Schedule I Controller Support: What v0.4.6 Added

Short answer: as of Oct 18, 2026, Schedule I has native controller support on the default branch. It arrived in v0.4.6 on August 1, 2026. You don’t need a community Steam Input layout to play with a gamepad any more.

Which controllers work

From the v0.4.6 announcement (August 1, 2026), TVGS wrote: “We’ve tested and validated the following controllers”:

Controller	Status in the v0.4.6 notes
Xbox Controller	Tested and validated
PS5 DualSense Controller	Tested and validated
Steam Controller (incl. Steam Deck)	Tested and validated
Other controllers	“Any generic controller adhering to the Windows XInput API should also work well.”

The same notes list Xbox and PlayStation DualSense button prompts. Other controllers, such as the PS4 DualShock or Switch Pro Controller, aren’t mentioned.

What v0.4.6 added

These are the controller lines in the v0.4.6 change list, word for word:

• “Added controller/gamepad support.”
• “Added Xbox controller input prompts.”
• “Added PlayStation DualSense input prompts.”
• “Added gamepad-related settings.”
• “Added virtual cursor for gamepad.”
• “Added virtual cursor ‘friction’ system to make it easier to grab stuff.”
• “Added virtual cursor ‘lure’ system to make click-heavy tasks less tedious on gamepad.”
• “Added ‘restore defaults’ button for input bindings.”
• “Rebuilt the input prompt system to support gamepad buttons.”

TVGS also explained why it took this long: “Every menu and input interaction in the game had to be rebuilt or significantly altered. We didn’t want to do a quick and dirty implementation”. The new systems it lists include a haptics system and a “Gamepad pointer with simulated friction and magnetism”.

What this means in play: in menus you move a virtual cursor, a “Gamepad pointer with simulated friction and magnetism”, and TVGS added pointer “snapping” “for click-heavy tasks such as harvesting”. If a button gets mapped wrong, the input bindings menu has a “restore defaults” button.

How controller support got here

Each step below is from a TVGS post on Steam. Dates are when the post went up.

Date	Post	What it said about controllers
Mar 19, 2026	v0.4.4: Weather Update	“Added new UI framework in preparation for controller support (not yet enabled).”
Apr 26, 2026	Community vote #3 results	“At the moment, we’re working on gamepad support + Steam Deck certification, which should be done in about a month.”
Jul 9, 2026	v0.4.6 Open Beta	“Added controller/gamepad support.” (beta branch only)
Aug 1, 2026	v0.4.6: Gamepad Support + Optimization	Controller support reaches the default branch. TVGS: “We planned to release gamepad support at the end of June… Gamepad support took a lot longer than expected”

The “about a month” in April became just over two months to the beta and about three months to the default branch. v0.4.6 also had the longest open beta of any Schedule I update so far, 23 days. See how long each Schedule I beta took.

Old advice vs now

	Before v0.4.6 (up to Aug 1, 2026)	Since v0.4.6
Native gamepad support	None. v0.4.4 (Mar 2026) only added the UI framework, “not yet enabled”	Yes, in the default branch
Button prompts	No gamepad prompts	Xbox and DualSense prompts
Menus and click-heavy tasks	No gamepad cursor	Virtual cursor with “friction” and “lure”
Community Steam Input layouts	The only way to use a gamepad	Not needed for the controllers TVGS validated

If a guide tells you there’s no official controller support, check its date. Guides from before August 2026 were right at the time.

Steam Deck: Playable, not Verified

As of Oct 18, 2026, the Steam store’s Steam Deck compatibility section rates Schedule I Playable. In Valve’s review criteria, Playable means the game works on the Deck but players may have to do some setup themselves.

Valve’s report flags four items. Here is each one next to what the check covers, in our own summary of Valve’s criteria:

Item flagged in Valve’s report	What the check covers (our summary of Valve’s criteria)
Default controller configuration not fully functional	The default controls should let you reach all of the game’s content
Controller glyphs don’t match the Deck	On-screen button prompts should match the controller you’re using
Text input doesn’t open the on-screen keyboard automatically	When you need to type with a controller, the game should open an on-screen keyboard for you
Interface text isn’t legible	Text on screen should be easy to read on the Deck

The same report marks the default graphics configuration as performing well on Deck.

The report doesn’t show when Valve tested the game. In April 2026, TVGS said it was working on “Steam Deck certification”. As of Oct 18, 2026, the rating is still Playable.

What this means on Deck: going by those four items, the game runs, but you may have to bring up the on-screen keyboard yourself when typing, some text may be small, and button prompts may not show Deck glyphs.

What’s next

v0.4.7 went into open beta on September 19, 2026 and reached the default branch on October 9 (v0.4.7: Special Customers). Its release notes have two input-related lines:

• “Fixed skateboard input prompts remaining visible after getting off the skateboard.”
• “Fixed gamepad cursor lures not deactivating when multi-dragging, resulting in jittery cursor movement.”

The second line wasn’t in the beta notes when we checked them on Sep 30. It is in the release notes, and in the beta post as last edited on Oct 9. It’s a fix to the virtual cursor “lure” system that v0.4.6 added. Neither line adds a controller feature, and the notes don’t mention Steam Deck. As of Oct 18, 2026, v0.4.7 is TVGS’s latest announcement. We’ll update this page if a future update or Valve’s rating changes either.