Add support for GameInput API on Windows by Nintorch · Pull Request #116055 · godotengine/godot

Nintorch · 2026-02-08T19:13:43Z

Closes Add support for using more than 4 simultaneous controllers on Windows godot-proposals#8620

This PR enables GameInput API backend for SDL on Windows. I know we have already discussed this API here, but in this PR we don't include GameInput headers/code, GameInput is downloaded with a script here, so it should be okay.

This PR also removes unused backends in Godot (RawInput, WGI). DirectInput is not replaced by GameInput in this PR for devices with force feedback (racing wheels) since it's still used because of the haptics subsystem and #114642 , ~~and XInput is used as a fallback if GameInput is not enabled in the build (if GameInput is enabled, XInput backend is not compiled).~~ and XInput is used as a fallback for devices that aren't supported properly by current GameInput backend but are supported by XInput (arcade sticks, racing wheels, flight sticks, etc) (But I haven't tested these devices with GameInput, because I don't have them, that's why I decided to keep XInput).

With this PR the detection of my Xbox One controller has changed:

	print(Input.get_connected_joypads())
	for i in Input.get_connected_joypads():
		print(Input.get_joy_name(i), ' ', Input.get_joy_guid(i), ' ', Input.get_joy_info(i))

[0]
Xbox One S Controller 030058345e040000ea02000000006701 { "raw_name": "Xbox One S Controller", "vendor_id": "1118", "product_id": "746" }

Note that the GUID ends with 6700, which means that this API is actually used. See the line 147 of thirdparty\sdl\joystick\gdk\SDL_gameinputjoystick.c:

    elem->guid = SDL_CreateJoystickGUID(bus, vendor, product, version, manufacturer_string, product_string, 'g', 0);

TODO:

TODO to fix regressions:

Fix DirectInput mappings compatibility
Make the driver read inputs if the app is unfocused
Fallback to DirectInput for non-gamepad devices if both DirectInput joystick and DirectInput haptics backends are used
Check if this PR breaks Godot Windows apps under Wine or Proton
Check for FPS drops with Xbox controllers connected

TODO for separate PRs:

A PR for SDL with SDL code changes ( Small GameInput joystick backend improvements libsdl-org/SDL#15173 )
Godot Docs clarification
Trigger rumble support ( Add support for joypad triggers vibration #116214 )
~~Proper motion sensors support for GameInput backend?~~ Already done upstream
Proper reading of arcade sticks, racing wheels, and flight sticks
GameInput haptic backend, see also https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/gaming/gdk/docs/features/common/input/advanced/input-forcefeedback?view=gdk-2510
~~Steam virtual gamepad slot~~ Already done upstream
~~Send the power information less frequently~~ Completely disabled upstream at the moment
~~Support for GameInput v3~~ Already done upstream

bruvzg · 2026-02-08T21:03:24Z

this PR we technically don't include GameInput headers/code as they are already provided on the CI machines

This won't work, since the official build system won't have them and users making custom builds won't have them.

What can be done is making this optional (with Scons argument) and add download script for the headers, like we do for DX12 stuff (see install_d3d12_sdk_windows.py).

Nintorch · 2026-02-09T10:50:25Z

This driver broke controller mapping for my DInput controller :( I will work on fixing this issue.

Nintorch · 2026-02-09T12:44:44Z

I have fixed the mapping issue, but I think this PR would definitely conflict with #114642 , not sure if a controller that was opened with the GameInput driver can be used with DirectInput haptic effects.
Matter of fact, controller hotplugging for DirectInput controllers in GameInput doesn't work if DirectInput is enabled. If it's disabled then everything is okay.

Maybe if we decide to use GameInput instead of DirectInput, I or someone else would have to create an SDL haptic driver for GameInput :(

And also GameInput doesn't support retrieving input from devices if the application is not in focus, unless I can do something with it.

Nintorch · 2026-02-09T15:24:10Z

Made a PR that may or may not be better than this approach in the short term: #116101

Nintorch · 2026-02-12T16:02:48Z

GameInput installation script is done and it makes the GCC Windows template compile!

thirdparty/sdl/update-sdl.sh

Nintorch · 2026-02-28T12:45:59Z

Here's something that I observed when I added several printf calls in joystick/gdk/SDL_gameinputjoystick.c: GameInput doesn't tell us the names of the connected devices (info->deviceStrings and info->displayName are NULL, doesn't matter whether it's an XInput device or not), which means currently we basically have to use DirectInput for non-gamepad controllers unless we want to only rely on controller mappings to get the controller names (which means unmapped controllers won't get a human-readable name). :(

And I'm pretty sure that XInput controllers other than the ones from Xbox don't have a human-readable name in this PR either. I don't have other XInput controllers to check that though. In this case, what name should we assign to those controllers: "XInput Controller # .." to not break compatibility or "GameInput Controller"?

