Two-In-One: How to Turn Your Game Controller Into a Computer Mouse

The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Sequence X will be the new hotness for front room gaming, however if you would like the advantages of PC gaming with the consolation of the sofa, hooking your rig as much as a 4K TV nonetheless supplies probably the greatest gaming experiences you will get right now. There’s just one drawback: Reaching for the mouse and keyboard to open a recreation is a little bit of a trouble.

Steam’s built-in Massive Image Mode goals to resolve this by making a couch-friendly interface you’ll be able to navigate with a gamepad, however that is not a one-stop store anymore. Different launchers (like Epic and GOG) have turn out to be extra ubiquitous, and desktop settings (like HDR) require tweaking. 

Fortunately, there are a numerous third-party instruments that help you navigate Home windows with nothing however your recreation controller. Listed here are the very best we have discovered for most individuals’s wants.

Steam: The Possibility You In all probability Already Have

In case you have Steam put in in your gaming PC, you have already got desktop controller help built-in. In truth, it might already be energetic. Steam permits some shortcuts—known as “Chords”—which take the type of sure button combos in your controller that map to particular features in your PC.

For instance, when you have an Xbox controller, you’ll be able to maintain down the Xbox button, then use the suitable stick to maneuver the mouse, press the suitable set off to click on, or press the left set off to right-click. For those who hold Steam operating within the background, this can do in a pinch with no futzing obligatory. Nevertheless, you can even allow full controller help on the desktop.

Open the principle Steam window and head to Settings > Controller > Normal Controller Settings. Test the field on your controller—PlayStation, Xbox, Change Professional, or Generic—and you need to now have the ability to transfer your mouse with the suitable stick in your controller. From the Settings > Controller web page, you’ll be able to click on the Desktop Configuration button to customise which buttons emulate which keyboard keys.

This methodology has some downsides, although. For those who launch a recreation from Steam, the shopper will robotically disable the gamepad-as-mouse function when you’re within the recreation. This may deal with your controller like a controller, with all its personal default keybindings. However when you launch a recreation from exterior Steam, your controller will nonetheless be acknowledged as a mouse, and your controls will not work correctly. 

Consequently, your finest wager is so as to add these non-Steam video games to your library. So long as Steam detects it and the overlay works correctly, it will disable the mouse function. If that does not work—some video games do not at all times play properly with this function—chances are you’ll wish to strive one of many beneath choices as a substitute.

Gopher360: A Easy and Free Answer For Xbox Controllers

gopher360

If you’d like one thing a bit easier and are okay putting in a small additional program, try Gopher360(Opens in a brand new window) for Xbox and different controllers. It’s a bit previous (and technically deserted), but it surely nonetheless works effectively, even with the most recent Xbox Sequence X controller. Simply seize the most recent model from the Releases web page(Opens in a brand new window), copy it someplace secure in your system, and double-click this system. 

Simply decrease the command window that seems, and you need to have full use of your Xbox controller as described on the house web page(Opens in a brand new window) (left stick strikes the mouse, the A button makes a mouse click on, and so forth). While you launch a recreation, press the Begin and Again buttons on the identical time to disable the mouse function.

It’s also possible to modify the sensitivity and customise the button structure by way of Gopher360’s config file, saved in the identical location as this system itself. Professional tip: add a shortcut to Gopher360 in your startup folder so it launches together with your laptop. For those who expertise an issue the place the cursor would not seem after waking the pc from sleep, you’ll be able to repair that with a small registry tweak(Opens in a brand new window).

InputMapper: Your Greatest Selection For PlayStation Controllers

InputMapper

Sony’s DualShock controller is a bit distinctive, because it would not work together with Home windows in fairly the identical approach as an Xbox controller. If you wish to use your PlayStation 4 controller as a mouse, you will need a separate program known as InputMapper(Opens in a brand new window). Set up the most recent launch and launch this system. While you join a DualShock controller, you will get a immediate to configure the gamepad. 

You’ll be able to create a profile that maps the controller to its Xbox 360 equivalents (so it really works in video games that do not help PlayStation controllers), or as a mouse and keyboard (the place the DualShock’s touchpad strikes the cursor and tapping it clicks the mouse). You’ll be able to customise the button mappings and loads of different tweaks from this system’s essential window.

In case you have a DualSense controller, you will have to enlist the assistance of a controller emulator like DS4Windows(Opens in a brand new window).

Controller Companion: Polished and Customizable

For those who’re prepared to pay a couple of dollars, a more moderen program known as Controller Companion(Opens in a brand new window) might be probably the most elegant strategy to get this performance in your PC. After buying the $3 program and putting in it by way of Steam, you’ll use the left stick to maneuver your mouse, the A button to click on on objects, and—when you press within the left stick—you will even get a useful digital keyboard you need to use to sort fast bits of textual content. 

Better of all, Controller Companion will auto-disable itself when it detects a full-screen app operating, which suggests it ought to seamlessly change between mouse emulation and in-game controls robotically. If it would not, although, you’ll be able to press the Begin and Again buttons concurrently to manually disable it when you play.

Controller Companion has a lot of easy-to-tweak choices in its Settings window, like adjusting the pointer velocity, managing useless zones, and creating profiles for particular functions. Whereas it would not work out-of-the-box with PlayStation controllers (once more, as a result of approach Home windows acknowledges them), it comes with a button to arrange Xbox Controller Emulator, which ought to work at the side of DualShock gamepads.