Just as a tip, the track pads in desktop mode are in trackball mode i think. You can change that to just act like a normal trackpad. That might help 😊

What I like about the track pads is despite rarely using them the option is there. Valve didn't want to limit the use for the Steam deck and it's an oddly intuitive work around

for typing, try using both trackpads at the same time (instead of lifting one finger to press with the other), so that you have half the keyboard for each finger. Also, instead of pressing down on the trackpad, you can also use the triggers to click for each side, which allows for more precise selection since you avoid finger displacement by pressing the trackpad

To me the trackpads are the secret sauce that make the Steam Deck stand out head-and-shoulders above the competition and really go to show how robust Steam Input is. Really glad you are giving them a chance

Personally I think the Steam Deck's trackpads are what makes it so special. That's what makes it compatible with almost every PC game released in the last 15 years. I'm not sure I could consider it a true handheld PC without them. And the added functionality they bring for binding other inputs are a life saver for more complex games.

Honestly the Steam Deck's track pads have me hoping that Valve will revisit the idea of a Steam controller someday. They're really useful, and for me at least when calibrated right, I far prefer the track pad for aiming over the analog stick.

I think there's a really simple fix for the palm rejection on the touchpad just by using simple existing logic. The joystick has a sensor to tell when it has a thumb on it and so far as I can see, you never want to use the trackpad and the joystick at the same time. So, if joystick in use -> disable trackpad, and vice versa.

I have my left trackpad set to act as a scroll wheel, you just slide around in a circle like using an old iPod and it's perfect for that.

I love it in shooters. Paired with the gyro aiming - it just works nice. After going back to using a mouse to playing games, I found myself missing the trackpad.

love the radial menu system. The built in one for 3ds makes save states / load states / fast forward etc. a total breeze.

I for one think that the trackpads are the steam deck's most unique strength. And for all the reasons you described! It all relates back to one thing, options. You have SO MANY options available to make the experience your own. I use mine as save state queues and a fast forward toggle for emulated games primarily. I do agree about the community layout discrepancy you mentioned. There's so many smarter, more dedicated steam deck users that I'd love to easily mooch off their creativity and implement it into my game experience. Hope valve can do this!

Something that made the trackpads WAY better for me in desktop mode was disabling touch to click; so they were purely mouse movement and clicks were handled by triggers. Not having to worry about accidently clicking instead of moving the mouse makes such a world of difference in usability in my opinion.

Something about using the keyboard using the trackpads: You can use the triggers to press a key as opposed to just pressing your thumb down. Left trigger presses whatever key your left trackpad is hovering over, and vice versa with the right. It's really useful.

I’ve never ever used the touchscreen. Trackpads are way too good for me to smudge the screen. For the keyboard, you can use both trackpads at the same time instead of releasing it for each letter you type

I appreciate this video. It really goes to show that pitching a new idea can be misunderstood and abandoned if the manufacture doesn't have a clear vision and stick with it. Over time people tend to start realizing what they previously thought was pointless as being very useful. In the cases where it's essential for the game you play a lot of, it's a make or break scenario. I play a lot of games that aren't really optimal on anything but the steam deck, so I'm very grateful for it.

One of my favorite uses for the touchpads is in combination with gyro for FPS games. You enable mouse aiming with gyro only to activate when touching the pad or stick, and mouse aiming with the pad. You then can add flick stick to the thumbstick so you have several options of aiming on the fly.

It’s difficult to explain but when you get used to all the different settings and what they do that’s when you really understand how cool the controller configurator is. I’ve spent hours configuring settings without having a game open even.

