Borderlands 4 Gyro (BL4 Gyro)

Download · Install · Using it · Controllers · Limitations · Support

Native motion aiming for Borderlands 4 on PC. The real rotation of your controller's gyro is added to the game's own camera, through the same path as look input (AddYawInput/AddPitchInput). There is no mouse or stick emulation: the right stick keeps working alongside it and the button prompts never switch to keyboard/mouse.

Features

• On foot and in vehicles: as the driver the gyro aims the turret; steering stays on the stick.
• In-game panel on the controller (L3 + R3) or keyboard (F8): sensitivity, ADS multiplier, activation mode (Always, ADS only, Hold button), gyro button, smoothing, tightening, Player/Local space.
• Quickstart on the first launch to check the controller, the combo and the calibration before playing.
• Calibration that stays out of the way: automatic in menus, and a manual Calibrate now that only needs the controller held still.
• Steam Input or direct HID, picked automatically.
• Optional Flick Stick (Advanced > Right stick mode): the right stick turns the camera toward where you push it, gyro aims. Off by default; the right stick keeps the game's own aiming.

Controllers

Kind	How the mod reads the gyro	Tested in game	Should work (not verified)
Generic gyro controller	Steam Input	GuliKit TT Max (NS69) in Switch mode, Bluetooth	Original Switch Pro Controller (same protocol and Steam type as the TT Max), Steam Controller (2026) and other generic gyro controllers Steam Input recognizes
DualSense	Direct HID (Steam Input off for PlayStation) or Steam Input	DualSense over Bluetooth and USB, both paths; rumble and adaptive triggers keep working	DualShock 4 (same two paths; Bluetooth with Steam Input off is the least certain)
Switch 2 Pro Controller	Direct HID, through Switch2Connect in DualSense mode	Switch 2 Pro Controller	—

The mod uses Steam Input when it hands a controller to the game. When it hands none (e.g. a DualSense with Steam Input off, since BL4 supports PlayStation pads natively), it reads the controller's HID directly. The panel's Diagnostics page shows which source is in use.

Requirements

• Borderlands 4 (Steam).
• oak2-mod-manager installed in the game folder (tested with v0.3): download oak2-sdk.zip from its release and extract it into the Borderlands 4 folder.
• A controller with a gyro (see Controllers).
• Generic gyro controller (e.g. TT Max): Switch mode (double-click Mode) and, in Steam > Settings > Controller, Nintendo Switch support on.
• DualSense: works with Steam's PlayStation support off for the game (BL4 gets the native pad) or on.
• Switch 2 Pro Controller: Switch2Connect in PS5/DualSense mode, with the app's own gyro (mouse/stick) off. The pad then shows up as a DualSense, so set Button names to Nintendo (Quickstart or Advanced).
• Don't set up gyro-as-mouse in Steam or another app: the rotation would be doubled.

Install

1. Close the game. Download bl4-gyro_<version>.zip from the latest release.
2. Extract it into the Borderlands 4 folder (the one with Borderlands4.exe and OakGame; in Steam: right-click the game > Manage > Browse local files). You get sdk_mods\BL4Gyro\ there.
3. Start the game. Gyro is on from the first launch.

Updating is the same: extract the new zip over the old one and replace the files. Your settings, and your choice to keep the mod or the gyro off, are kept (they live in sdk_mods\settings\BL4Gyro.json, which the zip doesn't contain).

Using it

• Open the gyro panel during gameplay: hold L3 + R3 for half a second (click L3 first: the R3 press is then held back from the game, so you don't melee), or press F8 on the keyboard. The combo can be changed in the panel (Advanced > Panel combo).
• In the panel: D-pad up/down to move, left/right to change, LB/RB for fine steps, A to select, B to go back (and to close on the first page). With a keyboard: arrows, Enter, Esc, and type a number on a slider (2.5 or 2,5) then Enter. The button hints follow the device you used last. Changes apply immediately and are saved when you close the panel.
• While the panel is open the game is paused and neither the controller nor the keyboard/mouse act in game; closing it never makes the camera jump and never replays a press.
• The first time you play, the Quickstart page opens: gyro state, the detected controller, the combo, the button names the panel uses (Auto follows your controller) and Calibrate now. It stays until you pick Got it: closing it with B brings it back on the next launch (the combo opens it too). After Got it the combo opens the full panel.

