The Unreal Engine 4 input action and event system now contains experimental support for the SteamVR Input ystem. Users can use the SteamVR Input system to build binding configurations for their favorite games, even for controllers that didn't exist when the game was written. Once enabled, actions and axis mappings defined in the UE4 Input settings can be bound to devices in the SteamVR binding editor utility.
For more information, see Steam's initial announcement of the SteamVR Input system: Controllers Controllers Controllers: Introducing SteamVR Input
In order to preserve backward compatibility with existing projects, support for the new SteamVR Input system is disabled by default.
Steps
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The new SteamVR Input system is not compatible with existing projects, so it must be explicitly enabled. To enable SteamVR Input, set the console variable vr.SteamVR.EnableVRInput to 1 in the Unreal Engine ConsoleVariables.ini file (\Engine\Config\ConsoleVariables.ini).
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Under Project Settings > Engine > Input > Bindings, set up Action and Axis Mappings for the input actions that you want to handle.
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The actual keys assigned to the Input Action and Axis Mappings do not matter, as long as some keys are bound to each action and axis, as the final key binding is done in SteamVR through the Input Bindings.
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Save the settings, and restart both SteamVR and the Unreal Editor.
While SteamVR is stopped, you may also need to edit C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\config\steamvr.vrsettings to remove the block caching the action manifest settings generated for the Unreal Editor.
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In SteamVR, under Devices, click Controller Input Binding. Find your application at the top, under the running application. Create some bindings using the UI, then save them.
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Under SteamVR beta, select Devices, then Controller Input Bindings.
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Select an application's binding to edit (UE4EDITOR.EXE).
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Select Edit to edit the existing bindings.
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Make changes to existing bindings and save them.
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About 2D Axes: Unreal Engine only has 1-dimensional axis inputs, while Steam supports up to 3-dimensional inputs. This mismatch can be rectified if you define two axes that are bound to the X and Y counterpart of the same controller in the input settings. For example, let's say MoveRight is bound to Motion Controller Thumb Stick X, and MoveForward is bound to Motion Controller Thumb Stick Y. The SteamVR controller code will actually generate three actions�a vector1 action called MoveRight, another vector1 action called MoveForward, and a third combined vector2 action called MoveRightForward. You can choose to bind to only one or two of them, depending on what kind of inputs (1- or 2-dimensional) you want.
End Result
A game using the Action Input API actions should now respond to the bindings defined in the SteamVR Input system.