Pc gamecontroller: The best PC controller 2022

How to use a PS4 controller on PC:

How to use a DualShock 4 PS4 controller on PC
(Image credit: Sony)

Using the DualShock 4 PS4 controller on PC isn’t to everyone’s taste. We commend you for choosing to live the analogue life, rather than submit to the convoluted hand placement of a keyboard gamer.

Of all the options out there, the PS4 controller has become one of the team’s favourite PC gaming controllers , not least because it feels great in your hands. The design retains the classic shape of the DualShock controller, but includes joysticks and triggers better suited to modern shooters and action games than its predecessor—though not as sensationally exciting as the PS5’s DualSense controller .

Unfortunately, the DualShock 4’s use of generic DirectInput drivers—as opposed to XInput that the Xbox controllers use—means using a PS4 controller on PC isn’t quite as easy as plugging in an Xbox gamepad. It takes a little bit more work to get the DualShock 4 working on PC, but things are made easier thanks to Steam, the PC gaming community, and an official (optional) Bluetooth dongle. In fact, if Steam is your go-to, native Steam support makes it just as plug-and-play as an Xbox gamepad.

To start we’ll walk you through getting your PS4 controller working with Steam. If you want to play games that aren’t on Steam with your DualShock 4, DS4Windows is the tool for you.

Setup

What you need

Hardware

Dualshock 4 PS4 controller
A micro-USB cable
(Optional) Dualshock 4 USB wireless Bluetooth adapter

Sony DualShock 4: Price Comparison

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Software

Steam
Or Microsoft . NET Framework 4.5
Xbox 360 controller driver (only for Windows 7 users)
and DS4Windows

Working with Steam

Using a PS4 controller in Steam

Open Steam
Go to Settings in top left dropdown
Open Controller tab
Click General Controller Settings
Register device to your account
Change preferences
Calibrate joysticks
Tick PlayStation Configuration Support
Remap from Settings Controller tab/in game

Thanks to official Steam support, there’s almost no setup involved in getting your PS4 controller working in Steam. Just be sure to pair or plug in your controller before opening Steam or any Steam games, otherwise your controller may not be recognized.

If you run into any connection issues, closing and reopening Steam should do the trick. Otherwise, try using a USB 2.0 port instead of a USB 3.0 port. DualShock 4s are weird like that.

Once connected, navigate to Steam’s settings menu—under the top left dropdown—to get everything running smoothly. Under the Controller tab, open General Controller Settings; you should see your controller listed under Detected Controllers. From here you can register it to your account, so it will remember the settings on any PC you log into.

(Image credit: Valve)

Click Preferences to rename, or change rumble and lighting settings. You can also click Calibrate to fine-tune the joysticks and gyro if you feel the need. One important tip: click the check box next to PlayStation Configuration Support if you want to be able to do extra configuration of the controller on a per-game basis.

Back in the Controller tab of the Settings menu, you can configure your controller for Big Picture and Desktop usage, as well, and even set up Guide Button Chord Configuration.

Installing DS4Windows

How to install DS4Windows for non-steam gaming

Download Microsoft .NET Framework
For Windows 7, get Xbox 360 controller driver
Plug controller or Bluetooth dongle in
Download DS4Windows and extract
Open DS4Windows
Check connection in the Controllers tab
In Settings tab Hide DS4 Controller
Set Use Xinput Ports to one
Edit/Create a profile and remap

If you’re just playing Steam games, you don’t need to install anything else.

First, Download the newest Microsoft .NET Framework. If you’re still stuck running Windows 7, install the Xbox 360 controller driver next. This driver is included with Windows 8 and 10.

Before you do anything else, plug in your PS4 controller with a micro-USB directly to your PC, or pair it through the Bluetooth menu, or with a USB wireless adapter.

Download and extract newest DS4Windows .zip file next, and open it up. You can ignore the DS4Updater if you already have the newest version.

Any controllers you’ve connected will be displayed under the Controllers tab. If not, close DS4Windows, reconnect your controller, then re-open the software. Don’t worry about your controller’s ID number, we won’t be needing it.

