Series: alt.ctrl activities; builds on Game controllers
A keyboard and mouse adapter lets a console take a computer keyboard and mouse in place of its game controller.
Materials
| Item | Amazon | AIMZENIX |
|---|
| AIMZENIX keyboard and mouse adapter, the BLADER PRO (AX160), for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox 360, Switch 2, Switch, PS4 and PC | B0H2MKR32F | AX160 |
- A computer keyboard, wired or wireless: AIMZENIX recommends a mechanical one, and one with magnetic switches does not work
- A mouse, wired or wireless: it works best at a 1000 Hz polling rate, and one that polls at 4, 8 or 16 kHz must be switched down to 1000 Hz
- The console's own controller, an official one, for the PS4 and the Xboxes
- An OTG adapter, to use the Switch in handheld mode
- A phone with AIMZENIX's GEEKVICE app, which connects to the adapter over Bluetooth
- A 3.5 mm headset (optional)
Skills
- Changing a console's controller settings
- Mapping keys and mouse buttons to a controller's buttons
- Tuning a response curve and a dead zone
Instructions
- Choose a keyboard and mouse, wired or wireless. AIMZENIX recommends a mechanical keyboard; one with magnetic switches does not work. A mouse works best at a 1000 Hz polling rate; one that polls at 4, 8 or 16 kHz must be switched down to 1000 Hz.
- Set up the console. On the PS4, set it to its USB wired connection mode, in the system settings. On the Switch or Switch 2, turn on Pro Controller Wired Communication, under Settings, Controllers and Sensors.
- Plug the adapter's console connection, port 1 in AIMZENIX's manual, into a USB port on the console, or on a PC. For the Switch, use the dock's USB port, or in handheld mode an OTG adapter on the Switch's USB-C port.
- On the PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series and Xbox 360, plug the console's own controller, an official one, into the adapter's controller port, port 6. On the Switch, choose Switch mode in the GEEKVICE app instead (the app step connects it), and wait a few seconds. The mode light, L1, stops flashing white and stays on: blue for the PS4, green for the Xboxes and the PC, red for the Switch.
- Plug the keyboard and mouse into ports 4 and 5; lights L3 and L4 come on. A 3.5 mm headset goes in port 3. If the console's port cannot power the keyboard and mouse, add power at port 2.
- Open the GEEKVICE app on a phone and connect to the adapter over Bluetooth. Map keys and mouse buttons to the controller's buttons, and shape the mouse's aim with the response curve and the dead zone. Save each game's settings as one of the adapter's 10 profiles, and switch between them with a hotkey or the app.
- If the mode light keeps flashing white, replug the cables, try another USB port and another cable, and check that the controller is an official one. On the Switch, also restart it; on the Xboxes, update the controller's firmware; on a PC, restart it and update its "X360 driver".
- Play a game you know, first with the controller, then with the keyboard and mouse, and notice which moves get easier and which harder.
Variations
- Build one: a Feather RP2040 with USB Type A Host running HID Remapper, set up in a browser, can map keyboard keys and mouse buttons to gamepad buttons. The Nintendo Switch is the only console it works with out of the box; the PlayStation 5 needs an adapter or an authentication dongle. Intervene in USB Controller I/O Streams with an MCU Interposer gives the boards and libraries to write your own.
- On a PC: plug the adapter into a PC (its mode light shows green, the Xbox colour) to bring keyboard-and-mouse mappings, curves and profiles to games that take only a controller.
- Another substitution: a phone's touch screen as the gamepad, in A Phone as a Gamepad.
Related resources
This activity by Adrian Freed is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0): you may share and adapt it with attribution, for non-commercial purposes such as personal projects and teaching, and you must share adaptations under the same licence. Product names and links belong to their suppliers.