Native Controller Support
Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2026 9:38 am
tldr: How should one go about creating an expansion to the current console port. Specifically, detecting analog input for character movementt. Tracking gyro for mouse/camera movement. Enabling all buttons on the controller to be bound through the client. (no reliance on steam input / joy2key)
I am one of these players who struggle to sit with a keyboard and mouse for long. So I have for a long time now been playing, and tinkering with playing WoW with controllers. Recently i have been playing on wow forever. and while their controller support is far from good enough (yet), there are modern features that removes huge headaches from setting up the controller support.
I have played with the following types of controllers with varying degrees of comfort.
* Traditional xbox controller can work, but is lacking in features.
* PS5 controller brings more functionality, trackpad and gyroscope.
* Steam controller. New kid. Most features of all controllers.
Wow forever uses Xbox layout. This is the most limited feature set of all controllers (even smaller than nintendo switch), and it is the ONLY features that are supported. There are no possibility to bind more buttons, or use gyroscope/ trackpad without going through the steam input mouse simulation layer.
When that is said. There are a lot of wizardry that has been done, to make this experience ALMOST perfect. In particular, the most critical aspects are the analog characted movement. You can control your character like in a 3d platformer. You pick a direction and you move that direction. and using a small input, makes you either RP walk, or backpedal depending on the camera orientation. And to be honest. This feature alone has made me unable to go back.
Secondary feature is the action targeting, as I understand it. with tweaking on the settings of superwow, and in combination with a smaller addon. This can work in the current client.
same for contextual interaction with targets in proximity. This is something that is supported by the interact.dll already.
So this whole talk leads back to: Is it possible to write a .dll and have it as an approved mod, similar to the other current mods? The purpose of this would be to create a layer of controller input detection that is fed into the engine. Making it possible to bind analog, gyro, trackpad and buttons directly. And make addons like consoleport setup more fluently, and giving the possibility to further develop console port for the modern controllers.
I have been working on prototyping the controller input layer. But also, i don't want to risk running into a perma ban from a modded client. So here I am reaching out for someone more knowledgable than me.
Thank you!
I am one of these players who struggle to sit with a keyboard and mouse for long. So I have for a long time now been playing, and tinkering with playing WoW with controllers. Recently i have been playing on wow forever. and while their controller support is far from good enough (yet), there are modern features that removes huge headaches from setting up the controller support.
I have played with the following types of controllers with varying degrees of comfort.
* Traditional xbox controller can work, but is lacking in features.
* PS5 controller brings more functionality, trackpad and gyroscope.
* Steam controller. New kid. Most features of all controllers.
Wow forever uses Xbox layout. This is the most limited feature set of all controllers (even smaller than nintendo switch), and it is the ONLY features that are supported. There are no possibility to bind more buttons, or use gyroscope/ trackpad without going through the steam input mouse simulation layer.
When that is said. There are a lot of wizardry that has been done, to make this experience ALMOST perfect. In particular, the most critical aspects are the analog characted movement. You can control your character like in a 3d platformer. You pick a direction and you move that direction. and using a small input, makes you either RP walk, or backpedal depending on the camera orientation. And to be honest. This feature alone has made me unable to go back.
Secondary feature is the action targeting, as I understand it. with tweaking on the settings of superwow, and in combination with a smaller addon. This can work in the current client.
same for contextual interaction with targets in proximity. This is something that is supported by the interact.dll already.
So this whole talk leads back to: Is it possible to write a .dll and have it as an approved mod, similar to the other current mods? The purpose of this would be to create a layer of controller input detection that is fed into the engine. Making it possible to bind analog, gyro, trackpad and buttons directly. And make addons like consoleport setup more fluently, and giving the possibility to further develop console port for the modern controllers.
I have been working on prototyping the controller input layer. But also, i don't want to risk running into a perma ban from a modded client. So here I am reaching out for someone more knowledgable than me.
Thank you!