Create and Customize the On-Screen Gaming Overlay

The PlayAbility overlay places interactive controls over your applications. You can use it as a complete on-screen controller or combine it with your existing face, head, voice, mouse, keyboard, gamepad, or adaptive-device mappings.

Before you start

• Load the PlayAbility profile whose overlay you want to customize.
• Make sure Main Output is enabled when you are ready to send actions.
• If you use more than one monitor, decide which display will show the overlay.

Overlay layouts are saved separately for each profile. Changes are saved automatically as you edit.

Open the overlay

1. Select Overlay in the PlayAbility sidebar.
2. While the overlay is closed, choose a screen under Display Selection. Choose Auto (Primary) to follow your primary display.
3. Select Open Overlay.
4. Confirm that the status on the Overlay page changes to Open.
5. Select Edit Overlay. The overlay darkens and displays its editing controls.

You must close the overlay before changing its display. Edit Overlay is unavailable while the overlay is closed.

Add buttons and action combinations

1. In overlay edit mode, select Add button.
2. Open the Gamepad, Keyboard, Mouse, or Settings tab.
3. Select one or more actions.
4. Select Add Actions to create a separate on-screen control for every selected action.
5. To make one control send several compatible actions together, select multiple actions of the same output type and choose Add as Combo.
6. Drag each new control to a comfortable position.

Gamepad controls include buttons, D-pad directions, stick directions, and triggers. Mouse controls include clicks, scrolling, and drag buttons. Settings controls can perform actions such as toggling output, opening or closing the overlay, or running Release All.

Add and tune a virtual joystick

1. Select Add button in edit mode.
2. Open the Joystick tab.
3. Choose Add left stick, Add right stick, or Add D-pad.
4. Drag the joystick to the required position.
5. Select the small gear button on the joystick.
6. Choose its Target stick and Activation mode.
7. Adjust Size, Dead zone, Max range, and Sensitivity.
8. Turn on Extend on hold if you want the joystick area to grow while it is pressed, making full deflection easier to reach.

In play mode, a joystick can be locked or unlocked by an overlay joystick-lock setting action. Other overlay buttons are temporarily disabled while a joystick is unlocked.

Change an individual button

1. Select the gear button attached to a control in edit mode.
2. Choose an Activation mode:
3. • Use global default follows the overlay-wide Click or Hover setting.
   • Click activates only when the control is clicked.
   • Hover activates when the pointer enters the control.
3. Turn on Toggle mode if a normal button should stay pressed until it is activated again.
4. Turn on Dwell mode if the control should wait for a stationary pointer or gaze before activating.
5. Adjust the other properties offered for that control, then close the properties panel.

For hands-free dwell or eye-gaze control, use Hover activation. In Click mode, a dwell-enabled control does not start until it is clicked.

Change the complete overlay design

1. Select Settings in overlay edit mode.
2. Use the available tabs:
3. • Profile: choose the overlay profile source, reset the layout, or import and export overlay profiles.
   • Settings: choose Click or Hover activation, cursor visibility, double-click toggling, scroll distance, and click feedback.
   • Eye gaze: show or hide the eye-tracker feedback circle when eye tracking is connected.
   • Dwell: set the default dwell action and timing for dwell-enabled buttons.
   • Design: change the button color, opacity, size, border, labels, and click-feedback appearance.
3. Close the Settings panel.
4. Select Save and exit to return the overlay to play mode.

The reset buttons replace the current layout and ask for confirmation. Reset to blank, Reset to gamepad layout, and Reset to auto-click mouse are useful starting points, but they remove the controls currently in that overlay layout.

Start the overlay automatically

1. Return to the main PlayAbility Overlay page.
2. Turn on Auto-start Overlay.

The overlay will then open when a profile is loaded.

Verify the overlay

1. Keep a safe application or controller test screen in front.
2. Make sure the overlay is in play mode and Main Output is enabled.
3. Activate one button and confirm that its visual state changes.
4. Confirm that the target application receives the expected gamepad, keyboard, mouse, or settings action.
5. Move each joystick through its range and verify that it returns to neutral.

Troubleshooting and limitations

• Edit Overlay is disabled: Open the overlay first.
• The overlay is on the wrong screen: Close it, change Display Selection, and open it again.
• A button highlights but the application receives nothing: Check Main Output, the relevant output control such as Gamepad Out, and the active profile. Gamepad actions also require a working local virtual controller or an enabled external connector.
• Hover does not activate a control: Check the global activation mode under overlay Settings, and check whether that control has a per-button Click override.
• Dwell does not begin without clicking: Set the control, or the global default it follows, to Hover activation.
• A control stays active: Use a mapped Release All action. Then review Toggle mode, dwell action, and release-on-look-away settings.
• A reset removed the layout: Resets replace the current layout. Restore a previously exported overlay file if you have one.
• A normal profile backup did not include the overlay: Overlay profiles are not included in the main profile backup. Use overlay Settings → Profile → Export all profiles to back them up.
• A combination is not created: Select at least two compatible actions of the same output type before choosing Add as Combo.

Updated on: 29/07/2026