Elden Ring controller not working? Try this fix

(Image credit: Tyler C. / FromSoftware)

It looks like Elden Ring's PC version may have some issues recognizing controllers. Dozens of players on the game's official subreddit, in the game's Steam forums, and one member of the PC Gamer team have run into a brick wall getting the game to accept controller inputs, and players are citing several potential solutions.

It's still unclear what's causing the issue, but it doesn't seem to be any one controller in particular that's the problem. Our editor-in-chief Evan Lahti's wired Xbox One controller wasn't working, but senior editor Tyler Wilde's wireless Xbox One controller is working fine. On this Steam forum post, dozens of players are reporting issues with Xbox and PlayStation controllers.

If your controller isn't working in Elden Ring, try these solutions

Solutions are currently sparse, but there are a few methods that players have had success with.

Currently, the only method that has worked for us (per Twitter user iBDWSSBM) is to delete Vjoy, a virtual joystick program used to install controller drivers for steering wheels or fighting game joysticks. This is what finally worked for Evan after trying a bunch of other things, but if you have never used Vjoy or a similar virtual joystick program, this obviously won't work for you.

Reddit user anilisfaitnesto claims turning on "Xbox Configuration Support" and "Generic Gamepad Configuration Support" can do the trick (find this setting in Steam > Settings > General Controller Settings), but this didn't work for Evan. While your in Steam settings, you can also try disabling the Steam overlay.

User CoachZ_1212 also suggests unplugging your mouse and keyboard before launching the game, suggesting Elden Ring only recognizes the "first" input it sees. Some are saying that worked for them.

One person also claims that the keypad they had plugged in was interfering with Elden Ring detecting their controller. A bit of a special case, but if this is you, some have said it worked for them.

Basically, there are a lot of weird solutions out there to an increasingly common problem and no single one seems to be the fix-all, at least not yet. We'll update this page with more potential solutions as they appear.

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Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though.