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PlayStation 5 DualSense controller is now officially supported on Steam

PS5-DualSense-support-on-Steam.jpg


Everyone who has Steam installed on their PC can now use the PS5 DualSense controller to play PC games. As of December 8, 2020, the latest Steam public client update officially added support for the PlayStation 5 controller.

With the latest update, Steam now supports more of the DualSense controller’s features, such as its rumble, gyro, trackpad, and lightbar functions. It also added a directional swipe mode that can be used with the gyro and trackpad functions. Other than that, the Steam Input updates also improved controller support for games with raw input and embedded Chrome.

It is worth noting that the official update notes only mentioned “rumble” instead of “haptic feedback.” We have yet to see any confirmation on whether the aforementioned unique feature of the PS5 controller—along with the adaptive triggers—are also supported on PC games on Steam or not.

Previously in mid-November 2020, the Steam client beta added “initial input support” for the PS5 DualSense controller. Its additional features, such as rumble and lightbar, were not available at that time. The same update also fixed the issue of the Xbox Series X being registered as two separate controllers; this fix is brought as-is to the latest public client update.

The DualSense controller, just like its PlayStation 5 console, was first released in select countries on November 12, 2020. It is now available in many countries around the world.


 

Holammer

Member
I wish they could release a signed driver for it, but they won't. Sony probably sell them at a loss. :p
 

CSJ

Member
Great so, how does it work?
Plugged it in via usb, nothing. :|

Edit: Ah wouldnt work via hub.
 
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Sorcerer

Member
Now if only the ps5 had paddles and non symmetrical sticks.
If you are talking about using the PS5 controller on Steam, it would not matter if the PS5 had paddles. Steam would not see them. I don't fully understand, but I was reading a Steam reps response in a thread and he basically said, when manufactures add paddles to their controllers they are not unique inputs, they are merely mapped to other buttons on the controller. Thus if you plug an Elite into Steam, it won't see the paddles. The Steam controller of course recognizes its paddles because of course Valve created it and I guess they made the paddles unique inputs. The developer also said Valve was not currently working on a solution to the problem. I guess it would be up to Sony, and Microsoft, and Nintendo, but I don't think those companies care about such a problem.
 
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diablos991

Can’t stump the diablos
If you are talking about using the PS5 controller on Steam, it would not matter if the PS5 had paddles. Steam would not see them. I don't fully understand, but I was reading a Steam reps response in a thread and he basically said, when manufactures add paddles to their controllers they are not unique inputs, they are merely mapped to other buttons on the controller. Thus if you plug an Elite into Steam, it won't see the paddles. The Steam controller of course recognizes its paddles because of course Valve created it and I guess they made the paddles unique inputs. The developer also said Valve was not currently working on a solution to the problem. I guess it would be up to Sony, and Microsoft, and Nintendo, but I don't think those companies care about such a problem.
I don’t mind if the paddles are just remapped face buttons. In fact, that’s pretty much what I want.
 

Sorcerer

Member
I don’t mind if the paddles are just remapped face buttons. In fact, that’s pretty much what I want.
Of course the paddles will work natively on the Playsation , Xbox, etc, I'm just saying they will never be recognized in Steam unfortunately. It would be nice to map keyboard commands to them like you can on the Steam Controller.
 
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Good news. The DualSense controller is far and away the best engineered/dssigned aspect of the PS5. It's the first PS controller that nearly rivals the Xbox design and even slightly exceeds the current design in a couple ways. I still prefer the Xbox Elite overall but the DualSense is a huge step up from former PS controllers and altho I need more time to compare it for long term gaming sessions, I feel like it's slightly better ergonomically vs the Series X/S design which is a slight step back from the XB1 for my hands (they shrank the Series controller a tad bit which hasn't bothered me yet but I do still prefer the older XB1 controllers, so am looking forward to a new Elite 3 that possibly increases the size in hand a tiny bit).

Bottom line is for the first time ever I can imagine certain games on PC I may choose to use the DualSense instead of the Series X/S controller. Tho it probably still loses that comparisons vs the Elite in most situations for me, that it's even in the discussion at all is a massive accomplishment in my eyes.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Isn't this unofficial support then? Sony hasn't done anything have they?

