DXController is a mod that implements broad gamepad support for the original Deus Ex (2000, GOTY edition), covering Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and other SDL-recognized controllers. The game should feel as if it was designed to be played with a controller, with context-dependent controls and new UI elements. Gameplay is fully vanilla.
DXController adds much better controller feel, a weapon and augmentation equipping wheel, an on-screen keyboard for terminals, and complete controller navigation for every menu, conversation, and in-world device (keypads, ATMs, computers, security terminals), so the game is playable end to end without a mouse or keyboard.
All development of this mod has been done with an Xbox One controller. It should work with every other controller supported by SDL (which is basically all of them), but all the on-screen button hints use Xbox controller icons.
Trigger warning: LLM assisted with parts of this project
- Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition — the standard GOG or Steam release.
- A modern renderer — not specific to DXController, but the original Direct3D renderer no longer works on current hardware. At least not on my machine. YMMV. See Renderer.
Special thanks to @mkentie for all his contributions to Deus Ex and Unreal Engine 1 modding. This project would not have been possible without his Deus Exe. I modified it to inject controller events, handle deadzone and curve mapping, and to patch some Deus Ex engine bugs I found during development.
Also thanks to @davhuit for getting the French version working
Get the latest release from the releases page.
The release .zip contains everything you need:
| File | What it is |
|---|---|
DeusEx.exe |
Launcher with the built-in controller driver |
SDL3.dll |
Controller backend the launcher loads (SDL3) |
DeusEx.u |
Stock package with small controller hooks added |
DXController.u |
The mod |
- Copy
DeusEx.exe,SDL3.dll,DeusEx.u, andDXController.ufrom the release.zipinto the game'sSystemfolder (e.g.C:\GOG Games\Deus Ex GOTY\System\), overwriting the existingDeusEx.exeandDeusEx.u. - Install a modern renderer and select it in the launcher — see Renderer.
If you have any other mods installed, start with a fresh game install and install only DXController. Compatibility with other mods has not been tested.
I highly recommend enabling "Toggle Crouch" in the control settings.
In the game, go to Settings -> Controller and configure at least your controller's deadzone. The mod does not apply the comically large deadzone used by most games, so if your controller sticks are not in good condition you will need to increase them. The same screen has a right-stick sensitivity setting — lower it if turning at full stick deflection is too fast, and an "Invert look Y-axis" toggle.
The mod can autosave during play. It is off by default; turn it on and set the interval (default 5 minutes) in Settings → Autosave. Writing each save can cause a brief stutter.
The launcher also repairs a bug in the stock game that caps save slots at 1000: past that point every new save, autosave or manual, silently overwrites the same slot and destroys the save already there. With the launcher running, saves keep counting up normally.
The mod works on Linux and the Steam Deck under Proton. Some users have reported that they needed to set the Proton compatibility option to "Proton Experimental".
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| Left stick | Move |
| Right stick | Look |
| RT | Fire |
| LT | Toggle scope / laser |
| A | Jump |
| B | Reload |
| X | Use / interact |
| Y | Change ammo |
| LB | Inventory / weapon wheel |
| RB | Augmentation wheel |
| Back | Toggle inventory / persona menu |
| Start | Main menu |
| L-stick click | Crouch |
| R-stick click | unbound |
| D-pad up | Belt slot 1 |
| D-pad left | Belt slot 2 |
| D-pad right | Belt slot 3 |
| D-pad down | Belt slot 4 |
In menus, conversations, and devices the D-pad moves the selection, A confirms, and B cancels. LB/RB cycle between tabs in the inventory and persona screens.
On-screen button hints show what each button does for the selected item. In the inventory screen the controller-specific actions are:
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| A | Equip — or Use, for medkits, biocells, and armour/camo (Ballistic Armor, Thermoptic Camo, HazMat Suit, Rebreather, Tech Goggles) |
| Y | Move item — then D-pad to position, A to place, B to cancel |
| L-stick click | Change ammo (weapons that can load more than one ammo type) |
| X | Assign item to a belt slot |
| R-stick click | Drop item |
You need one of these; the game's own Direct3D renderer no longer initialises in fullscreen on current hardware, and the game drops to the software renderer and shows a black screen. Modern renderers also look better and run better on today's machines.
I have tested these and can recommend them:
The D3D10 renderer is better than the D3D11 renderer, so pick it unless you have a good reason not to.
Each one comes with its own install instructions. After installing, pick it from the "Renderer" dropdown under Configure in the launcher.
The game didn't ship a French localization, but there is a mod for it. But it's not just a localization, it also changes some base-game scripts, so it's not compatible with DXController. But @davhuit made a merge mod to integrate the French patch into DXController. It's available here. I haven't tested this, if you encounter any bugs using it, please don't report them here unless you can reproduce them with the base DXController version.
You do not need to read any of this to use the mod. Ignore it unless you have a specific need.
Controllers with buttons beyond the standard layout — DualSense Edge
paddles, the DualSense/DS4 touchpad click, Switch capture, Series X
share, 8BitDo/Flydigi/HORI back buttons — get bindable slots
automatically: paddle1-paddle4, misc1, and touchpad map to
Joy11-Joy16. Bind them like any other gamepad button, in
[Extension.InputExt] in User.ini, e.g. Joy16=Button bFire.
