Remote Play Controller 2 Not Working - Steam

Hi there,

Sorry to hear Remote Play Together stopped picking up your girlfriend's controller in Split Fiction -- rough when you're halfway through.

Here are some steps to troubleshoot:

Step 1: Reconnect the controller in the session
While Remote Play is active:  
- On her PC, unplug the controller (USB or Bluetooth).  
- Wait 5 seconds, plug it back in.  
- Test inputs immediately—USB wired tends to be more reliable.

Step 2: Enable Steam Input on both PCs**
- Right-click Split Fiction in the Steam library.  
- Properties > Controller tab.  
- Choose "Enable Steam Input for Split Fiction only."  
- Repeat on host and guest PCs, restart the game.

Step 3: Check the controller in Steam (her PC)
- Steam > Settings > Controller > General Controller Settings.  
- Confirm her controller is listed and enabled.  
- Open Big Picture Mode (top-right in Steam), test there.

Step 4: Assign via overlay (host PC)
- Start session, load game.  
- Shift+Tab for Steam Overlay.  
- Remote Play section—drag her controller to Player 2 slot (clear extras first).

Step 5: Full reset
- Unplug all other controllers/devices on both PCs.  
- Exit Steam, restart PCs if possible, relaunch everything fresh.

Please reply with the controller model and OS if needed.

Hi there,
Thanks a lot for the detailed tips. I tried every method you mentioned, including reconnecting the controller, adjusting Steam Input settings on both PCs, reassigning controllers through the overlay, and doing a full reset. Unfortunately, none of these solved the issue.

I even tested a different Remote Play–style application outside of Steam, and interestingly Split Fiction still didn’t recognize the second controller there either, even though other games worked fine. So it seems the problem is specific to Split Fiction.

If you have any other ideas, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks again for your help!

Hi there,

Thank you a lot for coming back with all that detail and for testing another Remote Play–style app as well. That’s actually really useful information. Since Split Fiction fails to recognise the second controller even outside of Steam, it suggests that the issue lies more with the game itself, specifically how it handles inputs on the host PC, rather than a general Remote Play or controller problem.

Let’s try a few deeper steps on the host PC (the one actually running the game):

1. Reset Split Fiction’s config on the host (keep your save)

On the host PC:

1. Fully close Split Fiction and Steam.
2. Press Windows + R, type:
   %LOCALAPPDATA%\SplitFiction
   and press Enter.
3. In that folder, you should see your saved files and settings.
   • Back up the entire SplitFiction folder to a safe location (e.g., Desktop / Documents).
4. Then, in the original folder, look for any settings or configuration files (for example, Settings.Split or LocalSettings.Split) and rename them to something like Settings_backup.Split.
5. Leave SaveData.Split alone so you don’t lose story progress.
6. Relaunch Steam and Split Fiction, then test Remote Play again.

This forces the game to recreate a fresh set of settings without touching your actual save.

Once you’re back in, go to Options → Input and check that both players have controls assigned. While you’re on that screen, press buttons on your girlfriend’s controller and see if the game registers anything there.

2. Force a specific Steam Input override on the host

Even if you already tweaked Steam Input generally, I’d like to make sure the per–game override is set very clearly on the host:

1. In Steam, right-click Split Fiction → Properties…
2. Go to the Controller tab.
3. Under Override for Split Fiction, select:
   • First, try “Disable Steam Input” and test.
   • If nothing changes, switch to “Enable Steam Input” and test again.

Do this on the host PC first; you can mirror it on the guest afterwards, but the host is the important one since that’s where the game is running.

3. Strip the host down to just one gamepad input

On the host machine only, please try:

• Unplugging any extra controllers (wheels, HOTAS/joysticks, arcade sticks, extra pads, USB adapters, etc.).
• Closing or temporarily disabling any “virtual controller” tools (vJoy, DS4Windows/X360CE profiles, etc.).
• Ideally, while testing, the host should only have:
  • Keyboard + mouse
  • The controller your girlfriend is using via Remote Play

Then start a new Remote Play Together session and see if Split Fiction finally sees her pad.

4. Quick local test with two controllers (if possible)

If you can borrow a second controller on the host PC:

1. Plug both controllers directly into the host (no Remote Play).
2. Start Split Fiction in local co-op.
3. Check if Player 2 can join and move a character.

• If local 2-controller play doesn’t work either, that strongly suggests a problem with that Windows user’s Split Fiction install/config.
• If local 2-controller play does work, but Remote Play P2 still fails, then it’s specifically about how the streamed controller is being passed to the game.

5. Workaround option: Friend’s Pass

If her PC can run the game (even on lower settings), one workaround while we dig further is to switch from Remote Play Together to the online Friends’ Pass option instead. In that mode, each of you runs the game locally, and you connect over the internet, which skips the whole “virtual controller over streaming” part that seems to be giving trouble here.

If you get the chance to try the above, could you also let me know:

• Which controller is your girlfriend using (Xbox / PlayStation / other, and wired vs Bluetooth)
• Windows version on both PCs
• Whether local 2-controller play on the host worked or not
• Whether resetting the config folder changed anything

With that information, we can determine whether we’re looking at a configuration issue on the host machine or something else.

Thanks again for your patience while we poke at this -- I know it’s not fun to get stuck halfway through a co-op run.

Hello, i have the same issue, I tryed everything you suggested above nothing helped, I can also confirm that the problem is not related to Steam, or PC, or gamepad, or Windows. Problem has been reproduced across 3 different devices, two on windows, one of them are with fresh Windows installation, and on a Steam Deck, game is downright unplayable via remote Play on Steam deck because of that. Game could be played with keyboard and mouse, so it is gamepad detection problem. I want specifically point out however, all of the devices i tested, was tested as Remote Play Clients, not hosts. Devices i tested can run game in local coop mode, or in coop via interenet, and in that case problem will not occur, and everything is fine, problem occurs specifically while devices i tested was connected as a remote play clients.