vDS (virtual DualSense)

Virtual USB-to-Bluetooth bridge for DualSense and DualSense Edge Wireless Controllers. vDS currently supports all USB-based DualSense features over Bluetooth (except firmware update), including quadraphonic haptic feedback (vibration and speaker output), adaptive triggers, microphone input, and headphone output. Microphone and headphone support and the Windows USB/IP integration were contributed by @TechAntohere.

On both Linux and Windows, vdsd communicates directly with the physical controller over Bluetooth HID and translates between its Bluetooth protocol and virtual USB traffic. Linux exposes the virtual DualSense-class device through vds_hcd.ko. Windows exports it through usbip-win2 and uses HidHide to conceal the physical controller from other applications.

Detailed DualSense output and haptics packet handling is based on DS5Dongle and protocol capture research. In theory, other physical gamepad controllers could be implemented as vDS backends and attached to vDS, as long as they can provide the DualSense-specific features required by games. The vDS infrastructure could also be extended to support physical transports other than Bluetooth.

• Linux
• Windows

On both Linux and Windows, vdsctl is a control client. Every operation is sent through the daemon control interface and executed by vdsd.

vdsctl attach registers paired physical Bluetooth controllers in vdsd.db. The same command format and JSONL database format are used on Linux and Windows. Use vdsctl list-targets to list paired attachable Bluetooth controllers and their addresses.

vdsctl list-targets
vdsctl attach aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:01 --profile ds5 --ports 0 # Connect as DualSense
vdsctl attach aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:02 --profile dse --ports 1 # Connect as DualSense Edge
vdsctl detach aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:02 # Detach aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:02
vdsctl list # Show registered controllers

Omit --ports or pass --ports "" to allow all configured ports. Omit --profile or pass --profile "" to use the physical controller profile.

{"address":"aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:01","profile":"","ports":[]}
{"address":"aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:02","profile":"dse","ports":[1]}

With --ports 0,2, Linux reports /dev/vds0 or /dev/vds2 as the active device path. Windows reports the corresponding USB/IP endpoint, usbip://127.0.0.1:3240/1-1 or usbip://127.0.0.1:3240/1-3.

When reporting an issue, include the platform, vDS version, controller model, connection type (e.g. your bluetooth adapter's model name), affected application or game, and reproduction steps.

For runtime problems, enable tracing before reproducing the issue, then turn it off afterwards:

vdsctl trace on --scope all
vdsctl trace off --scope all

You can check or attach the vdsd log from:

Linux:   /var/log/vdsd.log
Windows: %ProgramData%\vDS\vdsd.log