Controller:DualSense

DualSense

XInput support
Connection method
USB-C, Bluetooth 5.1
Predecessor
DualShock 4
Successor
DualSense Edge

The DualSense is a a game controller developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment and manufactured by Sony, released on November 12, 2020. It was released alongside the PlayStation 5.

In addition to features carried over from its predecessor, the DualShock 4, the DualSense has introduced two new features, adaptive triggers and haptic feedback. On PC, selected games have native support for either feature or both.

In addition to the standard white color model, the DualSense also comes in midnight black, cosmic red, nova pink, starlight blue, galactic purple and grey camouflage. It also has limited editions for games like God of War Ragnarok and Hogwarts Legacy.

It has a pro-orientated version in the form of DualSense Edge, which was released on January 26, 2023.

The DualSense is a generic DirectInput controller, so it is not supported by games that use the XInput API unless XInput wrappers like Steam Input are used. Some wrappers can expose additional features such as gyroscope, touchpad control including the ability to change lightbar color. The DualSense is supported natively in selected games, where features like adaptive triggers and haptic feedback are natively supported (see support in games), however it is only supported with a wired connection. Audio passthrough to the 3.5mm audio jack also only works when wired.

Key points

The support for supplementary features like the internal speaker, headphone jack, gyroscope, lightbar, adaptive triggers and haptic feedback varies between models, type of connection, and games/software.

Lacks native XInput support, requiring the use of an XInput wrapper in games that don't support it.

General information

DualSense wireless controller | The innovative new controller for PS5 | PlayStation

Technical Documentation

Inputs

• Motion sensing: 6 axis motion sensing (3 axis accelerometer, 3 axis gyroscope)
• 2 × microphones (dual-microphone array)
• 1 × clickable 2 point capacitive touchpad: ᴛᴏᴜᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ
• 2 × clickable analog sticks: L3, R3
• 2 × analog triggers: L2, R2
• 2 × digital shoulder buttons: L1, R1
• 4 × digital face buttons: △ ᴛʀɪᴀɴɢʟᴇ, ○ ᴄɪʀᴄʟᴇ, × ᴄʀᴏss, □ sᴏ̨ᴜᴀʀᴇ
• 4 × digital functional buttons: ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴇ, ᴏᴘᴛɪᴏɴs, PlayStation, ᴍɪᴄʀᴏᴘʜᴏɴᴇ
• 4 × digital directional buttons (d-pad): ↑, ↓, ←, →
• 2 × Mono Body Mic with Back Mic sound canceling
• 1 × Mono Microphone via TRRS jack

Use with PC platforms

The DualSense is notable to have its device name changed between the controller's firmware updates. Controller with out-of-the-box firmware has its device name listed as "Wireless Controller", while controller with latest firmware update has its device name listed as "DualSense Wireless Controller". The device name change will only apply when un-pair and then re-pair the controller to the PC after the firmware update.

Connection

USB Type-C

USB connection is required for Sony PlayStation services such as PS Remote Play.

Connect the controller
Use either a USB Type-C to USB Type-A cable or a USB Type-C to USB Type-C cable (if the host device has USB Type-C port) to connect the controller to a USB port on the computer. The controller will automatically be recognized by the supported OS and install generic driver for it.

Bluetooth

While the controller has Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity, Bluetooth 4.0 dongles will work.

Haptic feedback, audio passthrough to the 3.5mm audio jack and built-in speaker are not supported over Bluetooth connection. Furthermore, support of adaptive triggers over Bluetooth connection vary depending on the games.

Pair the controller

Make sure the Bluetooth functionality is enabled in your OS. Begin by turning the controller to off by holding PlayStation for ten seconds. Put the controller in pairing mode by holding down PlayStation+ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴇ at the same time until the lightbar does two quick flashes of white, turns off, then repeats this pattern. Navigate to the Bluetooth settings of the host device's operating system, select "Wireless Controller" (with out-of-the-box firmware)/"DualSense Wireless Controller" (with up-to-date firmware) and pair it. If asked for a pair code, use 0000.

Windows

Connecting the controller should automatically download and install latest drivers for the controller.

Supported features	reWASD	DS4Windows	Steam	DSX	JoyShockMapper	DSAdvance	Gamepad Phoenix
Virtual Xbox controller emulation	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Virtual DualShock emulation	✓	✓	✗	✓	✓	✗	✗
Haptic Feedback	~	~	~	✓	✗	~	✗
Adaptive Triggers	✓	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗
External Speaker	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗
Headphone Jack	✗	✓	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗
Microphone	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
Motion Control	✓	✓	✓	~	✓	✓	✗
Touchpad	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗	✓	✗
Light Bar	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗	~	✗
Dead-zone adjustment	✓	✓	✓	✗	✓	✓	✓
Multiple controllers	✓	✓	✓	✗	✓	✗	✓
Virtual Nintendo controller emulation	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
Keyboard & Mouse input emulation	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗
Retro DInput/WinMM compatibility	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓
Flick Stick	✓	✓	✓	✗	✓	✗	✗
Touchpad as mouse	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗	✗	✗
Cemuhook's UDP protocol	✓	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗

XInput wrapping

As a native DirectInput controller, it's possible to use any of the generic wrappers under the Controller article.

