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[IbizaPocholo]

PlayStation DualSense May be Getting Official Firmware Support on PC

Sources claim that Sony has a full DualSense firmware updater application in the making for PC and that it could be coming out soon.

gamerant.com

A particularly noteworthy problem with using Sony DualSense controllers on PC is that users couldn't update their firmware without access to a PlayStation 5 console, though this may be changing in the near future. Namely, the official PlayStation website seems to have a cached version of the EULA for a DualSense firmware updater application, and it could be coming out soon.

While DualSense's unique features appeared in COD: Vanguard and similar titles, the implementation of this functionality on PC depends almost entirely on game developers themselves, and is therefore seldom included. This doesn't affect game or controller functionality, however, unlike the inability to update a DualSense controller without owning a PS5. The newly-revealed EULA, though deleted at this time, shows that Sony is working on a solution to this particular issue after all, even though there wasn't any information available about this beforehand.

Having the ability to update Sony's latest controller iteration is crucial for its functionality. These are complex devices that need software support to work properly, as shown with last year's DualSense firmware update that fixed a variety of bugs and feature implementation problems. PC users, however, didn't have a way to download said update if they didn't have a PlayStation 5 as well, which meant they were stuck with inferior products for the time being.

There's no telling when, exactly, Sony could be launching the firmware updater for DualSense, but the fact that there's a proper EULA already in place implies that the process could be further along than was initially believed. It's worth pointing out that Steam supported DualSense controllers from the very start, but the users' inability to download official fixes and updates sourced from Sony meant that this solution remains less than ideal until the official updater software comes out.

 

[Zeroing]

So is an app that you open and checks for updates?

 

[Gamerguy84]

I wasn't aware there wasn't support. I thought DS4 Windows was thsupport. Well this would be cool.

As a matter of fact I want more support for PS5 users. I would love to control the color LED seen on the controller itself.

 

[lh032]

Dualsense 3 months analog drift + PC market = profit for Sony.

 

[Fake]

Shocking seeing so much support of a Playstation product on PC rather than even Playstation 4.

I guess its what is now

 

[Ryu Kaiba]

The Dualsense has usurped the Switch Pro controller as my favorite controller would love it if it worked seamlessly with PC.

 

[ACESHIGH]

Makes sense that they push that in tandem with the PC ports. They may not sell consoles but if they make a conscious effort the dual sense can become the standard controller for PC. And that's millions and millions of controllers right there.

 

[gypsygib]

I don't know why Sony doesn't just make their controller work seemlessly with PC. So many software side thing they do take eons to not be half-assed. How long did it take for VRR on their TVs. These small features can make the difference between a person becomming a loyal customer to Sony or going with another company long term.

You'd think selling a few million $70 controllers to PC gamers on an ongoing basis would be worth the cost of just making their controllers work in Windows hassle free and give devs the tools for easy implementation.

 

[Pejo]

Steam gave us a compatibility layer like a year ago, but native support is always better. Hopefully we'll start seeing Dualsense button prompts and PC games using the haptic feedback/controller speaker. I won't hold my breath, but it'd be cool.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Of course it is, PSVR2 is going to be for the PC also because if it's for PS5 alone it's dead on arrival. Sony understands this. They're building PSVR 2 for the PC as much as they're building it for PS5.

 

[ShirAhava]

EDIT* was sleepy and misread thread

 

[Withnail]

Eh it already has official PC support, Sony submitted drivers to the Linux kernel about a year ago if not more.

 

[rofif]

What about some dongle ?
It's not just standard bt on ps5 or is it ?

 

[kainslayer]

Bought my ds day one for pc use,got a ps5 9 months later,it's a cool gadget for pc use, currently I use ds4windows and dualsence x ,it's been awesome playing Forza 5 with adaptive triggers, though it needed alot of setup,and the radio music comes through the controller pretty neat

 

[Midn1ght]

What about some dongle ?

My wish as well, I've tried 2 different Bluetooth dongle and the latency was dreadful, miles away from the Series X + PC Dongle experience. I only use my Dual Sense wired.

An official Dongle would be Day One for me.

 

[Lukaku's First Touch]

Most importantly, all games going forward should have the playstation prompts when using a PS controller, instead of the xbox prompts.

 

[Holammer]

Praise Satan! Been asking for a signed drivers for Playstation controllers since PS3.
Sony is usually exemplary when it comes to drivers for Cameras and everything else.

Almost bought a Dual Sense pad yesterday, but they only had a bunch of fugly ones, 80's pastel colors and wine red. **Ewwwww**

 

[Mephisto40]

Of course it is, PSVR2 is going to be for the PC also because if it's for PS5 alone it's dead on arrival. Sony understands this. They're building PSVR 2 for the PC as much as they're building it for PS5.

