Ephinea Gamepad Setup

Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst on the Ephinea private server supports gamepads, but some additional configuration is needed to make them fully functional. This step-by-step guide shows you how to set up a gamepad for Ephinea, enabling all action shortcuts and improving camera control. While this guide uses an Xbox Series X/S controller, the steps work for most modern gamepads, including the PlayStation 5 DualSense.

Contents

Mappings

Following this guide will result in the button mappings below. The triggers act as modifiers, allowing access to all ten action shortcuts while keeping the main action palette on the face buttons, similar to the original console controls.

Movement

Gamepad Button Keyboard Key Mapping
Left Stick WASD Move
Left Stick Click Q Auto Run
Right Stick   Adjust Camera
Right Stick Click ↑ Center Camera
LB ↑ Center Camera / Prev Page

Action Palette

Gamepad Button Keyboard Key Mapping
A ↓ Action Palette Middle
B → Action Palette Right
X ← Action Palette Left
Y End Action Palette Top
RB Ctrl Change Action Palette / Next Page

Action Shortcuts

Gamepad Button Keyboard Key Mapping
RT + A 1 Action Shortcut 1
RT + X 2 Action Shortcut 2
RT + B 3 Action Shortcut 3
RT + Y 4 Action Shortcut 4
LT + A 5 Action Shortcut 5
LT + X 6 Action Shortcut 6
LT + B 7 Action Shortcut 7
LT + Y 8 Action Shortcut 8
RT + LT + A 9 Action Shortcut 9
RT + LT + X 0 Action Shortcut 10

Other

Gamepad Button Keyboard Key Mapping
Menu Home Main Menu
RT + LT + B Esc Cancel
RT + LT + Y Tab Character Info. Change
RT + ↑ F1 Display F Key Functions
RT + → F2 Equipment
RT + ↓ F3 Technique
RT + ← F4 Mag
LT + ↑ F5 Guild Card
LT + → F6 Simple Mail
LT + ↓ F7 Symbol Chat
LT + ← F8 Team
RT + LT + ↑ F9 Team Log Window On/Off
RT + LT + → F10 Normal/Change Team Chat
RT + LT + ↓ F11 Keyboard Control On/Off
RT + LT + ← F12 Main Menu

Example

In the screenshot below:

  • Shifta is assigned to Action Shortcut 1 and can be executed by pressing RT + A.
  • Deband is assigned to Action Shortcut 2 and can be executed by pressing RT + X.

Example

Step 1 - Add PSO to Steam

Adding PSO to Steam enables you to use Steam Input for your gamepad to remap buttons, and combinations of buttons, to keyboard keys. There are alternatives, such as Joy2Key, but I found Steam to be the easiest to set up.

  1. Click Add a Non-Steam Game to my Library….
  2. Browse to your PSO installation (e.g. C:\Users\Username\EphineaPSO).
  3. Select online.exe.

Add a Non-Steam Game to my Library...

Step 2 - Enable Steam Input for PSO

Adding a gamepad to Steam is straightforward, so this step won’t cover it. Once your gamepad is connected, you can enable Steam Input for PSO.

  1. Turn on your gamepad.
  2. Select PSO in your library.
  3. Click the gamepad icon to the right of the Play button.
  4. Click the Enable Steam Input button.

Enable Steam Input - Steps 2 and 3 Enable Steam Input - Step 4

Step 3 - Apply a Steam Button Layout

I recommend applying the Ephinea - All Action Shortcuts community button layout instead of creating one from scratch. This layout has all of the above Mappings pre-configured. You can then modify it to suit your preferences or specific gamepad.

  1. Click Gamepad.
  2. Click Community Layouts at the top.
  3. Click Show All Layouts at the bottom.
  4. Click Ephinea - All Action Shortcuts.
  5. Click Apply Layout.

Create a Steam Button Layout - Step 1 Create a Steam Button Layout - Steps 2, 3, and 4 Create a Steam Button Layout - Step 5

If you can’t find the layout on Steam, drop a message on our Discord or Forums for help.

Step 4 - Enable Gamepad

Enable your gamepad in the Ephinea Launcher (Options › Page 4 › Use XInput for Gamepad).

Enable Gamepad

Step 5 - Enable Analog Camera Control

By default, the game uses a Chase Cam that slowly adjusts behind your character as they move, but you can also use the gamepad’s right stick to manually control the camera if you prefer, similar to modern third-person games.

  1. Enable Analog Camera Control (Options › Page 3 › Analog Camera Control › Enabled).
  2. Invert Analog X-Axis (Options › Page 3 › Analog Sensitivity › Invert).
  3. Disable Chase Cam (Options › Page 3 › Chase Cam › Disabled).

Enable Analog Camera Control

Step 6 - Update Keyboard Mappings

You’ll need to update the in-game keyboard mappings, as the autorun Q key is not mapped by default (Menu › Options › Keyboard Config › Custom).

Update Keyboard Mappings

Step 7 - Update Gamepad Mappings

Finally, you’ll need to update the in-game button mappings (Menu › Options › Pad Button Config).

  1. Set Right Analog Left/Right to Right Stick.
  2. Set Action Palette Middle / Decide to A.
  3. Set Action Palette Right / < Cancel > to B. Note: You can press ← and → on the DPad to change this mapping’s behaviour.
  4. Set Action Palette Left / < Detail > to X. Note: Same as above.
  5. Set Action Palette Top to Y.
  6. Set Menu Open/Close to Menu.
  7. Set Prev Page / Camera to LB.
  8. Set Next Page / Action Palette Change to RB.

Update Gamepad Mappings

Step 8 - Finished

Your gamepad should now be fully configured for Ephinea with support for all action shortcuts and improved camera control. If you have any questions or run into issues, feel free to ask on our Discord or Forums.

Original Keyboard Mappings

For reference, here are the original keyboard mappings.

Original Keyboard Mappings