Settings

Language, theme, engine timing, window behavior, drivers, and the settings file on disk all live on one page in the sidebar.

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Language

A dropdown at the top of the page lists each language under its own name, with its English name beside it when the two differ. Typing jumps to a language by its own name. Changes apply right away. No restart. The picked language saves and comes back on the next launch.

With no language picked, PadForge follows the Windows display language: its own translation, else the one its speakers read. Austrian German reads German, Taiwanese Chinese reads Traditional Chinese, and Norwegian Bokmål and Nynorsk read Norwegian. English reads British English in the regions whose English follows British conventions, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa, and American English everywhere else. A language with no translation shows American English.

The interface comes in 109 languages, 42 of them complete. A partial translation shows English wherever it has no string: its translator left out what could not be worded correctly rather than make it up. British English holds only the strings it writes differently and reads the American text for the rest. No native speaker has reviewed the translations.

Arabic, Central Kurdish, Persian and Urdu lay the interface out right to left. Controller drawings, curves and other pictures keep their left-to-right layout, so a left stick stays on the left. The touchpad overlay, the on-screen menus and the light gun's calibration window stay left to right whole.

Language	Own name	Tag	Strings
Afrikaans	Afrikaans	af	3660 of 3841
Albanian	Shqip	sq	3785 of 3841
Amharic	አማርኛ	am	3802 of 3841
Arabic	العربية	ar	3840 of 3841, right to left
Armenian	Հայերեն	hy	3799 of 3841
Basque	Euskara	eu	3831 of 3841
Belarusian	Беларуская	be	all
Bengali	বাংলা	bn	all
Bikol	Bikol	bik	787 of 3841
Bislama	Bislama	bi	1107 of 3841
Bulgarian	Български	bg	all
Burmese	မြန်မာ	my	3829 of 3841
Cantonese (Traditional)	廣東話（繁體）	zh-HK	all
Cape Verdean Creole	Kabuverdianu	kea	2263 of 3841
Catalan	Català	ca	3839 of 3841
Cebuano	Cebuano	ceb	2835 of 3841
Central Kurdish	کوردیی ناوەندی	ckb	3825 of 3841, right to left
Chichewa	Chichewa	ny	887 of 3841
Chinese (Pinyin)	Hànyǔ Pīnyīn	zh-Latn	3758 of 3841
Chinese (Simplified)	中文（简体）	zh-Hans	all
Chinese (Traditional)	中文（繁體）	zh-Hant	all
Chuukese	Fosun Chuuk	chk	365 of 3841
Croatian	Hrvatski	hr	3838 of 3841
Czech	Čeština	cs	all
Danish	Dansk	da	all
Dutch	Nederlands	nl	all
English (United Kingdom)	English (United Kingdom)	en-GB	all
English (United States)	English (United States)	en-US	all
Estonian	Eesti	et	3837 of 3841
Fiji Hindi	Fiji Hindi	hif	583 of 3841
Fijian	Vosa Vakaviti	fj	424 of 3841
Finnish	Suomi	fi	all
French	Français	fr	all
Georgian	ქართული	ka	3825 of 3841
German	Deutsch	de	all
Greek	Ελληνικά	el	all
Guarani	Avañeʼẽ	gn	771 of 3841
Gujarati	ગુજરાતી	gu	3829 of 3841
Haitian Creole	Kreyòl ayisyen	ht	3217 of 3841
Hawaiian	ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi	haw	613 of 3841
Hiligaynon	Hiligaynon	hil	1009 of 3841
Hindi	हिन्दी	hi	all
Hmong	Hmoob	hmn	946 of 3841
Hungarian	Magyar	hu	all
Icelandic	Íslenska	is	all
Igbo	Igbo	ig	829 of 3841
Ilocano	Ilokano	ilo	748 of 3841
Indonesian	Bahasa Indonesia	id	all
Italian	Italiano	it	all
Japanese	日本語	ja	all
Kannada	ಕನ್ನಡ	kn	3808 of 3841
Kazakh	Қазақша	kk	3834 of 3841
Khmer	ភាសាខ្មែរ	km	3834 of 3841
Kinyarwanda	Ikinyarwanda	rw	1223 of 3841
Korean	한국어	ko	all
Lao	ລາວ	lo	3819 of 3841
Latvian	Latviešu	lv	all
Lingala	Lingála	ln	1238 of 3841
Lithuanian	Lietuvių	lt	3834 of 3841
Luganda	Luganda	lg	431 of 3841
Luxembourgish	Lëtzebuergesch	lb	3815 of 3841
Macedonian	Македонски	mk	all
Malagasy	Malagasy	mg	1461 of 3841
Malay	Bahasa Melayu	ms	3835 of 3841
Malayalam	മലയാളം	ml	3804 of 3841
Maltese	Malti	mt	3770 of 3841
Marathi	मराठी	mr	3819 of 3841
Mongolian	Монгол	mn	3819 of 3841
Māori	Te Reo Māori	mi	1284 of 3841
Nepali	नेपाली	ne	all
Northern Sotho	Sepedi	nso	732 of 3841
Norwegian	Norsk	no	all
Oromo	Afaan Oromoo	om	1402 of 3841
Papiamento	Papiamentu	pap	1912 of 3841
Persian	فارسی	fa	all, right to left
Polish	Polski	pl	all
Portuguese (Brazil)	Português (Brasil)	pt-BR	all
Portuguese (Portugal)	Português (Portugal)	pt-PT	3839 of 3841
Quechua (Bolivia)	Qhichwa (Bolivia)	quh	989 of 3841
Romanian	Română	ro	all
Russian	Русский	ru	all
Samoan	Gagana Sāmoa	sm	782 of 3841
Serbian	Српски	sr	all
Sesotho	Sesotho	st	639 of 3841
Shona	ChiShona	sn	872 of 3841
Sinhala	සිංහල	si	3795 of 3841
Slovak	Slovenčina	sk	all
Slovenian	Slovenščina	sl	all
Spanish	Español	es	all
Swahili	Kiswahili	sw	3769 of 3841
Swedish	Svenska	sv	all
Tagalog	Tagalog	fil	3652 of 3841
Tamil	தமிழ்	ta	all
Telugu	తెలుగు	te	all
Thai	ไทย	th	all
Tok Pisin	Tok Pisin	tpi	1246 of 3841
Tongan	Lea faka-Tonga	to	444 of 3841
Tswana	Setswana	tn	673 of 3841
Turkish	Türkçe	tr	all
Twi	Twi	tw	416 of 3841
Ukrainian	Українська	uk	3835 of 3841
Urdu	اردو	ur	all, right to left
Vietnamese	Tiếng Việt	vi	all
Waray	Winaray	war	903 of 3841
Welsh	Cymraeg	cy	3814 of 3841
Western Armenian	Արեւմտահայերէն	hyw	3794 of 3841
Xhosa	IsiXhosa	xh	1174 of 3841
Yoruba	Èdè Yorùbá	yo	1351 of 3841
Zulu	IsiZulu	zu	1819 of 3841