Really not sure what is giving you this impression, the original PSVR did fine only working on playstation?

 

[nominedomine]

I'd settle for getting PS prompts on every game, plenty of devs still don't even bother with that (including From Software and I think they even ban you if you mod it).

 

[Mephisto40]

Praise Satan! Been asking for a signed drivers for Playstation controllers since PS3.
Sony is usually exemplary when it comes to drivers for Cameras and everything else.

Almost bought a Dual Sense pad yesterday, but they only had a bunch of fugly ones, 80's pastel colors and wine red. **Ewwwww**

They've updated some of the parts in the coloured ones to make them more reliable, so I wouldnt write them off

If you buy a standard one there is a chance it'll be one of the launch ones, that are seseptible to stick drift and triggers failing, the coloured ones don't have that problem

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Sony is probably going to be making some bucks with the Dual Sense on PC so it makes sense.

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

Great news, now all I need is a proper PC adapter or at the very least they update the firmware to allow full functionality through Bluetooth. As it is, the controller needs to be wired to take advantage of the dual trigger and rumble HD functionality. There is an app called DualSenseX that allows the Adaptive triggers to work wirelessly, but unfortunately it can't make the games that have support work that way.

 

[Three]

What about some dongle ?
It's not just standard bt on ps5 or is it ?

Considering you could connect the Dualsense via bluetooth to the remote play app on mobile I'd imagine it has bluetooth support even if there is a proprietary stack for connecting to PS5 specifically.

 

[Holammer]

They've updated some of the parts in the coloured ones to make them more reliable, so I wouldnt write them off

If you buy a standard one there is a chance it'll be one of the launch ones, that are seseptible to stick drift and triggers failing, the coloured ones don't have that problem

I visited three stores and none of them had the regular white one, so the first batch of those must've been taken out of circulation by now.

 

[tommib]

Strange. It had macOS native support since the start.

 

[Holammer]

Strange. It had macOS native support since the start.

Because Apple added the support themselves.
Linux got support too, but on Windows there's a process to get a driver signed.

 

[alucard0712_rus]

Of course it is, PSVR2 is going to be for the PC also because if it's for PS5 alone it's dead on arrival. Sony understands this. They're building PSVR 2 for the PC as much as they're building it for PS5.

lol

 

[Ozriel]

All they have to do is to make PSVR2 compatible with PC and they’ll sell millions and millions of those to the hardcore PC crew that cant pay for the $1000 Valve Index but see the Quest 2 as being too compromised.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Played FF6 pixel remaster and it automatically detected my dualsense. No need for DS4windows. Pretty cool.

Developers need to understand that some of us prefer Sony controllers on PC instead of Xbox. There are dozens of us! Dozens!

 

[moniker]

I think most in this thread is missing that the article is first and foremost about the ability to update the firmware in the gamepad on PC. You can't do that on Windows (or Steam), MacOs or Linux currently.

 

[Revolutionary]

Man, so many people in this thread don't know how to read.

DualSense works fine on PC, even wirelessly. It's how I play FFXIV on PC. The 'problem' is that you can't upgrade the controller firmware without a PS5. I don't have a PS5 so I can't update my DualSense until Sony releases an update utility for PC, which is what this article is about.

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

Man, so many people in this thread can't read.

DualSense works fine on PC, even wirelessly. It's how I play FFXIV on PC. The 'problem' is that you can't upgrade the controller firmware without a PS5. I don't have a PS5 so I can't update my DualSense until Sony releases an update utility for PC, which is what this article is about.

And also, you can't get the exclusive tech to work on bluetooth, if you want to use adaptive triggers, the advanced haptics, the speaker and mic, the only way to achieve it is directly plugin the controller via USB. On BT the Dualsense behave just like a DS4.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Dualsense 3 months analog drift + PC market = profit for Sony.

Never had analog drift on any controllers in the history of analog gaming. From Nintendo to MS to Sony.

 

[ckaneo]

How about doing the right thing and making the PS4 and PS5 controllers interchangeable for most games

 

[lh032]

Never had analog drift on any controllers in the history of analog gaming. From Nintendo to MS to Sony.

3 of my DS4 drifted and another 1 for my dualsense. Its not within 3 months of course more like maybe 9 months? i think my DS4 last longer than my dualsense.
Luckily i fix my dualsense myself, so im still using my first controller without using my new controller

 

[lh032]

How about doing the right thing and making the PS4 and PS5 controllers interchangeable for most games

DS4 feels like cheap plastic after dualsense, dualsense is superior

 

[Mr Moose]

The controller works fine on PC, it just didn't have the option to update the firmware, until now. Some people are misunderstanding what is being said.

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

Never had analog drift on any controllers in the history of analog gaming. From Nintendo to MS to Sony.

