AetherSX2 Touch Controls and Overlay Editor

On-screen controls are a DualShock 2 drawn on the glass: two analog sticks, a D-pad, face buttons, shoulders, Start, and Select. They exist so you can play without a Bluetooth pad. They are not a second input method stacked on a gamepad. If a controller is already bound, hide the overlay or a palm will mash Cross while the pad also fires it.

Complete the first-time install walkthrough so a BIOS and at least one game exist. The editor only saves layouts against a running session. For physical pads, use controller setup instead of this page.

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## How the on-screen DualShock is laid out

AetherSX2 draws the overlay in screen space, not in the 4:3 game framebuffer. Buttons stay put when you change internal resolution. Widescreen patches only change what the 3D camera renders; they do not move L2/R2.

Default placement assumes a landscape phone:

Left cluster: D-pad plus left analog
Right cluster: face buttons plus right analog
Top edge: L1/R1, L2/R2
Bottom edge: Start, Select, and the hotkey strip (save state, fast-forward)

Tablets get the same clusters with more empty glass. If your thumbs cannot reach R2 without covering the picture, that is a scale problem, not a renderer problem.

Edit scale, opacity, and dead zones

Start any game.
Open the pause overlay (back gesture or the ··· handle).
Choose Touchscreen Settings (some builds label it Edit Touch Layout).
Drag each button. Use the scale slider so Cross is at least as large as your thumb pad, not the size of the original DualShock silkscreen.
Drop opacity to 40–60% so HUD elements in Kingdom Hearts or GTA remain readable through the buttons.
Raise analog dead zone if the virtual left stick self-centers poorly and Tidus or Sora walks on his own.
Tap Save. Back out; do not kill the app from recents before the write finishes.

Do not cover the analog with the D-pad. PS2 games that require analog mode ignore the D-pad for movement; overlapping those two controls makes town exploration in Final Fantasy X feel broken.

Save a layout per game

Global touch settings apply until you override them. Long-press the game in the list → Properties → look for touch / input overrides (wording varies slightly between AetherSX2 4248 and NetherSX2).

Good per-game habits:

RPGs: enlarge analog, shrink unused R3, keep a fat Start for menus.
Fighters: enlarge the face-button diamond and D-pad; hide analog if the title is strictly digital.
Racers: enlarge L2/R2 as analog-style bars if you brake with triggers; see also GTA San Andreas settings for driving maps.

Layouts live in the emulator's inis folder. A NetherSX2 patch over a verified 4248 APK keeps that folder; a fresh install of a random "MMJ" APK does not. Back up before you experiment with forks.

Hide touch when a gamepad is connected

Once Port 1 is bound, set Auto-Hide Touch Controls (or disable the overlay entirely). Otherwise every screen tap is still a virtual button.

If auto-hide fails:

The pad is in keyboard mode, so AetherSX2 never counted it as Port 1.
Two input devices are bound and the overlay stays up for Port 2. Clear Port 2 if you are playing solo.

On Android TV the overlay is almost useless with a D-pad remote. Follow the Android TV guide and map a real gamepad.

Common overlay mistakes

Problem	Why it happens	What to do
Accidental pause / app exit	Back gesture overlaps Select	Move Select inward; use a pad Back remap only as a hotkey
Character creeps forward	Virtual stick dead zone too low	Raise dead zone; clean the screen
Cannot hit L2 in a boss	Shoulders sit under the notch or camera hole	Drag L2/R2 below the cutout
Layout vanished	Force-stop before Save, or cleared app data	Re-edit; do not clear storage to "fix" lag
Double inputs	Pad plus overlay both live	Hide touch; see controller setup

Touch latency is one frame of compositor delay plus your display. It will never match USB. If a title is unplayable on glass, that is expected for God of War camera fights, not a broken install.

Lab notes: opacity, scale, and hiding on pad connect

On a 6.67" POCO F3, default DualShock scale put L2/R2 under the palm in God of War. In the editor, scale ~85% and opacity ~40% left enough picture to play a dungeon crawl; San Andreas driving still wanted a physical pad. Mapping an Xbox controller and enabling hide-on-connect stopped double-firing Cross.

Layouts save against the running game, not as a global PNG you can import into PPSSPP. For Bluetooth delay after the overlay is gone, that is controller lag, not a touch bug.

AetherSX2's mapper is documented in-app; DualShock 2 layout is Sony's original pad. PPSSPP is a different overlay entirely (comparison hub).

On-screen DualShock is unique to the Android UI. Physical pads still follow DualShock 2 numbering; see PCSX2 wiki for button names and r/EmulationOnAndroid for overlay screenshots. PPSSPP is a different app (ppsspp.org).

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I import a custom PNG skin?

Stock AetherSX2 does not load arbitrary skins the way RetroArch overlays do. You can only scale and move the built-in DualShock set. Third-party APKs that promise "PS2 skins" are usually unofficial forks: skip them and stay on NetherSX2.

Why do touch controls ignore analog pressure?

Glass reports a tap, not DualShock 2 analog face pressure. Games that used analog Square still register a full press.

Do touch controls drain more battery?

A little. The overlay is cheap compared with Vulkan at 3x. The bigger drain is keeping the screen bright so you can see through semi-transparent buttons.

Will a Bluetooth pad and touch work at the same time?

They can, and that is usually the bug. Hide the overlay when a pad is connected so menus do not double-submit.