DSAdvance

Support the DualSense in wireless mode.

Xbox controller emulation support.

A gyroscope and various modes of its operation are supported - mouse emulation, joystick-mouse and driving.

Easy to use, minimum settings

Displays charge status on LEDs and in program on press touchpad on center area.

Support for only one controller.

Xbox controller emulation does not translate Impulse Trigger Vibration to DualSense's Adaptive Triggers vibrations.

DS4Windows

Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR or higher required for wireless connection.

The headphone jack and microphone can only be used when used via USB.

Most controller features are supported.

Adaptive triggers are supported but can only be used in limited forms.

Advanced rumble effects are not used. Rumble acts as common one.

Application is not emulating Xbox One controller, so is unable to emulate their Impulse Trigger Vibration.

DualSenseX

Free legacy version is still available to download on GitHub but won't receive any update anymore.

Use of Haptic Feedback disables vibration unless disabled within the app.

Developers are working on Razer Chroma RGB API support for Light bar.

Supports the DualSense in both wired and wireless modes.

Allows to use the controller's speaker and headset port as separate audio output (USB only).

All buttons can be set to emulate keyboard presses.

Can emulate the DualShock 4 and the Xbox 360 controller.

Adaptive Triggers are functional and can be switched to various modes. It is also possible to manually set the values.

The controller can be hidden while emulating a virtual controller through HidHide to avoid double-inputs.

Working Haptic Feedback (USB only).

Support for only one controller.

Gyro is unimplemented.

Application is not emulating Xbox One controller, so is unable to emulate their Impulse Trigger Vibration.

reWASD

Supports the DualSense in both wired and wireless modes, does not require installing drivers manually. Offers plug and play experience.

Can emulate the Xbox 360 and Xbox One controller to play XInput compatible games.

Can emulate the DualShock 4 for PS4 Remote Play, PS Now or other compatible games. Includes gyro and accelerometer control.

Can emulate the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller for playing on Nintendo Switch console, Stadia or use in Nintendo emulators. Includes gyro, accelerometer control and NFC reader for Amiibo cards emulation.

ᴍɪᴄʀᴏᴘʜᴏɴᴇ and PlayStation buttons can be remapped.

Adaptive triggers are partially implemented.

Lightbar shows when the battery is Critically low.

PC application can be used remotely from smartphone via reWASD Junior app.

Not free of charge. 7-days trial.

The site is closed for the countries of Russia and Belarus.

Haptic feedback unimplemented. Xbox One Controller emulation does not translate Impulse Trigger Vibration to DualSense's Adaptive Triggers vibrations.

Not possible to change lightbar's color by pressing buttons.

Custom configs can be found in the Community Configs Library.

macOS

Custom application application unlocks full support for DualSense on macOS devices.

DualSenseM

Requires macOS 11.3 or later.

Works with both Bluetooth Connection and USB

You have to purchase the features in the app for testing.

Features:

• Menu Bar Icon with Connection Status and Battery Level Information
• View Battery level percentage
• 20 different Trigger Effects you can set for both L2 and R2
• Set the Touchpad into 2 different modes Static Color or Rainbow
• Enable any of the Player LED's below the Touchpad
• Test both Left and Right motors to make sure they're working
• Adjust strength of the motors
• Set the Mic LED into 3 different Modes: ON/OFF/Pulse
• Enable the Speaker/Headset/Mic (USB Only)
• Adjust Speaker/Headset and Mic volume (USB Only)
• Enable Audio Haptics (USB Only)

Linux

Controller is natively supported since kernel 5.12.

Adaptive Triggers are supported over Proton in wired mode.

Limited Haptic Feedback. (Patches to Wine adding native support are underway)

Steam

Steam Input

Capable of making full use of Steam Input due to many overlapping features with the Steam Controller.

Has rumble, trackpad and gyro support. Can also be used wirelessly.

Supports Adaptive Triggers (Native mode only).

Steam Link compatibility

Wired or wireless works. Press PlayStation+ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴇ to power up and be detected by Steam Link. All buttons are mapped correctly.

Works without any drivers on any operating system that supports Steam.

Can be used just to send input from a controller to a PC. Go into Streaming options, hit △ and disable video and audio streaming.

Won't work great unless you connect it to LAN or a low latency Wi-Fi.

Touchpad and gyro will not be pass through to steam when using Steam Link on android.

