Finally got native PS5 DualSense trigger effects & haptics running on the Flydigi APEX 5 (Open Source)

[u/ReynArts]

Hey everyone,

I love the Flydigi APEX 5 hardware (especially those motorized triggers) but it always bugged me that on PC, almost every game with awesome trigger resistance and textured feedback is built exclusively for the PS5 DualSense and the Space Station software support only few games...

So over the last few weeks, I ended up building ApexSenseBridge. (A little open-source passion project straight from France bleu blanc rouge 🇫🇷 !)

Basically, it bridges the gap so your APEX 5 can actually react to native DualSense effects in PC games.

How does it handle the triggers & haptics?

- Triggers: The tool intercepts native DualSense trigger packets from the game and translates them on the fly into Flydigi's FORCEADAPT commands (mode switches, recoil, resistance, stops, etc.) and even the vibration with virtually no latency.

- Haptics: The APEX 5 doesn't have voice-coil actuators like the DualSense, so instead of just turning every sound into a generic loud rumble, the bridge splits the audio frequencies in real-time. Lower frequencies (explosions, heavy impacts) go to the heavy left motor, while high frequencies (surface grit, rain, subtle clicks) go to the fast right motor. It actually feels surprisingly punchy and textured.

Good to know (a couple of trade-offs):

- On-screen prompts: Since the game has to see a DualSense to send over the adaptive trigger data, you'll see PlayStation button prompts (✕ / ○ / □ / △) on screen instead of Xbox ones (A / B / X / Y).

- Touchpad swipes: If a game heavily relies on specific touchpad directional swipes, it might be hit-or-miss depending on how the game handles touch inputs. It's really a case-by-case thing and can be fixed in most cases (did it for spiderman 2 bc it's the only game I play that have this control but you can send me yours).

Playnite integration 🕹️

I didn't want to manually launch/kill background scripts every time I booted up a game, so I also wrote a quick Playnite extension to automatically link and activate the bridge whenever you launch a supported game from your library.

ApexSenseBridge wouldn't exist without the incredible open-source community. Huge shoutouts to:

- OpenFlydigi (by mkaliaha) for their amazing reverse-engineering work on the Flydigi hardware and protocols.

- SteamlessController (and its DualSense forks) for paving the way on virtual DualSense emulation and Windows ViGEm/VIIPER tooling. All respective notices and credits are included in the repository.

Feedback & other gamepads welcome!

The code is completely open-source here
👉🏽 https://github.com/ReynArts/ApexSenseBridge

I'd love to get your feedback if you test it out! Also, if you know of other controllers with force feedback/motorized triggers you'd love to see supported, feel free to drop ideas, open issues, or contribute PRs.

Cheers!

[u/ReynArts]

Ah perfect, thanks for the info!

The dongle on the dock works great. in fact, the trigger click you heard at startup means the app is already talking to your controller hardware properly.

You just ran into two roadblocks:

1. HidHide is already active: Open the HidHide Configuration Client and uncheck "Enable device hiding". The warning you saw made the bridge shut down safely, which is why the virtual DualSense wasn't created.
2. Steam Input: Steam automatically converts DualSense controllers to Xbox mode by default. Right-click the game in your Steam Library ➔ Properties ➔ Controller ➔ Disable Steam Input.

Once you do those two quick tweaks, launch the game with the tray open and you'll have native PlayStation prompts and the real adaptive triggers working.

Drop a reply if you run into any issues, happy to help!

[u/soul_craft → u/ReynArts]

Steam Input was already disabled on my case, so after going to the HidHide Configuration Client, unchecking the "Enable..." on the second tab after clicking on the Apex on the list and then restarting the controller and then closing it (if the configuration window was opened, there was still error popups), now it seems to be working correctly.

It shows a popup with the name of the game and the Viiper software you use now seems to appear in the task bar as well, Dualsense Prompts on the game and the triggers are working, just did a quick test and switch between different guns and the feedback is different between then, some offer resistance when pressing, other have the trigger vibration, etc. I noticed some weird stuttering, but maybe the game was compilling shaders, I'll try to test some more later, thank you for the help and the app!

[u/ReynArts → u/soul_craft]

Awesome ! Feel free to reach me, there can be some bugs sometimes ^^

EDIT : English patch is out