Panel page	Settings
Main	Gyro on/off, activation mode (Always, ADS only, Hold button), sensitivity Grouped (one slider for both directions) or Individual (horizontal and vertical), ADS multiplier, calibrate now (with progress), controller status
Advanced	Invert X/Y, gyro space (Player/Local), automatic calibration, smoothing, tightening, right stick mode (Traditional, Flick Stick) with flick time and flick threshold, gyro button, panel combo, button names (Auto, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo), restore defaults
Diagnostics	Controller source (Steam Input / HID), motion packets/s, gyro offset, camera hook state and restart, game build, debug trace, copy diagnostics

• Gyro button (Advanced, none by default): in Hold button mode the gyro works only while it is held; in Always / ADS only holding it pauses the gyro so you can re-center the controller — release and it continues without a jump. The button keeps its own game action.
• Flick Stick (Advanced > Right stick mode, Traditional by default): push the right stick past the Flick threshold (0.9 = near the edge) and the camera turns toward that direction in Flick time (0.1 s): right 90°, left 90°, down 180°; (almost) straight up doesn't turn. Keep it pushed and rotate it to keep turning by the same angle; let it go back to the center for the next flick. The stick turns only horizontally: vertical aim is the gyro's, which keeps working during a flick. Works on foot and in vehicles (turret). Flicks are exact at every zoom level: they turn the camera in degrees, not mouse counts, so a 90° flick is 90° hip-fire, aiming down sights or through a sniper scope (measured). It needs gyro on: with gyro off the right stick works the traditional way. While it runs the mod sets the game's controller look sensitivity to 0 and puts your value back in menus, the pause screen, the gyro panel and when the mod is turned off.
• Calibration: usually nothing to do. Automatic calibration removes drift while a menu, the map or pause is open and the controller rests (never while you aim or while the gyro panel is open); the panel then shows Auto-calibrated. If the camera still drifts slowly with the controller still, use Calibrate now: hold the controller still in your hands, in any position, or rest it on a table (most accurate). You get 5 s, it measures for 4 s and reports Calibrated, or It moved (the old calibration is kept). Normal hand tremor is fine.
• All options are also in the console mod menu (F6, mods), where the keyboard key for the panel can be rebound.

Limitations

• Generic gyro controllers: gyro only in Switch mode (PC/XInput mode sends no motion data to the PC), triggers are digital in that mode, and Steam Input must stay on with "Nintendo Switch" support enabled.
• Motion only while the game window has focus. In game Steam delivers about 48 readings/s with short gaps; the mod holds the last speed for up to 0.1 s to cover them.
• The panel's controller buttons can't be held back from the game, so the panel opens only during gameplay and pauses the game while open. With L3 + R3, press L3 first: the first button of a combo reaches the game. The gyro button also keeps its game action.
• Gyro is off with a cursor visible, while paused and when the camera is away from your character or vehicle (cutscenes).
• Flick Stick changes a game setting while you play. The game saves its controller look sensitivity with your profile, so if the game crashes during gameplay the 0 can be saved; the mod repairs it on the next launch. If you remove the mod right after such a crash, set Look sensitivity (controller) back in the game's options.
• Tested game build: Steam 26007962. A game patch can change the input scales or break oak2-mod-manager until bl-sdk updates it; another build logs a warning. All options stay available in the console mod menu (F6, mods).
• Not tested: co-op (should work fine but I have no friends to test with, if someone does please do tell me if it works properly), generic gyro controllers other than the GuliKit TT Max, the original Switch Pro Controller, the Steam Controller (2026) and the DualShock 4.

Uninstall

Delete the sdk_mods\BL4Gyro folder in the game folder. To also drop your gyro settings, delete sdk_mods\settings\BL4Gyro.json.

Development

build.cmd                                                   (builds and runs the tests)
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\package.ps1      (writes dist\bl4-gyro_<version>.zip and the SHA-256s)
powershell -c "Expand-Archive dist\bl4-gyro_<version>.zip '<game folder>' -Force"   (installs it, like a player)

Before publishing a release: build.cmd with no failures, build the zip, send bl4gyro.dll to VirusTotal and publish the SHA-256s with the release.

License and credits

Open source under the MIT license.

• GamepadMotionHelpers v10 (MIT, vendored in third_party/).
• SDL3 3.4.16 (zlib), fetched at build time; SDL3.dll ships in the package for the direct HID reading.
• oak2-mod-manager / unrealsdk / pyunrealsdk (LGPL-3.0): not redistributed; players install the official release themselves.
• Design references: Returnal-Native-Gyro, GyroUE/GyroLib, NeonGyro (MIT) and GyroWiki. No code copied.

Support

If BL4 Gyro made the game better for you, you can buy me a coffee on Ko-fi. Thanks!