Support in games

List of games that support DualSense

Games with generic DirectInput support are supported by the controller, however button placements may be out of place and need to be rebound. Refer to game-specific articles for rebinding support.

Games with controller's speaker support

Every game which allows to select separate playback audio device for specific sounds is supporting controller's built-in speaker, eg. Death Stranding's BB voice audio can be assigned to controller's speaker when other sounds are played from other audio device.

DualSenseX application unlocks controller's built-in speaker to be Windows output device.

Cemu emulator allows to assign Wii Remote speaker's audio to DualSense's speaker. In general settings/audio in gamepad audio tab is an option for selecting secondary audio device.

Requires a wired connection.

Games with microphone support

Microphone support is enabled by default after connecting controller to PC. Do not require any special configuration.

Games with implemented voice chat are able to use controller's microphone.

VoiceBot and VoiceAttack allows to control games and applications by voice commands.

ᴍɪᴄʀᴏᴘʜᴏɴᴇ button requires additional software like reWASD or DualSenseX to be able to mute and unmute microphone. Button works as expected on Linux with no additional software.

List of Microphone-controllerd computer games.

Games with motion control support

For a list of games, see List of games that support tracked motion controllers in non-VR gameplay.

Thanks to JoyShockMapper, Steam Input, reWASD application, gyro control can be remapped to mouse or right stick in any game.

Number of games which natively support motion controls is limited and gyro support is still not a PC standard.

Games with touchpad support

For a list of games, see List of games that support touchpad.

Touchpad is placed on the front of the controller, the capacitive type touchpad is a clickable 2-point touchpad. The functionality of the touchpad can differ from between games. Recognized gestures: zoom, swipe, pinch and scroll.

Thanks to Steam Input, reWASD or DS4Windows application, touchpad can be remapped to mouse or right stick in any game.

Number of games which natively support touchpad controls is limited and touchpad support is still not a PC standard.

Games with adaptive trigger and haptic feedback support

DualSenseSupport and DualSenseX Game Demo demonstrates how the Adaptive Triggers can be used on PC. DualSenseX Game Demo additionaly requires DualSenseX to work.

DualSenseAT is a third party, open source solution for handling adaptive trigger vibrations which is extending list of supported games. List can be found in project's Github page.

Emulator Yuzu allows emulating Nintendo Switch's haptic feedback known as HD Rumble on DualSense controllers.

Since haptic feedback is audio-based (utilizing channel 3 and 4 of the quad-channel audio device on the controller), it is possible to create the faux-haptic feedback using application like Voicemeeter and Simhub.

There is no available application which translates Impulse Trigger Vibration signals into adaptive triggers vibration.

Steam games require turning off SteamInput emulation to enable additional features like adaptive triggers and haptic feedback.

