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omah1975
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Got a Stadia Controller and I'm a bit confused

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Hi, I have a couple of questions regarding the Stadia Controller, sorry if this has been answered elsewhere already. I signed up for the one month Stadia free trial on December the 15th just to see how well it worked with my not particularly fast internet connection. I claimed the free games that were available at the time and started playing on my Windows 10 PC through Google Chrome using my existing wired xbox one controller. I was very happy with the performance overall so I decided to upgrade to a Stadia Controller. Once it arrived I plugged it into my PC and went through the linking process and that seemed to be fine. While doing this a message came up saying the controller needed updating. As far as I can tell (someone correct me if I am wrong) to update the controller you have to download and install the Stadia app to your phone and then unplug the controller and link it to wifi via the phone app. I did this and apparently updated the controller, I then plugged it back into my PC and I believe I had to link it again. I was able to play some of the games with the new controller with no problems. I've just tried to play GTAIV via Steam and the controller wasn't detected within the game so I went back into Stadia and it appeared to have lost the link to Stadia, I went through the linking process again and I am still unable to play a non Stadia game so can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong.

Thank you.

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Best Response
codesplice
Gold Stadia Guide
Gold Stadia Guide

@omah1975 I think you might need to enter the linking code each time you wish to use the Stadia controller with your PC wirelessly; the support article only indicates that the controller will automatically re-link with a Chromecast Ultra. I typically relink my controller every time anyway; I've found that it's easier to deliberately link the controller with the correct screen rather than hoping that it connects with the right one. 

Again, though, you shouldn't need to do any crazy linking stuff if you're using the USB connection. That should just work. 

I'm afraid I don't know what might cause the controller to be recognized by Windows but the inputs not show up in non-Stadia games. I did see a post on Reddit that described some specific configurations needed to use the Stadia controller with Steam:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Stadia/comments/dzoflb/using_stadia_controller_on_steam/

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codesplice
Gold Stadia Guide
Gold Stadia Guide

@omah1975 You're absolutely correct that you need to use the Stadia app on your phone to update the firmware on the controller.

That said, you should only need to "link" the controller if you're trying to use it wirelessly. In this configuration, the controller connects your home WiFi and and actually links up with the server where the game instance is running, bypassing your computer entirely.

You shouldn't need to do any linking if you connect the controller to your computer via USB. And you'll need to use that USB connection if you want to use the controller to play non-Stadia games.

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omah1975
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Thanks for the clarification. I am not sure if it does this every time but I noticed that if I open up Stadia and click on the controller icon no controller is mentioned until I do enter the linking code (or do I need to just wait a few seconds for Stadia to recognise the controller? Also what could be causing the Stadia controller to not be recognised in non Stadia games? The controller is recognised by Windows 10 as if I go into devices and printers the controller shows up there and I am able to test that my inputs are recognised.

Thank you.

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codesplice
Gold Stadia Guide
Gold Stadia Guide

@omah1975 I think you might need to enter the linking code each time you wish to use the Stadia controller with your PC wirelessly; the support article only indicates that the controller will automatically re-link with a Chromecast Ultra. I typically relink my controller every time anyway; I've found that it's easier to deliberately link the controller with the correct screen rather than hoping that it connects with the right one. 

Again, though, you shouldn't need to do any crazy linking stuff if you're using the USB connection. That should just work. 

I'm afraid I don't know what might cause the controller to be recognized by Windows but the inputs not show up in non-Stadia games. I did see a post on Reddit that described some specific configurations needed to use the Stadia controller with Steam:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Stadia/comments/dzoflb/using_stadia_controller_on_steam/

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omah1975
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Ok thanks for the reply I will check out the reddit link, thanks.

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