Devices
Every gamepad, joystick, keyboard, mouse, and touchpad PadForge can see lives on this page as a card.
| Area | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Left panel | One card for each detected device |
| Right panel | Detail pane for the selected device. Identity, slot assignment, hiding, live raw input. |
| Header | Refresh button, Pair button (Wii controllers and DualShock 3), Online count, Total count (includes disconnected) |
Physical devices sort first. Merged devices (All Keyboards, All Mice, All Touchpads) sort to the bottom. Within each group, cards sort alphabetically by name, then by Vendor ID, then by Product ID.
A row of chips sits above the card list: ALL, GAMEPAD, JOYSTICK, WHEEL, KEYBOARD, MOUSE, OTHER. Each chip carries a live count of the devices in that group. Click one to show only that type. Click ALL to clear the filter. The active chip lights up in the accent color, and the counts update as devices connect and drop.
GAMEPAD covers standard pads. JOYSTICK covers joysticks and flight sticks. WHEEL covers racing wheels. OTHER holds everything else: touchpads, MIDI devices, NFC readers, and anything unclassified.
Top row:
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Status dot | Lit for connected, dim for disconnected |
| Device name | The name the hardware reports (e.g., "Xbox Wireless Controller"). Merged devices show "All Keyboards (Merged)", "All Mice (Merged)", or "All Touchpads (Merged)". |
| Slot badges | Slot numbers the device is assigned to, each with the slot's controller-type icon. No badge shows if the device is unassigned. |
| Remove button | X. Deletes the device and its settings. Revealed on hover or keyboard focus. |
Bottom row (one wrapping metadata line):
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Type | Gamepad, Joystick, Wheel, Flight Stick, Mouse, Keyboard, NFC Reader, Consumer Control, MIDI, etc. |
| VID:PID | USB Vendor and Product ID in hex (054C:0CE6 for DualSense). Omitted for merged and virtual sources that report no ID. |
| Capabilities | Axis, button, and POV hat counts plus feature tags (Rumble, Gyro, Accel) |
| Battery | A battery glyph and percentage for a connected device that reports a battery level. The glyph switches to a charging variant while the device is charging. |
Wired devices, devices with no battery, and offline devices show no battery indicator. The same percentage appears again as a small suffix next to the device name in a slot's assigned-device list, so you can read a controller's charge without opening its card.
Click a card. A vertical accent bar appears on the left edge. The detail pane fills in.
The X button deletes the device and all its settings (mappings, slot assignments, hiding). The slot stays. It just becomes unassigned.
If the device is still plugged in, it comes back on the next scan as a fresh device with no settings.
The detail pane opens with the device name as a large heading. Below it sits the Device Dossier, a recessed monospace card that gathers every identity field PadForge holds for the device into one place. A Copy button at the top-right of the card copies the whole dossier to the clipboard as text, handy when filing a bug report.
Rows whose fact the device does not report collapse instead of showing a blank placeholder. A wired pad shows no LINK or SERIAL row. A device with no resolvable HID path shows no PATH row.
| Row | Description |
|---|---|
| PRODUCT | Product name from hardware |
| TYPE | Device category |
| CAPS | Axis / button / POV counts and feature tags |
| APP GUID | The identity string PadForge builds from device path, VID:PID, and serial number. It is what keeps a device's settings across reboots and re-plugs. Marquee-scrolls if long. |
| SDL GUID | The 32-character hex string SDL uses to look up the device's mapping. Shown when the device reports one. Marquee-scrolls if long. |
| PATH | HID path used for HidHide hiding. Shown for devices that report a resolvable path. A bridged device (such as a DualShock 3 over Bluetooth) shows its connection path here instead. |
| VID:PID | Vendor and Product ID in hex |
| LINK | Reads BT for a Bluetooth connection. Absent for wired and other links. |
| SERIAL | The serial number the device reports (a Bluetooth MAC address on most wireless pads). Shown when reported. |
| BATT | Battery glyph and percentage. Shown only when the device reports a battery. |
A row of capability icons sits at the bottom of the card: rumble, gyro, and touchpad marks light up for the devices that have them.
Shows in the detail pane for any joystick-class HID device PadForge does not already know as a standard gamepad. Hidden for known gamepads, keyboards, mice, and touchpads.
