How to enjoy Controller play? (PS5 DualSense Support Mod Guide)

If you are playing with a controller, you may have noticed that the current support although is there, it is not that great. Hopefully, the game developers would eventually address this issue, but meanwhile the community has two options: forget about the controller use and play with the historically well supported keyboard/mouse combination; or... figure out a way how to overcome the limitations via modding. I chose the latter and created a mod which is entirely focused on a better controller support in the game.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3691858284
In the following sections, I will describe the features which are currently implemented in the mod, what they do, and how to use them.

This section lists all features and fixes the PS5 DualSense Mod provides. In Mod's terminology, a "feature" is a Quality of Life (QoL) enhancement to game's UI that makes playing the game with the controller more convenient. A "fix", however, is an enhancement that addresses a particular bug in the vanilla game, e.g. an action button pressed in a UI window leaking through to the game world resulting in double actions (an action in the UI, but also an action in the world). The nomination whether something is a "feature" or a "fix" is debatable, but this is how I see it :).

• PS5 Controller Icons
  
• Speed Controller Override
  
• Move and Combat action while in Inventory/Status UI
  
• Auto-close UI on Combat
  
• Aim reticle visibility regardless of the ISO cursor setting
  
• Fast Scrolling in UI windows

• Fix menu navigation for the controller
  
• Fix for action button presses leaking to the game world from UI
  
• Fix for "Disassemble" menu object selection logic
  
• Reverting the movement behaviour (Left Stick = Move, Left Stick + Right Trigger = Run)
  
• Fix print media (such as fliers and brochures) so it does not mess up the focus
  
• Fix Radial Menus, so they do not interrupt players movement
  
• Fix controller reconnection bugs
  
• Fix redundant vehicle door actions

As of Build 42.16.1, the game supports two sets of icons: one for Xbox controllers, another for PS4 controllers. Although one could use the PS4 icons when they play with the PS5 DualSense controller and it works fine, it does not match aesthetically the way PS5 eco-system presents button icons.

The "Enable PS5 Controller Icons" in the Game Options menu (on the "Mods" tab) introduces a set of icons created by Zacksly[/b][zacksly.itch.io], which brings much cleaner look to the UI when it comes to the controller button hints. Using the "Apply" button at the bottom of the menu, you can instantly see the new icons look and if you don't like them, just switch the option off.

The default speed controller (the widget bar the player sees in the top right corner) was designed with the mouse user in mind. You would need a mouse to be able to interact with it (e.g. speeding the game up or pausing it). The widget has two functions: to show the player the current game speed and to provide controls to influence it.

Since the controller player cannot interact with the widget at all and, usually, relies on other means of changing the speed of the game (e.g. via a radial menu), such a long widget bar loses it's value as the control panel. Therefore, the feature implemented in the mod, replaces the bar with is single icon width widget that represents the current game speed. The widget is still interactive and you can pause/unpause the game by clicking on it. You can also speed the game up by double-clicking on the icon.

The feature can be enabled or disabled at any time through the Game Options menu (on the "Mods" tab).

The "Auto-close UI on Combat" feature is a quality-of-life enhancement designed to keep the player safe during sudden encounters by streamlining the transition from the interface interaction to combat readiness.

If you are browsing your inventory, checking your health, or using a crafting bench and a zombie suddenly approaches, you no longer need to manually mash the cancel button (and in vanilla game, it may be different buttons for different UI elements) to close UI windows.

The feature monitors your intention to fight. Moving the Right Stick (to aim) or pressing the Triggers (LT/RT) while a non-blocking UI element is open will automatically dismiss that window and return focus to the game world. It includes a "stick-centering" protection: ff you open a UI element such as Inventory while your stick is already tilted, the UI element won't instantly close; the implementation waits for you to return the stick to the neutral position before it begins listening for new combat-ready inputs.

The logic is intelligent enough to ignore "blocking" interfaces like the World Map, Pause Menu, or Radial Menus, ensuring that your deliberate navigation of full-screen or system menus is never interrupted. It correctly identifies and closes the top-level window (including Crafting, Fitness,
and Device menus) even if your cursor focus is on a sub-component within that window.

The "Make aim reticle visible without ISO cursor" feature is a quality-of-life improvement for controller users that ensures critical visual feedback during combat without the clutter of a permanent cursor. Basically, it fixes an annoyance in the vanilla game that if the player decides to disable the ISO cursor the aiming reticle is also disabled for some reason.

