Cities: Skylines on a Mac with a controller
The Cities: Skylines layout is built into InputConfig, free on the Mac App Store. You don't have to make an account, there are no subscriptions, and nothing is locked. Optimized for Apple silicon.
On a Mac: Native on macOS through Steam. The console editions have controller interfaces. The Mac version does not. This layout is the mouse game from a pad.
Yes, Cities: Skylines plays on a Mac with a controller through this layout, even though the Mac version has no controller support. The console editions had radial menus and a cursor that snapped to roads. The Mac version does not, so this is the mouse game from a pad: a pointer, a panning camera, and the four buttons a city builder needs, which are pause and three speeds.
On this page: 8 sections
The layout, control by control
How the layout thinks
- Pointer and camera. The left stick is the pointer. The right stick pans (W, A, S and D in the game). Zoom is on the bumpers.
- Place and cancel. The right trigger places and selects (left click). The left trigger cancels and rotates (right click).
- Time. The bottom face button pauses and resumes, and the other three are speeds 1, 2 and 3.
- Menu. Escape on Options.
Pause, place, unpause, wait: the rhythm of the game sits on the four face buttons.
Tune it to how you build
- Rotate and raise. Right click rotates a building, and the left trigger already does. For roads, Page Up and Page Down raise and lower the road. Put them on the stick clicks.
- Camera rotate. Put Q and E on a chord with the right stick rows or on D-pad left and right.
- Slow pointer. Zoning is precise. Add a half-speed pointer behind a held bumper.
- Info views. Put the number keys and letters on a chord with the D-pad.
- Skylines II. Not on Mac. This page is for the original.
The slow pointer is what makes zoning comfortable with a stick.
Cities: Skylines controller support: controller or keyboard
Steam's store page lists no controller support for Cities: Skylines, so it was made for a keyboard and mouse, and that is how it expects to be played. A controller still works: this layout sends the game's keys and mouse movement from the pad, so to the game you are simply typing and pointing. No controller support listed means the layout does the work, not the game.
From Steam's listing, checked in October 2026. Every game's listing is in Mac games with controller support.
If your controller is not working in Cities: Skylines
When Cities: Skylines does not react to your controller on a Mac, climb this ladder, smallest step first:
- Check that the Mac sees the controller. Open the gamepad tester and press a button. If nothing lights up there, the problem is the connection, and a controller that is connected but not working covers that first.
- Check the Steam Input setting for Cities: Skylines. In Steam, open Cities: Skylines, Properties, Controller, and change the Steam Input override. A controller that works in Steam but not in the game goes through each choice.
- Play it from keys. If Cities: Skylines still ignores the pad, activate this layout. It sends the keyboard and mouse controls Cities: Skylines already reads. The layout works whether or not Cities: Skylines ever sees the controller.
Get it in two clicks
- Get InputConfig free on the Mac App Store, open it, and click Smart Preset Maker on the welcome screen.
- Search for Cities: Skylines and pick it. The layout is created as a preset in your sidebar, named and ready.
- Press Activate. Every row can be changed afterwards: the editor's Scan button rebinds any control the moment you touch it.
To check the controller itself first, the gamepad tester shows every button and stick live in your browser.
Cities: Skylines controls: every button and the key it sends
The Sends column is Cities: Skylines's default keyboard and mouse controls, as this layout expects them. If you changed a key in the game's settings, change the same row in InputConfig.
| Controller | Sends | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Left stick left | Mouse motion left (speed 16) | Cursor left |
| Left stick right | Mouse motion right (speed 16) | Cursor right |
| Left stick up | Mouse motion up (speed 16) | Cursor up |
| Left stick down | Mouse motion down (speed 16) | Cursor down |
| Right stick left | A | Pan left (A) |
| Right stick right | D | Pan right (D) |
| Right stick up | W | Pan up (W) |
| Right stick down | S | Pan down (S) |
| Right trigger | Left click | Place / select (left click) |
| Left trigger | Right click | Cancel / rotate (right click) |
| LB / L1 | Scroll down | Zoom out |
| RB / R1 | Scroll up | Zoom in |
| A / Cross | Space | Pause (Space) |
| B / Circle | 1 | Speed 1 |
| X / Square | 2 | Speed 2 |
| Y / Triangle | 3 | Speed 3 |
| Start / Options | Escape | Menu (Esc) |
Button names follow the Xbox / PlayStation pair shown in the editor, so A / Cross is the bottom face button on either pad. On a Switch Pro Controller the bottom button is labeled B; the mapping still fires on position.
Questions
Does Cities: Skylines on Mac support controllers?
No. This layout gives it a pad through the mouse and keyboard, with the pointer on the left stick and the camera on the right.
Can I play Cities: Skylines on a Mac with the console controls?
Only as a stream. Xbox Cloud Gaming carries Cities: Skylines Remastered, the console edition with its controller interface (checked September 2026), and it plays in a browser on the Mac. That is not the Steam version you own. For the Mac version, this layout is the way.
Does Cities: Skylines have controller support?
Not by itself. Steam lists no controller support for Cities: Skylines. A controller still works through a layout like this one, which sends the game's keys.
Is Cities: Skylines better with a controller or a keyboard?
It was made for a keyboard and mouse: Steam lists no controller support for Cities: Skylines. A controller still works through this layout, which sends the game's own keys and mouse movement.
Why is my controller not working in Cities: Skylines on a Mac?
First check the Mac itself sees the controller, with the gamepad tester. If it does and Cities: Skylines still ignores it, change the game's Steam Input override in its Steam Properties, and if that does not help, activate the Cities: Skylines layout in InputConfig, which sends the game's keyboard and mouse controls from the controller.
Can I play Cities: Skylines on an M1 Mac or a MacBook Air?
Cities: Skylines has a native Mac version, and its minimum requirements are listed on its Steam store page, so check your Mac against that list. I have not tested it on each Mac. The controller layout itself works the same on any Mac that runs InputConfig.
Related
Completely free. You don't have to make an account, there are no subscriptions, and nothing is locked. Optimized for Apple silicon. Open source on GitHub.
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