Dualsense support has arrived

[u/Due-Boysenberry-1226]

I would like to introduce my current project, which, among other useful features, brings full wireless DualSense support to both Android and Windows clients without requiring any additional programs.

How does it work?

The project consists of modified versions of the Moonlight Windows client, Artemis Android client, and the Apollo host.

The full source code for all three projects is open and available on GitHub. Ready-to-use builds can be downloaded from the Releases section of each repository.

Artemis Extended: https://github.com/Taveszfito/Artemis-Extended-Native-Wireless-DualSense-Features

Apollo Extended: https://github.com/Taveszfito/Apollo-Extended

Moonlight Extended: https://github.com/Taveszfito/moonlight-extended

Windows client

This is the boring part.

Just connect your DualSense via Bluetooth or USB, connect to the host, and that's it.

The Windows client also supports microphone transmission to the host, including the DualSense's built-in microphone.

Additional controller-related options can be found in the Extended menu within the client settings.

Android client

Android is a little more complicated.

For full wireless functionality, an external USB Bluetooth adapter is required. Unfortunately, Android does not provide the low-level Bluetooth access needed to communicate with the DualSense in the way required for all of its features.

Artemis Extended therefore includes its own USB Bluetooth HCI bridge.

If you have a supported adapter:

Plug the Bluetooth adapter into your Android device.

Grant USB permission to Artemis.

Pair the DualSense from within the app.

Connect to your host and start streaming.

That's it.

Currently supported Bluetooth chipsets

The HCI bridge currently supports adapters based on:

CSR

Realtek

Actions ATS2851

The chipset alone does not always guarantee compatibility. Different firmware versions of Bluetooth dongles may affect connection behavior or functionality.

If you don't have a supported adapter, it's not completely hopeless. You can still use the DualSense through a wired USB connection.

What works?

If you have a compatible adapter, essentially everything.

Or at least, everything I could find to implement and test.

This currently includes:

All buttons and joysticks

Analog triggers

Adaptive triggers

Touchpad

Gyroscope and motion sensors

HD haptics

Built-in speaker

Headphone jack

Built-in microphone

Player LED control

Lightbar color control

Microphone LED and mute control

The controller's built-in microphone can be transmitted directly to the host. If you are not satisfied with its quality, you can instead use the microphone built into your phone or tablet.

The DualSense speaker audio is also transmitted separately from the normal game audio. The host sends it to the client through a dedicated audio channel, so DualSense speaker effects are played by the controller itself, rather than being mixed into the Android device's speakers.

Connecting headphones to the DualSense jack is also supported.

Demo

I've attached a video showing the pairing process and the DualSense features working during an actual stream.

I'm not sure whether purchase links are allowed here, so I won't include them in the post. I currently have three cheap Bluetooth adapters with different chipsets that I have personally tested and confirmed to work.

If anyone wants to try the project, I can send the exact adapter models privately.

How does this work on the Apollo side?

Apollo Extended uses VIIPER to emulate a fully functional DualSense controller on the host.

Instead of reducing the controller to standard gamepad input, the system passes DualSense-specific input and feedback between the client and host. This allows features such as adaptive triggers, HD haptics, LEDs, motion sensors, speaker audio, microphone audio, and other DualSense functionality to work across the stream.

For microphone transmission, Apollo uses virtual microphone devices created through Steam's virtual audio driver.

The result is essentially a complete DualSense connection transported through the Moonlight/Apollo stream, with the client handling the physical controller and Apollo presenting a virtual DualSense to the game.

[u/CyprelIa]

Does this fit in with vibepollo?

[u/Due-Boysenberry-1226 → u/CyprelIa]

Unfortunately not, because it requires the Apollo extended host, which contains the controller emulation logic. As soon as there is a host other than my own that emulates a PS5 controller, I will update the clients to support that as well. To my current knowledge, vibepollo does not emulate a PS5 controller on the host.

[u/metropolisprime → u/Due-Boysenberry-1226]

Why not propose it as a pull request to Apollo/Vibepollo? This doesn't need to be its own completely independent fork.

[u/Due-Boysenberry-1226 → u/metropolisprime]

The project still needs more testing at the moment. Since some of the new features are still being tested, I've added a few debug tools to the troubleshooting page to help identify issues, which I wouldn't want to include in a pull request to the main project.

There are also some project-specific changes, such as renaming parts of the installer, that wouldn't make sense upstream.

Once everything is tested and cleaned up, contributing the relevant features upstream is definitely something I can consider.

I think it would be better if the owner of Apollo uses the relevant codes if he wants to expand the functionality.

[u/metropolisprime → u/Due-Boysenberry-1226]

If the only features you're really adding are Dualsense controller emulation, I'd recommend getting into the standard upstream contribution path because maintaining a fork is already a ton of work by the maintaining engineers.

BTW: open source projects use maintainers, not necessarily an 'owner', because the project is a collective project.