Next, open the Settings tab in DS4Windows to configure a few things. Make sure the Hide DS4 Controller box is checked. This will prevent DS4Windows from conflicting with any game’s default controller settings. For the same reason, make sure Use Xinput Ports is set to one.

From the Settings tab, you can also set DS4Windows to run at startup, or remain active in the background. You can also update DS4Windows directly from this tab by clicking Check for Update Now at the bottom left. Above that, you’ll see Controller/Driver Setup. If you run into any issues, open this setup and follow the prompts to install any missing drivers.

DS4Windows works by reading your DualShock 4 as though it were an Xbox 360 controller. That means you won’t get the correct Square/X/Triangle/Circle button icons by default in most games. Some games will give you the option to change, but either way, it’ll now work with any game that has Xinput support—i.e. most every modern PC game that supports gamepads.

You don’t have to remap anything, but if you want to change some buttons or adjust sensitivity outside of in-game menus, just open the Profiles tab in DS4Windows. If you’re feeling confident, click New to start a new profile, though this is easier said than done. Otherwise, select the DualShock 4 profile and click Edit.

Let’s say you want to swap your bumpers and triggers. First, find L1/R1 and L2/R2 in the scroll wheel in the Controls section, or just click them on the virtual controller. You want to swap L1 with L2 and R1 with R2, so start by clicking L2.

Then, just click the button you want L2 to act as—in this case, L1. Voila, your left trigger will now act as your left bumper. Repeat this process with the other triggers and bumpers to complete the change and prevent redundancy. You can save this button setup as a separate profile and swap between profiles in the Controllers tab.

Connect via Bluetooth

(Image credit: Sony)

How to connect your PS4 controller via Bluetooth

Hold controller’s Share and PS button until it flashes
Push dongle button until it starts flashing
Or, add your controller in your PC’s Bluetooth menu
Pairing should happen automatically
Don’t unplug the adapter, it’ll save the last connection

CONTROLLER SETUP GUIDES

To connect your PS4 controller via Bluetooth, simply hold the small Share button and the central circular button simultaneously until the controller’s backlight starts flashing, then push on the end of the adapter until it starts flashing. Once both are flashing, they will automatically pair after a few seconds.

For a PC with Bluetooth built-in, just navigate to the Bluetooth menu and select your controller from the Add Bluetooth devices list once it’s started flashing.

Luckily, you don’t have to pair your controller every time you want to use it. As long as you don’t unplug the adapter, it will save its last connection, so you can just tap your controller’s central PlayStation button to reconnect it.

The official Sony DualShock 4 USB wireless adapter is the simplest Bluetooth option. You may have to hunt for it or spend a little more than you would on a standard Bluetooth dongle, but it’s worth it for its out-of-the-box functionality.

Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he’ll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games.

When he’s not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (it’s really becoming a problem), he’s probably playing a 20-year-old Final Fantasy or some opaque ASCII roguelike. With a focus on writing and editing features, he seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deep dish, to be specific).

PS5 controller on PC: How to use the DualSense in Windows

(Image credit: Future)

The PS5 DualSense is one of the Sony console’s greatest strengths, so why not use the PS5 controller on PC, too? We think it’s one of the best PC controllers thanks to its advanced haptic motors and ‘adaptive’ triggers, which make it feel like no other controller I’ve used before—at least when playing PS5 games that take full advantage of it. The DualSense is easy to use on PC, and some Sony game ports actually bring those advanced features to life on PC.

And they’re not alone: some other PC games, such as Deathloop, Metro Exodus and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, also tap into the DualSense’s special features. Thanks to Steam, we can easily use the DualSense controller in virtually any PC game without fussy setup. It just works.

Here’s a quick guide on how to use the PS5 DualSense controller on PC, via either wired USB or a wireless Bluetooth connection.

Connecting: Wired or Bluetooth

How do I use DualSense controller on PC?

Wired

This part of setup is a snap. To connect the controller to your PC via USB, you’re going to need a USB Type-C to USB-A cable for your PC (or a USB Type-C to Type-C cable if you happen to have a convenient port available). While the PlayStation 5 console comes with one packed in, the DualSense sold by itself doesn’t. Bummer! Get your hands on a cable, plug it in, and you’re on your way.