Just a few observations from someone who uses the trackpads and desktop mode a lot: Dual-thumb typing with the trackpads + L2/R2 to "click" is sooo much more slick/comfortable than trying to hold the Deck in one hand and poking at the screen. It allows you to keep a full grip of your chunky device, and lets you type at least twice as fast. In desktop mode the trackpads simulate a trackball by default. It means the pointer has simulated momentum, and continues moving in a straight line for a while if you let go of the trackpad at speed. I like to chuck my pointer in the general direction of my target with a quick flick, then reposition my thumb, and fine tune my aim when the pointer gets near. It's very satisfying, and I much prefer it to a "traditional" trackpad when navigating the desktop. I *hate* clicking in the trackpads. I only ever had Nintendo handhelds growing up, and so clicking in the thumbsticks on a controller also always feels awkward for me. Maybe its this unfamiliarity, or my grip, but I much prefer "clicking" with a short pull of L2/R2.

I adore the track pads. Glad you are coming around. Also the trackpads are better in desktop mode when you make them not act like a trackball imo. You can change it in the settings.

I got so used to using the trackpads for a)typing on a keyboard, b)selecting weapons, and c)aiming more accurately, that I sure hope they don't get rid of them on the Steam Deck 2! In comparison to other handhelds, I feel like I'd always go for the one with the trackpads...

Like you said, the trackpads are great for their infinite possibilities, not that you have a mouse in games. (For most games, at least) I found myself using the SteamDeck for Emulation way more than I expected I would. For the oddball layouts, Wii/WiiU and DS/3DS, they are a must have. While I want a more powerful SteamDeck, I couldn't justify the ROG Ally specifically because I have to have the trackpads.

I think it's not so much that the track pads are super vital to all gaming experiences but that they give you a lot more options and make a lot more games playable. People keep saying that rog Ally can play more games then the steam deck but it's Definitely cutting out a huge section of games that can be comfortably played with track pads.

The trackpads are absolutely essential for me now if I buy any other portable PC after the steam deck. Most of my time on my steam deck is spent with final fantasy 14 and the touchpads allow for so much customization in regards to control over skills and other essential parts of the game.

I love the trackpads and I like customizing their actions as well. When you say "I'd rather have the radial menu select the item when I lift my finger, but I don't want to go into the settings to set it up" I don't see it as a valid complaint..

Oh man I love this new Steam focus as of late! There are so many interesting subjects to be talked about.

I love the track pads. I play a lot of rimworld. While it’s an much better experience on desktop… using the track pads to play it is very satisfying. I made the left track pad a radial menu that has a setting for each option in the architect menu, and once you get the muscle memory down, it’s absolutely amazing. It’s very fast and handy for a game that feels like you almost need two mice at times

Regarding the shape of the trackpads, Valve actually wanted to have big round concave ones like on the Steam Controller, and have them positioned a bit higher. Look at the prototypes Valve has released images of. However, with those you couldn't fit the big full sized analog sticks, the prototypes had the medium size ones some other handheld PC makers use. Valve likely gave in to the fact that most users won't adopt trackpads as their primary input, just like what happened with the Steam Controller, so they chose stick size over pad size for the mainstream appeal. Leaving us with smaller, flat, square ones positioned lower. For "palm rejection" you can set your config so that when you're touching the adjacent analog stick, the trackpad becomes disabled (Valve made the sticks touch sensitive, so it knows when your finger is resting on them).

I do alot of Gyro & touchpad combined to play any sort of FPS on the steamdeck, it ends up getting pretty close to the splatoon feel of things

I was one of the only fans of the steam controller so I'm glad the pads are there to continue their endlessly customizable legacy.Them and the gyro were what sold me on the steamdeck as a platform that can do anything with just enough tweaking. 90% of the time it's not worth getting so granular with the settings, but I think my main use-case was warframe where there's just enough extra keys that are annoying to map to a controller that having a menu for them makes life way better.

When you're typing with the track pads, it's more intuitive if you use the triggers to click the keys instead of pressing the track pads

When typing using the track pads, I find it way easier to use the triggers to type. Clicking in the track pads can make the curser drift, so you have to be more careful when lining up on the letters. When you have your Deck on a desk, then yeah it's easier to use the touchscreen to type. But at that point, it's also easier to plug in my Bluetooth keyboard. But if I'm chilling on the couch, and there isn't a great surface to set the deck or a keeb on, I'm using track pads every time. It's just easier. Great video! Glad to see people sharing all the customization options for the Deck.

