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Button and Axis Mappings

One mapping table per virtual controller: every physical device assigned to the slot feeds the same grid, so inputs from different devices combine inside a single row.

Button and axis mapping grid with source, value, and record columns

Mapping grid

Column What it does
Output The virtual output this row controls ("A", "Left Stick X", "D-Pad Up"). What the game sees.
Source One or more physical inputs that drive this output. Pick by hand, use Record, or click + Add Source to add another. Sources get letter tags a, b, c, … in the order you add them.
Value Live readout of the row's combined output. Updates in real time so you can verify on the spot.
Record Press a button or move an axis on any assigned physical controller. PadForge fills in the source automatically.
Clear Resets the row's primary source: descriptor, Invert / Half / Bidirectional, deadzone back to 50%, the device tag, and Primary Mode back to Direct. Extra sources keep their own remove buttons, and the combine mode and custom formula stay until you remove them or run Clear All.
Options Per-source controls: Invert, Half, Bidirectional, plus Flip Output, Do Not Inherit, Acceleration, and Sensitivity where they apply. Toggles that cannot act on the current source gray out. See Per-source options.
Axis-to-Button Deadzone Slider (1–100%) for how far an axis must move before a discrete output fires. Per source. See Axis-to-Button Deadzone.

Two more controls live in the strip beneath each row rather than in a column:

  • Primary Mode picks how the primary source is read (Direct, Incremental, Invert On Hold, Ramp). See Source kinds.
  • Combine appears once a row has two or more sources, or when Primary Mode is anything other than Direct. See Combine modes.

Tip: The Value column reflects deadzone, center offset, max range, and combine math in real time. What you see is what the game gets.

Rows group by category: Buttons (face, shoulder, stick clicks, system), Left Stick / Right Stick (X and Y axes), Triggers (left and right), D-Pad (four directions). Nintendo and Extended slots arrange their own row sets. See Nintendo virtual controllers and Custom DirectInput mappings.

Three ways to bind

1. Record

The fastest way to assign one source.

  1. Click Record on the target row.
  2. The button changes to "Recording..." and the row pulses orange.
  3. Press the button or move the axis on any physical controller assigned to this slot.
  4. PadForge detects the input, fills in the source, and stops recording.

PadForge detects buttons (first press), axes (movement past a threshold), D-pad / POV directions, and mouse axes.

Tip: Move only the input you want. Wiggling a stick while pressing a button can catch the stick instead. Push sticks firmly and pull triggers far enough to cross the detection threshold.

2. Source dropdown

Each source has a cascading dropdown: first pick the device, then the input. The manual alternative to recording.

  • Recognized gamepads (Xbox, DualSense, DualShock 4, DualShock 3, Switch Pro, etc.) show friendly names. "A", "B", "Left Stick X", "Right Trigger".
  • Raw or unrecognized devices (generic joysticks, racing wheels, flight sticks, Force Raw Joystick Mode) show numbered names. "Button 0", "Axis 0", "POV 0 Up".
  • All raw buttons are listed, including ones past the standard gamepad set of 11. Arcade encoders and multi-button fight sticks that expose a dozen or more buttons show every one in the dropdown for mapping.
  • Offline devices keep their last known inputs. If a controller is disconnected, its dropdown still shows the full input list from the previous session. You can edit mappings without the device plugged in.

Picking an input assigns it on the spot. Same result as recording. Use the row's Clear button to remove the source.

When to use dropdown vs. recording

Dropdown Recording
You know the exact input you want ("Axis 3") You're setting up a new controller from scratch
Recording caught the wrong input You want to press each button in turn
The input is hard to isolate physically (a specific D-pad direction)

Tip: If recording keeps catching the wrong input (a stick when you meant a button), use the dropdown to pick the exact source by hand.

3. Map All

Map All walks through every row in order. The fastest way to set up a controller from scratch.

  1. Click Map All (on the Controller tab or the Mappings tab toolbar).
  2. PadForge highlights the first row and starts recording.
  3. An orange prompt shows which output it expects and where you are in the sequence ("Map: A (1/21)").
  4. Press the matching button or move the matching axis.
  5. PadForge captures the input and moves to the next row.
  6. Repeat until done. Click Stop to stop early.

Rows that already have a source are still in the sequence. Pressing an input overwrites the existing source. Skipping keeps it.

On PlayStation virtual controllers, Touchpad Click is appended to the recording sequence after the stick axes. The 2D and 3D controller views render the touchpad as a clickable surface. Clicking it (mouse or touch) records the same Touchpad Click assignment.

Tip: Start with Map All to assign everything in one pass, then fine-tune individual rows.

