Red Dead Redemption 1 on PC using keyboard+mouse (Xenia, Ryujinx, Yuzu)

 

As of April 2021 Red Dead Redemption for Xbox 360 is playable on PC thanks to recent developments in Xenia emulator. Default Xenia controls are far from perfect so this guide helps to configure X360 gamepad emulation for PC RDR2-compatible keyboard and mouse controls. Physical gamepad is not required for playing!

As of August 2023 Red Dead Redemption for Nintendo Switch is available and is playable on PC using Switch emulators. This guide can be used to play that version too.

Contents

1. Installing and configuring Xenia for Red Dead Redemption
2. What method to use
• mouse2joystick
  
• GPDSCK and x360ce
• Virtual Controller
• UCR
3. Playing with mouse2joystick
4. Playing with GPDSCK and x360ce
5. Playing with Virtual Controller
6. Playing with UCR
7. How does it all work?
8. Red Dead Redemption complete control mapping table
9. Playing Red Dead Redemption for Nintendo Switch
10. Playing with Yuzu built-in mouse support
     

Installing and configuring Xenia for Red Dead Redemption

For the purpose of this guide everything is installed into Xenia folder. This folder may be named anything and created anywhere e.g. C:\Xenia. Your account should have write permissions to this folder. If not specified otherwise download 64-bit software.

• Check if your PC is good to run Xenia and download Xenia binary release. This guide was tested on Canary release – unpack xenia_canary.exe to Xenia folder. If latest build shows alert "You are not signed in...." when starting RDR you may get known good May 2021 build xenia_canary_202105_working.zip here. ATTENTION! This old build lacks many features and is for testing only!
  
• Create file portable.txt in Xenia folder to use it for settings storage – xenia-canary.config.toml settings file and subfolder content with RDR savegames will be stored here. By default settings are stored in %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Xenia
• Create shortcut for xenia_canary.exe on your desktop (in Windows Explorer navigate to Xenia folder, right-click xenia_canary.exe and drag onto desktop, in popup menu select “Create shortcuts here”), run Xenia at least once using this shortcut and exit it. This will create xenia-canary.config.toml settings file.
• Edit xenia-canary.config.toml settings file in Xenia folder and set log_level = 0 in [Logging] section. If you don’t do this Xenia logfile may grow up to several gigabytes if you play long enough.
• Obtain the x360 version of the game - those who somehow lost their original game media may try their luck at archive.org metadata search using keywords Red Dead GOTY
• To start RDR in fullscreen mode edit desktop shortcut and set Target: as
  {path\to}\xenia_canary.exe "path\to\Red Dead Redemtion GOTY.iso" –fullscreen
  To toggle fullscreen mode in running Xenia press F11
• (Optional) see reference native xbox360 Red Dead Redemption videos on youtube and adjust Color Temperature and Hue in GPU driver settings for xenia_canary.exe

What method to use

mouse2joystick

·        Pros: true x360 gamepad device emulation, easy configuration, stable, mouse wheel works for weapon selection, single program, open-source, can assign several keys to one gamepad button, hides mouse cursor, supports multiple configs e.g. for x360 and Switch

·        Cons: none

GPDSCK and x360ce

·        Pros: true x360 gamepad device emulation, easy configuration, stable, mouse wheel works for weapon selection

·        Cons: too many programs, GPDSCK is closed-source, needs separate set of GPDSCK/x360ce configs for Switch version of the game

Virtual Controller

·        Pros: true x360 gamepad device emulation, easy to download, open-source, keyboard a little more responsive, lasso works better, mouse sensitivity is more configurable

·        Cons: sometimes exits unexpectedly but YMMV, mapping for mouse wheel in weapon selection is work in progress (if you know how to do it better in Virtual Controller please share in comments below)

UCR

This method is contributed by user devnbp. I did not test it so it's currently highly experimental and  unsupported by me. As for pros and cons here's original quote:

it binds to the device ID, so each mapping will have unbound buttons, but people can rebind it using the mapping description. .... There are 2 configurations for virtual devices X360 and DS4 but both have some issues, DS4 has RStick lags but all buttons work great, X360 RStick works perfectly but the "back" button somehow breaks the mapping so you cannot use inventory (but those problems may be precisely in my system).

