- Features
- Requirements
- How to Use
- Installation
- Configuation
- Custom Images
- Known Issues
- Building from Source
- License
- Credits
- Can set FPS (30, 60, 90, 120 or custom value in config.ini) or use VSync.
- Can change background color. Can set custom background color in config.ini file.
- Can change color of the button presses. They can be tinted from the menu or a custom tint color can be set in config.ini file.
- Can switch between controller layouts (SNES, N64).
- Can remap buttons and joystick.
- N64 joystick display with configurable idle/moving draw modes.
- N64 C-buttons and Z-trigger support.
- Can use custom images (layout-aware directory structure).
- Persistent settings (resolution, colors, button maps, layout choice, etc.)
- OS: Windows 10+ or a modern Linux distribution that supports Arch/Fedora/Flatpak packages.
- Graphics: OpenGL 3.3 support
- Input: a SNES or N64 USB gamepad. Non-SNES/N64 controllers will work but may have limited button support depending on the adapter. Wireless gamepads work with the Windows build but are currently untested with Linux builds.
Your USB gamepad should be automatically detected. If it is not, go to the "Load Controller" option in the menu and select your USB gamepad there.
The menu can be accessed by mouse or keyboard: right-click in the window to open/close the menu, or hit spacebar or "M". You can navigate the menu using the mouse as expected, or use W/S and arrow-keys to navigate and Enter to select.
Hitting escape will exit the program.
Download the .zip, extract it, and run PadCast.exe. That's it!
Depending on your system's software, you can click/double-click PadCast.flatpak to open and install it. If that fails, you can install the flatpak in the terminal:
# Install the flatpak
flatpak install PadCast.flatpakIf you get an error that you are missing "org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/23.08"...
# Add the flathub repository to your system
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
# Install the 23.08 version of Platform
flatpak install flathub org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/23.08
# Now you can install PadCast
flatpak install PadCast.flatpakYou can install the RPM package on Fedora and other RPM-based distributions. On Fedora you can double-click the RPM to install it, or you can install it via terminal:
# Download the latest .rpm file from the releases page
sudo dnf install ./padcast-0.1.0-1.x86_64.rpmThe menu can be accessed by mouse or keyboard: right-click in the window to open/close the menu, or hit spacebar or "M". You can navigate the menu using the mouse as expected, or use W/S and arrow-keys to navigate and Enter to select.
The following settings can be accessed and changed via the in-program menu:
- Resolution
The window can be manually resized by dragging the window borders, but there are resolution presets available in the menu. If you require specific dimensions, it can be manually set in config.ini
- Target FPS of the program (e.g. 30, 60, 90, 120).
This should usually be set to 60, but it can be changed to match the FPS of the game/emulator you are running. If you require a specific target FPS, it can be manually set in config.ini
- Enable/Disable VSync
This will enable/disable VSync. While VSync is enabled, the Target FPS setting will be ignored. If you enable VSync, the program will limit the FPS to match your monitor's refresh rate. If you change your monitor's refresh rate while the program is running, you will need to toggle VSync off and back on to match the new refresh rate. Please note that VSync may increase CPU usage depending on your specific hardware and GPU driver settings; generally the higher refresh rate your monitor is set to, the more CPU usage.
- Background Color
Generic background colors can be set in the menu. You can set a custom background color in config.ini (see below)
- Button Tint Color
This changes the color of the shapes that appear when a button is pressed. Generic colors can be set in the menu, but you can set a custom tint color in config.ini (see below)
- Load Controller
This will bring up the 4 gamepad inputs the program can detect. If your controller isn't detected by default, use this to select the controller you wish to use. If you have more than one controller connected, you can use this menu to select the controller you wish to use. If no inputs are detected, the menu will print "No Gamepads Detected"
- Remap Buttons
Clicking "Start Remap" will begin a remap sequence where the program will go through a series of prompts to register correct button pushes. Press Spacebar to skip a button (keeps its current value). The button map is saved to the appropriate layout section in config.ini (e.g.,
[SNES_ButtonMap]or[N64_ButtonMap]). "Reset to Default" resets to the factory defaults for the current layout.
- Layout
Switch between SNES and N64 controller layouts. Selecting N64 will load the N64 controller image and button overlays. The layout choice is saved and restored on startup.
