Grim Dawn on Steam Deck notes

SteamDeckConfig.txt

General info:
1. When you launch the game, it will likely say “Your current Screen Resolution does not support the Controller User Interface.”  This doesn’t matter too much, BUT you should probably go into the in game Options Menu and on the Video Tab, set the UI Scale at least one level further to the left.  Personally, I have this set ALL THE WAY to the left so I can see as much UI on my screen as possible.  Next, go to the “Keybinding” tab and remove from the “Secondary” column any of the gamepad controls you see in there.  You do this by clicking on it and then clicking the button labeled “Clear”.  Before I did this, I was getting some double actions due to one mapping in game and a different mapping in Steam.  I prefer the Steam interface for mapping my button actions, so I opted to remove gamepad actions from inside the game.  You DO need “Enable Non-Steam Gamepad” to be checked.  DO NOT click on the “Configure Steam Controller” - I did that in an earlier build of Grim Dawn and it reset ALL my controls.  I don’t know if they’ve fixed that yet, but I would stay aware from it regardless!  :)
2. Once you’ve done all the “SteamDeck Steam UI” stuff below, go into the game and push left button by the DPad (share or Select button depending on controller).  From there, press R1 to get to Skills tab, then press “Y” button to get to where you can assign skills.  If everything worked out right, then all TEN of the boxes should have a symbol at the bottom right showing which button they are mapped to.  So you should see a progression like A, X, Y, B, RB, LB, RT, Down, LT, Up.  You can use this screen to assign each skill by just pointing to the one you want to assign using the left stick, and then hitting the “X” button.  Then you choose the skill from the list.  This entire skill assignment system is in my opinion the least-well-implemented aspect of the game in all of Grim Dawn…
3. Just as a general note - Grim Dawn (as in some other games I have on SteamDeck) has two VERY VERY distinct “modes”.  Keyboard/Mouse and… Gamepad.  This is important to note because the ENTIRE UI of the game switches between these two modes.  When in keyboard/mouse mode, the skills at the bottom of the screen on the skill bar will all be unassigned and labeled 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,L,R for example.  So it can look like you don’t have any skills assigned at all.  Move your left stick though, and the whole UI will switch to the Gamepad UI, at which point you should again see your assigned skills along with which button they are each assigned to.  Why would you need or want to care about the keyboard/mouse mode?  Well… the way I have these controls mapped, you can use the right trackpad (or in my case, also the PS5 trackpad) to move the mouse cursor and interact with the game.  This is VERY useful, especially when you need to use the skill trees or when dealing with your inventory or stash.  But if you happen to “nudge” the trackpads while playing the game, your entire UI will change.  If, just as an added example, you are using your left stick to walk, but you have a stray thumb touch a trackpad, the UI will begin to cycle continuously between k/b and gamepad modes and your ability to control your character will be… sub optimal, to say the least.  So either unmap these mouse controls from the trackpad (which I personally don’t recommend), or take care of where your thumbs are.  :)
4. A couple of non SteamDeck specific hints that (I think anyway) should help your general experience: A. When you use the Character Window/Skills/Map/etc screens, take note of the legend at the bottom, it is GREAT and I think they have good time saving buttons there for things like splitting stacks, reminders of which button assigns skills, zooming in or out, etc. B. I don’t actually know of a way to “drive” the Skills window other than to use a “mouse”.  So the way I’ve done it is generally to use my left stick to choose what I want to interact with (for assigning or removing points from skills or for moving between your masteries and your devotions).  A button selects whatever you’ve pointed at with the left stick.  Alternatively, on these same screens (Skills - Masteries and Devotions), you can use your trackpad to do all the interactions.  C. Last one I’m gonna write for now - there are buttons throughout your inventory and stash for Inventory Auto-Sort (and I think there is an option to not confirm this every single time you try to use it).  These are handy and convenient but a HUGE time save is on the Stash side ABOVE the “Inventory Auto-Sort” button - a button labeled “Move Components from the Inventory to the Currently Open Stash Page”.  I have the game option set to “Auto Loot Materials”, and then I use my first page of my purple “Item Transfer” stash to store all my components.  This makes crafting on any character VERY VERY VERY easy!  :)

External Controller (I used PS5 controller for this): “Official Layout for Grim Dawn - Official Configuration for Grim Dawn - PS4 (REV 1)”

Internal SteamDeck controls: “Official Layout for Grim Dawn - Official Configuration for Grim Dawn (REV 3)”

Bear in mind, the way I’ve set this up doesn’t have to be mapped exactly the same way for you, this is just how -*I*- found it convenient.  :)

Note: I play this a LOT with a PS5 controller.  So I opted to have the controls match on the SteamDeck and on my PS5 controller.  As a result, I’m not currently using any of the SteamDeck “Back Grip” buttons, which you can freely assign as you wish.

ACTION SET - GAME CONTROLS

Buttons:

A,B,X,Y BEHAVIOR - Button Pad
X - Action Bar 1/Interact
O - Action Bar 4
Square - Action Bar 2
Triangle - Action Bar 3

BUMPERS
L1 - Action Bar 6
R1 - Action Bar 5

BACK GRIPS
L4 - None
R4 - None
L5 - None
R5 - None

MENU BUTTONS
Select/Share - Character Window
Start/Hamburger - Pause/Menu

DPad
DIRECTIONAL PAD BEHAVIOR - Directional Pad
Up - Action Bar 0
Left - Health Potion
Down - Action Bar 6
Right - Energy Potion

Triggers
RIGHT TRIGGER BEHAVIOR - Trigger
R2 Full Pull - Action Bar 7
LEFT TRIGGER BEHAVIOR - Trigger
L2 Full Pull - Action Bar 9

Joysticks
RIGHT JOYSTICK BEHAVIOR - Camera
R3 Click - Hotbar Swap
LEFT JOYSTICK BEHAVIOR - Move
L3 Click - Personal Riftgate

Trackpads
RIGHT TRACKPAD BEHAVIOR - Camera (I don’t use this)
LEFT TRACKPAD BEHAVIOR - None
CENTER TRACKPAD BEHAVIOR - None

Gyro
GYRO BEHAVIOR - None

ACTION SET - UI CONTROLS

Buttons:

A,B,X,Y BEHAVIOR - Button Pad
X - Interact
O - Back
Square - Move Item / Zoom Out
Triangle - Use Item / Zoom In

BUMPERS
L1 - Previous
R1 - Next

BACK GRIPS
L4 - None
R4 - None
L5 - None
R5 - None

MENU BUTTONS
Select/Share - Character Window
Start/Hamburger - Pause/Menu

DPad
DIRECTIONAL PAD BEHAVIOR - Directional Pad
Up - Scroll Up
Left - Scroll Left
Down - Scroll Down
Right - Scroll Right

Triggers
RIGHT TRIGGER BEHAVIOR - Trigger
LEFT TRIGGER BEHAVIOR - Trigger
L2 Full Pull - Show/Hide Components

Joysticks
RIGHT JOYSTICK BEHAVIOR - Scroll
R3 Click - Hotbar Swap
LEFT JOYSTICK BEHAVIOR - Cursor
L3 Click - Interact

Trackpads
RIGHT TRACKPAD BEHAVIOR - As Mouse
LEFT TRACKPAD BEHAVIOR - None
CENTER TRACKPAD BEHAVIOR - None

Gyro
GYRO BEHAVIOR - None