Corrections and new translations land as pull requests. tools/l10n/check_translation.py checks a translation against the rules every file in the tree passes: placeholders, line breaks, digits, the names that stay in Latin letters, and decimal numbers written with a period.

Profile Shortcuts dropdowns keep their picked value when you switch language. See Profiles.

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Appearance

Theme

Option	Behavior
System Default	Follows your Windows theme, read at launch and again whenever you re-pick this option.
Light	Always light.
Dark	Always dark.

Changes apply right away.

Show Welcome Tour

Re-runs the first-run welcome tour, the spotlight walkthrough that points out the main areas of the app. Click it any time you want the tour again.

The 2D-versus-3D controller view is set on the Pad page, not here. See 3D and 2D Visualization.

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Window

Controls how PadForge acts as a Windows app. Five switches here. Combine them with Auto-Start Engine on Launch (in the Input Engine card below) for a fully background install.

Minimize to System Tray

Sends PadForge to the notification area instead of the taskbar when you minimize. Double-click the tray icon to bring the window back.

Close to System Tray

Keeps PadForge running when you click the window's close button or press Alt+F4. The window hides in the notification area and the engine keeps going. Double-click the tray icon or pick Show PadForge to bring the window back, and pick Exit in its menu to quit.

Always Show in System Tray

Keeps the tray icon visible while the window is open, so Show PadForge and Exit in its menu are always one click away. Off by default. Pair it with Close to System Tray to quit from the tray without closing the window first.