Game	Haptic Feedback	Adaptive Triggers	Connection	Release date	Notes
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor			Wired	April 28, 2023
The Last of Us Part I			Wired	March 28, 2023
Scars Above			Wired	February 28, 2023	Sound from gamepad also supported.
Returnal			Wired	February 15, 2023	DualSense controller is fully supported
Season			Wired	January 31, 2023	Supported.
Witcher 3			Wired	December 14, 2022	Supported.
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales			Wired	November 18, 2022	Supported via wired connection.
WRC 10: FIA World Rally Championship			Wired	November 3, 2022	Adaptive Triggers for braking.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II			Wired	October 28, 2022	Haptic Feedback and Adaptive Triggers for gunfire.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure			Wired	October 27, 2022	Haptic feedback: Running across wool-like flooring or platforms will use haptics to simulate the change in material under Sackboy. Sounds from gamepad.
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection			Wired	October 19, 2022	Haptic feedback, adaptive triggers for rope swinging, sound from gamepad.
A Plague Tale: Requiem			Wired	October 18, 2022	Haptic Feedback and Adaptive triggers for weapons and tools.
Overwatch 2			Wired	October 4, 2022	Adaptive triggers for some heroes.
Steelrising			Wired	September 8, 2022	Adaptive triggers for some combat aspects e.g. shielding.
Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered			Wired	August 12, 2022	Haptic feedback, adaptive triggers for web swinging. Sounds from gamepad.
F1 22			Wired	July 1, 2022	Adaptive triggers.
Dolmen			Wired	May 20, 2022	Haptic Feedback and Adaptive triggers for heavy attacks and gunplay
Death Stranding: Director's Cut			Wired/Wireless	March 30, 2022	Haptic feedback, adaptive triggers for balancing and gunfire. Haptic feedback only worked over wired connection.
GhostWire: Tokyo			Wired	March 25, 2022	Working Haptic Feedback and Adaptive Triggers for shooting.
Dying Light 2 Stay Human			Wired	February 4, 2022	Adaptive triggers.Temporarily removed, the official answer is that the time of re-adding is unknown.
Rainbow Six Extraction			Wired	January 20, 2022	Adaptive triggers for gunfire
God Of War			Wired/Wireless	January 14, 2022	Custom config. Requires DualSenseX and DualSense AT (see Custom config).
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade			Wired	December 16, 2021	Adaptive Triggers for motorcycle minigame segments
Forza Horizon 5			Wired/Wireless	November 9, 2021	Custom config. Requires DualSenseX. Adaptive Triggers for Brakes, Gear Changes, and Ramping Up/Down RPM.
Call of Duty: Vanguard			Wired	November 5, 2021	Adaptive Triggers for gunfire.
The Riftbreaker			Wired	October 14, 2021	Adaptive Triggers for gunfire.
Far Cry 6			Wired	October 7, 2021	Adaptive Triggers and Haptic feedback for guns and vehicles.
Forspoken			Wired	January 24, 2023	Working Haptic feedback for all effects, and Adaptive Triggers for magic.
Deathloop			Wired	September 14, 2021	Adaptive Triggers for guns, Haptic feedback, sound from gamepad.
WRC Generations			Wired	August 31, 2021	Adaptive Triggers for braking.
F1 2021			Wired	July 16, 2021	Adaptive triggers.
Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition			Wired	May 6, 2021	Full adaptive triggers on guns and all interactions, normal vibration. Unable to use workbench with DualSense currently, must use keyboard & mouse.
Cyberpunk 2077			Wired/Wireless	December 10, 2020	Custom config. Requires DualSenseX, XBox360-Emulation for Vibration, Playstation Prompt cyberfix. Adaptive Triggers for weapons, braindance, and vehicles.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War			Wired	November 13, 2020	Adaptive Triggers for gunfire.
Bugsnax			Wired	November 12, 2020
Assassin's Creed Valhalla			Wired	November 10, 2020	Adaptive triggers on bows and haptic feedback on combat and water.
Genshin Impact			Wired	September 28, 2020	V 2.2. Subtle Haptic Feedback. Getting this to work requires some setup, see v2.2 patch notes for instructions, Adaptive Triggers for fishing.
Death Stranding			Wired	July 14, 2020	Requires DualSenseX. Custom config.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider			Wired/Wireless	September 14, 2018	Requires DualSenseX, Dualshock-Emulation. Haptic Feedback.
Skyrim Special Edition			Wired	October 27, 2016	Native support + Custom config. Requires DualSenseX and Steam. Adaptive Triggers for weapons.
Rainbow Six Siege			Wired	December 1, 2015	Adaptive Triggers for gunfire.
Fallout 4			Wired/BT	November 10, 2015	Custom config. Requires DualSenseX. The author includes tutorial to configure the behavior of triggers.
Rocket League			Wired	July 7, 2015	Custom config. Requires DualSenseX.
Duck Game			Wired	June 4, 2015	Custom config. Requires DualSenseX. Adaptive Triggers for guns.
Grand Theft Auto 5			Wired	April 14, 2015	Custom config. Requires DualSenseX. Adaptive Triggers for weapons.
Assetto Corsa			Wired	December 19, 2014	Custom config. Requires DualSenseX. Adaptive Triggers for tires slipping or locking.
Final Fantasy 14			Wired	August 27, 2013	As of patch 6.0. Adaptive Triggers for quest aiming minigame. Haptic Feedback for footsteps, mount effects, and some abilities.
Euro Truck Simulator 2			Wired	October 19, 2012	Custom config. Requires DualSenseX and Steam.
Resident Evil 5			Wired	September 17, 2009	Custom config. Requires DualSenseX and Steam.
Resident Evil 4			Wired	March 1, 2007	Custom config. Requires DualSenseX. https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Controller:DualSense

Games with Light Bar support

List of games that support DualShock 4 light bar

Games with DualSense button prompts

List of games with Sony button prompts

Other information

Technical information

Device name: Wireless controller (out-of-the-box firmware)/ DualSense Wireless Controller (after firmware update), HWID: 054C:0CE6

Input lag

Wired connection input lag: 10 ms for button press and 9.9 ms for joystick move. Values can be improved to 2.0 ms by overclocking controller's polling rate to 8000Hz.

Wireless connection input lag: 5.1 ms for button press and 4.8 ms for joystick move.

Connection	Input lag
USB (button press)	7.2 ms (± 1.2 ms)
USB (joystick move)	8.8 ms (± 2.0 ms)
Bluetooth (button press)	5.1 ms (± 2.0 ms)
Bluetooth (joystick move)	4.8 ms (± 1.9 ms)
USB OC 1000Hz (joystick move)	2.5 ms (± 0.5 ms)
USB OC 8000Hz (joystick move)	2.0 ms (± 0.5 ms)

Firmware updates

Controller firmware can be updated from Windows devices using official app. Update process requires wired connection.