Software for different methods can coexist so you may try all methods (not simultaneously!) and choose the one you like. You are encouraged to replicate RDR controls using table below in another programs e.g. XOutput, UCR + Interception + DeltaToAxis plugin or anything else that can do the same and share your findings in comments below if you find anything better than these. 

Playing with mouse2joystick

• Download and install vJoy 
  
• Download mouse2joystick_custom_CEMU.zip and unpack it to some empty folder (mouse2joystick folder) and create shortctu on desktop for mouse2joystick_Custom_CEMU.exe
• Download SavedKeyLists.ini with preconfigured RDR configs for x360 and Switch, put it into mouse2joystick folder and replace existing file
• Run mouse2joystick, right-click tray icon and select Settings, General - Output Mode, select Use vXBox Device (XInput). If later you are asked to install ScpVBus, Press Yes,
  then on the security prompt to run DevCon Press Yes again.
• (Optional) set Executable name (xenia_canary.exe, yuzu.exe or yuzu_ea.exe, Ryujinx.exe) and Auto Activate Executable - Yes
• (Optional) General / Hotkeys, you may set F4 which is used in GPDSCK as key to Toggle Controller On/Off
• Mouse2Joystick / Keys, in Saved KeyList Manager list select game version ("RDR - X360" or "RDR - Switch"), click Load, press Save and OK on the left 
• (Switch version only) Configure your Switch emulator to use virtual xBox controller created by mouse2joystick
  
• To play RDR
• Launch RDR using your emulator
• When R* logo appears press your Toggle Controller key (F1 by default) to begin capture keyboard and mouse by mouse2joystick (press it once more to stop capture)
• When asked “press START” or "press +" press m
• When asked to selects game difficulty use up and down arrows and press Enter
• Press m to access pause menu, use Arrows, Enter and Esc to navigate submenus and map (use WASD instead of arrows in map). See complete mapping table for details.

 

Playing with GPDSCK and x360ce

This method requires running third-party closed-source feeder program GPDSCK which was originally made for playing Nioh that will translate keyboard presses and mouse movements into virtual joystick axes movements. If you cannot run unsigned closed-source binaries on your system use Virtual Controller method.

• Download and install Virtual Gamepad Emulation bus driver (ViGEm)
  
• Download v4.x+ x360ce and unpack it to Xenia folder, create shortcut for x360ce.exe on your desktop. Newer 4.x x360ce is preferable as it has capability to combine input from several DirectInput sources e.g. vJoy and keyboard into ViGEm-based virtual x360 gamepad device.
• Download and install vJoy virtual joystick driver (vJoySetup.exe from Beta 2.x/2.1.9.1-160719 or later. 
• Download GPDSCK.zip, unpack GPDSCK 3.3b.exe and premade settings.ini into Xenia folder, create shortcut for GPDSCK 3.3b.exe on desktop and run it. Click “Yes” In UAC request.
• In GPDSCK click “Vjoy Settings” button and configure vJoy
  
  
  
  
   
• Check GPDSCK configuration. With premade settings.ini it should look as follows:
  
  If you configure GPDSCK from scratch note that for RDR play NIOH-specific sequences must be disabled - click "More Settings" button on the right, click button "Turn Nioh settings On/Off" to Off.
  