Start Minimized

Opens PadForge minimized to the taskbar. Combine with Minimize to System Tray for a launch with only a tray icon.

Start at Login

Registers a logon scheduled task so PadForge runs when you log into Windows. PadForge is elevated, and Windows will not launch an elevated app from a Startup-folder shortcut, so the task runs it at highest privileges with no UAC prompt.

Hands-off setup: turn on Auto-Start Engine on Launch, Start Minimized, Minimize to System Tray, and Start at Login. PadForge launches at login, starts the engine, and sits in the tray. Virtual controllers are live by the time you open a game.

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Updates

Checks GitHub for new versions of PadForge and installs them from here.

• Check for Updates Automatically is on by default. It checks 20 seconds after launch and every 12 hours after that.
• Install Updates Automatically downloads a new version in the background and installs it the next time PadForge starts. It shows only while the automatic check is on.
• Include Pre-Releases also offers the dev build of the latest commit.
• Check Now checks right away. Install and Restart and Release Notes appear once a newer version is found.

PadForge contacts only GitHub, and the only data it sends is its own version number. Updates covers what an install does, pre-releases, and every message the card can show.

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Input Engine

Controls the polling loop that reads physical controllers, runs mappings and deadzones, and writes the virtual controllers.

Auto-Start Engine on Launch

Starts the engine when PadForge opens. Off means you start it by hand from the Dashboard power button.

Turn it off if you want PadForge to open without making virtual devices live.

Continue Polling When Window Loses Focus

Keeps the engine running when PadForge is not the foreground window.

Leave this on. Without it, the engine stops the moment you tab into a game and virtual controllers go dead. Turn it off only if you use PadForge as a passive diagnostic.

Flydigi Enhanced Protocol

Turns on the extra buttons and motion sensors that supported Flydigi controllers expose beyond their standard gamepad report.

If Flydigi's own software is running, PadForge says so on the device. Both can hold the same controller interface, and a Vader 5 Pro has been reported dropping and reconnecting repeatedly while both had access. Stop the Flydigi service while using PadForge, or keep the controller hidden and take the service out of the HidHide whitelist.

Read Logitech G-Keys

Reads the G-keys and extra mouse buttons on Logitech gaming gear through the vendor's G-key SDK, and presents them as their own device row. See Logitech G-Keys.

The SDK ships with Logitech Gaming Software 8.55 or later, not with G HUB. The status line under the checkbox says which step is missing: no SDK on the machine, a registered SDK whose file is gone, an SDK that was found and would not load, a library that loaded but is not the G-key SDK, or an SDK that refused to start because Logitech Gaming Software is not running. Once it connects, the line counts key events.

Two steps happen in Logitech Gaming Software, not in PadForge. Drag the G-key command onto each key in the PadForge profile there, or the key never reports. Then make that profile the persistent profile, or the keys only reach PadForge while its window is in front. Logitech's profiles have nothing to do with PadForge's own profiles.

Read Analog Keyboards

Reads how far every key is pressed on analog and Hall effect keyboards, and gives each supported keyboard its own device row. It is off by default. See Analog Keyboards for the keyboards it reads.

Most keyboards are read over the channel their own configurator uses, so close the configurator while this is on. Razer keyboards report only while Razer Synapse runs, and a Razer keyboard waiting for Synapse says so on its own row's panel on the Devices page. The status line under the checkbox says when no supported keyboard was found.

Read Bliss-Box Adapters

Talks to Bliss-Box adapters through their API, so PadForge knows the controller in each port, reads a DualShock 2's pressure, rumbles through the adapter's own motor commands, and offers the Dreamcast screen, Controller Pak and player number actions in the port's detail pane on the Devices page. It is off by default. See Bliss-Box Adapters.

Close the Bliss-Box API Tool and DeviceBuddy while this is on, since they talk to the adapter over the same channel. While it is on, each port reads in the adapter's own layout instead of through SDL's gamepad mapping, so map a port again after turning it on or off. Each port's row names the controller in it. The status line under the checkbox says when no port was found.

Polling Interval

How often the engine reads input, in milliseconds. Default: 1 ms (~1000 Hz).