Auto-mapping

When you assign a recognized gamepad (Xbox, DualSense, DualShock 4, Switch Pro, etc.) to a slot, PadForge fills in default rows matching the standard layout. All sticks, triggers, buttons, and D-pad directions pre-assigned.

Auto-mapping only binds inputs the device actually exposes. A pad with no analog sticks, like a Wii Remote, gets no stick rows at all, so its virtual sticks rest at center instead of pinning to a corner.

Assigning a second physical device to the same slot extends existing rows with new sources rather than overwriting them. The combine mode picks per output type:

  • Buttons and D-pad directions: Either (any source fires the output).
  • Sticks and triggers: Strongest (the source pushing hardest wins).

Existing custom rows are left alone. Auto-mapping never clobbers a row you edited by hand.

Unrecognized devices (generic joysticks, flight sticks, raw-mode devices) do not get auto-mapping. Use Map All, recording, or the source dropdown to set them up.

Multiple sources per row

A row can drive its output from any number of physical inputs, across any combination of assigned devices.

Adding sources

Click + Add Source on any existing source to add another. The new source gets the next letter tag (a is the first, b the second, c the third, …). Letter tags appear next to the source on the row and inside the formula editor as variable names.

Each extra source renders as its own chip with the same controls the primary carries: a mode dropdown, the input picker, Record and Clear buttons, the option checkboxes, the sliders that apply to it, and a remove button that deletes the source outright.

Per-source options

Each source carries its own settings:

Option What it does
Mode How the source is read. Direct, Incremental, Invert On Hold, or Ramp. The primary source's picker is the Primary Mode dropdown in the row's detail strip. Each extra source has its own dropdown at the front of its chip. See Source kinds.
Invert Flips the source's value sign before the combine step. On a half-axis read of a centered axis it instead selects which half is read. See Flip Output.
Half Treats a bipolar axis source as half-range (one side of center only).
Bidirectional Half-axis only. Fires the axis-to-button gate when the input moves past the deadzone in either direction from center. Renamed from "Either" in 3.2.
Flip Output Appears when Half is on for a centered axis, where the Invert box is consumed as the half selector. Reverses the source's result, so a row can select a half and still invert the output.
Deadzone Per-source axis-to-button activation threshold. See Axis-to-Button Deadzone.
Acceleration Slider 0–5 with a reset button, shown on continuous sources (the family that can take Half), except the gravity-tilt pairs Gyro Lean X / Y and Gyro Tilt X / Y, whose engine path never reads it. Fast motion is amplified: the value scales by 1 + acceleration × |value|, then re-clamps to range. 0 (the default) keeps the response flat. Steam Workshop imports land Steam's mouse acceleration here on stick-hosted rows.
Sensitivity A per-source multiplier with a reset button, shown on five source families only: Gyro rate axes (0.1–10.0, where 1.0 is the engine default of 500°/s reaching full deflection), Gyro Lean X / Y (0.1–5.0, where 1.0 reaches full deflection at 90° of tilt), Mouse Position (0.1–5.0, where 1.0 reaches full stick deflection at 10% of screen width from center), IR Pointer (0.1–5.0, where 1.0 reaches full deflection at the edge of the camera's field of view), and Mouse Motion (0.1–5.0). Gyro Tilt X / Y has no dial: its gain is the degree range on the Gyro tab's Gyro Tilt card. Plain axis, slider, and Gamepad stick or trigger sources have no grid slider. Shape those on the Sticks tab: gamepad sticks with the Sensitivity Curves, Keyboard + Mouse pointer sticks with that card's own Sensitivity multiplier.
Do Not Inherit Shown only while you are editing a shift layer whose activator inherits unmapped targets. Keeps this one row's target off instead of falling through to Base. See Shift layers.

Direction badges

When a button, a D-pad direction, or a touchpad click feeds a stick axis, the row shows a direction badge next to the source. It marks which way that press drives the stick:

  • → + the press pushes the stick toward the positive side.
  • ← − the press pushes the stick toward the negative side.

Toggling Invert on the source flips the badge, so it always matches what the press does at runtime. Axis and slider sources carry their own sign and get no badge. Trigger rows get no badge either.

On a stick-axis row where only the positive direction is mapped from a button-class source, an italic + Opposite Direction link appears in the Source cell. One click adds a mirrored second source with Invert on, covering the negative direction. The link disappears once the row has a second source.

Combine modes

The Combine picker appears in the row's detail strip once a row has two or more sources, or when Primary Mode is anything other than Direct. A single Direct source has nothing to combine.

Mode What it does
Strongest Use whichever source has the strongest push
Combined Add the sources together
Average Halfway between the sources
Either Fire when any source is active (good for buttons)
Both Fire only when all sources are active
Only One Fire only when exactly one source is active
Custom Build your own with the formula editor
Stick Trim The last source trims the held trigger level up or down. Trigger rows only. See Stick Trim

For axis rows, Strongest is the auto-mapping default. For button and D-pad rows, Either is the default.