- Draw Joystick (N64 only)
Toggle between "Draw idle" (joystick shown at rest position) and "Draw when moving" (only shown while the stick is being pushed). This setting is saved persistently.
- Remap Joystick (N64 only)
Walks you through remapping the four cardinal joystick directions (Up, Right, Down, Left). The program auto-discovers which analog axes your controller uses and saves them to config.ini.
- Reload Config File
If you edit the config.ini file while the program is running, click "Reload Config File" to enable the changes you've made (make sure to save config.ini first!). For example, if you want to try out different custom background colors: select "Custom Color" in the Background Color menu, edit the relevant custom color values in config.ini, save the config.ini file, then click "Reload Config File" to see the new custom color take effect.
Changes you make with the in-program menu will be reflected in config.ini, but you can also set your own custom values in config.ini. If you set incompatible values, the program will reset them to default values. If you accidentally delete any values or find you've modified the config to something crazy you'd like to undo, you can simply delete config.ini and the program will regenerate the file using default values.
The section and key names should not be changed (e.g. [Window], TARGET_FPS). If you do change them, your changes will be ignored and the program will re-generate those sections with default values.
Described below is how to modify some settings/values you might be interested in setting yourself.
On Windows, the config.ini file will be in the extracted folder in \config\config.ini
If installed using a regular Linux package, the config file will be in ~/.config/PadCast/config.ini
For flatpak installations, config.ini will be in ~/.var/app/com.github.nantr0nic.PadCast/config/padcast/config.ini
To set a custom Window resolution, set the desired dimensions here:
INITIAL_WINDOW_WIDTH=640
INITIAL_WINDOW_HEIGHT=360
To set a custom target FPS, set the desired frames per second (cannot exceed 250):
TARGET_FPS=60
To set a custom background color, set the desired RGB values in the following sections of config.ini:
CUSTOM_BG_RED=102
CUSTOM_BG_GREEN=0
CUSTOM_BG_BLUE=153
If you need help figuring out RGB values for a color you'd like, you can search 'color picker' on DuckDuckGo and use the built-in applet there.
To set a custom tint color, set the desired RGB values in the following sections of config.ini:
IMAGE_TINT_RED=255
IMAGE_TINT_GREEN=255
IMAGE_TINT_BLUE=0
If you want to preview your custom background or tint colors, you can edit config.ini while the program is running and click "Reload Config File" in the menu to load your new values.
You can change the font size of on-screen messages or the menu in [Font]:
DEFAULT_FONT_SIZE=35
Button mappings are now stored per-layout under their own INI sections:
[SNES_ButtonMap] ; SNES controller buttons (12 keys)
[N64_ButtonMap] ; N64 controller buttons (14 keys: D-pad, A, B, C-buttons, L, R, Z, Start)
Each section has the same key names as before (DPAD_UP, A_BUTTON, etc.). The N64 section adds
C_UP, C_DOWN, C_LEFT, C_RIGHT, and Z_BUTTON. The "Reset to Default" option in the menu
resets to per-layout factory defaults.
The following keys control N64 joystick behavior:
[Gamepad]
LAYOUT=0 ; 0=SNES, 1=N64 (set via the Layout menu)
STICK_X_AXIS=0 ; Which analog axis drives left/right joystick movement
STICK_Y_AXIS=1 ; Which analog axis drives up/down joystick movement
[Image]
DRAW_JOYSTICK_IDLE=1 ; 1=always show joystick, 0=only show while moving
[Gamepad]
STICK_DEADZONE=0.1 ; Joystick deadzone (0.0–0.5). Default 0.1 is usually fine.
The stick axis values are auto-discovered by the "Remap Joystick" menu option. You only need to set these manually if your controller uses non-standard axis indices.
Why adjust the deadzone? If your joystick overlay jitters or drifts while the stick is at rest, increase the deadzone (try 0.15 or 0.2). If small, precise movements aren't registering, lower it (try 0.05). The deadzone filters out tiny axis fluctuations so the joystick only moves when you intentionally push it.
The in-program button remap should be sufficient, but for some reason if it is not (please let me know!) you can enable "debug mode":
[Debug]
MODE=1
This will print the index number of the button you're pressing in the upper-left corner of the screen. You can
then set that number to the appropriate button under [SNES_ButtonMap] or [N64_ButtonMap].