As someone who loves to tinker with options, the control scheme on the Deck is wild. You're 100% right, I'd love to share the radial menus and crazy stuff other people make. Inventory management games are a ton easier with the trackpads. It really is about what you play, but I love to have the options if and when I need them. It's also just so much easier to have mouse support for menus in emulation. Those menus dont scale and its near impossible to use the touch screen for those. This video was great and thanks for swallowing your pride to see what other people enjoy.

Yeah the Radial Menus are like my top 1 use for Trackpads. What's even crazier is you can make nested Radial Menus.

I thought the trackpads were going to be gimmicky, but I was delightfully surprised at how functional they really are

[Edit: Tip here! 4:10 you can change that to mouse region, by going to desktop setting in controller setting, just set mouse region for desktop navigation like you set it for games. 12:17 yep we can do that too by using modeshift combined with Radial menu on sticks, the point is the more options we have, the better, I'm one of few people who would play Arma on steamdeck and appreciate input hardwares it have, and I often find games that feel clunky to play with stick because it's not officially support the controller] Wow you finally learned how to use it after a year of owning steamdeck! Alright time to re-subscribe the channel.

With how much I use the track pads on my steam deck, I greatly appreciate their inclusion and wouldn't want to do without now that I have had life with them. The fact you can easily flip between them and the joysticks is superb. I like the track pads a lot more than joystick control for precise stuff too, like aiming in FPS, since a lot of older(and even newer) PC stuff doesn't use aim assist, having that extra bit of control over your aim cursor is a godsend.

I think what the trackpads represent - and the main niggle that you seem to have with them - is niche usage. For me, and others like me, the attraction of the SD is the sheer flexibility and openness of the platform. Which includes Desktop mode. Which as you've said, correctly, is clumsy. But that's the rub; rather than saying "we can't round off the corners of this to be effortless, so you can't have it", Valve said "look, we're building in an entire desktop environment, and some basic support hardware, in case you have to do something fiddly and don't have a bluetooth mouse and keyboard handy". It's like the screwdriver on a penknife. It doesn't fit many things perfectly, it's frankly suboptimal in most situations, but when there's no alternative... it's what you have and you'll likely be glad you had it. And it's pretty cool to be able to VPN into my local media server and play movies on my steam deck over my phone :)

1:46 THIS right there. Its insane what level of customization the Steam controller setup allows. When the Steam Controller was still a thing, I remember how they released a config for the trackpads, that allowed to scroll the minimap of an FPS. Basically: the game allowed you to use your mouse as you would in an OS when holding ALT. They made a key bind that would do that, but keep the mouse inside the boundary of the minimap. The trackpad essentially was 2D scroll wheel now.

They are a must for any first-person game. Just disable vsync and they feel ultra-responsive.

I was upset how mean the live chat was about your unpopular but honest take when you were a guest on Nerd Nest. However, Bill is the Steam Input whisperer, and I was certain behind the scenes he was going to show you the light. :D Glad you converted to be one of us, Bob.

I love how quality your videos are. The presentation is always great

As someone who uses the deck on a daily basis as a computer, the trackpads are great when compared to either using the touchscreen, or the thumbsticks. As well as not needing to manually navigate around the keyboard, the deck's typing experience is top tier compared to the ROG ally.

Oh and with the keyboard function you can type with both hands at the same time, having two cursors up at the same time. Takes a bit of practice but I'm starting to get okay at typing with it. Eventually I bet this will be fast enough to type comfortably.

Over last couple of years, Wulff Den seems to be becoming a Steam Deck fan and it's beautiful to see. He is starting to like all there is to like about it.

Wulff Den is my oasis- Thank you Bob, please continue! :)

I have a template I made specifically for switching weapons in boomer shooters. Both trackpads are set as button pads. I have the left trackpad as the 1 and 0 keys (usually the weakest and strongest weapons), and the right trackpad as the 2, 3, 4, and 5 keys. I then have R4 set as a modifier where when I hold it down it changes the right trackpad to the 6, 7, 8, and 9 keys.