Value	Frequency	Fits
1 ms	~1000 Hz	Competitive play, lowest latency (default)
2 ms	~500 Hz	Responsive, a bit lower CPU
4 ms	~250 Hz	Balanced for most games
8 ms	~125 Hz	Casual play, real CPU savings
16 ms	~60 Hz	Lowest CPU, matches 60 fps

Lower means quicker reads and more CPU. Higher means slower reads and less CPU. Most users should leave the default. Raise it when CPU is tight or the machine runs on battery.

A number field with up / down arrows. Range: 1-16 ms.

While the active profile sets its own polling rate, that rate applies instead, and a note under the field names the profile and its rate. See Profiles.

Inactivity Timeout

Seconds a virtual controller stays alive after all of its mapped physical devices go offline. Default: 60 s. Set to 0 to disable (the controller stays around indefinitely). One timeout governs every virtual controller type: Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, Extended, VR, Keyboard + Mouse, and MIDI.

When a slot's mapped pads disconnect (laptop sleeps, USB hub unplugged, battery dies), PadForge holds the virtual controller open for this many seconds. If the devices come back, the controller stays in place. If not, PadForge tears it down to free its kernel slot (the XInput slot, for Xbox types). Surviving controllers of the same type then re-bind to lower kernel slots so the order stays contiguous, and shift back as slots reactivate. Slot configuration is kept either way. Plug the devices back in and the virtual controller comes back on its own.

Range: 0–3600 seconds.

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Assignment Prompts

When a device connects while a virtual controller's page is open, PadForge can offer to assign it there. A banner appears under the device bar with the device's name, an Assign button, and Not Now. Nothing is assigned until you click Assign. Keyboards, keyboard screens, mice, touchpads, and media keys are never offered.

• Offer New Devices to the Open Virtual Controller fires only for a device PadForge has never seen before. Devices it already knows connect without a prompt.
• Offer Any Connecting Device When the Open Virtual Controller Has No Devices fires for any device, new or already known, as long as the open virtual controller has nothing assigned yet. Once it has a device, this prompt no longer appears.

Assign runs the same path as dragging the device onto the slot: the auto-map, input hiding defaults, and the Mappings tab refresh all happen exactly as they do for a dropped device. Not Now dismisses that device for that slot until PadForge restarts. Neither prompt fires on startup or when the engine restarts, since both re-enumerate every device at once.

PadForge never assigns a device on its own. Sim rigs and arcade setups carry many devices with no obvious home for each, so the app only ever offers, and both offers can be switched off here.

Handheld PC Buttons

Enable Handheld PC Buttons is off by default, and off means nothing runs. On, the Devices page gains a row for the paddles, menu keys and hotkeys a handheld gaming PC or laptop hides from games, learned by pressing each one once, and a row for the machine's own gyroscope when Windows reports one. See Handheld PC Buttons.

Keyboard Screens

Drive Keyboard Screens is off by default. On, PadForge draws on the screens built into Logitech's GamePanel keyboards and the G19, on a phone through Logitech Arx Control, and on the Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. 7's touchscreen, and the Devices page gains a row for each screen. A screen's row sets what it shows and carries the keys beside it. Turning the switch off gives a G19 screen PadForge bound to WinUSB back to Windows. See Keyboard Screens.

While the engine runs, the card names only what the feature as a whole is missing: the Arx Control or S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 library, or any screen at all. Download Strike7API.dll, Choose Strike7API.dll… and Install Visual C++ 2008 Runtime get the S.T.R.I.K.E. 7's library and the runtime it needs.

Novint Falcon

Drive Novint Falcon is off by default. On, PadForge opens each Novint Falcon through Force Dimension's SDK, which you install from Force Dimension, and the Devices page gains a row for each one. An open Falcon belongs to PadForge alone, so FalconJoyForce and Force Dimension's own tools cannot open it, and turning the switch off closes every Falcon. See Novint Falcon.

While the engine runs, the card names the library that loaded, and when no Falcon opened, why. Each open Falcon's line and its Calibrate Reach are on its row's panel on the Devices page. Choose dhd64.dll… loads a copy of Force Dimension's library you pick in place of any other, within a few seconds, and a Falcon open on another copy opens again on it. Install Falcon Driver shows for a Falcon with no driver and installs Force Dimension's from the SDK folder. Get Force Dimension's SDK opens Force Dimension's download page.

Battery Alerts

Get notified when a controller's battery runs low, before it dies mid-game.