In the vanilla game, the projectile aim reticle (the circle/diamond that shows where your firearm is aimed) is often tied to the "ISO Cursor" setting. Many controller users prefer to play with the ISO Cursor disabled for a cleaner look, but this inadvertently hides the aim reticle as well.

This feature intelligently monitors your equipped weapon. When you equip a firearm, it automatically (and temporarily) enables the necessary engine settings to make the aim reticle visible. As soon as you holster your weapon or switch to a melee tool, the implementation restores your preferred settings, hiding the cursor/reticle again to keep your screen clear during exploration and looting.

The feature includes a safety-net system that detects when you are saving or quitting the game. It ensures your original "Cursor Off" preferences are restored and saved to your configuration file, preventing the temporary combat override from becoming permanent.

The Fast Scrolling feature is a Quality-of-Life (QoL) enhancement designed to help with the inventory management and menu navigation when using a controller.

In the vanilla game, navigating large inventories (especially late-game stockpiles or vehicle trunks) requires pressing the D-pad for every single item. This linear movement is slow and often tedious. Fast Scrolling was implemented to give players a way to "accelerate" their cursor, allowing for rapid navigation of long lists without losing the precision of a controller.

Fast Scrolling introduces a modifier-based acceleration system:

• The Modifier: Hold the Right Bumper (RB) while navigating an inventory list or menu.
  
• The Effect: While RB is held, each press of DPad-Up or DPad-Down will move the selection cursor by multiple items simultaneously (the specific speed is configurable in the Mod Options menu).
  
• Smart Selection: It automatically handles "Container Switching." If you hold RB and scroll, the mod prevents the inventory from switching to the next container/tab. However, if you simply tap RB without using the D-pad, it will still switch containers as usual, preserving the vanilla functionality.
  
• Safety Gating: The feature automatically disables itself in context-sensitive menus (like the Building or Crafting windows) where the Right Bumper is already mapped to critical navigation tasks, preventing input conflicts.

You can choose the number of items the DPad scrolling will produce when the modifier is being held. The minimum is 1 (the feature is disabled) and the maximum is 5.

The Menu Navigation Fix is a comprehensive overhaul of the game's Options menu navigation, specifically optimised for controller users.

The vanilla Project Zomboid Options menu often suffers from "Focus Dead Zones" — areas where a controller cursor cannot reach certain buttons or settings. Additionally, the keybinding dialog (where you assign keys to actions) frequently fails to capture controller focus properly, forcing players to use a mouse to close the window or save their changes. This fix was implemented to ensure 100% controller reachability across all settings panels.

If you enable this fix it would:

• Rebuild the internal "button map" for every settings tab (Display, UI, Sound, etc.). It ensures that every interactable element (including buttons, tickboxes, and sliders) is reachable via the DPad buttons.
  
• Fully enable controller support for the "Set Keybind" pop-up. You would be now able to navigate to the "Clear," "Default," and "Cancel" buttons using your controller.
  
• If a keybinding dialog is closed, the feature automatically returns the controller focus to the exact button you were on in the main Options menu, preventing the "Lost Cursor" bug.
  
• When navigating settings with a controller, the feature simulates a mouse-hover effect. This allows the game to display informative tooltips (descriptions of what a setting does) that would normally only appear for mouse users.

The 42.16 update brought new mechanics to how controller is used to move the character, aim, and shoot. The choice of controls to move the character was a bit questionable, since on the majority of controllers the sensitivity was off (e.g. on PS5 DualSense controller the boundary between walking and running was so minuscule that to walk you had to feather the left stick very very gently). This biggest concern was the muscle memory: when you get used to one way of controlling your character and suddenly you are forced to use a completely different layout -- you stumble and start question choices :).

Anyway, this feature attempts to bring back the control layout as it is used to be before 42.16: the Left Stick is used to walk around, if it is paired with the Right Trigger (RT) then the character starts to jog. If, while jogging, Circle button (or Button on XBox Controllers) is pressed, then the character starts to sprint.

The way how it is implemented is a bit hacky, so the mod could not fully implement the original Walk & Run behaviour, but what is implemented is really-really close to 42.15.3's behaviour.

The fix also addresses some related issues with vanilla movement:

• On some controllers, it was not possible to sprint at all
  
• The sprint/jog help hit was shown on the screen, but did nothing
  
• If you run for at least a couple of seconds and changed directions, chances are that your character will turn involuntarily toward the direction the was the first vector in the series of turns.
  
• skid animations rarely played on stops

This guide is a work in progress, so I will add more sections as I find the time to document stuff.