In the olden days (2015 or so), connecting a PS4 controller to a PC was a harrowing process, with unpredictable (but hilarious) results. Now, PC gamers can use the DualShock 4 with relative impunity, thanks to better software, better hardware and better Steam integration.

How can I set up PlayStation 4 controllers to a Windows 10 PC to play games? Solution 1 – Use DS4Windows. In order to connect PS4 controller to Windows 10, you’ll have to rely on third-party solutions, but the processes itself isn’t as hard as you might think.

Still, plugging in a DS4 is not quite as simple as using an Xbox 360 or Xbox One controller, so if you’d like to bring a PS4 peripheral to a PC party, here’s what you need to know.

Wired or Wireless

You can plug a PS4 controller into a PC just as you would an Xbox One controller, by using a microUSB cable. Give the computer a few minutes to install the drivers, and you should be good to go. Actually using the controller is another story, but we’ll get to that shortly.

Sony also released a wireless adapter, and if you intend to use your DS4 and PC together a lot, it’s a worthwhile investment. Be warned, however, that while the device initially retailed for $25, it's become much harder to find in recent months, and you'll either have to hunt down some older stock, pick up a used unit or pay through the nose for it.

Setting it up is extremely simple. Just plug it in and give it a minute or two to install drivers. Then, physically press the driver into the USB slot for about 3 seconds. This will activate the pairing process. Hold down the Share and PS buttons simultaneously on your DS4, and the controller should bind itself to the wireless adapter. To pair it to your PS4 again, just connect it to the console with a microUSB cable.

How to Play PC Games with a PS4 Controller

Once you have the peripheral set up, there are four ways to play games with a PS4 controller. (There are more if you’re willing to install unofficial third-party software, but that would make this into a much longer and more complicated article.) Two of them work extremely well, and two of them require some legwork.

Steam

Ps3 Controller Mapper Windows 10

While Steam has its very own controller that gets a lot of Valve’s attention, the popular digital distribution platform added DS4 support in 2016. You can do some pretty cool stuff with a PS4 controller on Steam — if you’re willing to do some programming yourself, anyway.

Unlike Xbox controllers, PS4 controllers don’t simply work with Steam by default. The process is a bit convoluted, but you can take full advantage of the DS4’s unconventional features, including its touchpad and light bar.

First, ensure that your DS4 is hooked up to your PC. Then, open Steam and activate Big Picture mode. (Click the controller icon in the upper-right corner.) Big Picture is Steam’s living room mode, and for some reason, it’s the only way you can get into the nitty-gritty of controller settings.

Once you’re there, click on Settings (the gear icon in the upper right), and Controller Settings in the leftmost column. Check the box that says “PS4 Configuration Support.” You’ll be asked to register your PS4 controller to your Steam account. After that, you can change each button’s functionality, use the touchpad like a mouse and even pick a color for the light bar. While it’s admittedly a pain to do this for every game in your library, it’s also fairly foolproof.
Tom's Guide also has a comprehensive guide to using a PS4 controller on Steam, which is well worth your time if you intend to use your PS4 controller primarily as a Steam peripheral.

MORE: The Best PC Gaming Controllers

Native Support

Whether you game through Steam, GOG or direct downloads, your game may have an option for native PS4 controller support. All you have to do to enable it is enter the game’s settings, find its controller configuration options, and tell it that you have a DS4 hooked up.

There's no official list of DS4-compatible games, but the PC Gaming Wiki keeps pretty respectable tabs on the topic. While not every title works perfectly with the PS4 controller, you can still play games like Okami HD, Assassin's Creed Origins, Wolfenstein II, Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered.

PlayStation Now

PlayStation Now used to work on smart TVs, PS3s, PS Vitas, PSTVs and more; now it’s been restricted to PS4s and Windows PCs. At least the PC app allows native DS4 support — for the most part. To take advantage of the PS3 game-streaming service on your PC, just download the app from Sony, then boot it up.

Although you can use pretty much any controller for PS Now, a DualShock 3 or 4 is your best bet. Once your DS4 is connected to your PC, you can use it for any PS Now game. You can click the right side of the touchpad as Start and the left side as Select if needed; otherwise, every other button is the same as on the DS3, including the PS button for bringing up the menu.

One word of warning, however: for some unfathomable reason, the DS4 does not work to navigate the PS Now menu outside of games. You’ll have to use a good, old-fashioned mouse and keyboard instead. While it’s obnoxious to have to switch back and forth between control schemes, the controller at least works flawlessly in-game.

Remote Play

If you own a relatively powerful PC (Core i5 processor, 2 GB video card, at least Windows 8.1), you can stream content from your PS4 right to your computer. (You can do this with a Vita as well, if you’re one of the seven or eight people who owns one.) Just download the software to your PC, enable Remote Play in your PS4 settings (it’s in the Remote Play section; no surprise there), and make sure the two devices are connected to the same network. The first time you connect, you’ll have to input a code, but the software walks you through the whole process.

The DS4 is the only controller that works with Remote Play, so there’s no special trick to using it. Just connect it to your PC, then play as you would on your PS4. As long as your connection is strong and relatively uncrowded, you shouldn’t encounter any lag. To shut down remote play, just waggle your mouse to bring up the options menu.

