Adaptive Trigger Effects

Controlify's DualSense adaptive trigger effects can be changed with a resource pack. Effects are applied to the controller input bound to either Use Item or Attack.

Creating trigger effect rules

Create either or both of these files in your resource pack:

• assets/controlify/trigger_effect/use_item.json
• assets/controlify/trigger_effect/swing_item.json

Each file contains an array of rules. Every rule has a when item predicate and the effect to apply. The when object uses Minecraft's standard item predicate format. When multiple conditions are present, all of them must match.

On Fabric, you can reference the c: convention tags even when connected to a vanilla server. NeoForge does not provide this capability, but when on Singleplayer or connected to a NeoForge server, you are able to reference convention tags.

For example, a bow can increase resistance as it is pulled:

{
  "when": {
    "items": "minecraft:bow"
  },
  "effect": {
    "type": "feedback_slope",
    "start_position": 3,
    "end_position": 9,
    "start_strength": 2,
    "end_strength": 8
  }
}

Component presence can give every weapon the same trigger stop:

{
  "when": {
    "predicates": {
      "minecraft:weapon": {}
    }
  },
  "effect": {
    "type": "weapon",
    "start_position": 3,
    "end_position": 5,
    "strength": 1
  }
}

Item tags and component conditions can be combined:

{
  "when": {
    "items": "#minecraft:fox_food",
    "predicates": {
      "minecraft:consumable": {}
    }
  },
  "effect": {
    "type": "feedback",
    "position": 3,
    "strength": 1
  }
}

Stack counts can select a vibration effect:

{
  "when": {
    "items": "minecraft:snowball",
    "count": {
      "min": 8
    }
  },
  "effect": {
    "type": "vibration",
    "position": 3,
    "amplitude": 4,
    "frequency": 30
  }
}

Semantic component predicates can select a multi-zone effect:

{
  "when": {
    "items": "minecraft:shield",
    "predicates": {
      "minecraft:damage": {
        "damage": {
          "min": 1
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "effect": {
    "type": "feedback_multiple_position",
    "strength": [0, 0, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
  }
}

Exact component values can distinguish an unloaded crossbow:

{
  "when": {
    "items": "minecraft:crossbow",
    "components": {
      "minecraft:charged_projectiles": []
    }
  },
  "effect": {
    "type": "feedback_slope",
    "start_position": 2,
    "end_position": 9,
    "start_strength": 5,
    "end_strength": 8
  }
}

Use-item rules check the player's active item and then their offhand item. Swing-item rules check the main-hand item.

Rule priority and stacking

The files are additive across resource packs. Rules in the highest-priority pack are checked first, followed by lower-priority packs. Within each file, rules are checked from top to bottom. The first matching rule wins.

An empty when object matches every item and can be used as a final catch-all rule.

To remove an effect supplied by Controlify or a lower-priority pack, add a higher-priority rule with an off effect:

[
  {
    "when": {
      "items": "minecraft:bow"
    },
    "effect": {
      "type": "off"
    }
  }
]

A matching off rule stops evaluation, so rules from lower-priority packs and effects registered by mods will not be used.

If a file has invalid JSON, an unknown item, tag, component, or predicate, an invalid component or predicate value, or an invalid effect, Controlify logs the error and skips that entire file layer. Other resource packs continue to work.

Using trigger effects from a server

A server can include trigger effect files in the resource pack it sends to players. The server itself does not need Controlify: clients with Controlify apply the rules, while other clients ignore the additional assets. This is useful for giving a server's custom items their own trigger effects.

Matching an item tag

For example, a server datapack can define data/example/tags/item/heavy_weapons.json:

{
  "values": [
    "minecraft:mace",
    "minecraft:netherite_axe"
  ]
}

The server resource pack can then contain assets/controlify/trigger_effect/swing_item.json:

[
  {
    "when": {
      "items": "#example:heavy_weapons"
    },
    "effect": {
      "type": "weapon",
      "start_position": 2,
      "end_position": 8,
      "strength": 6
    }
  }
]

The item tag is synchronized to clients when they join and whenever the server reloads its datapacks, so the resource-pack rule follows changes made with /reload.

Matching custom item data

Items which share a vanilla item type can instead be distinguished by their minecraft:custom_data component. For example, a server can create a custom heavy weapon with:

/give @s minecraft:carrot_on_a_stick[minecraft:custom_data={example:{trigger_effect:"heavy"}}]

Its server resource pack can match that data with the minecraft:custom_data component predicate:

[
  {
    "when": {
      "items": "minecraft:carrot_on_a_stick",
      "predicates": {
        "minecraft:custom_data": {
          "example": {
            "trigger_effect": "heavy"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "effect": {
      "type": "feedback_multiple_position",
      "strength": [0, 0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8]
    }
  }
]

The custom-data predicate is a partial match. The item may contain other custom data in addition to the fields in the rule.

Effect formats

Trigger positions refer to the DualSense's ten trigger zones, numbered 0 through 9. Strength and amplitude values use 0 for off and 8 for maximum.

Type	Fields
off	No additional fields.
feedback	position: 0–9; strength: 0–8. Applies constant resistance from that position.
weapon	start_position: 2–7; end_position: greater than the start and at most 8; strength: 0–8.
vibration	position: 0–9; amplitude: 0–8; frequency: positive signed-byte frequency in hertz.
feedback_multiple_position	strength: exactly 10 values, each 0–8, corresponding to zones 0–9.
feedback_slope	start_position: 0–8; end_position: greater than the start and at most 9; start_strength and end_strength: 1–8.
vibration_multiple_position	frequency: positive signed-byte frequency in hertz; amplitude: exactly 10 values, each 0–8.

For example, independent resistance in each trigger zone is written as:

{
  "type": "feedback_multiple_position",
  "strength": [0, 0, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
}

An amplitude or strength of zero disables that zone. Effects whose entire amplitude/strength is zero, or whose vibration frequency is not positive, behave as off.