Skyrim on a Mac with a controller
The Skyrim 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: No Mac build. It runs on Apple silicon through CrossOver or the Game Porting Toolkit, and Xbox Cloud Gaming carries Special Edition, which reads the controller itself. Inside a wrapper the controller frequently is not seen. This layout sends keyboard and mouse instead.
Skyrim plays on a Mac with a controller through CrossOver, the Game Porting Toolkit or Xbox Cloud Gaming, and when a wrapper does not show the game your pad, this layout plays it from any controller. Skyrim was built for a pad, so use the native scheme whenever the game sees it.
This is the keyboard and mouse Skyrim sent from a controller, and it has one thing the console scheme never had: with a keyboard, favorites are hotkeys.
On this page: 8 sections
The layout, control by control
How the layout thinks
- Two hands. Skyrim's whole design is two hands, so the triggers are the Dragonborn's: the right trigger is the right hand (left click), the left trigger the left hand (right click). Sword and shield, two swords, a spell in each, or a bow drawn with one and released with the other.
- Face buttons. Jump on the bottom, sneak (Ctrl) on the right, ready and sheathe (R) on the left, activate (E) on the top.
- Bumpers. Q for favorites on the left, T to wait on the right.
- Sprint. The left stick click sends Shift, which in Skyrim is run, not sprint. Change its output to Alt, the game's sprint key, if you want sprint there.
- Menus. The D-pad is map, journal, inventory and magic (M, J, I, P). Tab for the menu on Create, Escape on Options.
Check the stick click first: Shift runs in Skyrim, and Alt is the sprint.
Tune it to how you play
- Favorites as hotkeys. The keyboard version lets you assign favorites to 1 through 8. Put 1 to 4 on D-pad rows with While holding set to L1, and the rest on the face buttons behind the same chord. Healing is one hold and a tap, mid-fight, with no menu.
- Shout. It is Z. Put it on the right stick click rather than the touchpad press, because it is a panic button.
- Sneak and sprint. Sneak is already a toggle in the game, so leave that row plain. Sprint is a hold. Set its row to Toggles on and off if a held stick click is uncomfortable.
- Bow. Draw is a held right trigger and release fires. Toggles on and off on that row draws on one pull and fires on the next, which is easier on a hand than holding full draw while you aim.
- Look. Skyrim's mouse look is slow by default. Raise the game's look sensitivity before touching the speed here.
- Mods. Mods change the game, not how keys arrive. If a mod adds hotkeys, Scan a row and bind it.
Favorites as hotkeys alone make the keyboard layout worth it.
If the wrapper sees your pad
Use the native scheme for analog movement, and turn this preset off so a press does not arrive twice. For hotkeys, the keyboard game wins: it has eight favorite hotkeys where the console scheme has a menu.
This layout gives you both: the keyboard hotkeys, on a pad.
If your controller is not working in Skyrim
When Skyrim 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.
- Expect less inside a wrapper. In CrossOver or the Game Porting Toolkit, Wine passes a controller to Skyrim only some of the time, and the keyboard and mouse get through every time. Using a controller with CrossOver games has the checks.
- Play it from keys. If Skyrim still ignores the pad, activate this layout. It sends the keyboard and mouse controls Skyrim already reads. The layout works whether or not Skyrim 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 Skyrim 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.
Skyrim controls: every button and the key it sends
The Sends column is Skyrim'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 | A | Strafe left (A) |
| Left stick right | D | Strafe right (D) |
| Left stick up | W | Move forward (W) |
| Left stick down | S | Move back (S) |
| Right stick right | Mouse motion right (speed 18) | Look right |
| Right stick left | Mouse motion left (speed 18) | Look left |
| Right stick down | Mouse motion down (speed 12) | Look down |
| Right stick up | Mouse motion up (speed 12) | Look up |
| Right trigger | Left click | Right hand / attack |
| Left trigger | Right click | Left hand / block |
| A / Cross | Space | Jump |
| B / Circle | Ctrl (Left) | Sneak (Ctrl) |
| X / Square | R | Ready / sheathe (R) |
| Y / Triangle | E | Activate (E) |
| LB / L1 | Q | Favorites (Q) |
| RB / R1 | T | Wait (T) |
| L3 (left stick click) | Shift (Left) | Sprint (Shift) |
| D-pad up | M | Map (M) |
| D-pad down | J | Journal (J) |
| D-pad left | I | Inventory (I) |
| D-pad right | P | Magic (P) |
| Back / Share / Select | Tab | Menu (Tab) |
| Start / Options | Escape | System (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 Skyrim run on a Mac?
Skyrim does not run natively on a Mac. Special Edition runs on Apple silicon through CrossOver or the Game Porting Toolkit, and Xbox Cloud Gaming carries it with the game reading the controller itself. This layout is for the wrappers that do not pass the controller.
Is Skyrim better on controller or keyboard?
For analog movement, the controller. For hotkeys, the keyboard: it has eight favorite hotkeys where the console scheme has a menu. This layout gives you the keyboard hotkeys on a pad.
Does this layout work with Skyrim mods?
Yes. Mods change the game, not how keys arrive. If a mod adds hotkeys, Scan a row and bind it.
Why is my controller not working in Skyrim on a Mac?
First check the Mac itself sees the controller, with the gamepad tester. If it does and Skyrim still ignores it, activate the Skyrim layout in InputConfig, which sends the game's keyboard and mouse controls from the controller.
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.
Updated