[PC/EU] Controller very unusable since U44 update

Yedirah

Since the recent update I've been having a lot of issues with using a controller. I was having these issues when I started shortly before U43 and it seems the problems returned.

I play via Steam on a 2023 M2 MBP using a DualShock 4 with a wired connection (ESO never recognised wireless for me).

Normal usage: I normally have the game in Gamepad Mode > Automatic which before allowed me to use a controller for nearly everything, and switch to kb+m for interacting with certain addons, guild traders, etc. This makes the game a lot more accessible to me - a controller allows me more flexibility with how my arms and wrists are positioned and I just need to apply light pressure on the joysticks and occasionally tap a button. With kb+m I'm locked into one position and unfortunately that really isn't doable for me as it flares up my widespread chronic pain.

What happened in the past is ESO would ignore Steam Input configurations completely, so I'd have Steam>ESO>Properties>Controller set to "Use default settings". Since the update, the game intermittently stops recognising I have a controller connected. Once ESO stops recognising my controller with its native support, I've not found a reliable way to get it back.

Most of the time when I do get it back, my game experiences crazy stuttering and lag that stops as soon as I switch to steam input or kb+m (if it lets me).

The only thing I can do at that point is stay on kb+m, or switch on Steam Input as it doesn't seem to be completely ignored anymore, as I noticed my gamepad trackpad is responding.

But because Steam Input translates controller input into usually keyboard and mouse shortcuts, this means:

• Using Gamepad mode > Automatic no longer works, as game reads this as mouse/keybord input and switches the UI including the button glyphs
• The joystick sensitivity is way off - and while Steam Input has extensive config options I really don't have the knowledge to engage with it at that level of depth
• There does not seem to be any sort of default or official template for ESO + Steam Input, the community ones don't work very well.

Even if any of the layouts did - there's unexpected behaviour. I've confirmed the keybinds on both ESO + SI end, and I've verified with both input monitors and different apps that it's not an issue with my controller. But:

• For example, my L2 is mapped to block in both ESO and the Steam Input configuration, R2 being attack. The game switches them around though.
• Other input also gets completely incorrectly recognised - like ghost button presses (square when it's not being pressed), some buttons (or sometimes joysticks) completely not responding while others work (it's never the same ones - sometimes it might be DPAD, then joysticks, then the buttons on the right side).
• Software-end stick drift also makes this very unusable. Doesn't always happen.

I don't know if y'all at ZOS have the ability to peek at stats of what individual players are up to, but if you peaked at mine, you'd see me go from normal gameplay across all content and zones, to standing around towns and moving around very little while disconnecting due to inactivity or repeatedly reloading the game or UI to try and get something working for the past 3-4 days. It's not fun.

Also, just to check off those boxes:

• ran a repair on client
• tried various levels of restarts (eso, eso+steam, computer)
• tried resetting the controller
• tried turning off all addons
• tried Steam beta

I'm gonna attempt to run ESO without Steam as a last ditch effort and report back.

Yedirah

Regarding the extreme lag/FPS drop when using a wired DS4 controller while it's working with default ESO controller support:

As @ZOS_FalcoYamaoka stated at the bottom of this thread, switching Gamepad Mode from Auto to On resolves the lag.

However, this isn't a viable solution - switching between the two input modes in itself causes a stutter and so is not practical in all situations.

This ties back into:
Native UX has accessibility issues > need addons to make game more accessible > few/no gamepad mode friendly addons (as far as I heard due to insufficient support for addon developers when it comes to Gamepad UI).

I can stomach a work in progress and bugs as long as it's something there's a reliable workaround or temporary fix for - restart, repair - but a game's core features being completely broken like this is something I've not encountered before.

It's also very discouraging and demotivating to read years worth of reports of the same repeating issues with controller support going on for years (not even isolated to Mac users, but PC as well) while so many of those users are reporting accessibility issues due to disability or health reasons.

If anyone has had any luck with a similar set up and a controller, please let me know what you're using. Thanks!

Yedirah

Another update:

I downloaded the standalone/non-Steam ESO client to see if the issues persist. Sure enough, all the Steam Input/Gamepad mode weirdness went away and controller has been a lot more stable, but the random disconnects still persisted.

This is especially awful with ranked ToT matches - I haven't identified the specific scenario this happens, but if a controller stops working mid-match, I've been unable to switch to using kb+mouse (I think it's an interface switch issue), have to reloadui and get kicked out of the match.

Well, I tested further with a borrowed controller and the random disconnects seem to be the controller's wire port. 3 months of ESO, and having to rely on a wired connection + needing to regularly plug/unplug it to resolve controller issues (even before this Steam weirdness) has apparently worn out it out.

This is a very recently bought controller I got specifically for gaming on my laptop - I know the issue of lack of wireless support and unnecessary wear and tear on ports has been raised before, so I'm wondering if there are any plans to add native wireless controller support for Macs? Or if there is a controller that already does that?