Click it. Your browser opens a GitHub issue pre-filled with every field PadForge can read from the device:
- Device name
- USB Vendor ID (hex)
- USB Product ID (hex)
- SDL GUID (the 32-character hex string SDL uses to look up mappings)
- Axis count
- Button count
- Hat / POV count
You fill in the per-input mapping by hand. Which raw axis index is Left Stick X. Which raw button index is A. Read those off the raw input section on this page while pressing each control.
Once the issue is merged, the mapping ships in the app's built-in controller mapping database and auto-loads on every PadForge install. Future users with the same hardware get the device recognized without further setup.
The blank Device Mapping issue template makes you type the device identification fields yourself. The in-app button reads them straight from PadForge's live SDL3 enumeration, so the SDL GUID can't be mistyped. Use the button when the device is plugged in.
The Virtual Controller Assignment section in the detail pane shows numbered toggles, one per existing slot.
- Highlighted = assigned to that slot
- Normal = not assigned
- More than one toggle can be on at the same time (see Multi-slot below)
Assigning a device builds a default mapping if none exists and updates the slot badges. You stay on the Devices page. Open the slot's config page from the sidebar when you want to tune the mapping.
Drag a card from the left panel onto a sidebar slot card. Same result as clicking the toggle.
- The slot's virtual controller is created if it does not exist yet
- A default mapping is built for the device type and output type (Xbox, PlayStation, Extended, etc.)
- For gamepads and joysticks, "Hide from games" turns on if HidHide is installed
- Slot badges update right away
Unassigning a device from every slot clears both hiding options.
One physical device can feed more than one slot at the same time. Real uses:
- Two output types at once. One pad feeding an Xbox slot for the game and an Extended slot for a flight sim overlay.
- Split button subsets. Left side mapped to one slot, right side to another.
- A/B testing. Compare deadzone, sensitivity, or macro setups without swapping hardware.
- MIDI plus gamepad. Game input and MIDI signals from the same pad.
Toggle multiple slot buttons in the detail pane. Each slot keeps its own mapping, so the same physical input can mean different things on different slots.
Slot badges show every assigned slot number at a glance.
The bottom of the detail pane shows live hardware data before any mapping, deadzone, or sensitivity work. Updates at the engine polling rate.
Each axis row has:
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Always Axis 0, Axis 1, Axis 2, and so on. The row keeps its number in both input modes. It never switches to friendly names like LX or LT. |
| Progress bar | Horizontal, 0-1 range. A centered stick reads ~50%. |
| Raw value | Exact integer (0-65535) in monospace |
Look for:
- Center drift. The axis does not rest at ~32768 when you let go. Use Calibrate Center on the Sticks tab.
- Trigger baseline. Some triggers rest at 0, others at 32768. Depends on hardware and input mode.
- Dead axes. Axis never moves. The mapping database may have a bad entry. Try Force Raw Joystick Mode.
Small circles in a wrap layout, labeled by index (0, 1, 2...).
| State | Look |
|---|---|
| Released | Dim gray |
| Pressed | Filled with the system accent color |
Gamepad mode shows the 11 standard buttons, indexed 0-10 (0 is A, 1 is B, on through Guide). Raw mode shows every physical button (13 or 17 on some controllers). Either way the circles read as numbers, not letters. The count is what changes between modes.
Consumer Control and NFC Reader devices replace the numbered grid with named chips (media keys) or named tags. See their sections below.
A QWERTY layout replaces axes and buttons. Main keys, navigation cluster, arrows, numpad. Keys light up in the accent color as you press them.
A mouse graphic replaces axes and buttons:
- Button presses highlight on the mouse body
- Motion direction shows visually
- Scroll wheel activity reads as scroll intensity
Compass widgets with a direction line, labeled "POV 0", "POV 1", etc.
| State | Look |
|---|---|
| Centered | Background circle with center dot, no line |
| Direction pressed | Accent line from center toward the pressed direction |
All 8 directions are supported (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW). Some specialty controllers report continuous angular values.
