Ask Different is a question and answer site for power users of Apple hardware and software. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I purchased a PlayStation 3 controller for use with my Mac. It's paired via Bluetooth. It works great in emulators such as Snes9x, but I'd like to use it for other things as well. Is there any software that will allow me to map buttons on the controller to keystrokes?
I've tried USB Overdrive and as far as I can tell, it doesn't do what I want.
I'm on Mac OS X 10.6.6.
Yeah there's an application called "ControllerMate" that you can get here http://www.orderedbytes.com/controllermate/ . You pair the controller to the mac with USB (I think Bluetooth will work too but you might have to look up special instructions), then use this app to bind the controller functions to keys and mouse movements. It works really well. I used to use it to play things like Portal because they don't natively support the PS3 controller.
Here is the mapping I determined for my PS3 controller (connected via Bluetooth):
The OSX mapping is used in games that directly support controllers, as Dustforce - where the SELECT button is mapped as pad0_btn3; there you would, of course, not use Enjoy.
Enjoy is a free program for Mac OS X 10.5+, focused on simplicity.
+------------------+---------------+-------------+
| button | Enjoy mapping | OSX mapping |
+------------------+---------------+-------------+
| left | 8 | 7 |
| up | 5 | 4 |
| right | 6 | 5 |
| down | 7 | 6 |
| L1 | 11 | 10 |
| L2 | 9 | 8 |
| R1 | 12 | 11 |
| R2 | 10 | 9 |
| select | 1 | 0 |
| start | 4 | 3 |
| PS-btn | 17 | 16 |
| L3(left analog) | 2 | 1 |
| R3(right analog) | 3 | 2 |
| ◻ square | 16 | 15 |
| △ triangle | 13 | 12 |
| ◯ circle | 14 | 13 |
| X cross | 15 | 14 |
+------------------+---------------+-------------+
You could try the procedure described here http://forums.macnn.com/77/gaming/377671/gaming-on-mac-with-ps3-controller/
The PS3 remote works with Remote Buddy if you're prepared to pay 20 euros (obviously test it out first though — it has a free trial period)
