Play Minecraft Java with a gamepad.

BetterController makes Minecraft feel like a console game. Plug in your controller, launch the game, that's it. No menus to navigate, no setup, no server install — just play.

Why BetterController?

Zero-allocation tick loop. No stutter from the input layer, even on potato machines.
Full GUI navigation. Inventories, chests, creative search, world list, options menu — all driven from the gamepad.
Creative double-tap fly works. Tap A twice in creative and you take off. Reliably.
Right stick scrolls. Any scrollable screen, including the creative inventory.
Client-side, MIT, open-source. No server install. Use it on any server.

Features

Plug-and-play detection for Xbox, PlayStation, Switch Pro and generic XInput pads.
Analog look with per-axis deadzone, anti-deadzone, configurable response curve and adaptive smoothing.
5-slider in-game settings screen for the values you actually want to tune (movement deadzone, look X/Y sensitivity, look speed, trigger threshold).
Virtual keyboard overlay for chat and text fields.
Glyphs adapt to your controller type — Xbox shows A/B/X/Y, PlayStation shows Cross/Circle/Square/Triangle, Switch shows its layout.
Debug overlay (F8) showing raw axes, triggers and pressed buttons.
Live config reload — edit config/bettercontroller.json and the changes apply within ~500 ms.

Default bindings

Action	Button
Movement	Left stick
Look	Right stick
Menu scroll	Right stick Y
Jump	A / Cross
Sprint	L3
Sneak	R3
Attack / mine	RT
Use / place	LT
Inventory	Y / Triangle
Drop item	B / Circle
Swap hands	X / Square
Hotbar next / Pick block	RB
Hotbar previous	LB
Open chat	D-pad up
Toggle perspective	D-pad down
Pause	Start
Player list	Back / Select

In menus: D-pad or left stick navigates, A confirms, B goes back, RB/LB switch tabs, RT/LT page, right stick scrolls.

Compatibility

Minecraft: 1.21.11
Loader: Fabric (Fabric Loader 0.18.4+)
Java: 21
Side: Client only — works on any vanilla or modded server.
Requires: Fabric API

Installation

Install Fabric Loader for Minecraft 1.21.11.
Drop Fabric API into your mods/ folder.
Drop bettercontroller-<version>.jar into your mods/ folder.
Launch with a controller connected.

Configuration

In-game: open the pause menu (or Options → Controls) and click Controller Settings. Five sliders cover what you actually want to tune.

Everything else (key bindings, axis mappings, response curve, camera smoothing, repeat delays) lives in config/bettercontroller.json. Edits are picked up live.

Bindings accept aliases — A/CROSS/SOUTH, LB/L1, RT/R2, etc. — so any layout works.

Open-source

Source code, issue tracker and full changelog on GitHub: https://github.com/Nekuzaky/BetterController

Licensed MIT. Bug reports and feature requests welcome.