Sony didn't do this, its by Valve who made it works for all Steam games now. Essentially opening up the features & configuration for devs and players to use. So for example you can add gyro to improve aiming in Red Dead Redemption 2, something which the devs didn't support on consoles and PC originally.
 

Xdrive05

Member
Didn’t see it in the release, but does Steam treat the dual sense like an xbox controller? Meaning, will all games that support the xbox controller use the dual sense in the same way?
 

Kerotan

Member
This bodes well for PSVR2 support. With VR becoming more popular on PC I think Sony will go for it.
 

JimboJones

Member
Didn’t see it in the release, but does Steam treat the dual sense like an xbox controller? Meaning, will all games that support the xbox controller use the dual sense in the same way?
Yeah, if you just want it to function as a Xbox controller it usually defaults to that set up. You can configure it how you want though (use gyro, add turbo buttons, change dead zones and lots of other stuff).
 

jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
Good, good.

Since I gave away my PS4, I dont have any DS4's. I just picked up 2 Dual Senses the other day at Wal-Mart, they have alot of those.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Didn’t see it in the release, but does Steam treat the dual sense like an xbox controller? Meaning, will all games that support the xbox controller use the dual sense in the same way?

In most if not every cases, yes. Games that support xbox controller (or gamepad in general) will support DualSense/DualShock 4 with SteamInput. This has been the case for years (for Dualshock 4).

SteamInput even allow you to add DualShock4 feature supports (trackpad, gyro etc) on those games too, including games that don’t have native support for them.

What Valve is doing here is essentially porting the DualShock 4 support in SteamInput to DualSense along with some finetuning and bug fixes. The DualSense and DualShock 4 are fundamentally the same except for adaptive trigger and haptic feedback (shoulder buttons, d-pad, analog, face buttons etc)
 
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Why are you guys triggered at my preference for stick placement if I may ask each one of you guys? aclar00 aclar00 Kerotan Kerotan thismeinteil thismeinteil M michaelius ? A large majority of us pc gamers, and gamers in general, prefer asymmetrical sticks.

Source: GAF. Even though gaf is probably like a 3:1 ratio of playstation fans to Xbox gamers, numbers don't like. And for majority of playstation fans to even vote for asymmetrical sticks, shows you the proof.



"Poll: Best Analog Stick Placement | NeoGAF" https://www.neogaf.com/threads/poll-best-analog-stick-placement.1535505/


73gH8sf.png


Id try it out if the controller didnt have buttons.
I'm guessing that's a hard pass then?
 
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Good news. The DualSense controller is far and away the best engineered/dssigned aspect of the PS5. It's the first PS controller that nearly rivals the Xbox design and even slightly exceeds the current design in a couple ways. I still prefer the Xbox Elite overall but the DualSense is a huge step up from former PS controllers and altho I need more time to compare it for long term gaming sessions, I feel like it's slightly better ergonomically vs the Series X/S design which is a slight step back from the XB1 for my hands (they shrank the Series controller a tad bit which hasn't bothered me yet but I do still prefer the older XB1 controllers, so am looking forward to a new Elite 3 that possibly increases the size in hand a tiny bit).

Bottom line is for the first time ever I can imagine certain games on PC I may choose to use the DualSense instead of the Series X/S controller. Tho it probably still loses that comparisons vs the Elite in most situations for me, that it's even in the discussion at all is a massive accomplishment in my eyes.
I wonder how popular the DualSense will end up being with PC gamers. I think I read recently that there were a lot more Steam users playing with a controller, so officially supporting the DualSense is good news of course.
 
Why are you guys triggered at my preference for stick placement if I may ask each one of you guys? aclar00 aclar00 Kerotan Kerotan thismeinteil thismeinteil M michaelius ? A large majority of us pc gamers, and gamers in general, prefer asymmetrical sticks.

