Questions

How to play Tomb Raider on a Mac with a controller

All three of Feral's Mac versions, Tomb Raider, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, are made to be played with a gamepad. Feral's FAQs list the pads it tested: the PS4 DualShock, Xbox One and Xbox 360 controllers, and Logitech's F310 and F710. A PS5 DualSense and the Xbox Series controllers are not on those lists. Feral says other gamepads may work but have not been tested.

I have not tested these three games myself, so the lists and the default keys are from Feral's FAQs and manuals for each one, which I read on October 7, 2026. If your pad does nothing in them, the fallback below does not depend on the game seeing a controller at all, because InputConfig, the free mapper I make, sends the game's keyboard and mouse controls from the pad.

On this page: 10 sections

1. Steps
2. See which pads Feral tested
3. Check the usual four things
4. Know the two special cases
5. Send the game its keys instead
6. Build the layout
7. Change a button the game will not let you change
8. Use one route, not both
9. The short version
10. 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 Steam, try the game's Steam Input override both ways.
4. If the game still ignores the pad, send its keyboard and mouse controls from the pad with a mapper.

See which pads Feral tested

Each FAQ adds that other gamepads may work, and gives a support address to write to about one that does not. A PS4 or Xbox One controller is the tested choice for all three games.

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.

Check the usual four things

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. Relaunch after each change.
4. Disconnect other pads while you test. Then you know which one the game is reading.

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

Know the two special cases

• Logitech pads. Feral's FAQs name a switch position for each game: D for Rise, X for the other two. On a current Mac only D can be read at all, so start there. Logitech F310 and F710 on a Mac explains why.
• Xbox 360 pads. They are on Feral's lists, which were written when a Mac could still read them. Current macOS does not. The Xbox 360 controller on a Mac has the details.

Test your own pad in the game before trusting any list, Feral's included.

Send the game its keys instead

Every Tomb Raider game also plays on a keyboard and mouse, and a keyboard is never undetected. InputConfig reads your controller and sends those keys and mouse moves, so Tomb Raider sees a keyboard while you hold the pad. These are the default keys from Feral's manuals:

Everything else builds on two rows: the left stick as WASD and the right stick as the mouse. Rise of the Tomb Raider lists its keys in its own keyboard settings.

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 right mouse button on the left trigger and the left mouse button on the right trigger.
• InputConfig: Sends those keys and mouse moves whenever the preset is active.
• Check: In the game, the left stick walks, the right stick looks, the left trigger aims and the right trigger fires.

• Face buttons. Space, the roll key, E and F, in the places a gamepad would have them.
• Stick clicks. Q for Survival Instinct, and Shift to sprint in Shadow.
• D-pad. 1, 2, 3 and 4 for the weapons.
• Menu buttons. Tab and Escape.

Aim on the left trigger and fire on the right, and it plays like the console version. Play any Mac game with a controller walks through a layout like this, and your first preset has the basics.

Change a button the game will not let you change

Feral's manual for Tomb Raider says its gamepad controls cannot be customized. Its keys can be, and so can a mapper's layout, so the keyboard route is also the way to move a button, swap the triggers, or put two actions on one button with a hold. When the game fixes the gamepad layout, a keyboard layout sent from the pad is the one you can edit. Hold and double tap covers the second action.

Use one route, not both

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

The short version

• Tested pads. PS4 DualShock and Xbox One, by Feral's FAQs.
• Not working. Game Controllers, relaunch, Steam Input override.
• Fallback. WASD, mouse and a dozen keys sent from the pad.

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

Questions

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• How to play Life Is Strange on a Mac with a controller
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• How to play BioShock on a Mac with a controller
• How to play Shadow of Mordor 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