If you need to buy a cable, here’s a two-pack from Anker for $11 .

Bluetooth

To use the DualSense via Bluetooth, you’ll need a USB Bluetooth adapter (or a motherboard with Bluetooth built-in). To get connected, open the Bluetooth & other devices menu in Windows by pressing the Windows key and typing ‘Bluetooth. ‘ Then click ‘Add Bluetooth or other device’ and the first item on the next menu that says ‘Bluetooth.’ Your PC will start searching for available devices.

On the DualSense, hold down the PlayStation logo button and the Share button (the small one to the left of the touchpad) until the LEDs around the touchpad begin flashing rapidly. Within a few seconds, ‘Wireless controller’ should pop up in your Bluetooth devices list to connect to. Just click on it to finish pairing.

If you need a Bluetooth adapter, you can get a 5.0 model for less than $20 .

The DualSense will now be accessible in Windows with its DirectInput driver, which some games will recognize and let you rebind controls. But many PC games today are built around Microsoft’s newer XInput driver for the Xbox controllers, so the DualSense will be pretty limited without some help.

That’s where Steam comes in.

Steam setup

How do I setup the DualSense controller in Steam?

Steam added initial support for the DualSense back in November 2020, and has improved support for it since then. Using Steam is by far the easiest way to get your DualSense working on PC, even if you want to use it in non-Steam games.

To start, connect the DualSense to your PC via wire or Bluetooth as described above. Once you have it connected, open Steam and launch Big Picture Mode. You should see the DualSense is now recognized and listed as a PlayStation 5 controller. Steam will automatically configure the keybinds to mimic an Xbox controller layout; the Triangle button is Y, the Square button is X, etc.

You can choose Calibrate to tweak the joystick sensitivity, and Preferences to give the controller a name, enable/disable rumble, and configure the color and brightness of the LED strip around the touchpad.

(Image credit: Steam)

One important tip here: make sure PlayStation Configuration Support is checked if you want to customize your DualSense controller’s layout or gyro controls. With this button checked, you can press the PlayStation logo button on the controller in any Steam game to pull up Steam’s controller configuration screen.

Reminder: the controller configurator is only available through Steam Big Picture mode.

(Image credit: Steam)

From this screen you can swap button bindings, change how the touchpad works (it can do separate left- and right-clicks) and also configure the gyroscope, if you want to use gyro aiming. You can also configure Action Sets and Action Layers to enable totally different button bindings and then switch to them on the fly in-game. For example, if you only wanted to use gyro controls while in a plane in GTA, you could create an Action Set for that and trigger it by pressing a specific key anytime you hop in a plane.

If you just want your DualSense to work like any ol’ gamepad, though, you can leave this screen alone, no tweaking required.

Non-Steam games

How do I use the DualSense controller with non-Steam games?

If you want to use the DualSense in a game that you own on, say, the Epic Games Store, there’s a solution that should work for just about anything, even emulators. The easy way to do it: Bring Steam back into the picture. Steam has an ‘Add to library’ feature for Windows executables that allows you to add other programs to your Steam library, and then make use of the Steam overlay.

As you can see in the image above, click the ‘Games’ menu in Steam, then choose the ‘Add a Non-Steam game to my library…’ option to pull up a list of programs on your PC. In most cases, this should allow you to add a game and use a controller with Steam acting as the intermediary.

DS4Windows is another option

If you prefer to configure the DualSense for non-Steam games without adding those games to your Steam library, wonderful community tool DS4Windows added DualSense support. (Shouldn’t it be DS5Windows? Hm, that doesn’t sound quite as good).

To use it, connect your controller to PC via USB or Bluetooth as explained above with DS4Windows open, and you should then be able to customize your keybinds, change the LED and monitor the controller’s battery level. DS4Windows will let you use the DualSense in any PC game with Xbox controller support.

PC game support

What games use the DualSense controller’s features on PC?

You won’t have to use Steam to make the DualSense work in all games. In Windows the DualSense uses the generic DirectInput driver, which some games support out of the box. But most games today use Microsoft’s newer XInput driver, which is where Steam Input really comes in handy. PCGamingWiki keeps a list of games that use the DualSense features, but here are some highlights that support both Adaptive Triggers and haptic feedback:

Marvel’s Spider-Man
Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition
Deathloop
Final Fantasy 7 Remake
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Genshin Impact
Death Stranding
F1 22
Ghostwire: Tokyo

Game controller | it’s… What is a Game Controller?