Shows on devices with a gyro sensor (DualSense, DualShock 4, Switch Pro, others). Rotational velocity. Used by the DSU Motion Server for motion-enabled emulators.
| Axis | Motion |
|---|---|
| X | Pitch (forward / backward tilt) |
| Y | Yaw (left / right rotation) |
| Z | Roll (side-to-side tilt) |
Three decimal places. A still controller reads near 0.000.
Shows on devices with an accelerometer. Linear acceleration:
| Axis | Motion |
|---|---|
| X | Left / right |
| Y | Up / down. Gravity registers here, so a still controller reads about 9.8 or -9.8. |
| Z | Forward / backward |
Values are in meters per second squared. Gravity always shows up, so whichever axis points up or down sits near 9.8 or -9.8 at rest. Unlike the gyro, the accelerometer does not settle to zero when the controller is still.
A second block, Aux Accelerometer, appears when a device carries a second sensor: the Nunchuk's own accelerometer, or the left Joy-Con of a combined pair. Same three axes. It maps as its own source.
PadForge reads two kinds of touch surfaces on the Devices page.
- Gamepad touchpads. The touch surfaces on DualShock 4, DualSense, Steam Controller, and Steam Deck. SDL3 reports them as part of the gamepad. They show up in the raw input view with contact position and finger count.
- Windows Precision Touchpad. Laptop trackpads and external precision touchpads. PadForge treats each one as its own device card with a live touch preview. These trackpads have no physical click button, so no click input appears for them in the mapping picker or auto-map.
A device with two touch surfaces (Steam Controller 2026, Steam Deck, original Steam Controller) shows a separate live preview for each pad, labeled Touchpad 1 and Touchpad 2 in the raw input view.
A third and fourth source live elsewhere: Web Controller clients in touchpad-only or DS4-with-touchpad mode, and the on-screen Touchpad Overlay. All four feed the same per-slot configuration on the Touchpad tab.
A connected MIDI keyboard, pad controller, or control surface shows up here as its own device card. Select it and the detail pane shows a live preview: a piano that lights the notes you play and vertical sliders that follow the knobs and faders. Its notes, Control Change knobs, pitch bend, and encoder dials map like any button or axis.
MIDI input needs Windows 11 24H2 (build 26100) or later, the same Windows MIDI Services the MIDI virtual controller uses. See MIDI Input for the full list of what maps.
Media keys show up here as their own device card, typed Consumer Control. A keyboard's media row, a standalone media remote, and a headset's media buttons all land here.
Select the card and the detail pane shows named button chips instead of the numbered-button grid: Play/Pause, Mute, Volume Up, Volume Down, Next Track, Previous Track, and the rest of the media keys the device reports. A chip lights up in the accent color while its key is held.
Each named media key maps as a source and works as a macro trigger. These devices have no sticks or triggers. Consume Mapped Inputs does not apply to them, so that toggle is left out.
A contactless smart-card / NFC reader (PC/SC class, such as an ACR122U) shows up as a device card typed NFC Reader.
The detail pane has a Register / Manage NFC Tags button. It opens a dialog where you tap a tag to capture it, then give the tag a name. Each registered tag becomes its own button you can map, alongside an Any NFC Tag button that any tag triggers. The pane lists your named tags and highlights the one you just tapped.
The deep how-to (registering, naming, and mapping tags) lives on NFC Tags.
The header has a Pair button next to Refresh. It opens the Pair a Controller dialog, which walks a Wii Remote, Nunchuk, Classic Controller, or Wii U Pro Controller through Bluetooth pairing. The Windows pairing wizard can't pair these on its own, since their PIN is raw bytes rather than a typed code, so PadForge runs the handshake itself.
Once paired, a Wii controller appears as a normal device card here, with the same slot assignment, hiding, and live raw input as any other pad. See Wii Controllers for the pairing steps and the per-controller button layouts.
When a physical device feeds a slot, games can see both devices and double up the input. PadForge offers two ways to stop that, set per device.
Hides the physical device at the OS level using HidHide. The whole device disappears from every non-whitelisted app the moment you toggle the option. PadForge is whitelisted automatically. The setting persists across restarts. Best for gamepads, joysticks, racing wheels, and flight sticks. The toggle is grayed out if HidHide is not installed. Install it from Driver Management.
You can whitelist more apps in Settings so they can still see hidden devices (streaming overlays, secondary remappers, etc.).
