FAQ

Where's the GUI?

SISR runs as a system tray application by default.

Right-click the tray icon to show/hide the UI
Or launch with -w --window-fullscreen false to show the window at startup
If the window runs as overlay press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S or LB+RB+BACK+A ("A" button needs to be pressed last) to toggle UI visibility.

You can also run sisr --help to see all CLI options

I don't like the system tray app behavior, can I run it as a normal windowed application?

Yes, you can!
Launch SISR with -w --window-fullscreen false to show the window at startup and disable fullscreen behavior

I don't like the chosen overlay shortcut/controller chord, can I change it?

You do realize Steam Input can remap controller buttons/shortcuts, right?
You're smart, you can figure it out 😜

Why would I use this over Steam Input directly?

SISR can be used to circumvent issues with games and applications that do not support Steam Input or otherwise pose challenges, like (but not limited to):

Games with aggressive anti-cheat systems
Emulators
Windows Store games/apps
Games with broken Steam Input support

You can also use SISR to "tunnel"/forward Steam Input configurations over the network to other machines, including Keyboard/Mouse.

This makes it possible to use devices like a Steam Deck as a dedicated controller without the need to stream the entire game

Info

That said, if you do not have issues with Steam Input directly, you probably should not use SISR at all 😉

Can I use this with "Steam Link" / "Remote Play"

Can I use this with "Steam Link" / "Remote Play"?

Theoretically(?) But don't expect it to also stream your game/display.

Take a look at the Networked usage guide for more details

If you want game/display-streaming as well, you should
look into setting up Sunshine/Apollo and Moonlight
Note that Sunshine/Apollo and Moonlight come with their own remote-input solution, that possibly interferes with SISR.
I have not yet had the time to write documentation for this
^{If you have used SISR with Sunshine/Apollo and Moonlight successfully, consider contributing to the documentation}

How does this compare to Sunshine/Apollo's "input only mode"

How does this compare to Sunshine/Apollo's input only mode

Sunshine/Apollo/WhateverTheFuck use the good old, but unmaintained(!) ViGEm driver (on Windows)
SISR uses a different underlying tool VIIPER for both controller as well as keyboard/mouse inputs.

At the current stage, differences (to an input-only mode) are mostly technical to an end-user... however:

SISR does not use unmaintained technologies, duh.
Uses the same input-emulation technique across platforms
SISRs controller devices are (not yet, lol) blocked by any anticheat (as opposed to ViGEms)
Emulates mouse/keyboard in a way that is indistinguishable from real hardware, too!
SISR supports emulating a DS4 controller (as does ViGEm), but with full gyro-passthrough
Touchpad passthrough will follow.
You can even decide this per device
SISR will (at a later stage, probably™️) support Steam Controller 2 ("Triton") re-emulation, allowing you to have full Steam-Input functionality on the controller receiving machine, not only on the controller-host (eg. Deck)
Maybe more to come.

And of course, SISR is only concerned about controllers/input-devices - no display-streaming baggage needed.
SISR is primarily a tool to circumvent Steam Input issues, after all.

Why would I want to use this instead of directly using USBIP/VirtualHere to forward controllers?

Why would I want to use this instead of directly using USBIP/VirtualHere to forward controllers?

Diretly forwarding the Steam Decks (or similar devices) inputs via USBIP/VirtualHere comes with significant drawbacks:

The forwarded device is entirely "removed" from the host machine
- You cannot use the device on the host machine at all while it's forwarded
- There may be no way to "exit" the forwarding on the host machine without additional input devices or remote access, you have to disconnect the USBIP/VirtualHere session from the client side
  This can be especially problematic if the host machine is a Steam Deck...
USBIP on Windows specifically does not currently work with the Steam Decks built-in controller
VirtualHere is closed-source and requires a paid license for more than a single device
I have personally experienced significant latency and input issues when using VirtualHere specifically on long gaming sessions
On the Steam Deck (or similar devices), the Touchscreens inputs cannot be forwarded via USBIP/VirtualHere at all

SISR circumvents all of these issues by:

Forwarding Steams Virtual Controllers instead of the physical device
Forward additional Keyboard/Mouse devices alongside the controllers
Providing "an out" using it's dedicated shortcut/controller chord (CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+S, LB+RB+BACK+A) to toggle the UI visibility and stop/start forwarding
Being fully open-source and free to use
Even if a feature is not supported, everyone can grab the source-code of any part in the chain (except Steam itself) and implement it 😉

What is USBIP?

USBIP is a protocol for tunneling USB devices over TCP/IP
It allows a USB device on one machine to appear on another machine over the network (or localhost).

SISR uses USBIP (via VIIPER) to create emulated controllers that appear as real hardware at the system level

See USBIP setup for setup instructions

What is VIIPER?

VIIPER (Virtual Input over IP EmulatoR) is the USBIP server that SISR uses to emulate controllers.

VIIPER is bundled with SISR
you don't need to download/setup it separately

VIIPER listens on:

:3241 for USBIP connections
:3242 for the control API

See the VIIPER documentation for more details

How do I uninstall this?

The installation scripts as well as the documentation tell you what is happening during install.
To uninstall reverse those steps.

WindowsLinux

If you cant be bothered, run this in PowerShell

rm -rf "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\SISR"
rm -rf "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\VIIPER"
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" -Name "VIIPER" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Remove-Item "$( [Environment]::GetFolderPath('Desktop') )\SISR.lnk" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Remove-Item "$env:APPDATA\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\SISR.lnk" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Driver Removal

Device Manager Driver Removal

The USBIP-Win2 driver can be removed via Device Manager

If you cant be bothered, run this in a terminal

rm -rf ~/.local/share/SISR
rm -rf ~/.local/share/VIIPER
sudo systemctl disable --now viiper.service
sudo rm /etc/systemd/system/viiper.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo rm -rf /etc/modules-load.d/viiper.conf

USBIP can be uninstalled via whatever package manager your distribution uses

Common Issues

For common issues (doubled controllers, Steam CEF debugging, port conflicts, etc.), see: Troubleshooting

I want feature XYZ

Check GitHub Issues to see if it's already requested
If not, open a new issue

No guarantees, though.

Better yet, implement it yourself and open a pull request 😉
Alternatively, you can hire me to implement it for you 😜
Rates start at 100€/hour.