It’s not blasphemous at all to use peripherals designed for a console with your beloved PC. As awesome as the keyboard and mouse combo is, some games simply play better with a gamepad. If you’re not content to use your PS4 controller with its intended hardware and would like to take it for a spin on your Windows-powered machine, you can certainly do that… with a few caveats.
As this article over on PC Gamer explains, you’ll need to head over to the following thread on the PCSX2 forums and download the “DS4Tool.zip” archive. Inside this file are the drivers you’ll need to get the operating system and the controller communicating over USB, which it does by making the peripheral appear to Windows as an Xbox 360 gamepad.
If you’re using Windows 8 / 8.1, it sounds like you can use Bluetooth to wield the controller sans cable. Unfortunately, Windows 7 appears to have difficulties keeping the connection up. The PC Gamer article notes this might be isolated to its testing hardware, but points out that “others have reported similar issues”.
If you’re in the possession of both a PS4 and a PC, feel free to give this setup a try and return with your results!
PS4 DualShock 4 on PC: how to make it work [PC Gamer]
Comments
21 responses to “Yes, You Can Use Your PS4 Controller With Your PC”
sounds great – no more 3rd party drivers and tools required for first party gamepads!
can you do the same with an xbox one gamepad? do they have pc receivers yet?
Xbox One controller doesn’t have PC support yet, that will come next year, they’re still working out the drivers so that it can be used with the games that supported the 360 controller.
I won’t be buying the PS4 or Xbone for another 2 years but sometime next year I will be buying an Xbone controller just to revel in it’s beauty, maybe even make a lighted display case to put my halo edition original xbox, standard 360 slim and custom xbone controllers in. Yes, I do love the xbox controllers that much, even though I’m a PC gamer and rarely get the chance to use them.
As I understand it the xbone controller has proprietary wi-fi for wireless, but now utilises the usb cable when plugged in to reduce input lag, so it’s only the drivers we need to get one working until MS releases another reciever next year.
Nice. Will definitily give this a try when I get a PS4. Still using one of those afterglow 360 controllers on my PC atm which is alright considering how little I actually use it but it’d be great to have something slightly better quality without needing to spend $50+ on some crappy wireless reciever.
I’m guessing Xbox One controllers work with a wireless reciever like the later 360 ones?
I dont think so, XB1 controller uses different wifi that reduces its latency to that of a wired controller. though I assume there are ways of getting it to work or they will release a new receiver.
Personally I wouldn’t bother with the Ps4 controller its still worse than the 360 even if only for stick placement and the angle difference.
And this is what we call an opinion.
Meh I like my Microsoft 360 wired controller.. albeit rather clunky
I might just get a PS4 controller for my PC. When I eventually get an actual PS4, I’ll have a spare.
Using a controller on your pc, sure that is fine. Using the PS4 controller on your pc, you got problems.
No matter how they tweaked that shitty controller, its still inferior to XB1 and even the original 360 controller. Almost exclusivley because of the angle the controller is at (grip to rest of controller is much sharper and less rounded than Xbox) and the “sony’s board of members are too old to change” stick placement.
I still don’t understand how anyone can think the thing is decent let alone the “best”.
Have you used one yet? I still haven’t be able to try either Xbox One or PS4 but keep hearing people say the Dualshock 4 is way better then the XB1 controller.
Yes i have both consoles, played a good 5 hours of knack and 3 or 4 of killzone online. Its certainly leaps ahead of the ps3 controller, but that stick placement still bugs me to no end.
If you want I can explain further. When I talk about the angle I mean on the back of the controller where the grip meets the rest.
When I pick up the XB1 controller my hand slots in perfectly with button placement my Thumb naturaly and perfeclty ontop of Left ThumbStick and My right thumb lands right across boith X and A. On top of this, this is where the huge difference is, my middle finger wraps perfeclty around the curve below the triggers. This along with the last 2 fingers fit so perfectly you can really tell these are the things Microsoft changed, the controller is made to fit into your hands, no its better than that it is sculpted to fit hands.
On the other end the PS4 controller ungghhh. You thumbs dont naturally sit anywhere good, Left is right on the Dpad and the right one is across all 4 face buttons. this means the natural movement to both thumbsticks is much greater than the Xb1 version. On top of this we have the finger placement and its horrible. The DS4 has a big fat ass and by that I mean it has a peak on the back of the controller, presumably for that recharge slot. What this does is remove space for your middle finger. Instead of snuggly fitting on the back of the controller only your tips connect with anything solid, which slides your fingers all the way down the controller making the rest even more awkward to use. The end result is that your 3 fingers end up cramped and sitting ontop of each other on the tip of the handles and if you are prone to sweaty hands they easily slip and slide around and right off the controller (this is next to impossible on the XB1).