A collapsed row with two or more sources shows the current mode as a small chip next to the source list. Select the row and the Combine picker is in the detail strip below.

Gyro plus stick on one axis

The most common multi-source row: the physical stick for coarse movement, gyro for fine aim, both driving the same axis.

  1. On the Right Stick X row, keep the stick source and click + Add Source.
  2. Set the second source to Gyro Yaw (or Gyro Horizontal) for rate aiming, or Gyro Tilt X for tilt that holds.
  3. The Combine picker appears in the detail strip and auto-selects Strongest: whichever source pushes harder wins, so the stick takes over the moment you push it and gyro handles fine aim the rest of the time. Steam and DS4Windows arbitrate the same way.
  4. Repeat on Right Stick Y with Gyro Pitch or Gyro Tilt Y.

Combined adds the two instead, clipping at full deflection when both push the same way, and Average halves both. See the gyro guide's rate-versus-tilt section for which gyro source fits which feel.

Stick Trim

Stick Trim shows up only on rows that target a trigger and carry two or more sources. The last source acts as a trim stick. While the other sources hold the trigger down, pushing that stick up raises the held level and pulling it down lowers it. Built for fine throttle and brake control on pads without analog triggers.

Picking it opens a settings strip under the row:

Setting What it does
Trim Deadzone Stick deflection below this percentage is ignored, so steering with the same stick never nudges the held level. Default 25%.
Trim Speed How fast a fully deflected stick slides the level, in percent of trigger range per second. 100 sweeps empty to full in one second. Default 100.
Reset on Release On by default. Releasing the trigger snaps the held level back to full so the next press starts at 100%. Off keeps the trimmed level across releases.

Each setting has its own reset button.

Custom formula editor

Pick Custom in the Combine picker to open the formula editor under the row.

Variables

Name Refers to
a, b, c, … The row's sources in order. a is the first source, b the second, and so on.
s[0], s[1], … Index-based alias for the same sources. s[0] is a, s[1] is b, …
aD, bD, cD, dD Touchpad rows only. 1 while the paired finger is touching, 0 when lifted. Lets a formula gate out a stale finger position.

Operator palette

The operator palette is a row of chips beneath the formula box. Click a chip to insert it at the cursor. Variable chips show up to the row's source count.

Group Chips
Operators +, −, ×, ÷, −A (negate a), (, )
Numbers 0, ½ (0.5), 1, 2
Comparisons <, >, ≤, ≥, =, ≠
Logic and branch and, or, not, if?, else:
Functions abs, min, max, clamp, sign, lerp, round, sqrt, pow, hypot, deadzone, floor, ceil, sin, cos, tan, atan2, plus a comma chip for argument lists

Live preview

Under the formula box, PadForge shows:

  • The formula's current numeric value, recomputed every frame.
  • Parse status: ✓ valid, parse error, or ✓ empty (evaluates to 0).
  • A "refs" line listing any variables the formula uses that have no source yet ("a and c have no source, treated as 0").

Starter recipes

The Starter Recipes section lists ready-made formulas you can drop into the box and tweak.

Recipe What it does
Half Scale a at half strength.
Quarter Scale a at quarter strength.
Reverse a Flip a's sign.
Cap to ±1 Sum a + b but never exceed ±1.
Weighted Blend 70% of a plus 30% of b.
Difference a minus b.
a Unless Idle Use a. If a is at rest, fall back to b.
Threshold Gate Fire fully if a is past halfway, otherwise zero. Turns an axis into a button.
Both Pressed Fire only when a and b are both pushed.
Stronger Wins Whichever of a or b is pushed harder, with sign.
a alone Fire when a goes from rest to active.
a and b Fire only when both a and b are active. A chord.
a or b Fire when either a or b is active.
a but not b Fire when a is active and b is not.
Axis past 50% Fire when axis a is deflected more than 50% from rest.

Source kinds

The Primary Mode dropdown in the row's detail strip picks how PadForge evaluates the primary source per frame. Each extra source carries the same choice in the dropdown at the front of its chip.

Kind What it reads
Direct The source descriptor's raw value. The default.
Incremental Ramps an accumulator via Up / Down buttons you pick. Configurable rate (units per second), sticky-vs-snap behavior (hold value when both released, or snap back to floor), and clamp range (Min / Max).
Invert On Hold The inner source's value, flipped while a modifier button you pick is held.
Ramp A time-based axis envelope. An Up key attacks the output toward +1 and a Down key toward -1, each over the Attack time. Releasing eases back to center over the Release time when Autocenter is on, or holds the last position when it is off. Reverse scales how fast it returns when you press the opposite key. Stick-axis and trigger targets. On a trigger the Up key drives the pull and the Down key reads as released. Button targets get nothing from a Ramp source.

