One of the best functions that the technology of electronic and computer devices has achieved in our days is integration. The universality of communication between these devices has opened up possibilities such as controlling them from a mobile, for example. But there is much more to this that we can take advantage of and in that sense, we are going to show you the possible ways to connect your PS4 controller to the PC. This will be very useful to you, since, if you want to play from the computer, you won't have to buy a new controller.
This connection is possible thanks to the available USB connection and the existing drivers so that the device can be recognized by the PC. However, you should know that there are a couple of methods that we can follow for this and that following one or the other will depend entirely on your needs.. Let's review each of them.
2 ways to connect and configure the PS4 controller to PC
Configuration for Steam
The first method that we are going to teach you is aimed at using the PS4 controller on Steam. In that sense, if you have games on this platform, it is the best alternative you can take. To begin with, you need to connect the PS4 controller to the PC via the USB port and wait for Windows to recognize it.
After a few seconds, the operating system notification will appear indicating that a new device identified as “Wireless Controller” has been connected..
A moment later, Windows will indicate that the device in question has been configured. Click on the notification and you will go to the system configuration screen where you will see everything that is connected to the computer wirelessly. In the last position you will see the PS4 controller.
This means that the drivers have been installed and the controller has been recognized, however it cannot be used immediately because it is not mapped. Windows actually applies a generic configuration to the controller and doesn't map the buttons, so you still won't be able to play the game. In that sense, the rest we will do from Steam.
Open Steam, click on the controller icon at the top and on the next screen, click on the gear icon located in the same place. This will take you to the Steam settings section where you will need to go into “Controller Settings”.
Then, new options will be displayed and you must click on “PS4 controller settings”.
Immediately, Steam will begin to recognize the controller with all its characteristics and will do the mapping automatically. In that sense, you will not have to do anything else and you can start playing. However, there is a very useful additional step and that is the Driver Registry.
This is an option that appears at the end of the process and whose function is to save the configuration of the controller that we have just inserted, with the purpose of using it on any computer where we log in with Steam. In this way, you can save yourself the entire process in Steam when connecting the PS4 controller to the PC.
DS4Windows
If you have games outside of Steam that you want to play with your PS4 controller, then you'll need to turn to DS4Windows. It is a third-party application that is responsible for installing drivers and offering an interface for mapping buttons and creating profiles.
When you download the application and run it, a small window will be displayed asking where you want to store the command profiles that you will create. To do this, it will provide two options: Program Folder and AppData. It is best to select the first option, so that they are saved in the same folder as the application..
Then, two windows will be displayed, one without any information and the other showing a two-step process that we must follow. The first refers to the installation of controller drivers and the second is the incorporation of additional drivers to obtain all the features and functions available on the device.. When you click on each button, a window will be displayed asking you to confirm the installation of the drivers and when you finish, click on the “Finish” button.
Subsequently, it is best to restart the computer for the changes to take effect.. Run the application again and now a single window will be displayed where you will see the remote's MAC address, connection type and battery status. Right next to it you will have a drop-down menu to select the profile and a button to edit it.
The default one works perfectly, however, if you go to the editing section you will have the possibility to completely customize the operation of the remote. In this way you can change the color of the lights during vibration, to battery notifications.
DS4Windows is a very efficient alternative to connect the PS4 controller to the PC in a simple way, allowing us to play any title outside of Steam.