I don't know if Paul rejection is necessary at all but they could make a feature where if your finger is sensed on the joystick then the trackpad is disabled. In the settings there's probably a way to do it using action layers.

I would love if Valve could put out a smaller more pocketable version of the steam deck that removed the thumb sticks and just had the trackpads, D pad, and face buttons. I really want something super low profile that slides into a pocket and I would gladly trade the thumb sticks for trackpads to realize this dream.

There's a game called Wizorb that's a breakout style game I always wanted to love, but the analog stick controls just never felt like I had fine enough control with. One of the first things I did with my Steamdeck was reinstall it and then set up a controller layout to use the trackpad to emulate a mouse, and it makes the game so much more playable than the controller binding it defaults to.

i was a bit meh on the trackpads until i started using the right one as a second dpad so i can move and swap stuff around at the same time. unfortunately i don't play it often in literal handheld mode, i'm usually in tabletop mode with an xbox controller so i don't want to get too used to features i don't have on that controller. which makes me really wish Valve would take a second shot at the Steam controller with all of the Steam Deck's inputs

Wulff: Steam Deck is big and bulky! Also Wulff: *rubber case*

I love the trackpads and use them for everything you talked about, but here’s another use case I’ve found: Right trackpad as the d-pad Left trackpad as ABXY That way, in a pinch, if I grab a drink or my phone with one hand, I have all buttons available to the other!

One important thing using touchpads is to set correct angle value how your thumb moves across surface. Finger movement is not horizontal. It is curved so that movement must be compensate on settings. After that curved finger movement is rotated to horizontal mouse movement. Valve really thought deep when designed both Steam Controller and Deck touchpads.

The trackpads usefulness definitely depend on the game. I play a lot of building/sim games and the trackpads are awesome.

The trackpads aren't *meant* to be like laptop touchpads, they are meant to be digital replacements for track balls. That's why there's inertia if you "flick" the mouse with a touchpad. The idea here is that when you're playing a game you can create momentum. It's way more comfortable to flick than to try and move your thumb across a massive trackpad too.

Thank you for walking back your worst take on the Steam Deck.

have you experimented with mouse look on trackpad alongside gyro aiming? I find that is my favourite way to play games, and how i used my steam controller for the most part before i got a deck

That was a nice and quick update :D I must admit it was rather clear that you hadn't used them, as I got mine right after watching your video on it and had a very different experience. Kind of love the feel they have, and the satisfying feedback, though the "click" is a little too light and in desktop mode when you do "click" it still tracks your movement so you can't be accurate at all which you should be able to be. Really wish that the trackpad recognized when you push down on it and slowed down the sensitivity for you so you can hit those little boxes you need to.

7:40 Tip: just hold both fingers on both trackpads at all time, just move them and click them without lifting the finger from the trackpad. You will get insanely fast when typing with trackpads.

They're extremely useful for desktop mode. In games I mostly don't use them either, unless the layout has dials.

This makes me want to learn the ins-and-outs of trackpad customization sucha as the radial menus and back button combos you were talking about. Same with action sets and all thst jazz, but its all so far over my head lol

Valve should really include a tutorial for these kinds of features and explain what all the options do

I love the track pad mouse physics, it's so satisfying to just throw the cursor across the screen and catch it

Trackball mode goes crazy + gyro, competitive with a mouse for sure.

Duckstation's default setup from Emudeck has Savetates and disc change mapped to the radial menu and it owns. I've been setting them up a lot for other emulators, too.

I love the trackpads in desktop mode and when in another os dual booted, they just work well as a trackpad does.