  
  
• Configure x360ce button mappings using screenshots below. You may save some time if you download premade x360ce settings x360ce_settings_from_C_ProgramData_X360CE.zip and extract it to hidden ProgramData folder %PROGRAMDATA%\X360CE to use them as template.  
  ATTENTION: Instance ID for vJoy Device on your system will differ and you need to adjust the config for your system. If you see "DirectInput - EA1D2EB0 - Offline" this means you need to press "+Add..." (on the right of "Auto Map"), refresh list and select correct vJoy Device that is active on your PC. After this you may try copying correct preset mappings from offline vJoy device (select vJoy device that is marked Offline, press Copy at the bottom, select your newly added active vJoy device and press Paste at the bottom). Press "Save All". 
  
  vJoy Device button mapping:
  
  
  
  Keyboard button mapping:
  
  
  
  
  
  
• To play RDR both GPDSCK and x360ce must be configured as shown on screenshots above and running.
• Launch RDR using Xenia desktop shortcut
• When R* logo appears press F4 to begin capture keyboard and mouse by GPDSCK (press F4 once more or Ctrl-Alt-Del to stop capture)
• When asked “press START” press m
• When asked to selects game difficulty use up and down arrows and press Enter (A)
• Press m to access pause menu, use Arrows, Enter and Esc to navigate submenus and map. See complete mapping table for details.

Playing with Virtual Controller

Virtual Controller is an all-in-one solution that uses SCP xBox virtual controller driver and has simpler install without additional feeder and translator programs.

Virtual Controller needs keyboard and mouse lock features to be enabled. Esc key will be intercepted by Xenia and it will exit fullscreen mode unless keyboard Lock Feature is enabled and turned on. Mouse Lock may be needed to hide mouse cursor even for RawInput API. When Virtual Controller starts both keyboard and mouse Lock Feature are turned off by default even if they are enabled!

• Download latest Virtual Controller
• Check configuration of input and output devices - click Settings / IO Device and set
• Physical / Setup / Keyboard: LLHook, Lock Feature On.
• Physical / Setup / Mouse: RawInput, Lock Feature On.  Axis Settings, Sensitivity (%) 750. Your mouse sensitivity may differ so experiment with this setting.
• Virtual / Setup / Xbox360 Gamepad (vXbox), vXbox: Slot 1 - Ready. Virtual Bus install may require reboot.
• All other devices are turned off.
• Download preconfigured RDR_bindings.vcd file and import it using Settings / Load. Controls are saved by default in Autosave.vcd.
• Correct any missing IDs in imported controls. For example your mouse ID may be different, click Settings / Controls, select all mappings with Ctrl-A, click Tools / Device Replacement, replace missing mouse ID in Target with valid mouse ID in Replacement.
• Exit Virtual Controller and create desktop shortcut for it
  "path\to\VirtualController.exe" /load Autosave.vcd /run /minimize
  (you may export your controls to another file e.g. my_controls.vcd with Settings / Save and use your custom controls file instead of Autosave.vcd in desktop shortcut)
• To play RDR
• Launch RDR first (you may wanto to remove –fullscreen from Xenia shortcut to start in windowed mode or press Esc/F11)
• Start Virtual Controller using shortcut. It may exit unexpectedly if it was started before RDR. Also it may exit when you switch to RDR window – relaunch Virtual Controller through shortcut until you can switch to RDR successfully with Virtual Controller running in the background.
• After switching to RDR running in Xenia window, press F11 to make it fullscreen
• Press End to lock keyboard and mouse
• When asked “press START” press m
• When asked to selects game difficulty use up and down arrows and press Enter (A)
• Press m to access pause menu, use Arrows, Enter and Esc to navigate submenus and map. See complete mapping table for details.

Preconfigured .vcd file uses the following special control mappings to turn on keyboard and mouse lock.

• Button [End] press - Keyboard Lock Invert  (e.g. first press will turn lock on, second press turns it off and so on)
• Button [End] press - Mouse Lock Invert
• F12 immediately exits Virtual Controller and keyboard and mouse will be unlocked

Mappings in preconfigured .vcd file are based on Keyboard/Mouse → Xbox 360 Gamepad example in Virtual Controller’s readme.pdf.

Playing with UCR

You need to install:

1. ViGEm bus
2. Interception 
3. UCR 
4. UCR plugins 
5. Replace context.xml in UCR folder with one contributed by user devnbp

Bear in mind that xml config will have to be modified as your PC will have different GUIDs for devices referenced by config! If you know faster way to replace GUIDs in xml file and make it instantly usable in UCR please share.