Direct sources read the descriptor you assigned. Incremental sources ignore the descriptor and read the Up / Down buttons you configure. Invert On Hold sources read the descriptor, then flip while the modifier is held. Ramp sources ignore the descriptor too: they read the Up and Down keys you record to drive the envelope. The per-row Record button captures a kind's own inputs in sequence (Up, then Down).

Activation modes

A mapping row is stateless: the output follows the source every frame, and nothing latches. Press-pattern behaviors like toggle and turbo belong to Macros, through each macro's Fire picker: On Press, On Single Press, On Release, While Held, On Long Press, On Short Press, On Double Press, On Triple Press, Toggle (the first press latches the actions on, the next press releases), Turbo (the actions repeat at an interval while the trigger is held), Always, and Custom Expression.

To give a button one of these behaviors, bind the macro's trigger to the physical button and point its action at the virtual button, instead of mapping the button in the grid.

Modifiers

Per-source sensitivity on a mapping row

The per-source toggles in the Options column. These are per source, not per row.

Invert

Flips the source's value sign. Push a stick up and the source reports "down". Use this when a controller reports an axis opposite to what the virtual output expects.

Half (Half-axis)

Treats a bipolar axis source as half-range (0 to max) instead of full-range (-max to +max). Use this when:

  • Mapping a trigger (0–100%) to a full stick axis (-100% to +100%).
  • Mapping a stick axis to a trigger where only positive deflection should register.

Bidirectional

Half-axis only. The axis-to-button gate fires on absolute deflection past the deadzone, so either side of center counts. Renamed from "Either" in 3.2. Invert has no effect in this mode (mirroring around center already covers both directions).

Flip Output

When Half is on for a centered axis, the Invert box is consumed as the side selector (upper half vs. lower half), which leaves nothing to reverse the result with. The Flip Output checkbox appears in exactly that case and flips the output direction, so one source can select a half and still invert. It rides extra-source chips the same way.

Descriptor prefixes

On raw or unrecognized devices, the Invert and Half toggles also surface as prefixes on the descriptor itself.

Prefix Meaning Example
I Inverted "IAxis 1"
H Half-axis "HAxis 0"
IH Both "IHAxis 2"

Recognized gamepads show friendly names instead. You only see these prefixes on numbered raw descriptors.

Shift layers

A shift layer is a second mapping table on the same slot, active only while a button is held, a chord is engaged, or an axis is past a threshold. Same outputs, different bindings. Useful for double-duty controllers (driving / on-foot, weapon swap, menu nav) without juggling profiles.

Each slot can carry any number of shift layers, each with its own activator and its own row set.

By default a layer replaces Base: targets without a row on the layer output nothing while the layer is active. Check Inherit Unmapped Targets from Base in the activator dialog to overlay instead, so unmapped targets fall through to Base. While you are editing an inheriting layer, a Do Not Inherit checkbox appears in each row's Options column to keep that one target off rather than falling through.

Activators can also wait for the release edge: the Fire on Release option flips the layer when the button is let go instead of when it is pressed (Toggle, Latch, Cycle, and Sticky modes).

Right-click a layer pill for Configure Activator…, Rename Layer…, Copy Layer Rows, Paste Rows into Layer, Clear Layer Rows, and Delete Layer. Copy and Paste move a whole layer's row set between layers, including across slots, and work on the Base pill too.

See Shift Layers for the full activator reference, mode list (Hold, Toggle, Latch, Cycle, Sticky, No Button), and per-layer options.

Axis-to-Button Deadzone

When a source feeds a discrete output (button, D-pad direction, keyboard key, MIDI note, or Extended HID button), the Axis-to-Button Deadzone column controls how far the source must travel before the output fires. This stops small joystick movement from triggering button presses by accident.

  • Each source has its own slider (1–100%) with an editable text field and a reset button.
  • The default is 50%. The source must pass the halfway point to fire.
  • The column is only enabled when the source is an axis or slider and the target is a discrete output. Axis-to-axis mappings (sticks, triggers, mouse movement, MIDI CCs) are not affected. Use the Stick Deadzones and Trigger Deadzones tabs for those.
  • A higher value (80%) means a firmer push before the button fires. A lower value (20%) makes it more sensitive.
  • Values persist per source and ride along with Copy, Paste, and Copy From operations.

Mapping a centered axis to two buttons

Flight sticks, racing wheels, and other devices with a centered axis (resting at 50%) need a special setup when mapped to two opposing buttons (left and right). Two rows, one source each.

