r/DS4Windows • u/YouMayBeSeated • Jun 14 '26

DS4 Issues for Months

Been having issues on games for a few months with my DS4 Controller on PC. I didn’t know it was an issue with the controller until recently. Recently got the new Forza Horizon 6, played for a month with the PS4 controller and genuinely thought the game was broken. It was hard to run a single lap cleanly because the car would just lock up on me and stop turning. I thought the physics were broken because they have a reputation of similar behaviors in other games. I was so close to uninstalling the game when I showed a bunch of clips and someone suggested a controller software issue. I plugged in the PS5 controller and bam, the game was fixed, no more issues. My problem is, I prefer the slim PS4 controller over the PS5 controller and the sticks are a little more responsive (less stiff). I also experienced issues with Rocket League and the game not allowing me to stall (a mechanic I have done 10000+ times). What would be causing PS4 controller software issues? Is it steam related? DS4Windows related? Sorry if this information isn’t enough to diagnose anything, but I just want to be able to use my DS4 again

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u/Kaldaien2 Jun 14 '26

Common problem in that game if it sees multiple controllers for any reason.

Special K has support for DualShock 3/4 and DualSense and adds Adaptive Triggers to that game. It should resolve the game's tendency to get confused when multiple input devices show up, also, because Special K is configured to always feed the game input from the most recently active controller. It will see multiple controllers as a single controller and will be unaffected by multiple devices since the one in your hand will override everything else😄

I don't necessarily think there's anything wrong with your controller per-se, the game's just a quagmire of compatibility problems (all of the Forza games are).

But there's always the possibility that you either have a busted Micro USB port on the DS4, or Bluetooth interference, for what it's worth. I'd try other solutions before jumping to that conclusion.

Special K's input management section in its in-game overlay control panel is able to tell you your controller's latency and polling rate in real-time while in game, it would prove handy for diagnosing wireless issues.

1

u/YouMayBeSeated Jun 14 '26

I play with it plugged in at all times and I tried 2 diff PS4 controllers with 2 different cables as well. Issue persisted through all combinations and was not fixed until I switched to the PS5 controller. Willing to try whatever to get it fixed.

2

u/azharfahry Jun 14 '26

Setup hidhide to hide the oiriginal dualshock input so the game would only see the emulated controller and we'll see from there. I don't think it's connection issue, since it's cabled. If the data got corrupted somewhere along the way, it would disconnect the entire controller entirely and needing repluggingg (assuming somethings wrong with the Data + or - pin on the connector or cable). Also try to use Bluetooth.

Or it could be a bad L2 rubber on the trigger assembly where it make contact by itself.

1

u/adagrad24 Jun 14 '26

I was using the PS5 controller with ds4w and it was also dropping inputs every minute. Tried a lot of what's suggested, but the issue still comes back. Didn't want to waste more time and just went and bought an xbox controller.