If you recently installed CEMU on the Steam Deck then you may end up having trouble getting buttons detected properly. Sadly, CEMU just doesn’t run flawlessly out of the box on the handheld but it doesn’t take much to set it up.
There are even times when you’ll need to do this even after using EmuDeck, so I should be able to help no matter how you installed CEMU on your Steam Deck.
Why Doesn’t the Steam Deck Controller Work with CEMU?
The Steam Deck controller doesn’t work with the default installation of CEMU because it needs to be configured to detect it.
The issue most people have to begin with is launching Cemu from Gaming Mode after they finish installing it. Which may work if you used EmuDeck, but it needs to be configured before the emulator will detect button presses. And we cannot access the Settings menus of CEMU (as of writing this) without doing so in Desktop Mode. So the first thing you’ll need to do is boot your Steam Deck into Desktop Mode.
Once in Desktop Mode, we need to open up the Steam app and view our Library.
Assign CEMU a Controller Layout
If you haven’t added CEMU as a non-Steam game yet, now is the time to do it. We will be leveraging Steam’s built-in controller layout feature so that it will auto-populate the buttons for us. This is also an added benefit of launching CEMU from Steam. . .no matter if it’s done through Gaming Mode or Desktop Mode.
But before we launch CEMU, press the controller icon on its non-Steam App “page.” This will bring up the controller layout section for the emulator and it’s where we can begin configuring it properly. The first thing I recommend doing is checking the View Layout section to see if everything has been automatically detected for you. If not, then click the Community Layout button at the top to begin browsing the presets.
Look for one labeled EmuDeck – Cemu and it should get you up and running fairly quickly. There are a number of other presets created by Valve and some you can browse from the community too.
But once you have it set to one you like (even if it’s one you created yourself) go ahead and close out of this Controller Layout page.
Configure CEMU Input Settings
Now we’re going to load up CEMU by launching it from Desktop Mode. Remember, we need to access the settings area and this needs to be done here instead of Gaming Mode (at least for now). Once the emulator has been loaded, click the Options menu at the top and then select Input Settings. This will bring up a controller configuration page where we can assign some buttons.
From here, the first thing you want to do is change the Emulated Controller field to Wii U Gamepad. Then check the buttons toward the bottom to see if they auto-populate for you. If they do, great! Exit out of here, then close out CEMU so you can reboot back into Gaming Mode and test it out. I have had great success with this setup. However, I have noticed others recommend an additional step.
In one guide I saw them suggest changing the Controller field to the one labeled XInput (as opposed to DSUController).
I haven’t had any trouble with CEMU working when it’s set to DSUController, though. So it may not be required for you either. Just know, that if you can’t get it working with DSUController then you’ll want to come back here and change it to XInput. Whichever one you go with, though, just make sure your buttons are assigned properly in here as well.
When it’s finished close out of this Input Settings window so CEMU will save those changes.
Reboot and Test
Now you will want to reboot back into Gaming Mode and load up the Cemu emulator to see if your Steam Deck controller is working. I have been able to emulate Breath of the Wild with these settings so I hope it has been able to help you as well. If not, feel free to leave a comment on the YouTube video below and I’ll be sure to help out as quickly as I can.
How to Get Steam Deck Controller Input Working on CEMU?
Conclusion
I had to go through this process even though I installed this emulator with EmuDeck the first time. However, the next time around this wasn’t an issue I had to deal with. So while I doubt there will be many people who need help with controller input after using that toolkit, it still might be helpful.
There are going to be a LOT of people installing CEMU through the built-in Discover app, too.
Which does not do any controller input configuration for you. So I hope this guide has been able to help anyone who were curious as to why CEMU doesn’t detect any buttons on the Steam Deck. It would be nice if they included some system detection code inside so this could be configured for you. I just don’t see this happening anytime soon. Maybe, though.