One Controller for sure as I've tried both on 2 computers. If you're using either of them and it still doesn't work, your problem lies elsewhere (Drivers or OS like Dynratygus mentioned).
If you want a fix or some help making it work, just let us know what kind of controller you're using.

Yeah. It doesn't work for me. And yes, all my drivers are updated - controller, Bluetooth and I even updated Windows. Looking at Steam, I get the prompt that the configuration for Xbox Core controller for me has been applied. I still get the camera pan in game.

Edit: I can only conclude that it's because you are using an Xbox One controller. I have an Xbox Core controller. The newer version.

[Inkin]

I don't think the mod can do anything about a programming issue, no need to take your anger out on him.

I am not taking any anger on anyone, simply pointing out things. And I'm not asking of him to develop a fix on the spot, I'm asking for him to tell the higher-ups about what is starting to be a known issue that is bothering players.

The solution I posted works with Dualshock 4 and the Xbox One Controller for sure as I've tried both on 2 computers. If you're using either of them and it still doesn't work, your problem lies elsewhere (Drivers or OS like Dynratygus mentioned).
If you want a fix or some help making it work, just let us know what kind of controller you're using.

This thread is about Series controllers, not Dualshock/One controllers unless I am mistaken.
Asking for a fix, is what other people me included have been doing since the first post of this thread. Controller works like a charm...on anything but FFXIV. And that is for everyone having issues so far in this thread, so it's probably not about drivers but about the game itself, like the mod kindly pointed out.

[Packetdancer]

tl;dr: The Steam method will work for the Series X controller, fwiw; I confirmed it for myself a couple of weeks back. However, last I checked, you need to have the beta builds of the Steam client for it to work, as the current release builds of Steam don't actually know how to recognize the Series X controller via Bluetooth any more than FFXIV itself does.

As a longer explanation, Steam has a layer which was created to abstract the Steam Controller into something that games could recognize. Basically, it takes input from a controller and, for lack of a better term, goes "CONSUME" and prevents anything else from seeing that controller's input, and then exports a virtual, software-only controller to the system. So a game sees what appears to be a standard controller, but it's actually just a pretend controller Steam has created in software.

This allows Steam to do things like remap a button, or turn a button that games wouldn't recognize into a macro key, or whatever else. Even though the Steam Controller's been discontinued, they extended the layer to support other controllers so that you could abstract them out and remap things as needed... notably Xbox, DualShock, and Switch Pro ones. That's how their controller configuration/remapping/tweaking stuff works. (And also how the virtual on-screen controller works when using Steam Link on a phone or tablet.)

The upshot of which is that if Steam recognizes a controller but a game doesn't, you can pipe it through Steam to turn it into a recognizable standard gamepad. However, that obviously relies on Steam recognizing the controller... and as I said, last I checked, the release builds of Steam do not recognize the Series X controller; you can find many threads over the past month about "my Series X controller doesn't work in <Steam game X>" and such. They have now added support, but so far as I know it's still in the (publicly available) Steam beta builds (which pop up every few days), not the default release client (which is a far less frequent update channel). So funneling it through Steam will fix the Series X controller issue and let you use it wirelessly, but you have to either swap to their beta channel and get the beta builds to use that workaround now, or wait until it hits the release build of Steam.

Similarly, getting the Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows 10 will also let you use the controller properly (because via that device, it functions the same way it does wired), but that requires buying said wireless adapter.

So there's three workarounds that I know of (and have personally tested):

1. Run your controller wired all the time. (Inconvenient.)
2. Swap to Steam's beta builds, add FFXIV as a non-Steam game in your library to enable the overlay and Steam Input, and then enable Xbox Controller Configuration support so that Steam steals the controller and exports a virtual, properly-mapped version. (Entails running beta software and also mucking around with making FFXIV launch from within Steam. Admittedly, if you already run the Steam version of the game, that's presumably somewhat less of a hassle; you just swap to beta builds and enable Xbox Controller Configuration and poof, it works, since you already launch through Steam to start.)
3. Just buy the Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows 10. (Costs money. Though admittedly, also reduces controller latency versus Bluetooth, so might be worth it to really serious raiders?)

...they're just none of them exactly ideal, when it would be much nicer if the controller Just Plain Worked.