ControllerBuddy

Visit the ControllerBuddy Homepage to get started.
For more support, join the ControllerBuddy Discord.

📖 Description

ControllerBuddy is an advanced gamepad mapping software that supports the creation of input profiles for complex target applications such as flight simulators.

In addition to the simple mapping of buttons and axes of a physical game controller to keyboard and mouse input, ControllerBuddy also supports feeding input commands to a virtual joystick device (vJoy / uinput).

The goal of ControllerBuddy is to allow the user to control target applications exclusively with a gamepad without ever having to reach for a keyboard or mouse.

⬇️ Download and Installation

📜 Install-Script

For the easiest way to install and update, use the ControllerBuddy-Install-Script.
It automates all the steps below and much more!

📦 Flatpak

Linux users may want to use the ControllerBuddy-Flatpak.

🧑‍🔧 Manual Installation

🪟 Windows x86-64

1. First download and install vJoy on your system.
2. Click here and download the latest build of ControllerBuddy for Windows as a ZIP archive.
3. Extract the ControllerBuddy directory from the archive to any desired location on your hard-drive.
4. Run ControllerBuddy.exe inside the extracted ControllerBuddy directory.

🐧 Linux x86-64 / aarch64

1. Create a controllerbuddy group:

   sudo /usr/sbin/groupadd -f controllerbuddy
   

2. Add yourself to the group:

   sudo gpasswd -a "$USER" controllerbuddy
   

3. Allow the group to access uinput:

   echo 'KERNEL=="uinput", SUBSYSTEM=="misc", MODE="0660", GROUP="controllerbuddy"' | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/99-controllerbuddy.rules
   

4. Load the uinput kernel module at boot:

   echo uinput | sudo tee -a /etc/modules-load.d/uinput.conf
   

5. Reboot
6. Click here and download the latest build of ControllerBuddy for Linux as a TGZ archive.
7. Extract the ControllerBuddy directory from the archive to any desired location on your hard-drive.
8. Run ControllerBuddy inside the extracted ControllerBuddy/bin directory.

✨ Features

• Map gamepad axes and buttons to highly customizable actions:
  • vJoy axis movements (absolute and relative)
  • vJoy button presses
  • Keyboard inputs
  • Mouse inputs
  • Cycles of actions
  • Mode switching
  • etc.
• Powerful user interface:
  • Allows the creation of mapping profiles
  • Configuration of settings
  • Support for light and dark UI themes
• In-game overlay:
  • Displays current mode
  • Can show current position of virtual axes
  • On-Screen-Keyboard that can be controlled by gamepad
  • Customizable position and colors
• Two modes of operation:
  • Local
  • Client-Server (experimental! use only in trusted networks!)
• Supported gamepads:
  • Xbox 360 Controller
  • Xbox One Controller
  • Xbox Series X|S Controller
  • Dual Shock 3
  • Dual Shock 4
  • Dual Sense
  • etc. (to check if your controller is supported please refer to the SDL_GameControllerDB project)
• Supported operating systems:
  • Windows / Linux (local / client / server)
  • macOS (server only - no binaries provided!)
• Language support for:
  • English
  • German

🗃️ Profiles

Profiles are used to configure your gamepad for a specific target application.
The general structure of a profile is as follows:

Profile (.json file)
├── Default Mode
│   ├── X Axis
│   │   ├── some Action
│   │   └── another Action
│   ├── Y Axis
│   │   └── some Action
│   ├── A Button
│   │   ├── some Action
│   │   └── another Action
│   ├── B Button
│   │   └── Switch Mode Action (switches to 'Another Mode' and back)
│   ├── X Button
│   │   └── Switch Mode Action (switches to 'Yet another Mode' and back)
│   └── Y Button
│       └── Cycle Action (performs 'Action 1', when pressed again 'Action 2', then 'Action 3', then starts over)
│           ├── Action 1
│           ├── Action 2
│           └── Action 3
├── Another Mode
│   ├── X Axis
│   │   └── some Action
│   └── A Button
│       └── some Action
└── Yet another Mode
    └── X Axis
        └── some Action

When switching from one Mode to another, all the axes and buttons that are not used by the other mode retain their function from the previous mode. This works across multiple levels of modes.

Mode switching can be configured to work in two different ways:

• Default: works like the SHIFT key on your keyboard
• Toggle: works like the Caps Lock key

The ControllerBuddy-Profiles repository contains a number of well-thought-out profiles for many different flight simulators.

🏛️ Architecture

🏠 Local Mode

            Local:

     Physical Controller
              │
              │
              ▼
       ControllerBuddy
              |
              |
              ▼
    vJoy + Win32 / uinput
              |
              |
              ▼
      Target Application

🌐 Client-Server Mode

             Server:                                 Client:

       Physical Controller
                |
                |
                ▼                  UDP
         ControllerBuddy  ────────────────────►  ControllerBuddy
                                                        |
                                                        |
                                                        ▼
                                              vJoy + Win32 / uinput
                                                        |
                                                        |
                                                        ▼
                                                Target Application

🖼️ Screenshots

⌨️ Command Line Parameters

Parameter	Arguments	Description	Available for scripting
‑autostart	local / client / server	starts the specified mode of operation after launch	yes
‑export	file destination	exports a visualization of the current profile to the specified path	yes
‑gamecontrollerdb	file source	adds the SDL controller mappings from the specified file	yes
‑help		prints the help and exits	no
-host	hostname / IP address	sets the host address for outgoing network connections	yes
-password	password	sets the password for all network connections	yes
-port	port number	sets the server port for all network connections	yes
‑profile	file source	loads the specified profile after launch	yes
‑quit		quits the application	yes
‑save	file destination	save the current profile to the specified path	yes
‑skipMessageDialogs		skips all message dialogs	no
-timeout	timeout in milliseconds	sets the timeout in milliseconds for all network connections	yes
‑tray		launches the application in the system tray	yes
‑version		prints the version information and exits	no

If one instance of ControllerBuddy is already running, starting a second instance with the parameters marked as "available for scripting" will trigger the corresponding action in the first instance and shut down the second instance immediately.

This can be used to integrate ControllerBuddy into third party applications.
For more information see ControllerBuddy-DCS-Integration, an exemplary integration of ControllerBuddy into DCS World.

🙏 Attribution

ControllerBuddy makes use of these awesome software technologies and libraries:

• OpenJDK
• Apache Batik
• Apache Commons CLI
• ClassGraph
• dbus-java
• Error Prone
• FlatLaf
• Gson
• LWJGL - Lightweight Java Game Library 3
• SDL_GameControllerDB
• SLF4J

🛠️ Building

If you want to build ControllerBuddy from source, this section might be helpful to get you started.
ControllerBuddy uses the Gradle build system, the following Gradle tasks are supported:

Task	Command
Generate version source file	gradlew generateVersion
Run SpotBugs and Spotless	gradlew check
Apply Spotless formatting	gradlew spotlessApply
Run ControllerBuddy	gradlew run
Install a jpackage image	gradlew installDist
Create a ZIP-compressed jpackage image	gradlew distZip
Create a TGZ-compressed jpackage image	gradlew distTar
Delete build and gen directories	gradlew clean

⚖️ License

GNU General Public License v3.0