A quick guide to set up your joystick for Starminer using JoyToKey, with ready-to-use mappings for the Thrustmaster HOTAS X.
Starminer: Joystick Setup with JoyToKey
If you want to use a joystick in a game that doesn’t support it natively, JoyToKey does the job – it converts joystick movements into keyboard presses.
The settings below are made for a Thrustmaster HOTAS X, but you can easily adapt them to other sticks. If you have the same model, just copy the mappings at the end and you’re set.
What you need:
- JoyToKey (free, download from the official site)
- A joystick plugged into your PC
JoyToKey runs in the background and listens to your stick – you just need to tell it which keys to press.
Set Up a New Profile
Open JoyToKey and click New to create a blank profile. I named mine “Hotas X” so I know what it’s for. Then head over to the Options tab.
In the “Hide or Show Buttons” section, use the dropdown and pick “Show all axes (8 way + POV x 4)”. I tried skipping this step and my settings didn’t behave – the keys would just tap instead of holding, especially on the HOTAS X. So don’t skip it.
Figure Out Which Input Is Which
Before you start mapping, it helps to know exactly which physical movement triggers which line in JoyToKey. The names they use aren’t always what you’d expect. There are two ways to do this.
Method 1 – Settings Menu (Limited)
Go to Settings > Configure joysticks, then click the second tab. You can wiggle the stick and see some data, but it doesn’t show all the buttons and axes, so I don’t recommend relying only on this.
Method 2 – The Notepad Trick (Better)
Go back to the main JoyToKey window. For every single row (Stick1:←, Stick1:→, POV:↑, etc.), double-click the “None” box and assign a random unique letter – A, B, C, whatever. Just make sure each one is different.
Now open a blank Notepad file. Move the stick, press all the buttons, and try the hat switch (POV). Letters will appear in Notepad. Note down which physical input corresponds to which JoyToKey row. This is super quick and gives you a perfect map.
Setting Up the Key Mappings
Now that you’re sure what’s what, double-click the first row you want to configure – for example, Stick1:←. A window pops open. Stay on the first tab (Keyboard).
In the top left you’ll see four boxes, with the first one highlighted yellow. That’s where the key combo goes, pressed in order from top to bottom. For this example, I put Shift in the first box and Q in the one below it. So pushing the stick left will send Shift+Q.
Repeat this for all the main axes and buttons you want to assign. I left the number buttons and extra POV directions empty, but you can get creative with those.
Making the POV Hat Control the Camera
The little directional pad on your stick (the hat switch) is perfect for looking around. To set that up, double-click a POV direction – say, POV:↑. This time, go to the Mouse tab.
Under Mouse Click, select Right click (or Left, depending on how your game handles camera). Then in the Mouse Position section, pick the direction that matches – for POV:↑, choose Up from the menu. If you prefer reversed controls, pick the opposite direction; it’s entirely up to you.
Just below that, there’s a box for “Adjust mouse movement speed while button is pressed.” Set it to 50% to start, then tweak it in-game until the camera speed feels right.
My Exact HOTAS X Settings
If you have a Thrustmaster HOTAS X, you can use these exactly as they are. Just enter them into JoyToKey.
| JoyToKey Input | Assigned Keys / Mouse Action |
|---|---|
| Stick1:← | Shift + Q |
| Stick1:→ | Shift + E |
| Stick1:↑ | Shift + W |
| Stick1:↓ | Shift + S |
| Stick2:← | W |
| Stick2:→ | S |
| Stick2:↑ | Shift + A |
| Stick2:↓ | Shift + D |
| Axis5(<0) | A |
| Axis5(>0) | D |
| Axis6(<0) | (none) |
| Axis6(>0) | (none) |
| Slider1(<0) | Z |
| Slider1(>0) | D |
| Slider2(<0) | (none) |
| Slider2(>0) | (none) |
| POV:↑ | Right Click + Mouse Movement Up (speed 50%) |
| POV:→ | Right Click + Mouse Movement Left (speed 50%) |
| POV:↓ | Right Click + Mouse Movement Down (speed 50%) |
| POV:← | Right Click + Mouse Movement Right (speed 50%) |
A Note for Non-HOTAS X Users
If your joystick only briefly taps a key instead of holding it, I ran into the same thing. A partial fix is to use the Auto Repeat option and set it to something like 30 times per second (the max). This worked for turning the station, but it pulses the thrust, so it’s really slow for forward and reverse movement.
For those, I ended up using the Toggle Between ON and OFF setting. You push the throttle forward once to start the thrust, then return to center. To stop, you have to push forward and return to center again. It’s not perfect, but it gets the job done until you find something better.