The Playstation 3's controller, the Dualshock 3, isn't the easiest pad to get working on the PC. So why bother when it's so much easier to use an Xbox controller on PC, or you have a much newer Dualshock 4 sitting around? The Dualshock 3 has something the best PC controllers don't have: pressure-sensitive analog face buttons. That makes the Dualshock 3 the best choice for emulating PS2 games with PCSX2—Metal Gear Solid 3, for example, just doesn't play right without those analog buttons. And if you simply prefer the feel of Sony's older controllers over the redesigned Dualshock 4, this is the perfect controller for playing those classic Final Fantasy games on Steam.
Here's the best way to get your PS3 controller working on PC using an open source tool called ScpToolkit.
Looking for advice on using a different controller? Here's how to use a PS4 controller on PC, and here's how to use a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller on PC.
Xbox One Mini Series controller review – Big performance from a small pad. Series and a regular Xbox One controller is the Mini Series' built in USB cable. Windows support. Xbox One Wired Controller not being reconized on Windows. I have the driver for Windows 7, I manually pick the driver update, 'Game Controllers' doesn't pick it up, Xbox 'Accessories Status. How to get software and driver updates for Windows 10 By keeping your device up-to-date, you'll ensure that you're always running the latest software or hardware drivers, as we frequently fix known issues. As a gift, I've purchased for my nephew an Xbox One Controller (for PC) to use as a wired controller on his Windows 7 PC. It is my understanding that for use with Windows 7, a driver download will be necessary (unlike Windows 10, which natively supports the controller without the need to install drivers). Xbox pro ex controller driver not installing. I have a Xbox pro ex controller and the driver failed to install. What's up, guys! Well, when I was installing the XOne Controller driver for my Windows 7 and extracted the.cab file, at this point, nothing bad, it was a successful extraction. But when I right-clicked the xb1usb. Though you have been promised that aside from the Xbox One and 360 Controller, it is also available for you to use the PS4 Duckshock controller with PC on Windows 10. Windows system would prompt you to install the DS4Windows driver. If you are using Windows 7 or below, you are to install 360 driver. Then refer to the instruction to finish.
What you need
Hardware
- Dualshock 3 and mini-USB cable
- Optional: Bluetooth dongle
Software
- Xbox 360 controller driver (only needs to be installed on Windows 7)
Installation guide
1. Download the software linked above, and start by installing the four Microsoft packages. If you're on a Windows 7 PC, you'll also need to install the Xbox 360 controller driver. On Windows 8 and 10, it's already built in!
2. Important step: plug your Dualshock 3 into your PC with a mini-USB cable. Now we can start making it work.
Bluetooth installation note: if you also want to be able to use the controller wirelessly, make sure you have a Bluetooth dongle plugged in or your motherboard's Bluetooth enabled. ScpToolkit notes you need a Bluetooth 2.0 or higher dongle that supports Enhanced Data Rate (EDR).
3. Download ScpToolkit and run the installer. After accepting the terms and choosing your install location, you'll get a menu of all the options to install, as in the screenshot above. I recommend leaving this to the default. Click Install to begin the installation.
Bluetooth installation note: Make sure the ScpToolkit Bluetooth Pair Utility option is ticked.
4. After about 30 seconds, ScpToolkit will be installed, and you'll see this screen, with a big green button that says Run Driver Installer. Since this is a fresh install, that's what we want to do. Click the button.
5. This screen may look intimidating, but it's still pretty simple! Check the boxes for the drivers you want to install. In this case, we want to make sure Install Dualshock 3 driver is checked (it should be by default). Now click the arrow next to 'Choose Dualshock 3 controllers to install' to see a dropdown list of USB devices attached to your computer. Find the PlayStation 3 controller in the list and check it.
Bluetooth installation note: Make sure the 'Install Bluetooth driver' box is checked. Like you did with the Dualshock 3, click the arrow next to 'Choose Bluetooth dongles to install' and find your Bluetooth device in the list. Check it.
Note: If you're on Windows Vista, check the box for 'Force Driver Installation.' Otherwise, leave it unchecked. Click Install.
6. Watch the SCP Toolkit run through its installation process. You'll see lots of pop-ups on the side of your screen as it detects your hardware. Scroll to the bottom of the log and you should hopefully see 'Dualshock 3 USB Driver installed' (and 'Bluetooth Driver installed' if you chose to), signifying a successful installation. If all went well, click Exit.
7. Now that it's installed, you'll see ScpToolkit as an icon in your system tray. Look in your Start Menu for ScpToolkit Settings Manager. Here you can change some settings like disabling rumble, adjusting analog stick deadzones, and more. Most of these settings you should be able to leave alone.