The game controller is an input device used in console and PC games. The controller is usually attached to a game console or personal computer.

Using the game controller, the player controls the movement and actions of game elements. In this case, the type of elements depends on the game itself, but most often it is one of the characters in the game.

1 Game controller types
- 1. 1 Traditional
- 1.2 Specialized
- 1.3 Motion capture technologies
- 1.4 Experimental
2 Joystick calibration
3 Feedback
4 Homemade joystick subculture
5 Notes
6 Links

Game controller types

Widely used in games keyboard shortcut WASD

DualShock II for PlayStation 2

Wheel InterAct V-Thunder for GameCube

Negcon is one of the variants of the racing gamepad (when turned).

Traditional

Keyboard and mouse — since these devices have become the standard input devices for personal computers, they are also commonly used for computer games. Some game consoles also allow you to connect a mouse and keyboard and control them in games.
Gamepad (gamepad) — for arcade games. The gamepad is the main input device in game consoles.
Paddle — A controller that has a rotary knob and one or more action buttons.
Trackball — looks like a ball, half protruding from the base, the ball is moved by swiping it with the palm of your hand.
Touch screen — used in phones, PDAs and pocket set-top boxes. Some games have gameplay elements specifically designed for the touch screen.

Specialized

Specialized refers to devices that are focused on certain types of games.

Joystick — was originally a universal gaming device. It turned out that in fast games, the keyboard or gamepad was preferable, and the joystick became a specialized device for flight simulators. However, out of habit, game controllers are often referred to as «joysticks».
Car or motorcycle steering wheel — for racing simulators.
- Racing Gamepad — To make it easier to play racing games on the console. In fact, this is a regular gamepad, which has an additional steering axle (and sometimes analog gas and brake buttons) built into it. Such a device is much cheaper than a full-fledged steering wheel.
Steering wheel — for civilian flight simulators (military flight simulators use a joystick).
Pedals — moreover, pedals for car and flight simulators have a fundamentally different design.
Throttle lever — for flight simulators.
Shift Lever — for car simulators.
Pistol — for shooting at the screen.
Rhythm Controllers — Simulate musical instruments such as guitar, drums or DJ console for music games belonging to the Bemani family.
Dance pad (eng. dance pad ) ^[1] — a platform for dancing (as on slot machines). It is a platform with several buttons that you can step on with your feet. The gameplay of such games consists in stepping on the right buttons in turn, such a “shake” really vaguely resembles a dance.
- Wii BalanceBoard looks like a dance platform.
Gaming keyboard — a keyboard, the buttons on which are located in accordance with the specifics of a particular game.
Fishing rod controller — for playing fishing simulators.
Microphone — Some games use a microphone or headset as a secondary input device to give commands to the game or character and communicate with players.

Motion capture technology

Since the early 2000s, head tracking systems have been produced for flight simulators and people with limited mobility. Among them: TrackIR industrial devices and HeadJoy 9 handicraft solutions0094 [2] , Cam2Pan, Ender’s Tracker. There were also experimental gameplays using the webcam as the controller. So, in the game Flight of Fancy, the video camera monitors the movements (poses) of the player and is used to control the flight of the dragon.

The Wii Remote ^[3], an unusually shaped remote that tracks its position in space using IR sensors and accelerometers, turned out to be quite entertaining in such games in the company in front of a big TV . 9 appeared in 20100003 Microsoft Kinect , which allows verbal commands, body postures, and displayed objects or drawings. Sony’s answer was the PlayStation Move . The Move Starter Pack, along with the PS Move motion controller, comes with a small PlayStation Eye camera that tracks the controller’s movements in 3D and recognizes patterns.

Experimental

Space Orb 360

Dashboard controls «Vertical Tank» Control System released for the game Steel Battalion (can be connected to MechWarrior 3 and 4 ^[4] )

Experimental also includes devices that exist in a single model, or after a small number of models they were abandoned.