Suppresses only the specific keys or mouse buttons mapped to a virtual controller output. Unmapped keys still type. The cursor still moves. No driver needed. Windows low-level input hooks handle it. The toggle only shows for keyboards and mice.
| Situation | Method |
|---|---|
| Xbox / PlayStation / Switch controller | Hide from Games |
| Racing wheel or flight stick | Hide from Games |
| Keyboard with a few keys mapped | Consume Mapped Inputs |
| Mouse with side buttons mapped | Consume Mapped Inputs |
| Hide a keyboard entirely | Hide from Games (read the warnings) |
| Device type | Hide from Games | Consume Mapped Inputs |
|---|---|---|
| Gamepad / Joystick / Wheel / Flight Stick | Auto-enabled (if HidHide is installed) | Not shown |
| Keyboard | Off | Off |
| Mouse | Off | Off |
Keyboards and mice do not auto-enable any hiding. Blocking them by accident makes the PC hard to use.
Unassigning a device from every slot clears both hiding options.
PadForge shows a confirmation flyout when you turn on hiding for a keyboard, mouse, or Consumer Control device:
- HidHide on keyboard. Every app loses keyboard access. "All Keyboards (Merged)" affects every connected keyboard.
- HidHide on mouse. Every app outside PadForge loses mouse control. "All Mice (Merged)" affects every connected mouse.
- HidHide on a Consumer Control device (media keys). The media collection sits on a physical keyboard, so cloaking it hides that whole keyboard from every app. You get the same keyboard warning.
- Consume on keyboard. Mapped keys stop working in other apps while PadForge runs.
- Consume on mouse. Mapped buttons (possibly left / right click) are suppressed.
Click Cancel to back out or Proceed to confirm.
The global "Hide devices from games" toggle in Settings (under Input Engine) is the master on / off. With it off, no hiding or suppression runs, no matter what each device is set to. Flipping it back on restores every per-device setting.
Wireless (Bluetooth) controllers get a Power section in the detail pane.
Sets how long a controller can sit with no input before PadForge tells it to disconnect. The controller sleeps and saves battery. The value is in minutes, and the suffix reads minutes (0 = never). Set it to 0 to leave the controller on.
Idle Disconnect drops the Bluetooth link. Over a USB cable there's no radio link to drop, so nothing happens. Charging doesn't hold it off. Dropping Bluetooth doesn't interrupt the charge, so an idle pad left on a charger still disconnects. It works on the wireless families PadForge can power off: Sony, Xbox, Wii Remote, Valve, and Switch 2.
By default, PadForge uses SDL3's gamepad layer for known gamepads. SDL3 translates raw button and axis indices into a standard layout (A/B/X/Y, LX/LY, LT/RT) via a built-in controller database.
Force Raw Joystick Mode skips that translation and reads raw hardware indices straight, the same values Windows Game Controllers (joy.cpl) shows.
| Symptom | Why |
|---|---|
| Buttons map to the wrong outputs | SDL3's mapping does not match the device |
| Some buttons read no input | SDL3 ate the button and sent it to a slot that does not match |
| Extra buttons go missing | Controllers with more than 11 buttons lose the extras in gamepad mode |
| Works in joy.cpl but not PadForge | SDL3 mapping is wrong |
| Off-brand or niche gamepads | Budget controllers, retro adapters, arcade sticks often have wrong database entries |
| DsHidMini SDF mode | DualShock 3 via SDF needs raw mode. SDL3 drops some buttons. |
- Select the device card
- In the detail pane, find the Input Mode section (gamepad-type devices only. The section is hidden for PadForge's own virtual controllers and other virtual input sources.)
- Check Force raw joystick mode
- Saved right away. Persists across restarts.
- Axis count can change. The raw layer often exposes more axes than the six the gamepad layer reports. Rows stay labeled Axis 0, Axis 1, and so on in both modes.
- Button count can rise. Raw mode exposes every physical button, including any the gamepad layer folded away. Circles stay labeled by number in both modes.
- Auto-mapping is off. Record each mapping by hand from the Record button.
- The raw input display updates right away
If the controller works fine in gamepad mode, raw mode gains you nothing. Gamepad mode gives you friendly names and a default mapping.