ScpToolkit starts up with Windows by default, and also plays some sound effects that you might find obnoxious. To disable them, click the Sound settings tab and uncheck 'Enable notification sounds.'
PCSX2 emulator note: The PCSX2 settings tab allows you to patch the emulator's LilyPad controller plugin to support the pressure sensitive buttons. If you plan to use your PS3 controller with the emulator, click Browse to navigate to your PCSX2 installation folder, then click Enable to install the patch. Voila!
Using your Playstation 3 controller
Now that it's installed, the Dualshock 3 should behave like an Xbox 360 controller. Any game with native XInput support—pretty much any modern PC game that supports gamepads—should recognize it without a hitch. Unfortunately, this means that it won't register as a PlayStation controller to the few games that have native DualShock 4 support, so you won't get the correct Square/Cross/Triangle/Circle button icons by default. Some games let you manually choose your button icons, though. Look for that in game settings!
Xbox One Controller Driver Windows 7
If you ran into issues installing ScpToolkit or using the controller, you can try posting in the official thread at the PCSX2 forums, but you may not get an answer.
How to connect your PS3 controller via Bluetooth
If you're not about that wired business, and followed all the Bluetooth installation steps above, you should be able to simply unplug the controller, and after a couple seconds it will sync via Bluetooth. You'll get a notification in the system tray when it does. Cool!
Windows 7
This works after a reboot, too. If you allow ScpToolkit to start with Windows, you should simply be able to plug in your PS3 controller again and it'll instantly be recognized. Once the LED is on, unplug the controller, and it'll once again be synced via Bluetooth.
If you have issues with Bluetooth, it could be that your dongle isn't supported. You may also find help in ScpToolkit's Github discussions. Bluetooth can be finicky, and any problem you run into could be due to hardware, or your particular version of Windows, or drivers… in other words, good luck.
Not a controller person? Here's a round-up of the best gaming keyboards, and best gaming mouse.
Work perfectly. But the UI interface doesn`t perform properly with 2K resolution.
English and Portuguese reviews: ---------------------------------------- Absolute rubbish. The program does not know to decide alone whether the system is x86 or x64. After the software installation is finished, we think the program is ready to use, but no. The software still installs a driver through a completely hog method. And because this is an 'independent installation', this will leave traces of garbage in the uninstallation. In the future, you can uninstall the main program (via uninstall), but the driver will have to be removed manually. The program is confusing and the interface is difficult and tiring, since each key bind has to be configured using a list, which would be much easier if we could use the input directly. In Windows 7, the driver installed by this program will crash your machine if you have already plugged in a physical (real) control of the x360. It seems that they are in conflict, anyway, I can not exactly say what happens. Just know that it crashes completely, making it mandatory to restart the pc. ---------------------------------------- Um absoluto lixo. A começar pela instalação. O programa não sabe decidir sozinho se o sistema operacional é x86 ou x64. Após o término da instalação do software, pensamos que o programa já está pronto para usar, mas, não. O software ainda instala um driver através de um método completamente porco (linha de comando com o devcon). E, por esta tratar-se de uma instalação independente, isso deixará resquícios de lixo na desinstalação. No futuro, você poderá desinstalar o programa principal (através do 'uninstall'), mas o driver terá de ser removido manualmente. O programa é confuso e a interface é dificultosa e cansativa, pois cada 'bind' de tecla tem que ser configurado utilizando-se uma lista, o que seria muito mais fácil se pudéssemos utilizar o input diretamente. No Windows 7, o driver instalado por esse programa travará a sua máquina se você já tiver plugado um controle físico (real) do x360. Parece que entram em conflito, enfim, não sei dizer. Só sei que trava completamente, tornando obrigatória a reinicialização do pc.
Doesn't work, errors everywhere, no readme or anything to explain anything.
I was able to use it to successfully map mouse to xBox analog sticks, so I can play games on PC as I wanted. Previously I was using UCR and vJoy to do that, but this software is much easier to use as it comes bundled with UI and lower level driver installs. It might still require other software as well (in my case, the official MS xBox One controller), but it works as expected after some customization. Anyone that doesn't want to use a gamepad should look into using this, as it should be fairly easy to use. One improvement might be to move the mouse over help text in some of the selection drop downs in to a separate text area in the UI, as there is still plenty of space available (the current UI is not that big, and has plenty of empty space).
Amazingly easy to use tool, so useful, I've been looking for something like this for years, the virtual Xbox 360 controller works perfectly!