Direction Source Invert Half Deadzone
Left Axis 0 Yes Yes 50%
Right Axis 0 No Yes 50%

Why this works:

  1. Half tells PadForge to use only one side of the axis range (center to edge) instead of the full swing.
  2. Invert on the left direction flips the active half. "Left of center" fires "Left". "Right of center" fires "Right".
  3. Deadzone at 50% means the source must travel 50% of the half range (25% of the full range) before the button fires. That gives a comfortable deadzone around the center rest position.

Without Half, the 50% threshold sits at the axis's center, so a centered axis fires the button while at rest. With Half on, the deadzone percentage applies only within the active half, so the numbers behave the way you expect.

Tip: Start with 50% deadzone and adjust up or down depending on how much stick travel you want before the button fires. A higher value gives a wider neutral zone around center. A lower value makes the button respond sooner.

SOCD cleaning

SOCD cleaning on a Keyboard and Mouse slot

The Simultaneous Opposite Cardinal Directions (SOCD) card lives on the slot-tier Output tab, alongside Keep Controller Awake. It resolves paired buttons held at the same time on this slot's virtual controller output. When both buttons of a pair are down, the chosen rule decides which press the game sees.

Mode What it does
Off Both buttons pass through unchanged. The default.
Last Wins (Snap Tap) The most recent press wins. Releasing it re-presses the still-held partner button.
Neutral Holding both buttons releases both until one is let go.
First Wins The earlier press keeps winning until it is released.
  • Build the pair list with Add Pair. Each pair is tracked on its own, and each has a remove button.
  • Xbox and PlayStation slots pick each pair from the 15 named buttons: the four face buttons, shoulders, Back / Start / Guide (Share / Options / PS on PlayStation), stick clicks, and the four D-pad directions.
  • Nintendo slots pick from the same lettered buttons the mapping grid shows. Extended slots type raw button indices, 0–127. Index 0 is Button 1 in the mapping grid.
  • The rule applies to the slot's final combined output right before it is submitted, so physical presses, mapped sources, and macro presses are all cleaned.
  • The card's Reset All turns the mode off and removes every pair.

Keyboard + Mouse slots show a twin card on the same tab that cleans opposing key pairs on the virtual keyboard output instead. See Controller Slots. MIDI and VR slots have no Output tab at all.

Raw descriptor names

For unrecognized devices or Force Raw Joystick Mode, the source picker shows numbered descriptors instead of friendly names.

Descriptor Meaning
Button 0, Button 1, ... Physical button by zero-based index
Axis 0, Axis 1, ... Physical axis by zero-based index. Typical order: LX(0), LY(1), LT(2), RX(3), RY(4), RT(5), but varies by device
POV 0 Up, POV 0 Right, ... Direction on POV hat 0 (most controllers have one)
Slider 0, Slider 1 Slider axes (flight sticks, throttles)
Mouse Speed X, Mouse Speed Y Mouse movement speed (velocity) axes
Mouse Position X, Mouse Position Y Absolute desktop cursor position. Screen center reads 0, and offset from center normalizes to the stick range. Primary monitor only.
Mouse Motion X, Mouse Motion Y Optical mouse motion on a Switch 2 Joy-Con. Map it to sticks, buttons, or scroll. Mouse Motion X can drive horizontal scroll.
Gyro Pitch, Gyro Yaw, Gyro Roll Calibrated gyro rate axes on devices with motion
Gyro Horizontal (Yaw + Roll) Blended horizontal-turn axis that combines yaw and roll, so aiming works the same whether the pad is held flat or upright
Gyro Lean X, Gyro Lean Y Sustained tilt from gravity. 90° of tilt from the resting grip reads full scale, the value holds while the tilt holds, and the per-source Sensitivity dial scales it. Gyro Recenter re-zeroes the grip.
Gyro Tilt X, Gyro Tilt Y The adjustable-range tilt pair. Full deflection at the range set on the Gyro tab's Gyro Tilt card (default 25°), with a tilt deadzone. The closest match to Steam's Joystick Deflection mode.
Left Joy-Con Gyro Pitch, Left Joy-Con Gyro Yaw, Left Joy-Con Gyro Roll, Left Joy-Con Gyro Horizontal (Yaw + Roll) The left half's own gyro on a combined Joy-Con pair. Offered only when the pair reports the second sensor.
Right Joy-Con Gyro Pitch, Right Joy-Con Gyro Yaw, Right Joy-Con Gyro Roll, Right Joy-Con Gyro Horizontal (Yaw + Roll) The right half's own gyro on a combined Joy-Con pair. On a pair the plain Gyro axes read both halves averaged, so these keep the raw right half reachable. Offered only when the pair reports the second sensor.
IR Pointer X, IR Pointer Y Wii Remote pointer position from the sensor bar
IR Offscreen Fires when a Wii Remote's camera loses sight of the sensor bar. The lightgun reload input.
IR Brightness Right Joy-Con IR camera. Rises as an object covers or nears the camera window.
Balance Total Weight Total weight on a Wii Balance Board
Balance Lean X, Balance Lean Y Weight shift left / right and forward / back on a Wii Balance Board

The I and H modifier prefixes can appear before any of these.

