I want to play games like civ that are better played using mouse controls via the touch pads, so I want to use the steam deck as a controller. But the screen is a little too small and some games don’t have good ui scaling so I want to be able to play on the TV. What’s the best/easiest/cheapest way I can play on the TV while still using the steam deck as a controller? I have a Vizio tv that doesn’t support steam link but does support casting. Thanks!
I bought a cheap dock from aliexpress and a really long USB-C Male to USB-C Female Cable. My solution is not pretty or wireless but works.
Cheapest is just to buy a dock/usb-c to HDMI and use a long cable (either long usb-c or long HDMI) to plug into your tv.
There are wireless HDMI dongles and even USB type c ones that would let this happen wirelessly, but you’ll want to check reviews and make sure the latency isn’t that bad.
Alternative cheap option is to get an android based tv stream box/stick, install the steam link software, and try to stream to that.
Finally you could just get a wireless mouse or some other wireless control option for using a computer mouse wirelessly. Keyboard with a laptop touchpad, trackball mouse, etc.
If you have good enough wi-fi, get the steam link app for your TV and stream the image.
This seems to be the best option out of everything commented here so far, but it is really disappointing that there is not a way to use the Steam Deck as a Bluetooth controller for a different PC.
You can remote play from another PC running steam, so that would function the same right?
If it’s about the touch pad controls you may want to check eBay for a Steam Controller.
I had mine in a drawer for years until the steam deck came out. Now I’m using it again quite a bit to play mouse-controlled games on my Steam Deck connected to the TV.
You need a dock, and a power cord that is long enough to have the Deck a comfortable distance from your TV. I used a USB hub dock, and a charging adapter with a long cable. Can’t get into my Amazon account from my phone at the moment so I will try to remember to come back and share what I did tomorrow, feel free to reply to remind me.
Thanks for the responses everyone! I ended up getting a long HDMI cable and using it with a usb-c hub I already had. The setup is pretty bulky so I might end up velcroing it per morgan’s comment to reduce the pressure on the connection. And having a cable run across the whole room is… less than ideal. I think if I end up using this a lot, I’d probably just opt for a Steam Controller
I’ve been using these usb-c extension cables. So I can leave the hub and charger behind the tv and have just one usb-c come to my steam deck. Highly recommend!
https://www.amazon.com/Extension-JSAUX-Female-Extender-MacBook/dp/B08DKH4CP9
Genki makes the Covert Dock, which I have experience with. It’s a bit expensive, but it’s easily portable and works with both the Deck and the Switch. With a long enough cable you could sit a distance away from the TV and still use the Deck like a controller.
There are some Anker USB hubs with HDMI that would work for this application as well (in theory).
The Genki covert dock was DOA when I got one, so I don’t trust them.
The Genki covert dock was DOA when I got one, so I don’t trust them.
That’s a shame. I have two that have worked with no issues, aside from very minor hiccups.
Not what you’re asking for, but another option is to use a DualShock 4 controller which also supports touchpad (which can be divided in left/right if you want). I’ve found a pretty decent amount of community support and often use the touchpad (or gyro) for mouse games, though it’s not quite as comfortable as the Steam Deck .
(I’m sure Dualsense 5 works just as well but I can only speak to Dualshock 4, which you can find for the cost of a HDMI cable online).
I hope Valve will release at some point a Steam Controller 2 that has the exact same buttons, trackpads, etc. like the deck.
Same, getting used to the Deck has made me want to buy a Steam Controller.
As I promised below, here’s a detailed report of what I did to make my Deck dockable and also have it be the game controller while doing so.
- REQUIRED: A hub like this. The plug coming off of it connects to the power port on your Deck; everything else in this setup connects to the hub.
2 ) REQUIRED: Any HDMI male-male cord (assuming that your display/TV has HDMI) that is long enough to give you comfortable distance between where you’re sitting and the display, with some slack. This will plug into the hub and the display to connect them.
You could go with a wireless HDMI setup for less bulk I guess, but that’s expensive and there might be latency involved? I have no experience with wireless HDMI so I couldn’t guide you there.
- OPTIONAL POWER CORD COMBO, done for longer power cord reach than the included Deck plug, which can be used instead, it’s just shorter (default cable is 6 or 6.5 feet, I think. If that’s long enough to connect you and the power sources you use, and have slack, then just use the included Deck power cord and don’t worry about this optional power setup).
Part one of the power combo is a normal 65W adapter plug that I already had laying around for an old laptop. I didn’t have to buy this, but I guess something like this would work, this very much resembles mine in looks/stats.
Part two of the optional power set up done for longer power cord reach than the included Deck plug: I use this cable to connect the hub to the power adapter. The extra three to four feet this gives is now plenty long enough between me and the power supplies I use and also have comfortable slack, but you could probably find a longer version of this if you needed to.
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You now have the needed base stuff (hub connects Deck, power, and HDMI for display all together), but here’s some extra comfort stuff I did.
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Cable ties can help to keep the power cable and HDMI cable together as they run up to the hub, keeping them from splaying apart, and keeping them neater and easier to deal with. You can get them cheaper and/or smaller quantities than this, I just included the link to show you what the thing is that I’m talking about.
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You can leave the hub loose and hanging off to the side if you wish (if you do, then a power cord extension to increase the hub-to-Deck distance will likely be needed, as the default hub power cable is short), but I found that the hub being separate was just too inconvenient. So I actually attached the hub directly to the back of the Deck using Velcro tape. The tape does separate the hub and Deck a little physically so that they don’t conduct much heat between themselves, so don’t worry about that.
I have small hands, so I attached my hub horizontally across the Deck on the back, above and not covering the vent, and I still have plenty of room to use all of the buttons and triggers. If your hands are bigger, you might get a little cramped, I’d measure it out first before going with the attachment solution.
- I didn’t like the way the hub cable had to bend very close to the power port on top of the Deck to be able to plug into it, so I got an adapter to plug into the port from the top, with the female plug redirected to the side, to try to reduce the strain the hub cable was putting on the port. This may just have been a figment of my imagination and no harm was actually being done without the adapter, but I wanted to be better safe than sorry.
My apologies for the novel, but I thought having my whole setup would be helpful since it solved the issue you’re having for me months back. Have fun.
In addition to what is mentioned here, you could also grab a steam controller. It is not quite as refined as the deck’s controller setup, but it works very similarly with two track pads for mouse emulation.