0:52 I've never seen an apple fall so short from the tree than this moment

Steam world build (demo) was my first ever usecase of these track pads and since them I dont wana miss them

They are also Great for games like Warhammer 40,000 Dawn Of War Soulstorm, which is a mouse only game. Some games you can KINDA use your fingers, but the trackpads are so much better for mouse only games

1) You absolutely can have the rear buttons trigger a radial menu you select with the stick. That's an option too. 2) Steam's controller configuration UI was better in the older big picture. It was about the only thing that was, but a lot of these options were presented over a visual of the controller and made more sense. 3) Community presets sharing for games was and is terrible. It can only be navigated within steam, linking them outside steam/offsite is near impossible, editing them in a browser or via mouse/kb to quickly tweak the settings is impossible, and even if you made an objectively incredible layout, it will never gain traction. 4) Community presets are a heavily socially dependent feature that valve makes as difficult as possible work with. Basically whoever made the very first layout that gets any amount of traction will forever be the number 1 layout for that game, because there is no other way to share alternatives. (Made an amazing improved layout using features that weren't around at game launch? Too bad!). Whoever was FIRST! on Starfield in the community presets? That layout will be the default top ranking community layout, forever. Mark my works.

The trackpad can also function as a surprisingly good D-pad for platformers or games with top-down viewpoint if you know how to do some advance setting for it, though it requires experiments and experience.

I love the trackpads as they are and the keyboard implementation is brilliant…. But hey… your videos, your world.

I have Right thumb stick as mouse & right trackpad as mouse too but for sniper. On desktop getting the thumbstick to select buttons is a real skill so I use it to get close then switch to thumbpad for selection. I use the left as a menu wheel.

I find them extremely helpful for games that are very mouse dependent, like older RPGs and simulation games and love using touch menus with them. I'm glad you saw some good uses for them as well.

Those trackpads are literally the main reason why I love steam deck and wouldn’t change it for any other similar portable device. But I do play a lot of strategy games I guess

Mouse region is great for rts games. Most of them have grid of buttons which makes perfect usecase and is more user friendly than just mapping to keyboard shortcuts

Neither happy nor sad that you changed your mind. Really excited to see a content creator revise his position based on information he gets from his community, and that is what i come here for. Bob, I'm not into moddding, i barely have time to play my switch, but your content is so detailed and well thought out and so damned smart and good that fuck the youtube algorithm - i seek out your video each week. Thank you. This was really cool.

I use the track pads for emulation to turn on features like speed up-since I can't seem to get the other buttons set up the way I want. I get why they added them, I am sure they could be better for sure.

I think i can tell when Wulff swapped in a voice clip post edit or from a different mic, around 10:06 when he says “which is very similar to a radial menu”!! xD

Ever since I made my own controller set up for battle bit, I haven’t gone back to play it on desktop mode with my mouse and keyboard. I have all the button set up just like a regular console game. I use the right track pad as a mouse and the left one (as a radial menu) to change weapons and c4 etc.

Yeah honestly when you said that I was caught so off guard, I just thought it was a joke though. I love using the trackpad as a mouse and using the top right back button as left mouse click and the top left back button as right click

I don't think Starbound has controller support, so being able to configure the right trackpad as a mouse and the left trackpad as a radial menu for the hotbar makes it possible for me to play it handheld. I think that's amazing. Still trying to figure out how to configure it so I can switch between right trackpad as a regular mousepad and right trackpad as like ... more of a joystick-style mouse.

I'm the kinda person that does really get into tinkering around in steam controller config menus. Been doing it since before the steam deck came out. I liked to be the first to make a PS4/gyro aim/flick stick layout for a new FPS and upload it day one. To see if I could get the most used profile in the community profile section for that game. These unique controller inputs really useful for emulation. I nearly completed Wii Twilight Princess on the steam deck. I can't play the game cube version because it's mirrored from the version I played originally and I rewire my brain to be ok with that. I know you pitch your videos as for the everyman consumer that probably would dive deep into every advanced feature of a tech product. But thanks for taking a 2nd look. The steam controller input API has boundless potentional for those that learn to use it and the more you can utilize it, the more rewarding it can be.