• Notify When Battery Runs Low turns the alerts on.
• Notify at or Below sets the percentage that triggers one.
• Also Vibrate the Controller adds a buzz on the pad itself, so the warning reaches you without looking at the screen.
• Test Notification sends a sample alert at the threshold level through the same path, so you can check it without draining a battery.

The same rumble drives identify: buzzing a device is how you tell which of several identical pads is which.

Driver Management

Five driver cards. Each card has an ember flame beside its status text (lit when installed, an unlit outline when not). HidHide also shows the installed version, and HIDMaestro and BthPS3 the version PadForge carries.

• HidHide Driver card: Install and Uninstall buttons.
• HIDMaestro Driver card: the installed state and an Uninstall button. The driver installs itself the first time you create a virtual controller and is required for every Xbox / PlayStation / Nintendo / Extended / VR slot. Uninstall shows what HIDMaestro left on the PC, then stops the engine and removes it. See Driver Management.
• BthPS3 Bluetooth Driver card: the installed state and an Uninstall button. BthPS3 lets PlayStation 3 controllers, the PlayStation Move and the Navigation controller connect over Bluetooth, and installs itself the first time one of them is paired. Uninstall shows what BthPS3 left on the PC, then stops the engine and removes it. See Driver Management.
• Windows MIDI Services card: the API PadForge uses (Built into Windows, App SDK Runtime with the runtime's version, or Legacy MIDI API), or Not Running with the reason: the Windows MIDI service did not respond, a MIDI driver did not respond, or the runtime's uninstaller is still running. Under Legacy MIDI API the card names the error when the API built into Windows is registered but did not start. A Windows MIDI Services API that did not start when PadForge first checked is taken later, once it starts, with nothing restarted. Install shows on Windows 11 24H2 or later while Windows has no API of its own and no runtime is installed, and installs PadForge's build of the Windows MIDI Services runtime. Uninstall shows while a runtime is installed. See Driver Management.
• SteamVR card: needed only for VR slots. It describes itself as VR runtime for virtual VR controllers. Installs from Valve's servers with no Steam account or Steam client needed (several GB).

PadForge is already elevated from its startup UAC prompt, so the Install / Uninstall buttons run their installer in the same elevated session without a second prompt.

Driver summary

Driver	What it does	When to install
HidHide	Hides physical controllers from games so they only see the virtuals. Stops double input.	Games see both the physical and the virtual.
HIDMaestro	Single user-mode driver that creates Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo (Switch Pro and Switch 2 Pro), and Extended (DirectInput) virtual controllers, and the virtual keyboards and mice of a Keyboard+Mouse slot. 337 device profiles, of which PadForge offers 239 that carry a HID descriptor. Replaces ViGEmBus and vJoy in v3.	Installs itself the first time you create an Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, Extended, or VR slot, or set a Keyboard+Mouse slot to a keyboard or mouse model. Required for those five slot types and those models.
BthPS3	Bluetooth drivers for PlayStation 3 controllers, the PlayStation Move and the Navigation controller: a profile driver and a filter on the PC's Bluetooth.	Installs itself the first time one of those controllers is paired for Bluetooth.
Windows MIDI Services	Gives each MIDI slot a port of its own and reads MIDI inputs. Part of Windows 11 25H2 from the late-November 2026 update. Without it, MIDI runs on the legacy MIDI API, where slots send to a port you pick.	On 24H2 or later before Windows carries the API, click Install on its card for the runtime.
SteamVR	Valve's VR runtime. PadForge fetches it directly, with no Steam account and no Steam client.	You want a VR slot. The VR tile stays disabled without it.

Uninstall guards

PadForge blocks four driver uninstalls until you clear what still depends on them.

• HidHide stays locked while any device still has the cloak armed. Disarm the cloak on the Devices page first.
• Windows MIDI Services (the runtime) stays locked while any slot still outputs MIDI through it. Delete those slots or switch them to another output on the Controller Slots page first. When the API built into Windows or the legacy MIDI API runs MIDI, the slots do not hold the runtime.
• SteamVR stays locked while any VR slot exists. Delete those slots or switch them to another type first.
• BthPS3 waits while a PlayStation controller is connected over Bluetooth. Turn the controller off, then select Refresh. Its drivers stay while DsHidMini is installed, since DsHidMini needs them.

