How to Calibrate Steam Deck Triggers

Written By: Carsten Frauenheim

Comments: 12

Difficulty

Easy

Steps

Time Required

1 - 5 minutes

Introduction

Use this guide to calibrate your Steam Deck's triggers from within SteamOS.

Valve recommends performing this software calibration after installing new triggers.

NOTE: Both Steam Deck thumbstick and trigger calibrations may not function as of SteamOS version 3.3. Functionality is planned to return in a future release.

Step 1

If you're not already in desktop mode, navigate to the Steam Menu → Power, and select Switch to Desktop.
If you don't have a keyboard plugged into your Steam Deck, you'll need to use the on-screen keyboard.
Press the Steam Button + X to enable the on-screen keyboard.
Trigger calibration is done within a terminal window using SteamOS's console, named Konsole.
From the Search menu, search for and open Konsole.
If you need to, move the Konsole window so your on-screen keyboard doesn't obscure it.

I just tried this and get "command not found". Is it possible they have changed access since any updates? Desperately wanting to fix this and don't feel taking SD apart is issue. It feels like a calibration problem.

Philip Kellett - 13/08/22

Step 2

Within Konsole, type trigger_cal.
Alternatively, type trig and then press Tab to auto-complete.
Press Enter.

Philip Kellett -

also getting command not found, can you please update this walkthrough so I can calibrate the trigger replacement I bought from you?

Dawn W. -

Step 3

The software will first calibrate the triggers' non-depressed resting position.
Ensure that neither trigger is depressed. Press Enter.
The software will now calibrate the triggers' fully-depressed position.
Tap on a blank desktop area to move the cursor off of the Konsole window. Make sure Konsole isn't in focus.
Gently press down each trigger until they bottom out.
Don't apply too much force or the triggers could be incorrectly calibrated.
Tap on the Konsole window to bring focus back to it. Press Enter.
That's it! Your triggers are now calibrated. The terminal should say "Trigger calibration successful."

Philip Kellett -

Conclusion

Click here to return to the left trigger replacement guide. Click here to return to the right trigger replacement guide.

Repair didn’t go as planned? Try some basic troubleshooting, or ask our Steam Deck answers community for help.

Author

Carsten Frauenheim

Member since: 10/03/20

87825 Reputation

8 comments

Do you need to enable developer mode or download anything to get this working? All I get is 'command not found' when I try to run trigger_cal_v1_1.

sudoWiz -

Same, hoping this gets looked at and resolved.

Philip Kellett -

all i get is :permission denied" anytime i try this, please update the guide

Garrett Hart -

trigger_cal is located in /usr/bin/trigger_cal but is not executable. Here's what I did:
cp /usr/bin/trigger_cal ~/

chmod u+x

./trigger_cal

Ben Jackel - 14/09/22

This is an incomplete guide when it doesn't explain the permission error when executing trigger_cal

Tim Mok -

I just wanted to say thank you for this! I received a Steam Deck today and the right trigger was registering as if it were being pressed all the way down when it wasn't being touched at all. I was going to look into opening the Steam Deck and taking a look but the Konsole command Trigger_cal saved the day! THANK YOU AGAIN!

Daniel Ortiz -

Few days ago I dropped my deck and the Left trigger broke. I glued with crazy glue and everything was "working fine" except for Marvel's Spiderman which didn't detect when I press L2 button.

Finally got the issue solved with this guide, calibration was missing... So definitely after modifying triggers, recalibrate them.

Eudis - 26/11/22

Thanks a lot for this, however when I want to do the same recalibration with my left bumper button, it doesn't work. I use the command 'bumper_cal' and I find it's wrong. So I truly want to know what is the correct command with bumper calibration?

Aki - 16/01/23