WinDeck 0.3.0

Triggers can now work as buttons: each trigger stays an analog Xbox trigger or fires up to three bindings at their own pull depths, with a haptic click on its side.

Early development: expect rough edges and breaking changes, including to the profile format.

What's new

• Trigger remapping. In the Quick Access Menu, select LT or RT in the top row. A switches between the analog Xbox trigger and Buttons; X opens its settings. In Buttons mode, bindings A, B and C each have:
  • an action: a key, a mouse button, a wheel tick or an Xbox button;
  • a pull depth from 10% to 100% (30%, 60% and 95% by default);
  • a mode: Hold keeps the action pressed while the trigger is past the depth, Immediate taps it once;
  • a haptic click: None, Low or High.
• A trigger that is still pulled does nothing until you let it go after a profile change or after closing the menu, so a new binding never fires on its own.
• A key shared by two controls stays down while either one holds it. For example, with W on a button and on a stick in WASD mode, letting go of the button no longer lifts W while the stick still holds it. Modifiers now go down before the key they belong to.
• The Steam button press that opens the menu no longer reaches the game, and a button held while the menu closes is not taken as a new press.
• The menu's top row is now LT · LB · RB · RT.

Profile format change

Trigger settings use a new format: mode, deadzone, and bindings a, b and c. The old trigger keys are ignored, so in profiles from earlier versions the triggers go back to analog Xbox triggers with the default 2% dead zone. Everything else in those profiles still loads.

Known issues

• The trigger click plays on the haptic motor under that side's trackpad. With your thumbs on the pads it is clearly on the trigger's side; with your thumbs elsewhere it can feel as if it comes from both sides.

What's inside WinDeck-0.3.0-win64.zip

• windeck.exe — the app (single statically linked executable, no runtime dependencies)
• restore_neptune.exe — resets the controller to its factory settings if WinDeck ever exits abnormally
• profiles/ — example profile (back paddles mapped to A/B/X/Y)
• tools/ — HidHide and ViGEmBus recovery scripts
• README.md, LICENSE (GPL-3.0)

Getting started

1. Extract the archive to a writable folder (profiles and the log are stored next to windeck.exe).
2. Exit Steam completely — it takes over the controller while running.
3. Run windeck.exe. On first run it offers to install the ViGEmBus driver (official 1.22.0 installer, SHA-256 verified, one UAC prompt).
4. Press the Steam button for the Quick Access Menu, and the Quick Access button (…) for the touch keyboard.

See the README for known issues and troubleshooting.

SHA-256

Binaries were built by GitHub Actions from tag v0.3.0 (run 39975865815).

dae1451d336756ab0f813ad2be90c96109c1f70abdafb16aa8dc98c95b8ff5a4  WinDeck-0.3.0-win64.zip
81629b6dc26242a9a5a385c107db5571c7e690cef633849bef0238685900b2e1  windeck.exe
90c3f63fe666e83148cd91fa77c9e615891d245746604a67c2ef62f4edb8f114  restore_neptune.exe

WinDeck 0.2.1

The Quick Access button now opens the Windows touch keyboard again, and works as a toggle.

Early development: expect rough edges and breaking changes, including to the profile format.

What's new

• Quick Access button (…) shows or hides the touch keyboard. In 0.2.0 it did nothing on current Windows 11 builds (seen on 26H2): WinDeck looked for the keyboard's taskbar button by an ID that Windows no longer uses. WinDeck now talks to the Windows touch keyboard host directly.
• Typing a profile name in the Quick Access Menu shows the keyboard when you start and hides it when you confirm or cancel, including when WinDeck exits mid-entry.

What's inside WinDeck-0.2.1-win64.zip

• windeck.exe — the app (single statically linked executable, no runtime dependencies)
• restore_neptune.exe — resets the controller to its factory settings if WinDeck ever exits abnormally
• profiles/ — example profile (back paddles mapped to A/B/X/Y)
• tools/ — HidHide and ViGEmBus recovery scripts
• README.md, LICENSE (GPL-3.0)

Getting started

1. Extract the archive to a writable folder (profiles and the log are stored next to windeck.exe).
2. Exit Steam completely — it takes over the controller while running.
3. Run windeck.exe. On first run it offers to install the ViGEmBus driver (official 1.22.0 installer, SHA-256 verified, one UAC prompt).
4. Press the Steam button for the Quick Access Menu, and the Quick Access button (…) for the touch keyboard.

See the README for known issues and troubleshooting.

SHA-256

Binaries were built by GitHub Actions from tag v0.2.1 (run 39949845528).

e98de39317e3dcfe5619bffdda221f6350df799a78d2cd21512f39842296e08c  WinDeck-0.2.1-win64.zip
0dc20ff87b19bf18ed8d223f88cb7b230464c9c530788e706c2b764ad5ce697d  windeck.exe
d8881a9c316e712da49769ab51964c81b4c5e407cbaa7013d39484bf8b795b68  restore_neptune.exe

WinDeck 0.2.0

First public build of WinDeck — a lightweight native C++ remapper that turns the Steam Deck's built-in controller into a virtual Xbox 360 gamepad, keyboard, and mouse on Windows.

Early development: expect rough edges and breaking changes, including to the profile format.

What's inside WinDeck-0.2.0-win64.zip

• windeck.exe — the app (single statically linked executable, no runtime dependencies)
• restore_neptune.exe — resets the controller to its factory settings if WinDeck ever exits abnormally
• profiles/ — example profile (back paddles mapped to A/B/X/Y)
• tools/ — HidHide and ViGEmBus recovery scripts
• README.md, LICENSE (GPL-3.0)

Getting started

1. Extract the archive to a writable folder (profiles and the log are stored next to windeck.exe).
2. Exit Steam completely — it takes over the controller while running.
3. Run windeck.exe. On first run it offers to install the ViGEmBus driver (official 1.22.0 installer, SHA-256 verified, one UAC prompt).
4. Press the Steam button for the Quick Access Menu.

See the README for known issues and troubleshooting.

SHA-256

Binaries were built by GitHub Actions from tag v0.2.0 (run 38921832198).

66cdfe1319901f7ba31bb3a97f4f6f31d305f390a86d2fae815c8c6beac3afc7  WinDeck-0.2.0-win64.zip
26c5b4226e724e4fd4cdb529c15161a41a0db8263f3c787cdf29dc0ff5104823  windeck.exe
1d9d6b4d1b1a7d88e62442d62a7b49e62505d1894f31ddd85c7d4c0e5a2cbeff  restore_neptune.exe