Touchpad entries also ride the raw list on pads with a touchpad:

Descriptor Meaning
Touchpad 1 Finger 1 X / Y, Touchpad Click Finger position and the hard click. See Touchpad for the full touchpad surface.
Touchpad 1 Finger 1 Pressure The finger's reported press level, 0 to 1. Pads without a force sensor report full while the finger is down, so it also works as a plain touch contact. One entry per touchpad and finger.
Touchpad 1 Pointer X / Y Absolute finger position for cursor warping. Bind to Mouse X/Y on a Keyboard + Mouse slot and the cursor jumps to where the finger sits. Single-pad devices also offer Left Half and Right Half variants. Tuning lives on the Touchpad tab's Absolute Pointer card.

Gamepad sources

The source picker listing a gamepad's inputs

Every recognized gamepad's source dropdown carries a Gamepad group next to its device-specific entries. A Gamepad source names the input by its standard-layout role ("Gamepad A", "Gamepad Left Stick X") instead of pinning it to one physical pad. The row then reads that role from whichever controller the slot evaluates, so the mapping survives a device swap with no rework: build a layout once, and it works the same on an Xbox pad, a DualSense, or a Switch Pro.

Group Sources
Face buttons Gamepad A, Gamepad B, Gamepad X, Gamepad Y
Shoulders Gamepad Left Shoulder, Gamepad Right Shoulder
System Gamepad Back, Gamepad Start, Gamepad Guide
Stick clicks Gamepad Left Stick Button, Gamepad Right Stick Button
Paddles Gamepad Right Paddle 1, Gamepad Left Paddle 1, Gamepad Right Paddle 2, Gamepad Left Paddle 2
D-pad Gamepad D-Pad Up, Down, Left, Right
Stick axes Gamepad Left Stick X, Left Stick Y, Right Stick X, Right Stick Y
Triggers Gamepad Left Trigger, Gamepad Right Trigger

Twenty-five sources in all. Gyro and touchpad inputs already resolve per device under their own names (Gyro Pitch, Touchpad 1 Finger 1 X), so they have no Gamepad-prefixed twin.

Four more entries sit beside the twenty-five on a recognized gamepad, because each reads a whole stick rather than one input:

Source What it reads
Flick Stick (Right Stick), Flick Stick (Left Stick) The stick as a flick-stick camera source. Map one to Mouse X on a Keyboard + Mouse slot and tune it on the Sticks tab. See flick stick.
Gamepad Left Stick Ring, Gamepad Right Stick Ring The stick pair's deflection magnitude, clamped to 0–1. On a button target the Axis-to-Button Deadzone becomes the ring radius, and Invert selects the inner ring instead of the outer one.

The source dropdown leads with an (Any device) group. It carries everything above plus four capacitive-touch reads that appear nowhere else: Left Stick Touch, Right Stick Touch, Left Grip Touch, and Right Grip Touch, which report a finger resting on a stick top or a grip handle on pads that sense it. The group also carries Gyro Pitch / Yaw / Roll / Horizontal, the tilt pairs Gyro Lean X / Y and Gyro Tilt X / Y, and the touchpad surfaces. A source picked there stores no device, so it reads whichever controller the slot evaluates. Rows that carry their own inputs through the numbered axes and buttons never answer it: a head tracker, an NFC reader, a microphone, handheld hidden buttons, a media remote and a pen tablet are always picked by name. Imported rows use this group, and their secondary sources display an (Any device) chip until a device is assigned.

Profiles imported from the Steam Workshop are built entirely from these device-portable sources, which is what lets one community config drive any recognized controller you assign. Imported mouse acceleration lands on the per-source Acceleration slider.

Named input-device sources

Some assigned devices show named buttons instead of numbered descriptors. They appear in the source dropdown under their device, grouped like any gamepad.

  • Consumer Control keys. A media keyboard's consumer collection shows its keys by name (Play/Pause, Mute, Volume Up, Next Track, and the rest). Map one to a virtual button. A usage outside the known set reads as "Consumer 0xNNNN".
  • NFC tags. An NFC reader shows Any NFC Tag plus one entry per registered tag. A tap fires the source as a momentary press. Register and name tags on the Devices page. See NFC Tags.

Both also work as Macros Input Device triggers.

