How to control the mouse in Minecraft using Python?

Question

All in all, I'm trying to programmatically -and externally- control the Minecraft player's orientation.

No APIs, no Java mods to the game environment

Typically this requires the movement of the mouse, but every single mouse movement simulating python3 library that I've tried doesn't move the player's head in-game. Each library does something different, too.

For example, pyautogui doesn't do anything until you move the mouse manually after the script has finished. Doing this will jerk the player's view to where the program supposedly moved it to, before continuing to follow your current mouse movements. This happens for both mouse commands.

import pyautogui

pyautogui.moveTo(500, 500)
pyautogui.moveRel(100, 100)

The pynput library had the same weird result as pyautogui:

from pynput.mouse import Controller

mouse = Controller()

mouse.position = (100, 200)
mouse.move(200, -100)

Quartz doesn't do anything at all:

import Quartz

class Mouse():
    down = [Quartz.kCGEventLeftMouseDown, Quartz.kCGEventRightMouseDown, Quartz.kCGEventOtherMouseDown]
    up = [Quartz.kCGEventLeftMouseUp, Quartz.kCGEventRightMouseUp, Quartz.kCGEventOtherMouseUp]
    [LEFT, RIGHT, OTHER] = [0, 1, 2]

    def click_pos(self, x, y, button=LEFT):
        self.move(x, y)
        self.click(button)

    def to_relative(self, x, y):
        curr_pos = Quartz.CGEventGetLocation( Quartz.CGEventCreate(None) )
        x += curr_pos.x;
        y += curr_pos.y;


mouse = Mouse()
mouse.to_relative(200, 200)

And the python mouse library is outdated: the error showed that it will only run on Darwin (I'm on macOS High Sierra). I was sad on learning this because of the description on the Github page. It says "Global event hook on all mice devices (captures events regardless of focus)". I then thought that, somehow, Minecraft was sucking up all the simulated mouse movements on it's own. Either way, I'm not using the right interface for this game, and I need something that can bypass Minecraft's interesting mouse controls to get the movement that I want.

I even tried using mouse keys (mac's mouse-moving accessibility feature that lets you control the mouse with only keys) along with pyautogui.

import pyautogui # with mouse keys on
import time
# mouse keys is an accessibility feature on mac that controls the mouse with the keyboard

print("[ALERT]: Make sure mouse keys is on! (press option 5 times if shortcut is enabled)")

pyautogui.keyDown('8')  # up in mouse keys
time.sleep(5)
pyautogui.keyUp('8')

I wasn't particularly surprised that the last one didn't work, but I think I'm running out of ways to try and bypass whatever is making Minecraft not take my python-mouse input. At this point, I'm pretty sure that there must be some distinction in the kind of input that I'm giving the computer. Minecraft as a program doesn't use the mouse like other programs do, and python mice don't control the mouse like other sources do, so there is a disconnect.

I'm on my macOS High Sierra running Minecraft in both fullscreen and windowed mode, trying everything I can to get this to function properly. I'll start the test script (python 3.6) in PyCharm, change windows (or window focus) to Minecraft (with adequate delay time in-program), and then witness what happens. Mouse clicking, keyboard presses, and even hotkeys that involve the command and escape keys all work fine in Minecraft with pyautogui, so I'm not worried about those at all. It's literally just the mouse movement that's not doing anything.

First of all, is this the right place to ask this question? Is there anything else to try, or is there something crucial that I'm missing, that would allow my mouse input to be responded to correctly?

Did you ever find a method that worked for you? All of the methods I've tried (including Java robot, Keyboard Maestro, pynput) behave the same as you describe. The mouse doesn't not move during the program, but jumps to the programmed destination as soon as I manually touch the mouse. — slothbear, May 08 '20 at 20:16

score 10 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 21 '19 at 20:33

I am trying to do the same thing, and I got mine to move the view in Minecraft (Java edition).

What worked for me was to use pynput with relative mouse commands. It also needed 'Raw Input' to be off in the Minecraft settings. [Esc -> Options... -> Controls... -> Mouse Settings... -> Raw input: OFF]

import pynput
mouse = pynput.mouse.Controller()
mouse.move(10, 10)

Also, here's the beginnings to a smooth movement of the mouse if anyone wants it:

def move_smooth(xm, ym, t):
    for i in range(t):
        if i < t/2:
            h = i
        else:
            h = t - i
        mouse.move(h*xm, h*ym)
        time.sleep(1/60)

move_smooth(2, 2, 40)