Images are now organized by controller layout:
resources/
├── SNES/
│ └── images/
│ ├── controller.png
│ └── pressed/ (A.png, B.png, X.png, Y.png, etc.)
├── N64/
│ └── images/
│ ├── controller.png
│ └── pressed/ (A.png, B.png, C-up.png, Z.png, joystick.png, etc.)
└── padcast.png (program icon)
On Windows, these folders will be in the extracted folder under \resources\
On Fedora/Arch, under /usr/share/padcast/resources/
If using the Flatpak version:
- System install: /var/lib/flatpak/app/com.github.nantr0nic.PadCast/current/active/files/share/padcast/resources/
- User install: ~/.local/share/flatpak/app/com.github.nantr0nic.PadCast/current/active/files/share/padcast/resources/
SVG source files are available in the GitHub repo. This includes the base controller
and pressed button images as layers for SNES and N64. If using Inkscape, export each modified layer as
its own .png file. The file names must match the defaults. Meaning, the .png for A must be named A.png
and be placed in the correct layout's pressed/ folder.
The images must:
- be .png files
- use the same names and locations as the default images
- match the default dimensions (960x540)
- use a transparent background
- button push shapes must match their respective location on the base controller
The default image/canvas resolution is 960x540. If you change the resolution of the images used by the program, update the following values in config.ini to match the resolution of your modified .png's:
IMAGE_CANVAS_WIDTH=960
IMAGE_CANVAS_HEIGHT=540
If you want to scale above 960x540, there is a /resources/1280x720_images/ folder with higher resolution .png files you can use for better scaling. If you want to use them, rename the current /resources/images folder to something like ""960x540_images"" and then rename the 1280x720_images folder to "images" for the program to use those instead.
If you modify the pressed-button images in /resources/images/pressed/, the tints will still work as expected if you keep the shapes WHITE.
- Some controllers may be mislabeled by the OS or the underlying gamepad library (GLFW/SDL_GameControllerDB). For example, a USB GameCube controller may be labeled as "XBox Controller".
- N64 Start button may not be detected by some USB adapters. If your Start button doesn't register after remapping, press Spacebar during the remap sequence to skip it. The Start overlay will be disabled when its value is 0 (the default).
- C-buttons and Start sharing indices: On some adapters, C-buttons may share button indices with standard controller inputs (e.g., C-Up and Start both using index 15). The "Reset to Default" option restores the factory defaults which should resolve any conflicts.
- C++23 compatible compiler (GCC 11+, Clang14+, or MSVC 2022+)
- CMake 3.15+
- Ninja (recommended for faster builds)
Using the provided CMake presets:
git clone https://github.com/nantr0nic/PadCast.git
cd PadCast
# Build the release build (optimized for performance)
cmake --preset=linux-release # or windows-release on Windows
cmake --build --preset=linux-release
# Or, if you want to build a debug version (will open with debug info window)
cmake --preset=linux-debug # or windows-debug on Windows
cmake --build --preset=linux-debugIf you prefer not to use presets or don't have Clang/Ninja installed:
git clone https://github.com/nantr0nic/PadCast.git
cd PadCast
cmake -B build -S . -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build buildAfter building, the executable will be located in:
- Preset builds: out/build/[preset-name]/PadCast/
- Manual builds: build/PadCast/
Notes:
- Dependencies are automatically downloaded via CMake's FetchContent
- First build may take longer as dependencies are fetched and compiled
- Ninja builds are significantly faster for incremental rebuilds
- I'd love to hear from you if you have any thoughts, comments, suggestions, etc.!
- SNES and N64 controllers are currently supported, with full joystick and C-button support for N64. Future versions aim to add GameCube controller support, and eventually Xbox and PlayStation controllers.
- Previous versions of this program would be (falsely) flagged by Windows Defender as a trojan but I've since fixed the way this program is compiled and it has (so far...) not been flagged. It is not a trojan. If your Defender DOES flag it, let me know so I can continue troubleshooting it.
This project is licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License. See the LICENSE file for details.
Developed by nantr0nic, with input from dank_meats.
This project uses raylib, raylib-cpp, and mINI -- thank you for making this project possible!