How does it all work?

vJoy allows to create virtual joystick DirectInput device with xbox360-pad features:

• DPAD                (emulated by joystick's POV)
• two analog sticks,  (emulated by 4 joystick's axes and 2 buttons for thumbs)
• 4 buttons on the right (A, B, X, Y),
• 4 shoulder buttons (two of which might be axes/triggers)
• 2 buttons in the middle (Start, Back only - no Guide logo-button)

GPDSCK is autohotkey-compiled feeder program that intercepts keyboard and mouse and translates mouse movements and keyboard presses into axes movements and POV & button presses for virtual DirectInput 12-button vJoy Device.

Keyboard to Left Stick movement

·        W, S to Axis Y+ and Y-

·        A, D to Axis X- and X+     

Mouse to Right Stick movement

·        Mouse Up, Down      Rotate Z-, Rotate Z+

·        Mouse Left, Right   Axis Z-, Axis Z+

X360ce creates virtual gamepad Xbox 360 Controller device (ViGEm bus) for Xenia and translates input from DirectInput devices (vJoy, keyboard) into it.

Virtual Controller does everything what GPDSCK and x360ce do but it does not use intermediate vJoy device and translates WASD and mouse movements directly to Lstick and Rstick axes of virtual Xbox 360 Controller device (SCP bus) that is created on Virtual Controller start.

Red Dead Redemption complete control mapping table

 

X360 gamepad control	Xenia default	RDR2 PC compatible Key	vJoy  button (GPDSCK)	On foot	On horseback	Driving vehicle	Riding shotgun	Alt key
Ltrigger	Q / I	Mouse Rbtn	B4	Target / Zoom	Target / Zoom	Target	Target
Lbumper (Lshoulder)	1	Tab	B10	Radial Quickpick [draw/holster]	Radial Quickpick	Radial Quickpick	Radial Quickpick
Left stick	W A S D	W A S D	Keyboard to Lstick	Move	Move	Steer	-	Arrows
Left stick thumb	F	C	B11	Crouch	-	-	-
D-PAD	Shift or Caps +
D-PAD L	A	Z	DL	Camera Shift Left / [choose prev weapon of a kind in Radial Quickpick]	Camera Shift Left	Camera Shift Left	Camera Shift Left	Wheel Up
D-PAD R	D	X	DR	Camera Shift Right/ [choose next weapon of a kind in Radial Quickpick]	Camera Shift Right	Camera Shift Right	Camera Shift Right	Wheel Down
D-PAD U	W	H	DU	Call Horse	Call Horse	-	-
D-PAD D	S	Alt	DD	Radar Zoom Level	Radar Zoom Level	Radar Zoom Level	Radar Zoom Level	T
Back	Z	B	B9	Satchel	Satchel	Satchel	Satchel
Start	X	Esc	B8	Pause	Pause	Pause	Pause	M
Right stick	Arrows	Mouse look	Mouse to Rstick	Camera / Quickpick Selection	Camera / Quickpick Selection	Camera / Quickpick Selection	Camera / Quickpick Selection
Right stick thumb	K	Mouse Mbtn	B12	Look Behind / Dead Eye	Look Behind / Dead Eye	Look Behind / Dead Eye	Look Behind / Dead Eye	Caps Lock
X	L	Space	B2	Jump	Jump	-	-
Y	P	E	B7	Use Context	Dismount	Dismount	Dismount
A	;	Shift	B5	Run	Increase Speed	Increase Speed	Skip To Destination	Enter
B	'	R	B3	Reload [greet people if without weapon]	Reload / Use Context	Reload / Cinematic Camera	Reload / Cinematic Camera	Esc
Rtrigger	E / O	Mouse Lbtn	B1	Punch / Fire	Fire	Fire	Fire
Rbumper (Rshoulder)	3	Q	B6	Take Cover [Dead Eye tag]	Slow / Stop	Slow / Stop	-	Ctrl

 

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Playing Red Dead Redemption for Nintendo Switch

Adapting GPDSCK method for Switch emulators (yuzu, ryujinx)

GPDSK/x360ce method adapted for Switch can be used with Yuzu and Ryujinx emulators which detect  virtual Xbox controller. Adaptation is needed because Switch RDR version swaps menu navigation buttons Select/Back. 