Microsoft Strategic Commander ^[5] and Logitech CyberMan 1 ^[6] — Once considered a promising joystick-mouse hybrid, it was a joystick with a handle similar to a multi-button mouse on a leg. Due to the fact that the main buyers of joysticks are fans of flight simulators, an interesting hybrid has not received much distribution.
Frag-master ^[7] is a hybrid joystick and steering wheel, which is a joystick with a handle in the form of a triangular steering wheel (sharp end up).
Titans Sphere ^[8] — ball with a through hole and two vertical swing handles on the sides.
Train simulator console — there are several small manufacturers; in all models, due to the lack of a standard, a special resident program either converts remote commands into keystrokes, or directly communicates with the game. ^[9] ^[10]
Vertical Tank Control System is a game controller for controlling mech simulation games released for Steel Battalion ^[11] ^[4]

Joystick Calibration

Gameport devices have the potentiometers in the joystick and the ADC in the computer. Therefore, the numbers returned by the joystick depend on both the ADC instance and the joystick instance. Calibration is the process of determining which numbers the joystick returns when the stick is pushed all the way up, which numbers when it is all the way down, which numbers when it is in the center, etc. During calibration, the user must move the joystick in different directions, and then set it to the center.

The USB HID standard allows joysticks to return both «raw» (non-calibrated) values (in this case, the joystick will have to be manually calibrated) and final calibrated values (such a joystick does not require manual calibration, all calibration values are recorded directly in the joystick’s memory). Over time, due to wear and tear, the joystick decalibrates, and new values have to be written to the computer (in the first case) or to the joystick (in the second case).

There are two types of feedback:

Force feedback is a complete feedback that allows you to make computer simulations even more realistic.
Vibration feedback — feedback, implemented not due to servomotors (as in Force feedback), but due to a simple vibration mechanism.

Homemade joystick subculture

The circuitry of the devices on the game port is extremely simple — all the electronics are already in the computer, you just need to connect the potentiometers and buttons. So at the end of 9In the 0s and early 2000s, there was a movement of people building homemade gaming devices. This was especially true for the rudders — the swinging joystick assembly is difficult to implement. The advent of USB, force feedback , and relatively high-quality commercial joysticks at affordable prices put an end to this practice.

However, recently there has been a revival of this subculture, albeit on a smaller scale: Slovak Igor Češko (known, among other things, for an IR receiver for television remotes) and Lithuanian Mindaugas Milasauskas developed MJoy, an inexpensive USB joystick board ^[12] ^[13] ^[14] . More often than not rudders are made (there are many rudders of acceptable quality on sale), but complex multi-axis joysticks for flight simulators: force feedback is not as critical there as for cars, and sometimes it frankly interferes. In addition, aircraft have a huge number of controls: a two-axis aircraft control stick with trimmers, rudder pedals, engine control knobs according to the number of engines . .. It is not uncommon for two or three eight-axis MJoy16 controllers to be connected to one computer.

In addition, various modifications of controllers from old game consoles are popular among geeks and nostalgic enthusiasts, which allow you to connect them to a computer or even to the latest generation of consoles via the USB bus. So, Raphael Assénat wrote a firmware for the ATmega8 microcontroller, which allows gamepads from popular 8- and 16-bit consoles to work with a PC. And the revised versions of the device itself, firmware that allows you to connect gamepads to the PlayStation 3 in addition to a PC, and instructions in Russian are distributed under free licenses ^[15] .

Notes

↑ Dance Pad Dance Revolution Ultramix 2 for X-Box
↑ HeadJoy
↑ Wii remote in action
↑ ¹ ² Steel Battalion VT Control System on PC
↑ Microsoft Strategic Commander
↑ Logitech Cyberman 1. Only the first model, subsequent CyberMan models turned into ordinary gamepads.
↑ Frag-Master
↑ Titans Sphere
↑ Computerra. Joystick for locomotive.
↑ Rail Driver
↑ Steel Battalion :: Org \\ Controller
↑ Mindaugas Milasauskas — web.archive.org
↑ Mercury’s Underground
↑ MJoy USB Joystick Controller
↑ Pixelkit — USB interface for older console gamepads