Motion sources

Pads with a motion sensor add whole-sensor, tilt, and shake sources to the picker, separate from the individual Gyro Pitch / Yaw / Roll axes.

Source What it feeds
Motion Gyro The device's full gyro stream to the virtual controller's motion gyro output.
Motion Accelerometer The device's full accelerometer stream to the virtual controller's motion accelerometer output.
Left Joy-Con Motion Gyro The left half's full rate vector on a combined Joy-Con pair, instead of the right half's. Offered only when the pair reports the second gyro.
Nunchuk Accelerometer / Left Joy-Con Accelerometer The accelerometer on an attached Nunchuk or left Joy-Con instead of the main body. Shows as Aux Motion Accelerometer on other devices.
Motion Lean Tilt as a plain input axis: lean the controller like a wheel and the lean angle drives whatever axis the row targets. Offered on any device with an accelerometer. Tilt deadzones and grip orientation live on the Gyro tab's Motion Steering card, per assigned device.
Nunchuk Lean / Left Joy-Con Lean The aux sensor's tilt: the Nunchuk on a Wii Remote, the left half of a combined Joy-Con pair. Shows as Aux Motion Lean on other devices.
Motion Shake How far the accelerometer's magnitude leaves its resting level, as a decaying envelope: 0 at rest, full scale at 2 g of deviation. Shake the pad and the source rises. A slow reorientation keeps the magnitude at gravity, so tilt never fires it. On an axis the read is unsigned and Invert does nothing. On a button the Axis-to-Button Deadzone is the threshold, and its default there is 25% (about 0.5 g) rather than the usual 50%. Offered on any device with an accelerometer.
Nunchuk Shake / Left Joy-Con Shake The aux sensor's shake: the Nunchuk on a Wii Remote, the left half of a combined Joy-Con pair. Shows as Aux Motion Shake on other devices.

Auto-mapping adds the motion passthrough rows for pads that report a sensor. Delete a motion row and you can re-add it from the source dropdown. See Gyro for calibration and tuning, and DSU Motion Server for broadcasting the feed to emulators.

Copy, Paste, Copy From

The toolbar above the mapping grid has bulk operations. Clear All sits apart at the far end in warning colors.

Button Action
Copy Copies the whole slot to the clipboard: the mapping table with every row's sources, shift layers, radial and touch menus, every assigned device's tuning (gyro, touchpad, FFB, impulse triggers, adaptive triggers, lighting, audio), the slot's Bass Shakers, SOCD, and Keep Awake settings, and its macros.
Paste Applies a copied slot. Translates automatically if source and target controller types differ. Each device on the target slot picks up its source-side tuning when it is the same physical pad, or the same controller model on a different physical unit. Macros are replaced, not added: the target ends up with the source's list, and pasting a slot that has none clears the target's.
Copy From... Same as Paste, sourced from another slot instead of the clipboard.
Map All Starts the Map All wizard.
Clear All Wipes every row back to factory state, behind a confirmation prompt. Sources and their option flags, Acceleration, every Sensitivity, Do Not Inherit, Primary Mode back to Direct, deadzones back to 50%, device tags, extra sources, combine modes, custom formulas, and Stick Trim settings all reset. A cleared row hands nothing to the next mapping.

Multi-source rows round-trip whole. Every source on a row, its mode, every per-source option, the combine mode, and the custom formula all copy together.

The per-device payload covers every assigned device on the source slot, whichever device was selected at the time of Copy. Target-side devices that don't match any source entry are left alone.

Two things travel with conditions. SOCD pairs are named in the slot type's own terms, so they cross only between slots of the same type, and a Bass Shakers setup names an audio output by its Windows endpoint ID, so pasted on another PC it stays selected but plays nothing until you pick an output that exists there (it never falls back to the default output on its own). A macro whose shift-layer scope the target slot does not declare arrives unscoped rather than gated on a layer the target cannot show.

There is no per-row copy. To move a whole layer's table between layers or slots, use the layer pill's right-click Copy Layer Rows and Paste Rows into Layer (see Shift layers).

Cross-type translation

Copy From and Paste translate mappings between controller types automatically.

Translation Example
Xbox to PlayStation A → Cross, B → Circle, X → Square, Y → Triangle, LB → L1, RB → R1, etc.
PlayStation to Xbox Cross → A, Circle → B, Square → X, Triangle → Y, etc.
To or from Nintendo or Extended Translated via the standardized gamepad mapping. Nintendo and Extended layouts are raw surfaces, so their rows carry over by role.

Both buttons and axes translate. Pasting to the same controller type applies mappings unchanged.

Tip: Copy From saves time with multiple controllers. Set up the first, then Copy From on the rest.