The HidHide, MIDI and SteamVR guards read the slots you have saved rather than what the engine is currently running, so they hold with the engine stopped, which is when most people go tidying up drivers. Switching a slot's type releases the old type's driver and locks the new one straight away.

The SteamVR card

Before installing, the card offers an Install Location. It defaults to C:\SteamVR and takes any full path on any drive. A bare drive root is refused, because the uninstall side deletes the recorded directory and pointing that at an entire drive is not a mistake worth allowing.

Uninstall appears only for an install PadForge itself created. PadForge works that out by checking whether it recorded the path and whether Steam's own registry entries point at the same folder. A SteamVR installed through the Steam client belongs to Steam, shows no Uninstall button here, and is never touched. The uninstall also stays disabled while any VR slot exists, and refuses while SteamVR is running.

SteamVR keeps its own log and settings inside the folder you chose, as logs and config subfolders. Removing the install takes them with it.

When another OpenVR driver is registered under HIDMaestro's driver name, the card warns: "Another OpenVR driver uses HIDMaestro’s driver name, so SteamVR can load it in place of PadForge’s and the virtual VR controllers will not appear. Remove that driver to clear this:" and lists that driver's folders, one per line. OpenVR loads one driver per name, so the VR slot's controllers would otherwise fail with nothing else to show for it. PadForge takes the list from HIDMaestro's HMVR.FindDriverNameConflicts (HIDMaestro 1.12.0), which reads SteamVR's driver registrations and changes nothing, at most every ten seconds.

Hide Devices from Games

This checkbox sits inside the HidHide Driver card. It only shows when HidHide is installed. Master switch for input hiding. Two pieces sit under it.

• HidHide cloaking makes physical controllers invisible to games at the OS level.
• Input hook suppression stops mapped raw inputs reaching other input APIs.

On (default) means the per-device hide toggles on the Devices page do what they say. Off forces every controller visible no matter what the per-device toggles are set to. Use it as a panic button.

Keep Devices Cloaked Between Launches

The second checkbox in the HidHide Driver card, also shown only when HidHide is installed.

Off (default) clears every HidHide cloak when PadForge exits, so other sessions see your controllers normally.

On leaves the cloaks in place between launches. Pick this when another app (Steam launching after PadForge exits, for example) scans for pads while PadForge is closed and you want it to keep seeing the physical controllers as hidden. The next PadForge start re-asserts the cloaks with no visible flicker.

Flipping Hide Devices from Games off still decloaks right away, no matter what this is set to.

HidHide Whitelisted Applications

When HidHide is installed, a Whitelisted Applications section drops in under its card. The whitelist picks which apps can still see hidden controllers.

PadForge whitelists itself. You may also want to whitelist:

• Other controller-config tools
• Emulators that read raw hardware
• Diagnostic apps like joy.cpl

Button	Action
Add...	Browse for an .exe. That program sees physical controllers even when hidden.
Remove	Drops the selected entry. PadForge is whitelisted automatically and never appears here, so there is nothing of its own to preserve.

For full driver detail see Driver Management.

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MIDI Configuration

When a slot outputs MIDI, its config bar shows:

Setting	What it does
Channel	MIDI channel (1-16).
CC Count	Number of Control Change outputs. How many axes send CC. Clamped so the highest CC stays within range, so the max is 128 minus Start CC (128 only when Start CC is 0).
Start CC	Base CC number (0-127). Axis CCs count up from here.
Note Count	Number of Note outputs. How many buttons send Note messages. Clamped so the highest note stays within range, so the max is 128 minus Start Note (128 only when Start Note is 0).
Start Note	Base note (0-127, 60 = Middle C). Button notes count up from here.
Velocity	Note On velocity (1-127). Higher = louder.

Under Windows MIDI Services, PadForge creates one virtual MIDI device per slot, with no port to pick. Under the legacy MIDI API the bar adds Output Port, and the slot sends to the existing port picked there. Different slots can target different channels.

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Community Configs

Controls the Steam Workshop Config Import feature: browsing community-made Steam Input controller configs and translating them into PadForge profiles.

Enable Community Configs

The master opt-in, off by default. PadForge sends nothing to Steam until you check it.

