Questions

How to play BioShock on a Mac with a controller

Feral's Mac version of BioShock Remastered supports gamepads, and its FAQ lists more than seventy it tested: PlayStation DualShock pads up to the PS4's, Xbox One and Xbox 360 controllers, and Logitech's F310, F510 and F710 among them. The game needs a pad in DirectInput mode, and both its keyboard and gamepad controls can be customized under Settings, Customize Controls.

Everything here about the game is from Feral's FAQ and manual for BioShock Remastered, which I read on October 7, 2026. I have not tested it myself, and this page does not cover BioShock 2 or Infinite. If your pad does nothing, InputConfig, the free mapper I make, sends the game's keyboard and mouse controls from the pad.

On this page: 8 sections

1. Steps
2. Start with the game's own gamepad support
3. If the pad does nothing
4. Send the game its keys instead
5. Build the layout
6. Use one route, not both
7. The short version
8. Questions

Steps

1. Connect the controller and check it under System Settings, Game Controllers.
2. Quit the game, wake the controller, and open the game again.
3. In the game, open Settings, Customize Controls to see or change the layout.
4. If the game ignores the pad, send its keyboard and mouse controls from the pad with a mapper.

Start with the game's own gamepad support

Connect the pad before starting the game. With a tested pad the game uses it, and Settings, Customize Controls lets you change what each button does. Feral's FAQ names fifteen older pads that work only in part. Newer pads such as the PS5 DualSense are not on the list. Both the PS4 and the Xbox One controller are on Feral's tested list, which makes them the safe picks.

InputConfig is completely 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.

If the pad does nothing

1. The Mac sees the pad. Open System Settings, Game Controllers, and press a button.
2. Relaunch with the pad awake. Quit the game, press a button on the controller, and open the game again.
3. Flip the Steam Input override. In the Steam library, right-click the game, open Properties, then Controller, and try the other setting.
4. Set a Logitech pad to D. Feral's FAQ says the game needs DirectInput mode, the D position on an F310, F510 or F710.

If nothing lights up there, BioShock has no chance of seeing the pad either. Controller works in Steam but not in the game has more on the Steam layer.

Send the game its keys instead

BioShock is a keyboard and mouse game at heart, and a keyboard is never undetected. These are the default keys from Feral's manual:

Fire on the left mouse button and the plasmid switch on the right are the two that matter most.

Build the layout

• You: In InputConfig, make a new preset. Set the left stick to WASD and the right stick to mouse movement. Put the left mouse button on the right trigger and the right mouse button on the left trigger.
• InputConfig: Sends those keys and mouse moves while the preset is active.
• Check: In the game, the right trigger fires and the left trigger swaps between plasmids and weapons.

• Face buttons. Space, E, R and F.
• Shoulders. The scroll wheel up and down, which steps through plasmids or weapons.
• Stick clicks. C to crouch and Z to zoom.
• D-pad. Q and B for ammo, M for the map, V to hack.

Scroll on the shoulder buttons gives you the weapon wheel without taking a thumb off the stick. Play any Mac game with a controller walks through a layout like this.

Use one route, not both

If BioShock does read your controller, a mapper sending keys at the same time makes every press arrive twice. So pick one route. In InputConfig, a preset tied to the game only runs while that game is in front. If BioShock already reads your pad, you do not need a mapper at all. Per-app switching sets that up.

The short version

• Tested pads. DualShock pads up to the PS4's, Xbox One, Logitech in D mode, by Feral's FAQ.
• Remapping. In the game, under Settings, Customize Controls.
• Fallback. Keys and mouse sent from the pad.

Try your pad first, and if BioShock will not listen, send it keys instead.

Questions

Related

• Play any Mac game with a controller
• How to play Tomb Raider on a Mac with a controller
• How to play Alien: Isolation on a Mac with a controller
• Controller works in Steam but not in the game on a Mac
• Per-app profiles that switch by themselves
• How to connect a PS4 controller to a Mac or MacBook
• How to play Borderlands 2 on a Mac with a controller

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 October 7, 2026