Nintendo virtual controllers

A Nintendo slot's grid mirrors the Xbox and PlayStation arrangement: analogous controls in analogous positions.

  • Face buttons in positional order: B, A, Y, X (south, east, west, north, which is also raw index order).
  • L and R, then Minus and Plus where Back and Start sit, Home where Guide sits, and Capture.
  • Stick clicks, the four D-pad directions, and ZL / ZR in the trigger rows' position. ZL and ZR are digital buttons on this controller, not analog triggers.
  • Left and right stick axes with the same labels the other gamepad grids use.
  • Motion Gyro and Motion Accelerometer passthrough rows at the tail, same as the PlayStation grid.

Copy, Paste, and Copy From translate to and from Nintendo through the standard mapping. See Controller Slots for what the slot deploys as.

Custom DirectInput mappings

For Extended (HIDMaestro) slots, the mapping grid adjusts to match the active HIDMaestro profile's layout (or your override values when Customize is on).

Category Rows shown Axis pool
Sticks X and Y per stick (0–4 sticks) 2 axes per stick
Triggers One per trigger (0–8 triggers) 1 axis per trigger
Buttons One per button (0–128 buttons) .
POVs Four directions per POV hat (0–4 hats) .

Sticks and triggers share a pool of 8 axes. Example: 2 sticks (4 axes) + 2 triggers (2 axes) = 6 of 8 used. Changing the DirectInput config rebuilds the mapping grid automatically.

Valve profiles carry lettered rows

Five Extended profiles name their buttons instead of numbering them: Steam Deck Controller, Steam Controller (Wired), Steam Controller (2026), and the Composite variants of the first two. Their rows read A, B, View, Menu, Steam, Quick Access, L3 / R3, Left Pad Click / Right Pad Click, and the rear buttons by their printed names: R4 / L4 / R5 / L5 on the Deck and the 2026 pad, Left Grip / Right Grip on the 2015 Steam Controller, which has no rear paddles. The wired and composite Steam Controller profiles say Back and Start where the Deck and the 2026 pad say View and Menu, matching each controller's own labels. Every other Extended profile keeps "Button 1", "Button 2", and so on.

They fall into three wire families, one per controller generation, and each family has its own raw index space. None is shared. Switching a slot from one to another does two things:

  • Translates. Rows already bound move to the index that means the same control on the new wire. Without it, Steam sat on raw button 10, which is the left grip on the 2015 Steam Controller, and a left pad click sat on raw button 16, past the end of that 14-button wire.
  • Fills what the new wire adds. Translation moves what exists. It cannot bind a control the outgoing wire never had, so auto-mapping fills those rows in. The 2026 pad's D-pad is four discrete buttons at indices 18-21 and the Deck's wire stops at 17.

Both steps run only on a live profile change you make. Loading a profile, applying one, or importing one leaves the rows alone, including any row you deliberately cleared. Switching between a lettered profile and a numbered one translates nothing, because a numbered wire has no roles to match.

Clone Device 1:1

Clone Device 1:1 maps a physical device straight through in one click. Every axis, button, and hat on the selected device binds to the same-numbered virtual output, and the layout resizes to match the device.

Clone Device 1:1 confirmation dialog listing the resulting axis, button, and POV counts

  1. Select the device on the slot you want to clone.
  2. Click Clone Device 1:1.
  3. Confirm the prompt. It lists the resulting layout (axes, buttons, POVs).

The clone replaces that device's existing rows on the slot with its own inputs. If the device has more inputs than an Extended controller can carry, PadForge maps as many as fit and leaves the rest unmapped.

Troubleshooting

  • An axis moves the wrong direction. Turn on Invert on that source. If Half is on and Invert is picking the side, use Flip Output.
  • A trigger mapped to a stick only reaches 50%. Turn on Half to expand half-range input to full-range output.
  • Recording keeps catching the wrong input. Use the source dropdown to pick the exact input by hand.
  • Buttons or axes are missing or numbered wrong. Try Force Raw Joystick Mode on the Devices page to bypass gamepad remapping.
  • A joystick axis fires a button on the slightest touch. Raise the Axis-to-Button Deadzone on that source.
  • A centered axis mapped to two buttons fires both at rest. Turn on Half on both sources, Invert on one direction, set deadzone to 50%. See Mapping a centered axis to two buttons.
  • Two sources on the same row fight each other. Switch the row to Either (buttons) or Strongest (axes), or pick Custom and write a rule that resolves the conflict.
  • Opposite directions register together and the game rejects the input. Add the pair to the SOCD card and pick a rule.
  • A custom formula shows "parse error". The status line points at the bad token. Common causes: a stray operator, a missing close paren, = used for equality instead of ==.

Last updated for PadForge 4.5.0.