A steam deck-like controller made from a mix of off the shelf parts and 3d printed parts with custom hardware and firmware
OpenSplitDeck (v0.3)
A custom modular wireless controller inspired by the Steam Deck and Steam Controller. Features trackpads, detachable halves, and full HID support. Built from scratch using nRF52840 microcontrollers and the Enhanced ShockBurst protocol. Video
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Note
This project is in an early development stage — v0.3. Expect breaking changes, bugs, and frequent updates.
Project Goals
- Emulate a Steam Deck-like controller with modular, wireless halves
- ️ Support mouse, keyboard, and gamepad HID modes
- Custom-built trackpads using the Azoteq IQS7211E sensor
- Magnetic pogo-pin charging and attachment system
- ️ Fully open-source hardware and firmware
Current Status
- Emulates a DS4 Controller - This lets us use steam input for the trackpads. Ideally I want it to show up as a steamdeck controller but that is seeming like a much harder task than I thought.
- ️ Support mouse, keyboard, and gamepad HID modes. - Kinda. Mouse and keyboard are properly setup in the HID desccriptors, I just have not implpemented them yet.
- Custom-built trackpads using the Azoteq IQS7211E sensor - Yes.
- Magnetic pogo-pin charging and attachment system. - Yes but they only support charging. I would like to find a way to make the 2 halves of the controller communicate with each other.
- ️ Fully open-source hardware and firmware -
Controller is still definetly in the early phases. However it does function and work as expected. There is still a lot to improve, optimize and other features to add. Stay tuned for the progression of this project and feel free to build one yourself! Let me know if my instructions are bad.
✅ v0.3 Development Checklist
Hardware
- Left and right controller halves (nRF52840)
- USB dongle (nRF52840)
- Custom trackpad PCBs (IQS7211E)
- 3D printable version of the Shell
- Controller PCBs(left + right)
- Joystick PCBs(to drive down cost)
- gp2040ce + nrf dongle
Firmware
- ESB-based wireless communication
- Mouse + Gamepad + Keyboard HID reports
- Input parsing for trackpads and buttons
- Haptics
- Rumble support (Could still be improved)
- Gyro Support
- Calibration routines + save to internal memory
- Configurable modes (gesture/tap/mouse/gamepad)
- Steam Input compatibility or XInput compatibility(This is now done through DS4)
- Capacitive Joystick
3d Modeling
- 3d Printable Case(Started, its in the STEP file)
- 3d Printable Shoulder Button Structure(Experimental Version in STEP file)
- 3d Printable Trigger Insert
- Trigger Locks
Other
- Improve documentation and diagrams
- Add Screens
- Design a UI or config utility(either software or adding screens)
- Firmware migration to Zephyr
- Optimize latency and packet loss handling (could still be better)
- Reduces costs
Media
Valve Took Too Long… So I Built the Steam Controller 2
Valve Announced a New Steam Controller… and I Upgraded Mine
LTT Video
️ Build Instructions
Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Feel free to fork the repo, open issues, or submit pull requests.
If you're not sure where to start, check out the Checklist for open tasks.
Special Thanks to:
- TheTitaniumTitan for Suggesting S-Input and providing working example code
- RogueRen for helping make some PCB ordering documentation
- Kuekenzange for making a charging dock 3d Model
License
MIT License — see LICENSE file for details.
Contact
For questions or suggestions, reach out via GitHub Issues or YouTube.