Touch Configuration

This page will describe the configuration options available for how the Switch's touch screen will behave and be interpreted by the PC. There are 2 modes of touch behaviour available, 'Virtual Touch' and 'Simulated Mouse'. It is recommended to always use 'Virtual Touch' whenever possible as it will then be like using a Windows tablet or touch enabled monitored. There is an explanation at the bottom of the page about the simulated mouse behaviours.

Table of Contents

• Virtual Touch
  • Deadzone Radius
  • Max Finger Count
• Simulated Mouse
  • Deadzone Radius
  • Behaviour
  • Double Tap Time
  • Trackpad Sensitivity Percentage
• Simulated Absolute Mouse
• Simulated Trackpad Mouse

Virtual Touch

This mode allows the Switch touch screen to behave like a touch enabled monitor with the PC. This includes touch behaviour available in the OS. It is recommended to use this setting whenever possible.

Deadzone Radius (Virtual Touch)

This controls the amount of finger movement required on the screen before the movement is registered and sent as touch input to the PC.

• The value shown is roughly in pixels
• Keeping this value too low will result in very odd touch movements and behaviour

Max Finger Count

This controls the amount of fingers that are tracked and registered from the Switch's touch screen on the PC.

• Multi-finger support is there, but there are limitations
  • Pinch and zoom for example can work, but rotation and orientation required gestures and features aren't supported

Simulated Mouse

This mode allows the Switch's touch screen to be interpreted as a mouse on the PC. A lot of effort has gone into making it as convenient and intuitive as possible to behave like a normal mouse, but it involves a lot of work and isn't perfect. Because of that I recommend the 'Virtual Touch' mode whenever possible. That said, I have enjoyed using the 'Trackpad' behaviour.

• Left click is triggered from tapping the finger on the screen without moving too far or by double tapping the screen
• Right click is triggered when 2 fingers are registered on the screen either from tapping them or placing them slowly and letting go

Deadzone Radius (Simulated Mouse)

This controls the amount of finger movement required on the screen before the movement is registered and sent as mouse movement to the PC.

• Keeping this setting higher improves the accuracy of the simulated Double Tap feature when using Absolute behaviour
  • For Trackpad behaviour, it isn't that important

Behaviour

This controls how the simulated mouse will interpret touch data coming from the Switch's touch screen.

• Absolute
  • The touch input is treated as absolute positioning
  • The positioning is mapped based on your stream resolution
    • If the desktop's resolution changes during the stream, absolute positioning will become inaccurate
  • Think of this as 'the mouse will be under by finger'
• Trackpad
  • The touch input is treated as relative movement
  • The movement is scaled based on the Trackpad Sensitivity Percentage
  • Think of this like a laptop trackpad, if you move your finger up, the mouse moves up

Double Tap Time

This controls how much time is available for consecutive taps on the touch screen to be registered as a mouse left click.

• Try not to keep the setting too low or too high, otherwise it will make the experience annoying
• Values displayed are in seconds

Trackpad Sensitivity Percentage

When behaviour is set to Trackpad this setting controls how mouse movement is scaled from the touch screen movement on the Switch.

• Lower the percentage, the slower and closer the mouse moves
• Higher the percentage, the faster and further the mouse moves
• This setting does not effect Absolute behaviour at all

Simulated Absolute Mouse

When the simulated mouse is set to Absolute behaviour, then the touch screen movement and touches are scaled and mapped to the desktop's resolution. This allows you to effectively move the mouse to always follow and remain underneath your finger.

• Only the 1st finger on the touch screen is considered for movement
• When the finger is first placed, it is ignored for movement until the finger moves past the Deadzone Radius
  • This was to allow for left clicking without having to be 100% accurate with your finger being placed above an icon or item
• To left click
  • Make sure the Deadzone Radius is high (8 or higher)
  • Tap the screen using your finger without moving your finger on the screen
• To left click and drag
  • Move the mouse first where you'd like to initiate the left click
  • Double tap quickly and hold your finger on the screen, then move
• To right click
  • Move the mouse to where you'd like to right-click
  • Then tap 2 fingers on the screen without moving them too far

Simulated mouse inputs with Absolute positioning is hard to intuit. I'd recommend being patient and experimenting with it, treating the touch screen as a laptop trackpad that maps the desktop to the trackpad's extents. Otherwise, Trackpad behaviour or simply using the Virtual Touch mode is recommended and easier to use.

Simulated Trackpad Mouse

When the simulated mouse is set to Trackpad behaviour, then the touch screen movement and touches are treated similar to how a laptop trackpad would behave. So the mouse follows the movements of your finger on the touch screen relatively.

• Only the 1st finger on the touch screen is considered for movement
• To left click, simply tap on the touch screen
• To left click and drag
  • Double tap, then hold and move your finger
• To right click, you will need to tap 2 fingers on the screen while avoiding any movements on the screen

Trackpad behaviour is a bit more intuitive to use compared to Absolute. Keep in mind the mouse behaviour is simulated by Switch Remote Play on the PC, so do not expect gesture features similar to laptops like 2 finger scrolling, pinch and zoom, or 3/4/5 finger swiping gestures. The closest you can have to touch gestures would be in Virtual Touch mode, but it is limited.