The PlayStation 5 won't be available until November 12, but that won't stop the skilled programmers behind the popular DS4Windows tool from supporting the new DualSense controller. Sony's new controller shipped early to some folks, and someone has already gotten DS4Windows and the controller working via Bluetooth.

To elaborate a bit more, the DualSense controller works with Windows right out of the box. It uses the DirectInput API, which is supported by some games but not most; the more modern XInput designed by Microsoft for the Xbox controller is more common; Steam's Controller Configurator can be used to run DualSense on a PC, but this only works if the game is played on Steam (or added to the Steam library).

DS4Windows is an open source tool designed to make the DualShock 4 controller work well on Windows, allowing you to control the DS4 light bar and make more specific adjustments than the Steam configurator, It makes it easy to use DS4 for games outside of Steam. Over the weekend, someone posted a fork of DS4 Windows on Github." It "supports connecting to DualSense via Bluetooth connection only. This build will not work with DualShock 4 controllers." This is because it is "basically a hacky implementation. The controller's new microphone mute button is supported, but many other important features, such as haptics, light bar, touchpad multitouch, light bar controls, and battery percentage display, are not. The new mic-mute buttons do support a number of other important features, including haptics, light bar, multi-touch on the touchpad, light bar control, and battery percentage indication

. And more features are likely to be added in the coming weeks, as DS4Windows programmer Ryochan7 noted in a Github thread discussing DualSense that there are new tools and other long-term plans to support DualSense states:

"Future plans are to deprecate DS4Windows and use a different mapper base for DualSense mapper applications. I am currently working on another mapper that will support the Switch Pro controller, and since there is no mapper that really does what I want it to do, Steam Input is probably the closest, but I am using it as my main test case Many parts of DS4Windows rely on aspects specific to the DS4 hardware. many parts of DS4Windows rely on aspects specific to the DS4 hardware.

Ryochan7 announced a few days later that they "may add initial support for DualSense controllers in DS4 Windows before finalizing another mapper. The big question for me is how well PC games can take advantage of these new haptics.

For more on DualSense, check out our review of the PlayStation 5 from a PC gamer's perspective and our showdown between the new PlayStation and Xbox controllers.