Gamepad input is broken in ESO on macOS

TheBunny · January 2021

Plug in PS4 controller. Does that not work?

BlueRaven · February 2021

At this point it almost seems to be they are willfully trying to annoy Mac users.

elfeagle · February 2021

This bug report is a repeat of one from almost 3 years ago
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/420131/i-cant-attack-with-ps4-controller

there have been many more in between then and now.

They will never fix the issue. They still haven't acknowledged there is an issue.
The players have stated many times exactly what needs to be done to fix this issue ever since gamepad support was first added but still nothing has been done.

unless they can charge us for QoL improvements I doubt this will ever get fixed.

thedavidventer · March 2021

Another update! A new patch! Yay? Nay... Still no fix for controller input on macOS. Still no response or even an acknowledgement from the ZOS community staff or dev team. Issue reported in game through /bug (again). Links to Apple developer documentation RE: Apple Game Controller Framework provided above. It really feels like this issue is being deliberately ignored at this point. Hey @ZOS_GinaBruno, please review this entire thread and pass it onto the devs. Do something! I’ve been reporting this since April of last year.

Friendly reminder: Since the release of Catalina, MacOS now natively supports wireless controllers (Xbox and PS, etc). The dev team just needs to implement it correctly using Apple’s game controller framework (links above). It’s not going to “just work” based on the Windows version’s code. But once implemented correctly, it’ll be awesome with no third party apps or drivers necessary. Please just look at Apple’s documentation and get this sorted. It’s really not that difficult. Or better yet, hire a developer who knows what they’re doing when it comes to macOS integration. Thanks.

Ohtimbar · March 2021

This is a game-breaking issue. Surely the inability to attack, block or break free is worth fixing? This isn't exactly a minor nuisance. I never thought I'd see a time when WoW had better controller support than ESO.

raffaeleg · April 2021

Another patch today, 6.3.8. I noticed there were some “hot fixes” on the gamepad. Nothing to do with this, is the same as before.

thedavidventer · April 2021

raffaeleg wrote: »

Another patch today, 6.3.8. I noticed there were some “hot fixes” on the gamepad. Nothing to do with this, is the same as before.

Yeah, I’ve come to the conclusion that these forums are ignored by ZOS Staff, as are all Mac-related in-game bug reports. I’ve also given up begging them to fix this. I love this game but the lack of controller support on macOS from ZOS is a deal breaker for me. Meantime, I’ve been playing FFXIV Online, it’s got proper controller support on the Mac game client, as well as proper full screen/spaces and resolution integration, as does WoW. I’ll come back to ESO if/when they ever fix this mess but I’ve honestly given up hope. [snip] Sad really.

[edited for bashing]

Ohtimbar · April 2021

thedavidventer wrote: »

raffaeleg wrote: »

Another patch today, 6.3.8. I noticed there were some “hot fixes” on the gamepad. Nothing to do with this, is the same as before.

Yeah, I’ve come to the conclusion that these forums are ignored by ZOS Staff, as are all Mac-related in-game bug reports. I’ve also given up begging them to fix this. I love this game but the lack of controller support on macOS from ZOS is a deal breaker for me. Meantime, I’ve been playing FFXIV Online, it’s got proper controller support on the Mac game client, as well as proper full screen/spaces and resolution integration, as does WoW. I’ll come back to ESO if/when they ever fix this mess but I’ve honestly given up hope. [snip] Sad really.

Agreed. I think ESO on the Mac is a lost cause. It was nice while it was properly supported, which hasn't been the case for quite some time now, despite what it says on the tin. I would advise Mac gamers to avoid it like the plague unless things change.

[edited to remove quote]

firm3d · October 2021

thedavidventer wrote: »

raffaeleg wrote: »

Another patch today, 6.3.8. I noticed there were some “hot fixes” on the gamepad. Nothing to do with this, is the same as before.

Yeah, I’ve come to the conclusion that these forums are ignored by ZOS Staff, as are all Mac-related in-game bug reports. I’ve also given up begging them to fix this. I love this game but the lack of controller support on macOS from ZOS is a deal breaker for me. Meantime, I’ve been playing FFXIV Online, it’s got proper controller support on the Mac game client, as well as proper full screen/spaces and resolution integration, as does WoW. I’ll come back to ESO if/when they ever fix this mess but I’ve honestly given up hope. [snip] Sad really.

Maybe they should outsource the Mac version to Codeweavers like Square-Enix did with FFXIV? It's not perfect (graphics drivers are meh-level performance), but at least everything works!

I'm tired of trying ESO every update and finding controller support is STILL busted. For the record, my issue on DualShock 4 is L2 does nothing and R2 behaves as L2 and trying to remap in prefs doesn't work.

[edited to remove quote]

kyatos_binarini · August 2023

it’s been 3 years and xbox controller still broken in this game

ZOS_FalcoYamaoka · August 2023

So not sure how much this helps, but I noticed that when using a controller while playing ESO on PC, I would sometimes run into issues with buttons not responding but turning off keyboard controls (when using a controller) seemed to have fixed any issues in that regard.

Basically what I am saying is that if you are using a controller on a computer, turn off your keyboard and mouse controls.

ZOS_Bill · August 2023

As this discussion is now nearly three years old, we are going to close the thread. If you still need assistance, please go ahead and start a new thread in the Mac Support forum.