Now, onto trying to make the keyboard work :P

Turning off raw input worked for me. I was able to use pyautogui's relative movement. it only works if you have a delay value greater than 0 though. — retrovius, Jan 31 '21 at 04:46

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 23 '22 at 20:59

This question has also bothered me for a while and I finally found a solution to this question.(macOS Monterey 12.2, M1 chip 2020)

I have tried multiple python library and macro apps which none worked and rawinput also didn't help. However, pointer control in system preferences works with Minecraft mouse movement. The mouse keys option allows you to control mouse movement with keystrokes,

Where to find Mouse Keys in system preferences

System Preferences -> Accessibility -> Pointer control(under Motor) -> Enable Mouse Keys

so I tried to simulate the keyboard to move the mouse. For some reason, none of the python library or macro apps will work with mouse keys except for apple script. So I wrote an apple script and embedded it in python, which worked moving the mouse in Minecraft when the mouse key option is on.

The mouse keys option will allow you to use the numpad keys to control you mouse. https://eastmanreference.com/complete-list-of-applescript-key-codes This link will tell you the key code for the keystroke you want to press.

import os
cmd=""" osascript -e '
    repeat 500 times
        tell application "System Events" to key code 88 --right
    end repeat'
"""
os.system(cmd)

In the script key code 88 matches numpad key 6, which will move your cursor right, change the key code to customize where the cursor will move.

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 05 '19 at 14:22

I managed to make it work with the mouse library. Instead of using mouse.move(x,y,absolute,duration) I used mouse._os_mouse.move_to(x,y) and mouse._os_mouse.move_relative(x,y). Take into account that if you want a smooth effect you'll have to implement it yourself using something like time.sleep(s).

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Aug 02 '18 at 20:36

1

I am in a similar situation to you. I was also unable to find a way to register my mouse movements in games such as minecraft.

However, I learned that you can use Java and the built-in robot library to achieve the mouse movement as desired. I don't know if you are set on python but if not it's worth checking out.

edited Aug 02 '18 at 20:36

Jwosty

3,497
2
22
50

answered Aug 02 '18 at 19:49

Reid Haegele

11
3

I was wondering if you have an example for controlling the mouse via Robot inside Minecraft? When I try it, the mouse exhibits the same behavior as pizzafoot reported. The mouse does not move during the program, but jumps to the last programmed location when you move the mouse manually. – slothbear May 24 '20 at 16:16

blahberi · Answer 5 · 2021-12-02T15:29:43.177

1

In the Minecraft Options... go to Controls... go to Mouse Settings... and there turn off Raw Input.

That should do it (you're on mac tho and I don't know if this setting is on the mac version of minecraft)

edited Dec 02 '21 at 15:29

answered Nov 22 '21 at 16:49

blahberi

41
2

score 1 · Answer 6 · edited Jan 20 '22 at 00:19

I was struggling with this too and I found the following findings (tested on Ubuntu 20.04):

If you activate RawInput, you can use mouse.position=(dx, dy) which (although it is intended to be absolute) causes relative motion of the head! And it also works with negative values for dx and dy.

This is much faster and more accurate. You can for instance chain

mouse.position = (0, -100000) # turn head all the way up
mouse.position = (0, 600) # turn head exactly to horizon level

The horizon is 600 "pitch-pixels" down from upright, when mouse sensitivity is set to 100%. You don't need any delay between the calls and they happen so fast that in the vast majority of cases, the player does not seem to look up in between, but looks to the horizon right away. When I used the relative motion with raw input off, I needed sleeps in between and the speed was also capped at some value.

The only issue is, that you need to switch between this hacky way of controlling the mouse and the normal way using mouse.move(dx, dy) or with actually absolute screen coordinates mouse.position=(x, y) when you are on the crafting screen / in a menu. But I found that if you also create a pynput mouse listener, you will see that Minecraft sets the mouse position to the center of its window everytime you enter a menu and it does it another two times when you go back to the game. So I use these as triggers.

Yes, trial and error. Moved in 10px steps and counted 120 steps from northpole to southpole. — Mircode, Jan 30 '22 at 17:58

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 21 '18 at 07:57

0

Try running python as admin and run the game in windowed mode. Pyautogui should work then.

answered Jun 21 '18 at 07:57

Atto

152
9

1

`sudo python3 mouseTestingSpace.py` in my terminal didn't change anything, Same result, a weird "catching-up" jerk after I move my mouse after the program finishes. – pizzafoot Jun 22 '18 at 22:51

How to control the mouse in Minecraft using Python?

All in all, I'm trying to programmatically -and externally- control the Minecraft player's orientation.

No APIs, no Java mods to the game environment

7 Answers7

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