I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure if the Steam Deck trackpads were as cool as the Steam controller ones. But the Steam controller trackpads were awesome for certain games, so it confused me that you said the Steam Deck ones were useless.

The right trackpad replaces the right stick for me in first person shooters. There's no contest, it's infinitely better. I set it up as a mouse, adjust mouse settings in-game, or the in steam input that will result in 45 degree camera movement when moving across the trackpad (left to right). This will result in perfectly mapped motion for the camera as long as you keep your thumb on the touchpad. Then set the "friction" level to "high", this setting will allow you to "flick" the touchpad from left to right on and instantly (and consistently) turn 180 degrees. It's honestly 100% better than the slow linear motion of the right joystick. Keep in mind, dual sticks has ALWAYS been a compromise in FPS-games, and game developers have actively needed to "dance around" this terrible input method. The touchpad, together with gyro, will make you mouse-like accurate in these games.

Pro tip: you can customize your desktop mode layout too... The default layout is trash.

The track pads are one of my favourite things about the steam deck. I have them set to track ball mode but when I move to the edge of the track pads, it moves the mouse in that direction like on a laptop, for moving icons and such.

WulffDad!!! Need more WullfDad! Great video Bob!

Love the video and had to pause it to compose myself. Will watch the rest but my Mom passed on that flight and trust me, I would love if it didn't happen also. I know people will look to clown me but I will still watch your videos and I almost never comment. Great breakdown and tips on the trackpads for the steamdeck. I'll try these on my own later today.

Oh man, I had hair back then! Thanks for the shoutout Bob.

I was playing Titanfall 2 and I was getting frustrated because I was having a hard time clicking heads (I hate fine aiming with thumbsticks) and my thumb slipped down to the track pads once and the cross hairs moved. So I started switching over to the thumb pads when I was sniping and it works like a charm! It's been a long summer and my days get filled with projects, so I am looking forward to winter when I can stop doing so much.

My main use is when I use the SD for Roll20. Just nice to have the extra input option for games, desktop mode, browsers, etc. Makes the device much more flexibile.

The trackpads are pretty much required for every game without native controller support, which is why I just ignore every PC handheld that doesn't have any. Many of my favorite games require mouse clicks and a ton of button inputs. On the Steam Deck I can map the buttons to the left trackpad and the mouse to the right one and I'm good.

I've been using the trackpads mostly for menu navigation in games like Minecraft where the menus are hellish to use with a controller, or for typing, and honestly I'm glad they're there. can't count the amount of times I used them, even just for a second to change up a setting in an emulator or something like that. I'm sure a lot of people could do without, but I don't think I could considering I use my Deck as basically a laptop replacement.

The split square trackpads for typing on both halve of the screen are a really cool idea that I wish extended to more of the interface. Using either side to manipulate a cursor on either side of the screen at roughly 1:1 positioning feels like it would be the next logical step. I hope there's some setting that I've just missed that extends the dual typing mice to general use.

I have no use for the trackpads, but Im glad they're there. As a Barbarian with large hands, no other handheld has better ergonomics than the deck. The Loki Max may be just as good, although I haven't held that device yet.

I don't have a steam deck, yet, but I've been watching a ton of videos of it, and the Ally. I keep getting surprised with how much you can do with the deck, and I think that's going to lead to me deciding on the deck.

I don't have my Deck yet, but it's still top of my list for my next major purchase, and I want the track pads for retro emulation, as they can be used in so many unique and cool ways. Need a trackball? Covered. Need light gun accuracy? Done. Need analog spinner controls for Arknoid(breakout)? No problem. The list goes on and on, as I don't think a more well thought out or designed device has ever entered the handheld space before. My biggest issue with emulation in general is how hard it is to have great controls across so many arcade and home games. And while the SD may not meet 100% of those needs, it's the one that comes closest, hands down.

The Steamdeck made me a believer in trackpads. I might not use them regularly but when I do they are super important.

12:00 You CAN do this, you'll be happy to know! Simply map a back button to a mode shift layer, and on that layer remap the left or right joystick to a radial menu!