To set up GPDSCK/x360ce from scratch follow steps in the GPDSK method and get premade files from Switch subfolder here - x360ce config will need to be adjusted for your PC as described in GPDSK method

• unpack GPDSCK_settings_switch.zip after unpacking main GPDSCK.zip
• x360ce_settings_from_C_ProgramData_X360CE-switch.zip contains premade x360ce settings 

If you already have everything configured for Xenia then you may manually adapt configs as follows:

1. In GPDSCK set b5 button to 'enter', press OK
   
2. In x360CE vjoy device swap A and B buttons so that B is Button 5 and A is Button 8
   
   
3. In x360CE Keyboard set A to button 42 (drop down popup, select Record, press Shift), press Save all.

Configuring Switch emulators to use virtual xBox controller

After virtual xbox controller is created by mapping software you use (mouse2joystick, x360ce...) it may be used in switch emulators.

Ryujinx: Options/Settings, Input tab, click Configure button below Player 1
Select virtual Xbox controller in Input Device list, Profile: Default, click Load, click Save

 

Yuzu: Emulation / Configure..., Controls
Pro Controller, virtual Xbox controller in Input Device list, click OK

Technical details of adaptation for reference

Xbox360     InGame     Key      Menu               x360ce keyboard       x360ce vjoy
A           Run        Shift    Select/waypoint    Enter(x360 b28)       [b5 lshift]
B           Reload     r        Back               [r    (x360 b19)]      b8 esc
 Switch
B (xbox A)  Run        Shift    Back               [Shift]                b8 esc
A (xbox B)  Reload     r        Select/waypoint    [r]                    b5 enter
[...] marks default ingame keys. esc key must be set in GPDSCK to override exit fullscreen by emulator.

Playing with Yuzu built-in mouse support

The separate method below relies on built-in Yuzu mouse support. Currently it uses Autohotkey helper script which doesn't work well with mouse wheel scroll (WheelDown::z, WheelUp::x). If you have AHK solution for this please share.

• Basic mappings and mouse support are done in Yuzu (RDR_YUZU.ini)
• Additional mappings (Esc, Enter, Arrows for menu navigation, Mouse wheel up/down for weapon selection in radial quickpick) are done in Autohotkey helper script (rdr_yuzu_helper.ahk).

Installation of emulator and RDR ROM is beyond the scope of this guide. It assumes that Yuzu is installed in {yuzu folder} and RDR game is configured.
 

1. Get RDR_YUZU.ini and rdr_yuzu_helper.ahk
2. Put RDR_YUZU.ini into {yuzu_folder}\user\config\input
3. Put rdr_yuzu_helper.ahk or shortcut to it on desktop
4. Install Autohotkey
5. Start Yuzu and disable Esc hotkey.
   Go to Emulation / Configure..., General, Hotkeys tab. Find "Exit Fullscreen", right-click Esc mapping and choose Clear
6. Go to Emulation / Configure..., Controls and select RDR_YUZU in Profiles list. Note that XYAB buttons in Switch have different layout and functions!
   
   
9. Click Configure under Mouse panning and check "Enable mouse panning", OK
10. Run rdr_yuzu_helper.ahk - double-click it on desktop, H icon should appear in tray
    
11. Start the game - double-click RDR in game list or right-click / Start game
    
12. Press F11 to go fullscreen
    
13. When asked “press +” press m
14. When asked to select game difficulty use up and down arrows and press Enter
15. Press m to access pause menu, use Arrows, Enter and Esc to navigate submenus and map.