EDIT: I decided to use "GameInput Gamepad", I will add a new commit here soon.

Nintorch · 2026-03-05T12:13:23Z

Now that I think about it, is it possible to check later if this PR breaks Xbox controllers in Windows Godot apps under Wine or Proton?

AL2009man · 2026-03-05T21:54:54Z

quick questions: i've heard claims GameInput seem to cause "FPS Drops" if a Xbox Controller is connected, the solution seems to be to disable GameInput Service directly. This solution seems to apply to selected games like Gears of War: Reloaded and Marathon (2026) despite actual GameInput API usage is currently unverified.

since that claim could be dubious, I think it's possible to do a benchmark test to see if it's true?

Nintorch · 2026-03-06T08:49:03Z

As it turns out, there have been quite a few modifications to the GameInput joystick backend in SDL 3.4, so I will need to update this PR to use those changes if possible. https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/blob/release-3.4.x/src/joystick/gdk/SDL_gameinputjoystick.cpp

EDIT: Done! This change also allowed GameInput to properly report device names.

Nintorch · 2026-03-06T13:39:28Z

quick questions: i've heard claims GameInput seem to cause "FPS Drops" if a Xbox Controller is connected, the solution seems to be to disable GameInput Service directly. This solution seems to apply to selected games like Gears of War: Reloaded and Marathon (2026) despite actual GameInput API usage is currently unverified.

since that claim could be dubious, I think it's possible to do a benchmark test to see if it's true?

I tried to test it by disabling VSync and printing FPS, but I couldn't find any differences at the moment

t-schreibs · 2026-03-12T19:01:44Z

I've been trying to chase around the 5+ controller Windows issue on GitHub - is this PR the latest on that front? I want to make sure I'm notified when a potential solution emerges so I can test on my game 🙏

Nintorch · 2026-03-13T04:32:11Z

I've been trying to chase around the 5+ controller Windows issue on GitHub - is this PR the latest on that front? I want to make sure I'm notified when a potential solution emerges so I can test on my game 🙏

This PR is indeed the latest one about solving the issue of using more than 4 Xbox/XInput controllers on Windows! :)

AThousandShips added enhancement topic:thirdparty topic:input labels Feb 9, 2026

AThousandShips added this to the 4.x milestone Feb 9, 2026

AThousandShips added the platform:windows label Feb 9, 2026

Nintorch mentioned this pull request Feb 9, 2026

Use RawInput + Windows.Gaming.Input on Windows #116101

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Nintorch marked this pull request as ready for review February 12, 2026 16:08

Nintorch requested review from a team as code owners February 12, 2026 16:08

This was referenced Feb 12, 2026

Add support for joypad triggers vibration #116214

Open

Introduce new joypad features provided by SDL3 #107967

Closed

Add support for joypad haptics (force feedback) #114642

Draft

Nintorch force-pushed the windows-gameinput branch from 5f968fa to cace447 Compare February 13, 2026 10:53

Nintorch commented Feb 16, 2026

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Nintorch commented Feb 16, 2026

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Nintorch requested review from a team February 16, 2026 19:27

Nintorch force-pushed the windows-gameinput branch from cace447 to 2be7de7 Compare February 18, 2026 18:34

Nintorch mentioned this pull request Feb 19, 2026

Add support for using more than 4 simultaneous controllers on Windows godotengine/godot-proposals#8620

Open

Nintorch force-pushed the windows-gameinput branch 3 times, most recently from a63674a to 87ca4d5 Compare February 28, 2026 16:22

Nintorch removed the request for review from a team March 3, 2026 17:16

Nintorch marked this pull request as draft March 6, 2026 08:49

Add support for GameInput API on Windows

fc3929a

Nintorch force-pushed the windows-gameinput branch from 87ca4d5 to fc3929a Compare March 6, 2026 13:11

Nintorch marked this pull request as ready for review March 6, 2026 13:12

Nintorch mentioned this pull request Mar 6, 2026

Small GameInput joystick backend improvements libsdl-org/SDL#15173

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