The result is night and day, the dualshock is inferior in every possible way, hell even that “grip” texture on the controller is awful to touch, THE ONLY thing it has over Microsoft offering is the bumpers and that is really only because Microsoft did something very odd on their controller and seems to have placed the bumper backwards, but at the same time this is easily negated by the stupid share and pause button on the dualshock, which are even worse than Microsofts bumpers, because they are almost melded into the controller and very difficult to press on the go.
To sum up ‘I don’t like where the sticks are, therefore the controller is shit’, or to put it another way: ‘my opinion is right, and yours is wrong’.
Obviously you read it hey…. that or your just one of those muppets who gets proven wrong and then thinks they are even more correct. also known as “backfire” or Motivated reasoning, take your pick.
But what i posed was fact. Its the same reason we have ps3 fan boys running around claiming the Dualshock was better than the 360 controller. It was not, it was not even in the same league and that was ergonomic fact. Just more people who think with emotions rather than logic.
The ps4 controller has awful curves and doesn’t naturally fit in the hands (which in turns crams your fingers together) and has the incorrect, because that is what it is at this stage, stick placement. This isn’t opinion, it is fact.
Crazy thing is: controllers are all opinions. Which do YOU spend more time with? Which are YOU more comfortable using? Last gen I was only a ps3 player, this year I love both, and still prefer both dualshocks. I got buddies that hated ps3 controllers and now don’t mind hopping on my 4. It’s all a matter of taste, no need to be a dickbag about it.
Its way better than xbox1
Spot the fanboy! Probably hasn’t ever seen one in the flesh, still has fully formed opinion that he’s willing to give to others!
THX MAN!!!
Except that you would be wrong, just another troll who instead of giving their own opinion trys to dispute someone else’s using internet logic i.e instantly cry fanboy like a big fat sissy.
I would also point out even their own RnD told them to switch it.
http://www.polygon.com/2013/10/22/4865354/sony-experimented-with-xbox-layout-for-dualshock-4-design
But as I said the board of old people said no because “having bad stick placement is what sony IS”.
Seriously Every single game i have played on the ps4 wont let me use the dpad for movement, so why is it in prime position over the thumbstick?WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.
You are just used to it on 360 so it feels foreign to you on ps4 in comparrison. Physiologically the ps4 thumbs or in better places for the structure of the human hand
Ummm no they aren’t, where did you get that nonsense from. Read my above post if you really care.
Different strokes for different folks I guess. When I pick up a DS3 my thumbs are over the sticks at rest. On my 360 controller they rest next to the sticks, and I have to move my left thumbin particular much further than I need to on DS3 for use. But I primarily gamed on PS3 and so that’s how I’m tuned.
That’s not correct.
One of my friends who is an Xbox fangirl said she loves the PS4 controller, and is a real improvement over the DS3. They honestly look like a great advance from what the PS controller has been the last 20 years 🙂
Having tried both, I prefer the PS4 controller over the xbone one. However, the 360 controller still reigns supreme, and I’ll keep using it as my PC gaming control of choice.
Why do you prefer the X360 controller over the XB1 controller, out of curiosity? I was interested in possibly upgrading my PC controller to the XB1 one.
Have you even held it? I don’t have a PS4, but the Dualshock 4 It’s the most comfortable controller I’ve ever held, by a very wide margin. Aside from the triggers, the buttons on PlayStation controllers have always been functionally better than Xbox (really stiff buttons, especially the bumpers). The DS4 fixes the only issues that the DS3 had, by adding longer handles, and concave triggers. I get that some prefer the non-parallel thumb-sticks, but I don’t. Barring some advancement I don’t yet know I need, the Dualshock 4 is a perfect controller. I would change nothing.
Sucks about the bluetooth problem with Windows 7, was hoping it wouldn’t be an issue. Might just upgrade to Win 8.1 next year I think.
Is it possible to use the ps4 controller on the xbox one? I can’t the xbox controller and it blisters my thumb. Anyone tried to do this?
Using PS4 controller on XBox One is not possible. You may be able to get a third-party controller, such as Logitech (but it will be much inferior to the comfort and quality of the PS4 controller).
Yes you can connect ypur ps4 controller to your pc but you can not play most pc games yet ! Pc games are not designed for ps4 controller !
You can configure the PS4 controller to work with PC by installing drivers in DS4Tool.zip (search for it).
all these xbox fanboys complaining on a playstation controller topic… pathetic beings..
used all 4 controllers mentioned in the comments 360 xbone ps3 and ps4 controllers, and to me it’s idiotic.. all these people yappin about thumb placement? i take it noone considered that not all people have the same hands or preferences in comfort? grow up lol..
however, ps4 vs 360 controllers. ps4 controller, comfortable, symmetrical sticks. 360 controller, familiar. end of MY opinion.
TLDR: xbox fanboys grow a life and stop lurking in a playstation topic..
I’m on Windows 7, works via USB. But over bluetooth, it asks for an access code even though I selected that I didn’t need one, so I just used 0000 as everyone told me to, and the controller disconnects after about 3 minutes, before the driver downloads automatically.
it worked… just with bluetooth no third party required
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