With it on, PadForge connects directly to Steam, and only when you act (a search, opening a config, or the update check below). The servers are all Steam's own: store.steampowered.com, api.steampowered.com and the connection servers it names, steamcommunity.com, cdn.steamusercontent.com, cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com, and avatars.fastly.steamstatic.com. PadForge sends your search text, the ids of the games, configs and creators involved, and its version number. The anonymous Steam logon also sends the OS type, a language, and a machine id built from SHA-1 hashes of the Windows machine GUID, the physical network adapters' MAC addresses and the boot disk serial. No telemetry, no third-party service, no Steam sign-in. Steam Workshop Config Import says what each server receives.

The Browse Community Configs button on the Profiles page works either way. With the opt-in off, its dialog opens on an explanation panel and offers the enable step there.

Show Legacy Workshop Configs

Appears once the opt-in is on. Configs from before 2017 have no downloadable file on Steam's servers, so PadForge lists them with a LEGACY badge and reads them through your Steam install instead. Off by default. See Legacy configs.

Clear Cached Configs

Empties the local Workshop cache (search results, config files, artwork) at %LOCALAPPDATA%\PadForge\SteamWorkshopCache. No confirmation, and nothing of value is lost: the cache refills as you browse. Imported profiles live in PadForge.xml, not the cache, and survive a clear. The status bar confirms with "Workshop cache cleared".

Check Imported Profiles for Updates

Asks Steam whether any config you imported has been updated since the import, in one query.

Outcome	What you see
Everything current	Status bar: "Imported profiles are up to date (3 checked)".
Updates found	A Workshop Updates dialog lists each stale profile and its config, with Browse Community Configs as the re-import route.
No imported profiles	Status bar: "No profiles imported from the Steam Workshop yet".
Opt-in off	Status bar: "Enable Community Configs to check for updates". Nothing is sent.

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Settings File

Every slot, mapping, deadzone, profile, macro, and preference lives in one XML file: PadForge.xml.

Location

The full path shows at the top of this section. Use it to back up, copy between machines, or share for bug reports.

Buttons

Button	Action	When to use
Save	Writes the in-memory config to disk.	Force-save, or confirm changes hit disk.
Reload	Throws out in-memory changes, re-reads from disk.	Undo since last save, or pick up an external edit.
Reset to Defaults	Restores factory defaults.	Last resort for a broken config. No undo.
Open Folder	Opens the config folder in Explorer.	Backup or sharing.

If unsaved changes exist, an orange "Unsaved Changes" warning sits under the buttons.

Auto-save

Most settings auto-save on their own. A change reaches the engine within ~250 ms, and the file on disk is written after about 2 seconds of quiet, one write per editing burst. You do not need to click Save after every change.

The Save button is there for two cases.

1. Force-save before a risky operation.
2. Batch-save after a rapid run of changes.

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Diagnostics

Version information, plus engine event logging for troubleshooting.

Version info

Field	Description
App Version	PadForge's version and build, for example 4.5.3 (r3682@176208e): the version, the commit count and the short commit hash. A build made without git shows the version alone.
.NET Runtime	.NET runtime in use
SDL Version	SDL3 library version

Paste these into any issue you file.

Keep a Diagnostics Log

Off by default. A healthy install writes no log.

Ticking it writes engine events continuously to diagnostics.log, in the folder shown under the checkbox, which is the folder PadForge runs from. The setting persists, so it survives a restart and covers sessions that start with Windows. That matters because a launch-time environment variable cannot reach an auto-started session, which is the case this was built for.

At 8 MB the file rolls over to diagnostics.log.old, so leaving it on for days costs one file plus its rollover. Each launch writes a marker line, so several sessions in one file stay easy to tell apart.

Save Snapshot

Writes the engine's most recent events to a new timestamped file and opens Explorer with it selected.

PadForge always keeps its recent engine events in memory, whether or not the log is on, so this captures the moments around something that just happened without having had logging enabled beforehand. Use it right after a glitch.

Open Log Folder

Opens the folder holding diagnostics.log and any snapshots.

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Related pages

• Installation: first-time setup.
• Dashboard: engine status and overview.
• Controller Slots: add and manage virtual controllers.
• Devices: physical controllers and assignments.
• Driver Management: driver install detail.
• Profiles: per-app config and Profile Shortcuts.
• Steam Workshop Config Import: the feature behind the Community Configs card.
• Troubleshooting: more help.

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Last updated for PadForge 5.2.0.