StickBind

A simple DLL that maps an XInput controller to keyboard and mouse for Windows games which have no controller support. Useful for when a very simple and lightweight solution is desirable over a more full-featured solution such as AntiMicroX. Similar in concept to GtoMnk, but with more of a focus on simplicity and ease of use with everything configured from the INI file.

A mapper DLL is loaded into the game process, which then polls the controller and emits the keys / mouse events configured in a plain INI file.

Status: Feature-complete for the intended use case. Bugs and extra features will be handled as they come up.

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Features

• All standard Xbox 360 digital buttons (face, shoulders, Start/Back, stick clicks, D-Pad)
• Analog triggers as digital buttons (configurable threshold)
• Relative mouse movement with circular deadzone, response curve, and sensitivity
• Mouse buttons mappable from any controller input
• Multi-key bindings. One button can send several keys at once
• Two modifier layers. Hold Mod1 or Mod2 to switch to alternate button/stick maps
• Full keyboard coverage: letters, digits, punctuation, modifiers, arrows, F-keys, numpad
• Keys are sent as hardware scan codes, so games that read DirectInput, Raw Input or SDL see them
• Input is only sent while the game is the foreground window
• No GUI required

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How the DLL gets into the game

A. Recommended — setdll

Add the mapper to the game EXE import table once. After that the game loads the DLL itself; no special launcher is needed.

1. Put the matching DLL and StickBind.ini next to the game EXE.

2. Run the matching architecture of setdll. Select the game EXE and the DLL and click inject. The game EXE will be patched.

3. Start the game normally.

To remove later, repeat steps 1 and 2. Instead of inject, the option will now be to restore.

Architecture of setdll, the DLL, and the game must match.

B. Optional fallback — launcher injection

Use when you do not want to modify the game EXE.

1. Put matching StickBindLauncher32/64.exe, DLL, and StickBind.ini together beside the game EXE.
2. Set [Launcher] GAME= (and optional ARGS=).
3. Run the launcher instead of the game EXE.

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Requirements

Build

• MinGW cross-compilers
  • 32-bit: i686-w64-mingw32-gcc (Fedora: mingw32-gcc)
  • 64-bit: x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc (Fedora: mingw64-gcc)

Run

• Windows game
• XInput-compatible controller
• For option A: patched game EXE
• For option B: matching StickBindLauncher32/64.exe

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Build

On Fedora. Not tested on other distros

sudo dnf install mingw32-gcc mingw64-gcc
./build.sh

Arch	Launcher (optional)	DLL
32-bit	StickBindLauncher32.exe	SB32.dll
64-bit	StickBindLauncher64.exe	SB64.dll

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Configuration (StickBind.ini)

Place next to the DLL.

[Launcher]

Only used by the optional launcher:

GAME=Game.exe
ARGS=

Not required when using a patched EXE. Relative paths resolve from the launcher directory.

[Controller]

Key	Default	Meaning
Deadzone	20	Stick deadzone % (0–90)
MouseSensitivity	10	Stick→mouse speed (1–100)
InvertY	false	Invert vertical mouse axis
TriggerThreshold	30	1–250; LT/RT count as pressed at or above this
ScanCodes	true	Send keyboard input as scan codes (see below)
RequireFocus	true	Only send input while the game window is in the foreground (see below)

Boolean values accept true, 1, yes or on for true. Anything else is false.

ScanCodes

With true, keys are sent the way a physical keyboard sends them. This is what most games need, and games that ignore virtual-key-only input (many SDL, DirectInput and Raw Input titles) will only respond with this on. Set it to false to send plain virtual-key events instead, which is only worth trying if a specific game or program misbehaves with scan codes. PAUSE and NUMLOCK always use the virtual-key path either way.

RequireFocus

With true, nothing is sent while another window is in front, and any held keys are released when focus is lost. This stops the controller from typing into other windows after an alt-tab. The check passes only if the foreground window belongs to the same process as the DLL. If a game uses a launcher or wrapper that owns the visible window, set this to false, or no input will be sent. If input is completely dead in a game, try this setting first.

Mouse speed

Stick-to-mouse movement is scaled by elapsed time, so MouseSensitivity gives the same cursor speed regardless of system timer resolution.

[Modifiers]

Up to two modifier buttons (any button name, or NONE):

[Modifiers]
Mod1=LB
Mod2=RB

Held	Layer used
neither	Base ([Buttons], sticks)
Mod1 only	Buttons_Mod1, *Stick_Mod1
Mod2 only	Buttons_Mod2, *Stick_Mod2
both	Mod1 wins

A modifier button does not fire its own base binding while it is acting as a modifier. If you want it to send something in a layer, list it explicitly in that layer's section (see below). There is no tap-versus-hold behavior: a modifier button cannot also send a key when pressed alone.

[Buttons] (base layer)

Key in ini	Controller input
A B X Y	Face
LB RB	Shoulders
START BACK	Menu
LS RS	Stick clicks
DUP DDOWN DLEFT DRIGHT	D-Pad
LT RT	Triggers (digital)

Each value is a key, mouse button, comma multi-key list, or NONE.

[Buttons]
A=SPACE
X=R,F
RT=MOUSE1
LB=NONE

Multi-key (comma)

Works on base and mod layers:

X=R,F
LB=SHIFT,A

Up to 8 codes per binding. Press sends all downs; release sends ups in reverse order.