You are misunderstanding. That emote means you are triggered since you came into thread about Dual Sense on pc with you post about asymetrical sticks :D

Also the poll you posted pretty much directly contradicts your theory about wast majority since Nintendo+Xbox has 47% to 41% for Sony controlers. And that's on English speaking forum which means this place has overrepresentation of American gamers vs global average.
 

Arthimura

Member
DualSense is the best controller i ever used.

I prefer symmetrical stick placement. Human hands are symmetrical, i don't know why would make sense for the sticks to be assymetrical. One can arguy that the use of hands is different, but really we are playing with symmetrical sticks since the 90s.

I bought a Xbox 360 controller for PC use some years ago and after 3 months of use it got drift problem. One of my Dualshock 4 however was even toyed and bitted by a dog and kept working perfectly.
 
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You are misunderstanding. That emote means you are triggered since you came into thread about Dual Sense on pc with you post about asymetrical sticks :D

Also the poll you posted pretty much directly contradicts your theory about wast majority since Nintendo+Xbox has 47% to 41% for Sony controlers. And that's on English speaking forum which means this place has overrepresentation of American gamers vs global average.
I didn't misunderstand anything. You are upset/triggered that I won't use it, because it has symmetrical sticks. Otherwise, the emoji makes absolutely no sense at all, especially in the context of things. Why would I be upset that it has symmetrical sticks? Does that even make sense to you?

Also other polls mimic the same sentiment on other forums and sites as well. Majority of people globally prefer asymmetrical sticks, that's just the reality of things.



uWObRMk.png


zbHBjuk.png
 

Outlier

Member
DualSense is the best controller i ever used.

I prefer symmetrical stick placement. Human hands are symmetrical, i don't know why would make sense for the sticks to be assymetrical. One can arguy that the use of hands is different, but really we are playing with symmetrical sticks since the 90s.

I bought a Xbox 360 controller for PC use some years ago and after 3 months of use it got drift problem. One of my Dualshock 4 however was even toyed and bitted by a dog and kept working perfectly.


Our hands may be symmetrical, but most people do not use them symmetrically. It also depends on what kind of game is being played. Some people may have a better playing experience using their left thumb, depending on where the stick is located, but it might also be more important in how the controller is designed.

The DualSense is the best controller I've used for any game I play (designed for controller use), partially due to the size of it, allowing my thumbs to have better placement (particularly my left thumb).
 

Codes 208

Member
It was a little tricky to set up but it’s so awesome to play halo MCC with a dual sense (even though I keep getting tricked by any “press X” moments)

also the cyan color on the controller while playing is a very nice touch.
Will this give more 3rd parties incentive to maximize use of the newer features? Would seem that way to me.
Let’s start with the basics, like proper button icons.
 
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Royal-Slime

Banned
I hope Xbox will hurry up and make Series S/X controller work on PC, soon. I mean, it works already but it's still recognized as One by Steam, doesn't use the extra button and has issues sometimes.
 

B0xel-new

Neo Member
Why are you guys triggered at my preference for stick placement if I may ask each one of you guys?
Nobody is triggered. It's just an odd statement to make in this Thread. I'd try it out if the stick placement wasn't symmetrical... Okay? thanks for letting us know, I guess? We might as well have been talking about a new icecream flavor, and you came in with your weird stick placement comments. Nobody cares what you prefer my dude, don't derail the thread.
 
Shame that Steam Input doesn't incorporate HID exclusive mode resulting in some games seeing both the real controller and the virtual 360 controller. I stopped using it in favor of DS4 Windows and a HID Guardian setup a while ago.
 
Nobody is triggered. It's just an odd statement to make in this Thread. I'd try it out if the stick placement wasn't symmetrical... Okay? thanks for letting us know, I guess? We might as well have been talking about a new icecream flavor, and you came in with your weird stick placement comments. Nobody cares what you prefer my dude, don't derail the thread.
Sounds exactly like you're triggered lol. You do realize we were on a public thread, where everyone can voice their opinion, right? You could have scrolled past my comment, but instead you quoted it. Majority of people prefer asymetrical sticks, so my opinion is more than valid. But thanks for confirming that, from the quote. 😂
 
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