DualShock 3¶
Use a PlayStation 3 controller over USB or Bluetooth, with motion, pressure-sensitive buttons, rumble, and battery.
Windows can't pair a DualShock 3 from its own Bluetooth screen. The controller connects in a way the built-in Bluetooth stack turns away, so a normal "Add a device" pairing never completes. PadForge handles it with a short USB step and a bundled Bluetooth driver, so you pair from inside the app. Over a cable, no pairing is needed at all.
USB: plug in and play¶
Connect the controller with a USB cable and it works right away. PadForge claims the pad and reads it as a standard gamepad. No pairing, no setup.
One exception: if another PlayStation controller driver is already installed, PadForge leaves the controller to it and stays out of the way. Uninstall the other driver to let PadForge read the pad.
Bluetooth: pair once¶
Bluetooth needs a one-time pairing. The controller has to be on a USB cable for this step, because the pairing writes your PC's address into the pad over the cable.
- Open the Devices page.
- Connect the DualShock 3 to the PC with a USB cable.
- Click Pair, next to Refresh. The Pair a Controller dialog opens.
- Set Controller Family to Sony DualShock 3.
- Click Pair in the dialog. The status line shows each step. The first time, PadForge's bundled PlayStation Bluetooth driver installs on its own.
- When it finishes, unplug the controller and press the PS button. It connects over Bluetooth and appears in the device list.
- Click Done to close.
After this, press PS any time to reconnect. You pair once.
One identity, either way¶
The controller carries the same identity over USB and Bluetooth. A mapping you set on the cable still applies after you go wireless, and the other way around. Switching transports keeps the slot assignment.
What works¶
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| USB | Plug in with a cable and play. No pairing. |
| Bluetooth | Connects after the one-time pairing above. Press PS to wake it. |
| Buttons and sticks | The full pad maps like any other gamepad on the Mappings tab. |
| Pressure buttons | Ten buttons report analog pressure, each as its own source. They appear as Axis 6 through Axis 15. The legend is below. |
| Motion | The gyro and accelerometer drive gyro aiming and the motion server. The DS3's gyro senses turning left and right only, and PadForge can fill pitch and roll from the accelerometer. |
| Rumble | Both motors, over USB and Bluetooth. |
| Player light | Lights the controller's number, 1 through 4. |
| Battery | The charge level shows on the device card, wired or wireless. |
Motion¶
The DualShock 3's built-in motion sensors flow through the same pipeline as any other motion pad. Gyro-to-mouse, gyro-to-stick, and motion mapping all work. The DS3's gyro senses one axis of rotation, turning the pad left and right. The accelerometer reads all three axes. See Gyro for calibration, sensitivity, and the engage controls. The motion also broadcasts to the DSU Motion Server for emulators.
Turn on Pitch and Roll Simulation on the Gyro tab to fill tilting and rolling from the accelerometer, the idea behind the DS3 gyro simulation in the DS4Windows forks. The guide lists what an accelerometer can and can't see.
Calibrate the yaw by hand. Many pads rest far enough off center to read a steady turn while still. Put the pad down, give it half a minute after it connects, and press Calibrate Gyro on the Gyro tab. The automatic pass at connect won't take an offset that large on this pad (why). A calibration from an earlier version no longer counts, so calibrate again after updating. Calibrate again too after swapping to another DualShock 3, after moving between PadForge's own connection and DsHidMini, after updating DsHidMini, and after a Bluetooth pad's first USB connection under DsHidMini, which hands DsHidMini the pad's calibration.
Yaw direction. PadForge reads a genuine DualShock 3's yaw the same way over USB, over Bluetooth, and through DsHidMini 3.15.0 or later: turning the pad left reads positive, as on other controllers. Through DsHidMini before 3.15.0 a genuine pad still reads backwards until DsHidMini is updated. If you checked Invert Yaw (X) on 4.5.3 or earlier to correct a genuine pad on PadForge's own USB or Bluetooth connection, uncheck it. Through DsHidMini, leave it checked until DsHidMini is 3.15.0 or later, then uncheck it.
