Free, open source joystick mapper for Windows and Linux
Joystick Gobloon hides your physical controllers from games, runs virtual joysticks and maps one to the other. It can import your Joystick Gremlin profiles.
Windows installer, portable zip and Linux AppImage. MIT license, no account.
The problem
Each one has its own window, its own settings and its own way of failing. Joystick Gobloon replaces their user interfaces with one native app and talks to the same drivers directly.
One window for your whole setup. Hide the sticks, press play, fly.
Features
Written in Rust, it reads controllers the moment they change and sits almost idle in the tray.
Import a Joystick Gremlin profile (R14 or newer) and it runs. Anything not supported yet is kept in the file, so nothing gets lost.
Name a few buttons as modifiers. While M1 or M2 is held, every input with a layer for it runs that layer instead. Nothing gets stuck when you let go in the wrong order.
Create, change and remove vJoy devices from the app. Each one shows its axes, buttons and hats at a glance, and a built in tester moves them by hand.
Hide a physical controller with one click and stop double inputs for good. Joystick Gobloon still sees it, and you choose which other programs may too.
Graphs of every axis, button and hat for physical sticks and vJoy devices alike, in the main window or a window of its own. Calibrate center and end points on the spot, and filter axes that jitter and buttons that bounce.
Hold a push-to-talk button and say a phrase: the voice command presses its button, a virtual stick button, a key or anything else a button can do. How to set it up.
Actions
Stack them on any input. They run top to bottom and pass the value on, so a response curve can shape an axis before it reaches vJoy.
How it works
Run the installer. It adds the signed HidHide and vJoy 2.1.9.1 drivers when they are missing. On Linux, make the AppImage executable, start it and click Install on the System Gobloon banner once.
The wizard maps each stick onto its own virtual joystick in one go, or import a Joystick Gremlin profile from the toolbar. Made on another PC? Map controls matches it to your sticks.
Hide the physical sticks with the eye button and press play. The game now sees only your virtual joysticks.
Windows and Linux
What does the work underneath differs, and so do the limits. Linux runs on desktop distributions and the Steam Deck desktop mode, on X11 and Wayland.
| Feature | Windows 10 and 11 | Linux x86_64 |
|---|---|---|
| Package | Installer with drivers, or portable zip. Updates itself. | AppImage. Updates itself. |
| Virtual joysticks | vJoy: up to 16 devices, 8 axes, 128 buttons, 4 hats each | uinput, no driver; with System Gobloon (installed from the app) the devices are there all the time, as with vJoy; 8 axes, 95 buttons, 4 hats each |
| Virtual gamepads | Not yet (needs a driver) | Xbox-style gamepads, up to 4: games, Steam and Proton see an Xbox 360 controller |
| Device hiding | HidHide: hidden for every program, even when the app is closed | System Gobloon: hidden for every program, raw HID included, even when the app is closed. Without it: exclusive reading while Joystick Gobloon runs |
| Physical controllers | DirectInput: all buttons. Xbox controllers through XInput: both triggers apart, also in the background | evdev: every button; a stick with more than 80 after you allow reading its raw device once |
| Keyboard keys as inputs | Yes | Yes, after you allow keyboard input once on the Keyboard tab (any program you run can then read the keyboard) |
| Text to speech | Windows voices | speech dispatcher |
| Voice commands | Yes, offline | Yes, offline |
FAQ
Yes. It is open source under the MIT license. There is no account, no trial and nothing to buy.
Yes, profiles from Joystick Gremlin R14 or newer: open one from the toolbar and it runs. Anything not supported yet is kept as it was in the file. Profiles from R13 and older cannot be imported (Joystick Gremlin R14 cannot open them either); the new profile wizard builds a new one in a minute.
You need the HidHide and vJoy drivers on Windows, and the installer adds them when they are missing. You do not need their own user interfaces.
Only to install the drivers and when you change vJoy devices, with one UAC prompt per change. Everyday use runs as a normal user.
Yes, in desktop mode, like on any x86_64 Linux desktop. Make the AppImage executable (Properties, Executable as Program), start it and click Install on the System Gobloon banner once.
Code signing through SignPath is being set up, and new releases need some downloads before SmartScreen trusts them. Choose More info, then Run anyway.
It is in alpha. The daily features are in place and used every day with a dual stick setup, but expect rough edges. Bugs reported on GitHub get fixed quickly.
Use the portable zip: unpack it anywhere and start it. Delete the folder and it is gone. On Linux the AppImage is a single file.
English, Русский, Deutsch, Español, Français, 简体中文 and 한국어. Another language is one text file: copy lang/en.ftl, translate it and put it next to the app.
Joystick Gobloon has no ads, no paid tier and no tracking. If it saved you an evening of setup, a donation helps pay for the time that goes into every release.
Ask questions, share your profiles, report bugs and hear about new releases first on the Joystick Gobloon Discord server.
Free, open source and portable if you want it. Import a profile or build one from scratch.