Most PC gamers would rather die than let you take away their mouse and keyboard. But for third-person action games, racing, or emulated retro games, gamepads may still be worth using. If your controller isn’t quite working properly, you can calibrate it in Windows 10 to make sure that every movement translates to your game with 100% accuracy.

Why Would I Need to Do This?

Although many gamepads, like the Xbox One or Xbox 360 controllers, are usually calibrated for gaming on a PC right out of the box, others may need you to calibrate them before the system recognizes all their movements with complete accuracy. For example, if you use a Nintendo 64 controller with a USB adapter, it will almost certainly need to be calibrated before you can use it.

In other cases, you may just have an old controller that needs a little help. For example, maybe you have a button that’s sticking and you aren’t sure just how much the computer is able to read from it on each press. Or perhaps your gamepad has a worn down thumbstick that doesn’t seem like it’s tilting as far as it could. The calibration tool can help you dial in your controller so it’s as accurate as it can be.

We’ll be using an Xbox 360 controller for this guide, since that’s what we have, but it should work pretty much the same for any gamepad you plug in.

Open the Calibration Tool

To find the Calibration Tool, begin by going down to your Start Menu, and selecting “Settings”.

Once in Settings, click on the tab for “Devices”:

After the next window, scroll down to the link that reads “Devices and Printers” inside the “Printers and Scanners” tab, and click on it.

(You can also get here by going into Control Panel > Devices and Printers in all versions of Windows).

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From here, the controller should pop up as long as it’s already connected. If not, make sure you have all the latest drivers installed for the controller of your choosing.

Find the controller, and right click it to bring up the following drop-down menu. From here, click on the option for “Game controller settings”.

After you click this, the following window should automatically pop up. From there, click on the “Properties” button.

The window that follows will contain two options: “Settings” and “Test”. To start, choose the Settings tab, and then click the button in this window that reads “Calibrate”.

From here, the Calibration Wizard will automatically begin taking you through the process to get your controller set up properly. (This window is also where you’ll find the button to “Reset to Default”, in case you want the tool to automatically reset any changes that were made during a previous calibration run.)

Calibrate Your Controller

Again, we’re using the Xbox 360 controller here, so you may see slightly different windows depending on your controller, but most of it should be very similar. Click Next to start the calibration.

The calibration tool will start off with the “D-Pad” calibration, which on the Xbox 360 controller is actually the left thumbstick. At first, it will ask you to leave the thumbstick alone so it can find the center point.

Let go of the thumbstick and click “Next”, at which point you’ll be taken to the next screen.

Although it’s not necessary, we recommend selecting the “Display Raw Data” box, which will show you exactly where the resting point for the thumbstick is with quantifiable numbers. This data is valuable because it will tell you if either of your thumbsticks are starting to wear down due to overuse, and can help you to diagnose any reasons why your in-game accuracy might be slipping.

From here, swing the left thumbstick all the way around its full range of motion a few times. You should see the small cross hit all four corners in the box above, or at least touch all four sides of the box.

Next, you’ll run through the same set of tools for any “axes” on your controller. These could be pressure-sensitive buttons like the Xbox’s left and right triggers, thumbsticks, or they might just be regular buttons on some gamepads.

In our case, the Xbox 360 triggers are measured along the Z-axis, and should register anywhere from 100% (resting) to 200% (pulled down completely). The X-axis calibrates the Xbox’s right thumbstick for horizontal movement, so for that, you just need to pull the thumbstick all the way to the left and the right, and see if the full range of motion is being appropriately registered.

The same goes for the Y-axis (vertical movement). Swing it up and down, and as long as you see the numbers “0%”, and “100% at the extremes of both the top and the bottom of the thumbstick’s range of motion (as well as resting in the middle at 50%), your controller is properly calibrated. As you can see in the example above, the X-axis of my right thumbstick actually rests around 52%, the product of old age and a lot of intense rounds of Halo Online.

RELATED:How to Control the Windows Desktop With an Xbox or Steam Controller

Unfortunately, while the software side of calibration does help you to find out how well your controller is responding to your movements–and even course correct for a faulty thumbstick to an extent–the only hardware fix when it starts to get worn down like this is to head down to the store and pick up a new controller altogether. Or, if you’re feeling handy, you can buy parts like thumbsticks online and replace them yourself.

Once you’ve run through all four calibrations, you can click “Finish” to move on to the testing portion of the process.

Free Game Controller Mapper

Test the Calibration

Once the calibration process is finished, it’s time to test out the results. In the same window you started from (with the “Settings” and “Test” tabs), now you’re going to want to click on the “Test” tab.

From here, any movements or button presses you make will automatically appear on-screen. This is a good way to determine exactly how quickly the buttons are registering–if they’re registering at all–as well as making note of how close (or far away) the thumbstick is resting from an even 50% after you move it around a bit.

Once you’ve finished your tests, make sure to hit Apply before you close out the window, and you’re done!

Although most modern controllers will come calibrated out of the box to work flawlessly with Windows, it never hurts to go in and re-calibrate once every few months just to be sure you’re not missing any headshots due to a controller that’s out of whack.

Image Credits: Pexels

Game Controller Mapper

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