You are blessed. I had drift problems with the 360 controller, dualshock 4, joycons and not to mention the n64, all my controllers had the analog broken after a year or so.

 

[DeepEnigma]

You are blessed. I had drift problems with the 360 controller, dualshock 4, joycons and not to mention the n64, all my controllers had the analog broken after a year or so.

I don't think I am lucky. %'s be that way.

 

[Stuart360]

Never had analog drift on any controllers in the history of analog gaming. From Nintendo to MS to Sony.

May you're very lucky then. Just bought my third XSX controller the other day. I do control my PC using the controller, and the controller is getting used like 12+ hours a day most days so that wont help, but still.
Last gen i went through 3 XB1 and 1 PS4 pad on PC ,all got drift.

Funny thing is i dont remember ever getting drift on my 360 controllers, in fact i still have 2 of them as back up. For me drift is something thats come into gaming over the last 2 generations, for whatever reason.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

I don't think I am lucky. %'s be that way.

Same here. Never had an issue ever. I don't throw my controllers or coat them in mountain dew and Cheeto dust either though.

 

[Makoto-Yuki]

Never had analog drift on any controllers in the history of analog gaming. From Nintendo to MS to Sony.

funnily enough i've never had drifting on any nintendo controllers. either joycon or pro controller.

dualshocks and xbox controllers....yeah. my DS4 controller drifts so had to buy a new one. i went through 3 xbox controllers.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Same here. Never had an issue ever. I don't throw my controllers or coat them in mountain dew and Cheeto dust either though.

I even wipe mine down with those eyeglass alcohol pads every few days of use.

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

I don't think I am lucky. %'s be that way.

That percentage only covers the warrant period. I don't believe for a second that only a small percentage of game pads break through the duration of a gen. I might be the case for people don't use their controllers daily.

 

[Stuart360]

Same here. Never had an issue ever. I don't throw my controllers or coat them in mountain dew and Cheeto dust either though.

Nah i think some of you cant game as much as you think.
Like i said in my post above, i use my controllers to control my PC, with the left stick being the mouse. Guess which stick always gets the drift?, the left stick because its being used for hours a day everyday.

 

[DeepEnigma]

That percentage only covers the warrant period. I don't believe for a second that only a small percentage of game pads break through the duration of a gen. I might be the case for people don't use their controllers daily.

I don't think they're as high you as you think they are either, otherwise those class actions and consumer fail rates on products %s would cause recalls. You are only allotted a certain % on consumer products. Something like 5% or less.

Hence it forced MSFT's hand in the RRoD to invest in extended warranties or face lawsuits and potential recall.

 

[Paulistano]

My wish as well, I've tried 2 different Bluetooth dongle and the latency was dreadful, miles away from the Series X + PC Dongle experience. I only use my Dual Sense wired.

An official Dongle would be Day One for me.

If it's a option for you, you may look into an Intel Ax210 or newer with an adaptor for pci express + usb header (bought mine on aliexpress).

I use it on my desktop and it works perfectly without issues.

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

I don't think they're as high you as you think they are either, otherwise those class actions and consumer fail rates on products %s would cause recalls. You are only allotted a certain % on consumer products. Something like 5% or less.

Hence it forced MSFT's hand in the RRoD to invest in extended warranties or face recall.

Companies are only obligated to warrant their products for a specific frame of time. I don't think the majority of controllers will break during a span of 5 years or so, but as they get older, more and more controllers will have issues. And drift is something that companies can mask easily with greater and greater dead zones. You might not see your controller drifting, but it will lose precision, most people wouldn't notice.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Companies are only obligated to warrant their products for a specific frame of time. I don't think the majority of controllers will break during a span of 5 years or so, but as they get older, more and more controllers will have issues. And drift is something that companies can mask easily with greater and greater dead zones. You might not see your controller drifting, but it will lose precision, most people wouldn't notice.

Yet so many are making it out to be that this happens very shortly, or right away. Years later, well, I still have controllers years old and have been used. The button "sponge" does wear where it isn't as spongy compared to the others, especially RDR2 with that damned 'X' button, but never had a drift where I put the controller down and the character or screen or cursor is moving on it's own.

 

[Kuranghi]

My wish as well, I've tried 2 different Bluetooth dongle and the latency was dreadful, miles away from the Series X + PC Dongle experience. I only use my Dual Sense wired.

An official Dongle would be Day One for me.

How were you measuring the latency?

I'm just asking because I had the official DS4 dongle for PC and it gave me about 8-10ms on a DS4.v2 according to DS4Windows, the Dualsense on a generic BT apapter I bought is generally around 1-2ms using same measurement tool. If I turn off v-sync in a game with no/a minimal amount of animation blending it feels ultra responsive, more so than the DS4 but I think thats also down to the sticks having less natural deadzone with the Dualsense