The comma is the separator, so the comma key itself cannot be written as ,. Use COMMA (for example A=COMMA or A=SHIFT,COMMA).

Shared outputs

Several inputs can be bound to the same key or mouse button (for example A=W and DUP=W). The key stays held until every input using it has been released, so letting go of one does not cut off the other.

Mouse wheel bindings fire once per press, not continuously while held.

Modifier layers

Only list overrides. Unlisted buttons keep the base binding.

[Buttons_Mod1]
X=R,F
A=E

[Buttons_Mod2]
A=C

To disable a base binding inside a layer, set it to NONE:

[Buttons_Mod1]
B=NONE

Sticks

[LeftStick]
Mode=Keys
UP=W
DOWN=S
LEFT=A
RIGHT=D

[RightStick]
Mode=Mouse

Optional per-modifier stick maps. A section is active if it contains Mode= or at least one direction:

[LeftStick_Mod1]
UP=I

[RightStick_Mod1]
Mode=Keys
LEFT=Q
RIGHT=E
UP=NONE
DOWN=NONE

Like the buttons, only list the directions you want to change. Unlisted directions keep the base stick binding, so the LeftStick_Mod1 example above changes only UP and leaves S, A and D as they were. Use NONE to unbind a direction in that layer. If Mode= is left out, the layer keeps the base stick's mode.

While that modifier is held, the stick uses the layer map (e.g. mouse → keys). When released, it returns to the base stick map.

Switching layers while inputs are held

If a button or stick direction is held when you press or release a modifier, and its binding is the same in both layers, it stays held with no release and re-press. Bindings that differ between the two layers are released and the new layer's binding takes over.

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Accepted key names

Case-insensitive.

Disable: NONE OFF

Mouse: MOUSE1/LBUTTON/LMB, MOUSE2/RBUTTON/RMB, MOUSE3/MBUTTON/MMB, MOUSE4/XBUTTON1, MOUSE5/XBUTTON2, MOUSEWHEELUP and MOUSEWHEELDOWN

Letters/digits: A–Z, 0–9

Punctuation (character or name):

Character	Names
[ {	LBRACKET OPENBRACKET
] }	RBRACKET CLOSEBRACKET
\ |	BACKSLASH
; :	SEMICOLON
' "	QUOTE
, <	COMMA (the character , itself cannot be used, see above)
. >	PERIOD DOT
/ ?	SLASH
` ~	GRAVE TILDE
- _	MINUS DASH
= +	EQUALS

Punctuation names a physical key, not a typed character. The two characters in each row are the same key, and Shift is never added for you. = and + are identical, and so are ; and :, a and A, and so on. To get the shifted result, add SHIFT yourself, for example SHIFT,EQUALS. The characters match the keycaps on a US keyboard layout. On other layouts, ; / ` [ ] \ and ' can land on different physical keys.

Named: SPACE ENTER/RETURN ESC/ESCAPE TAB SHIFT/LSHIFT RSHIFT CTRL/CONTROL/LCTRL RCTRL ALT/LALT RALT BACKSPACE/BKSP/BACK DELETE/DEL INSERT/INS HOME END PGUP/PAGEUP PGDN/PAGEDOWN UP DOWN LEFT RIGHT CAPSLOCK/CAPS NUMLOCK SCROLLLOCK/SCROLL PAUSE/BREAK PRINTSCREEN/PRTSC LWIN RWIN APPS/MENU F1–F12

Numpad: NUMPAD0–NUMPAD9 (or NUM0–NUM9), NUMPAD*/MULTIPLY, NUMPAD+/ADD, NUMPAD-/SUBTRACT, NUMPAD./DECIMAL, NUMPAD//DIVIDE

An unrecognized name is silently ignored and the binding does nothing, so check spelling if a mapping seems dead.

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How the mapper works

1. DLL starts a background thread on process attach.
2. Thread reads StickBind.ini beside the DLL.
3. Polls the first attached XInput controller that sends input (~250 Hz) and stays on that controller until it disconnects.
4. Emits SendInput key/mouse events on edges; relative mouse for stick→mouse.
5. Held inputs are released on disconnect, on focus loss (with RequireFocus), and when the DLL unloads.

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Troubleshooting and limitations

If a game does not respond, work through these in order:

1. Set RequireFocus=false, in case a launcher or wrapper owns the foreground window.
2. Set ScanCodes=false, in case the game handles scan codes badly.
3. Run the game and any launcher at the same privilege level. Windows blocks input injected into an elevated window from a non-elevated process.
4. Confirm the DLL, setdll and the game are all the same architecture (32 or 64-bit).

Known limitations:

• Games with anti-cheat may block or flag injected input and DLLs. Do not use this in online games with anti-cheat.
• Some games discard input generated by SendInput. There is no workaround short of a virtual input driver.
• If a game also reads the controller natively, it receives both the real controller input and the mapped keyboard/mouse input. Turn off the game's own controller support if prompts or controls conflict.
• Only XInput controllers are supported.

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License

StickBind is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See the LICENSE file for the full text.

Third-party component: setdll

The setdll-x86.exe and setdll-x64.exe binaries are provided for user convenience.

• Original project: https://github.com/Bush2021/setdll

• License: GNU General Public License v3.0

• Corresponding source code for the exact binaries shipped in this release is included in the release files at:

  src/setdll_src.zip
  

These binaries are distributed under the principle of aggregation and are not part of the StickBind program itself.