The toggle only shows for devices SDL3 recognizes as gamepads. Devices already running as raw joysticks (flight sticks, wheels, generic HID) always use raw indices.
PadForge identifies devices with deterministic GUIDs so they survive reboots, re-plugs, and port changes.
| Priority | Source | Stability |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Serial number (e.g., Bluetooth MAC address) | Stable across reboots, re-pairing, and port changes |
| 2 | Device path | Stable for the same USB port. Changes if you switch ports. |
| 3 | SDL instance ID + VID:PID | Can change on every reconnect |
- Bluetooth controllers (DualSense, DualShock 4, Switch Pro). GUID stays the same across reboots and re-pairs. Settings stick.
- Wired USB controllers. GUID stays the same on the same USB port. A different port makes a new GUID. The old settings stay on the offline (gray) card.
- Profiles. A profile falls back to VID:PID. If a profile was saved with a device that now has a different identity (a port change, for example), PadForge matches by VID:PID so the profile still applies.
Disconnected devices stay in the list with a dim status dot.
- Every mapping, slot assignment, and setting is kept
- Reconnect with the same GUID and everything comes back
- Remove with the X button if you no longer need it
- Offline cards cost nothing at runtime. Stored settings only.
Fixes center drift: a stick that does not rest in the middle.
- Go to the Sticks tab on the controller's config page (see Stick Deadzones)
- Click Calibrate Center while the stick is at rest (do not touch it)
- PadForge samples hardware values for ~500 ms and calculates the offset
The offset is applied before deadzone processing, which keeps the deadzone circle centered on the real rest position.
Sets the maximum physical travel (0-100%) that maps to full output. If the stick cannot reach the corners, lower the max range so full output is reachable within the stick's actual travel.
- Click Refresh to re-scan
- Confirm the device shows up in Device Manager or joy.cpl
- For Bluetooth controllers, check pairing in Windows Bluetooth settings
- For a Wii controller, pair it with the header Pair button, not Windows Bluetooth settings. See Wii Controllers.
- PadForge filters out its own virtual controllers (HIDMaestro outputs) on purpose
- Some devices need a manufacturer driver
- Check the raw input section. Are axes, buttons, and POVs drawn?
- If they show but never change, try Force Raw Joystick Mode
- For Bluetooth devices, confirm a stable connection (lit status dot)
- Turn on Force Raw Joystick Mode to skip SDL3's mapping
- Compare PadForge's raw input view with joy.cpl
- For an unmapped joystick-type device, click Submit Device Mapping to contribute a mapping
- Turn on Hide from Games on the device, or Consume Mapped Inputs for keyboards and mice
- Confirm the master "Hide devices from games" toggle in Settings is on
- Confirm HidHide is installed via Driver Management
- A wired controller on a different USB port gets a new GUID. Old settings stay on the offline (gray) card. Plug back into the original port, or reconfigure on the new card.
- Bluetooth controllers keep their GUID via MAC address. Settings persist.
- Make sure the stick was completely at rest during calibration
- For bad drift, the stick may be worn out. Raise the deadzone on the Sticks tab to cover it.
- Grayed out: HidHide is not installed. Install via Driver Management and restart PadForge.
- Missing: the device is a virtual input source (PadForge's own virtual controllers, software keyboards, etc.). Hiding a virtual source has no meaning, so the toggle is left out instead of shown disabled.
- Controller Slots: create slots before assigning devices.
- Wii Controllers: pair a Wii Remote, Nunchuk, Classic Controller, or Wii U Pro Controller from the header Pair button.
- Button and Axis Mappings: map inputs after assigning a device.
- Stick Deadzones: calibrate center offset and deadzones.
- Macros: automated actions triggered by device inputs.
- Force Feedback: device rumble and haptic capabilities.
- MIDI Input: map a MIDI keyboard or control surface that appears here.
- NFC Tags: register, name, and map tags read by an NFC Reader device.
- DSU Motion Server: Gyro and accel data for motion-enabled emulators.
- Profiles: device connections persist across profile switches.
- Dashboard: connected device counts at a glance.
- Settings: master device hiding toggle.
- Driver Management: HIDMaestro and HidHide driver installation.
- Troubleshooting: general troubleshooting guide.
Last updated for PadForge 4.0.0