Workaround: No Controller inputs while Remote Play from Linux PC to Steamdeck

[ChrisLuck]

Your system information

• Steam client version: 1733265492 on PC and Steamdeck
• Distribution: Ubuntu 24.04 and 22.04
• Opted into Steam client beta?: No
• Have you checked for system updates?: Yes, even upgraded from 22.04 to 24.04

What I expect:

• I start a game stream via remote play, Ubuntu PC as host, Steamdeck as client
• Video, audio and controller inputs work

What did happen:

• I start a game stream via remote play, Ubuntu PC as host, Steamdeck as client
• Video and audio work
• The game does not register any controller inputs from the Steamdeck client
• The game does however register mouse (touchscreen) and keyboard (kb overlay) inputs from the client

Controller inputs work on every 20th start of a game though. This lead me to the conclusion that it is something timing related.

WORKAROUND:

• Add a sleep 3 before the game launch via the steam launch options: sleep 3; %command%

The workaround is confirmed to work for all games that I tried:

• Hogwarts Legacy
• Witcher 3
• Brotato
• Cult of the Lamb

One game is special since it works even without the workaround (probably because of the dx/opengl/mods dialog before the actual game launch which acts as the "sleep" workaround here):

• Core Keeper

Logs

Here are two streaming_log.txt for debugging:
https://gist.github.com/ChrisLuck/d0a3f38ff9e7cec61b94a152afbd79d2

• One of a failed game start (controller inputs from client not working)
• One of a successful game start (controller inputs from client working)

The game "Brotato" was used for testing since it has a short startup time. The log of the successful start was created with the "sleep" workaround from above.

Possible duplicates

#8812