Native Emulator Controller Mapping Management 🎮🧩

📋Summary

Introduce a robust controller mapping system within LaunchBox that allows users to configure and manage button layouts per emulator and platform—right from LaunchBox itself. This would make controller setup more visual, more intuitive, and more centralized across different emulators.

❗Problem

One of the most frustrating parts of setting up emulators is configuring consistent, accurate controller mappings—especially for users with multiple types of controllers (e.g. DualSense, arcade sticks, Xbox controllers). Each emulator handles configuration differently, often requiring manual editing of config files or navigating clunky UI tools. It’s time-consuming, error-prone, and difficult to maintain across platforms.

💡Proposal

Allow LaunchBox to manage controller configurations across supported emulators with the following capabilities:

• Associate each controller with a visual reference image (e.g., DualSense, Xbox, arcade stick)

• Configure button mappings visually by dragging/dropping or selecting between the emulator/controller layout and the original platform layout (e.g., SNES, Genesis, etc.)

• Store and apply these mappings in the background by editing emulator config files

• Display a real-time mapping diagram during gameplay, accessible from the pause menu via a new “Controls” option

• Support output of control diagrams to a secondary screen (perfect for cabinet or dual-display setups)

This wouldn’t replace emulators’ native input settings but would act as a unified layer on top, streamlining the process.

✅Benefits

• Provides a visual, user-friendly method for setting up controller inputs

• Ensures consistency across emulators without needing separate setup per platform

• Greatly reduces setup time and improves accessibility for newer users

• Makes it easy to manage multiple controllers with unique layouts

• Enhances the in-game experience with quick-reference control maps, especially helpful for retro games with unfamiliar button schemes

• Perfectly complements multi-screen setups or arcade builds by showing mappings in real-time 🕹️🖼️