Some third-party pads turn the sensor the other way. If turning left moves the aim right, check Invert Yaw (X) on the Gyro tab. It flips PadForge's own gyro aim in Local space, and it reaches the virtual controller and the DSU server only with Apply Gyro Tuning to Motion Passthrough on. In Player or World space with Pitch and Roll Simulation on, yaw and roll combine before the invert, so on such a pad use Local space.
Pressure-sensitive buttons¶
Ten of the controller's buttons sense how hard you press. Each one is its own analog source, so you can map it to a trigger, a stick axis, or a button with a threshold. In the mapping picker they carry generic names, Axis 6 through Axis 15, without the button printed on them. This legend tells them apart:
| Source | Button |
|---|---|
| Axis 6 | Cross |
| Axis 7 | Circle |
| Axis 8 | Square |
| Axis 9 | Triangle |
| Axis 10 | L1 |
| Axis 11 | R1 |
| Axis 12 | D-pad Up |
| Axis 13 | D-pad Down |
| Axis 14 | D-pad Left |
| Axis 15 | D-pad Right |
The Record button won't find these for you. Pressing a face button during a recording captures the digital press, which wins over the slower-rising pressure axis. Pick the axis from the picker by the legend above.
Removing the controller¶
Remove the controller from the Devices list and the Bluetooth pairing of every DualShock 3 on this PC clears too, so none of them reconnects on its own later. To use one again, run the pairing above once more.
Coexisting with other Bluetooth devices¶
The PlayStation Bluetooth driver only steps in on a PC that has a DualShock 3 or a PlayStation Move family controller. PadForge arms it when one of them is paired, and also when Windows still has a record of one that was plugged into this PC over USB. That second case matters because a pad paired outside PadForge writes no pairing record of its own, and arming on the pairing alone would silently stop it connecting. On a PC that has never seen one of these controllers it stays dormant and leaves your other Bluetooth devices alone. Removing every controller stands it back down once neither of those two conditions holds.
One exception: with another DualShock 3 driver such as DsHidMini installed, the Bluetooth driver stays armed all the time. That setup's controllers can only connect while it is, so PadForge leaves it on.
When PadForge starts and finds a PlayStation Bluetooth driver older than the one it carries, it updates it, as long as no controller is connected through that driver at that moment. The update restarts Bluetooth once, so your other Bluetooth devices drop for a few seconds and reconnect. With one connected, the update waits for the next start or pairing. With DsHidMini installed, PadForge leaves the driver to DsHidMini's own setup. The driver PadForge carries, BthPS3 3.2.1, fixes a Windows crash (a blue screen) when a DualShock 3 disconnects over Bluetooth, which versions 2.12.0 to 3.2.0 could cause.
Uninstall on the BthPS3 Bluetooth Driver card in Settings removes the PlayStation Bluetooth driver and the WinUSB driver PadForge gives a DualShock 3 for pairing. It waits while a controller is connected over Bluetooth, and leaves the Bluetooth driver to DsHidMini where DsHidMini is installed. See Driver Management.
Requirements¶
- A Bluetooth radio, for wireless use. Over a USB cable, no radio is needed. USB, PCIe and UART radios all work. A PCIe or UART adapter, which is what most recent Intel laptops carry, needs PadForge 4.5.1 or later.
- PadForge runs elevated. The pairing writes to the Bluetooth stack and installs a driver, both of which need the elevated app.
Troubleshooting¶
- The pad doesn't show up over USB. Another PlayStation controller driver may own it. Uninstall that driver, then reconnect the cable.
- Bluetooth won't connect after pairing. Finish the USB pairing first, then unplug and press PS. The controller connects on a button press, not on its own.
- The controller keeps reconnecting after you're done with it. Remove it from the Devices list to clear the pairing.
Related pages¶
- Devices: the Pair button and the paired controller's device card.
- Gyro: tune the DualShock 3's motion sensors.
- DSU Motion Server: broadcast the motion to emulators.
- Driver Management: HIDMaestro and HidHide driver setup.
Last updated for PadForge 5.2.0.