WARNING: Unlike the rest of the mod, I have not tested any of the features described in this section, because I only have a regular Xbox One controller. I added this due to user requests, I think it should work but can't guarantee anything. If you do try it, let me know how it goes.
Two DeusEx.ini sections give finer control, read at launcher startup
and on GamepadReload (Settings → Controller triggers a reload after
any change). UE1 ini files have no comment syntax — don't add ;
comments to these sections.
[DXController.GamepadButtonMap]
misc2=UnknownD8
y=Joy16
touchpad=Joy4
guide=NoneThe left side is one of SDL's button names: a b x y back guide start leftstick rightstick leftshoulder rightshoulder dpup dpdown dpleft dpright misc1 paddle1 paddle2 paddle3 paddle4 touchpad misc2 misc3 misc4 misc5 misc6. The right side is an engine key name (without the
IK_ prefix) — the same names usable in [Extension.InputExt]
bindings, including UnknownXX slots — or None to unmap. Above:
misc2 gets bound to a spare slot, y and touchpad swap their
default slots, and guide is explicitly unmapped.
Two buttons can't share a destination slot. Remapping a button onto a
slot another button already holds (by default or by an earlier line)
needs the displaced button remapped too — the two-line swap above is
the idiom — or set to None; otherwise the remap is rejected and
logged, and the button falls back to its default slot. A button moved
outside the Joy1..16 range (e.g. onto UnknownD8) still works as a
binding but won't register as gamepad activity for cursor-mode
switching.
[DXController.GamepadAxisMap]
gyro.yaw=UnknownEA Scale=120 Deadzone=0.02
gyro.pitch=UnknownEB Scale=120 Deadzone=0.02
touchpad.x=UnknownDF
joyaxis.6=UnknownD8 Deadzone=0.1Sources: gyro.pitch|yaw|roll (rad/s), accel.x|y|z (m/s²),
touchpad.x|y (-1..1 while the pad is touched), and joyaxis.N
(the underlying joystick's Nth raw axis, normalized -1..1). The
right side is an engine key name as above, followed by optional
Scale= (default 1000) and Deadzone= (default 0, in the source's
own units). Bind the resulting axis in [Extension.InputExt], e.g.
UnknownEA=Axis aExtra0 Speed=1.
gyro.* and accel.* entries need an explicit Scale — their
natural units (rad/s, m/s²) are far below 1, so without one the axis
never leaves the deadzone. A joyaxis.N entry needs a Deadzone
if that axis doesn't rest at zero — some sticks report a non-zero
floor at rest, and without a deadzone the axis reads as permanently
active, which pins the controller as the active input source and
keeps the mouse cursor from reappearing.
Free engine-key slots for these maps: UnknownD8, UnknownD9,
UnknownDA, UnknownDF, UnknownEA, UnknownEB, UnknownF4,
UnknownF5, UnknownA4-UnknownB9, and UnknownC1-UnknownC7.
Axis-map slots aren't visible to the mod's own cursor-mode and
menu-navigation logic (only JoyX/Y/U/V and the Joy1..16/D-pad
range are) — they drive bindings only, not menu/UI input.
Stock SDL (the controller library the launcher uses) cannot see Elite paddle presses on Windows — this is an SDL/Windows limitation, not something DXController can fix. Remap the paddles to standard buttons using Microsoft's Xbox Accessories app, or use Steam Input (which presents the pad to the game as a virtual Xbox controller with paddle presses arriving as ordinary buttons). Paddles on DualSense Edge, 8BitDo, Flydigi, and similar pads work natively with no workaround.
The pre-game launcher and "FixApp" dialogs use the same SDL gamepad support as the game, so any supported controller can navigate them.
If your controller isn't recognized, drop a
gamecontrollerdb.txt
next to DeusEx.exe; the launcher loads it automatically if present.
SDL3.dll can be swapped for a newer official x86 build (from
libsdl.org) to pick up
controller-support updates without waiting for a new DXController
release.
See development.md for the repo layout, build
instructions, and architecture notes.
An LLM was used to assist in the creation of this mod. I have been programming for a couple of decades now, and I used that background to make every technical and design decision in this project. I find the slop generators quite useful for the menial implementation tasks when I've already prepared a detailed specification, but they can't be trusted to make any real decisions or you'll end up with code that nobody understands. I have also personally done extensive playtesting with the mod. This is not some low-effort vibecoded project where someone just asked claude to make a thing and called it a day.
It's sad that I have to write this section, but I can't deny that there is a ridiculous amount of slopware being pushed out these days. These projects look very professional, but as soon as you try them you find obvious bugs that make you question whether anyone even tried to use the thing. Well, this is not one of those projects.
The other reason for writing this is that some people have a strong, visceral reaction to anything even tangentially related to LLMs. They do not accept that it is possible to write useful software if an LLM came anywhere near it, no matter how it was used. I disagree with this, but I respect their opinion, and much as I would tell a vegan if there were meat in a sandwich, here I am telling those with inflexible opinions on LLMs that their time is better spent elsewhere.
GPLv3+
Files modified from the original game are copyright Ion Storm and no license claim is made for them.
This project uses a modified version of Deus Exe by kentie. I did not find any license information for it, but copyright of the original Deus Exe is held by the original author. My modifications are licensed GPLv3 or any license the original author chooses.