padbridge

Use controllers the PS5 does not accept, on a jailbroken PS5, as extra DualSense controllers.

padbridge is a payload for a jailbroken PS5. It reads USB controllers and receivers plugged into the console and shows each controller to the system and to games as a virtual DualSense, up to four at once, next to your own DualSense:

• the 8BitDo Ultimate 2C Wireless through its 2.4G dongle;
• almost any Bluetooth controller (DualSense, DualShock 4, Xbox, Switch Pro, 8BitDo, GameSir...) through the 8BitDo USB Wireless Adapter 2;
• wired XInput (Xbox 360) controllers on a USB cable.

The console's own Bluetooth is never touched, so your DualSense stays paired. A settings page, opened from a phone or a computer, shows each controller live and lets you fix controllers with the Nintendo button layout.

Up to 1.1.0 the project was called pad2c; see Upgrading from pad2c.

The settings page: the Ultimate 2C on its dongle, and a GameSir G8 through the USB Wireless Adapter 2 with the Nintendo layout on.

Compatibility

Everything below was tested on a PS5 Slim (CFI-2114), firmware 13.60.

Through the 8BitDo USB Wireless Adapter 2

8BitDo USB Wireless Adapter 2, firmware 1.10. Plug it in, pair a controller with it, switch the controller on: nothing to set on the adapter.

Controller	How it pairs with the adapter	Result
DualSense	its normal pairing (Create + PS)	✅ all buttons, touchpad click (DInput mode)
8BitDo Ultimate 2C Wireless	Switch mode (Home + Y)	✅ all buttons
GameSir G8 Plus Galileo	Switch mode (its only mode the adapter accepts)	✅ with Nintendo layout on (it sends A/B and X/Y swapped)
Anything else the adapter accepts (DualShock 4, Xbox One / Series, Switch Pro, Joy-Con, Wii U Pro, 8BitDo)		expected to work, untested: please report

8BitDo Ultimate 2C Wireless on its own dongle

Connection	Result
2.4G dongle, DInput mode (2dc8:301c)	✅ all buttons, L4/R4 as the touchpad click
2.4G dongle, XInput mode (2dc8:310a)	✅ all buttons except L4/R4 (the controller does not send them in this mode)
USB cable (2dc8:310a, XInput)	✅ all buttons except L4/R4

The 8BitDo Ultimate 2C Bluetooth Controller (the Switch edition, without a dongle) is a different product and is not supported directly; it works through the USB Wireless Adapter 2.

Not yet

Vibration, light bar, motion sensors, audio. PS5 games send DualSense haptics as audio to the controller, and a virtual DualSense has no known way to receive them yet.

Install

1. Plug the dongle, the adapter or the controller's cable into a USB port of the PS5.
2. Send padbridge-<version>.elf to your payload loader (elfldr listens on port 9021), or add it to Payload Manager and to its autoload list, so that it starts with the console.
3. A notification says it is running, with the address of the settings page.
4. Switch the controller on and press Home (or PS): the console asks who is using it. For a second player, pick a second user (a game takes one controller per user). padbridge remembers the choice per controller and gives it back to that user next time, as a DualSense does.

It needs a console that already runs a payload loader; padbridge does not jailbreak anything itself.

Settings page

Open http://<console IP>:8090 in a browser on the same network (phone, computer, the console's own); the address is in the notification when padbridge starts. For each controller:

• its name, mode (DInput or XInput), slot and the user it is given to;
• Nintendo layout: A/B and X/Y swapped, applied at once and kept, for controllers that send the Nintendo layout (A on the right), such as the GameSir G8 in Switch mode;
• its buttons, sticks and triggers, live, to check a mapping.

The page is open to the local network, without a password. Through the adapter, a setting belongs to the adapter: it holds for whatever controller is paired with it.

The 8BitDo USB Wireless Adapter 2

The adapter shows a different USB identity for each mode and picks its mode from the host it sees. padbridge answers it as Windows does, so it settles in XInput by itself, and hides the keyboard and mouse the adapter adds in that mode, so the console's Accessories list shows only the controller.

Mode	How	Notes
XInput (2dc8:3106)	automatic	everything but a DualSense's touchpad
DInput (2dc8:3105)	hold View + Left (Create + Left on a DualSense) for 3 s; the light blinks twice	passes a DualSense's touchpad click
back to automatic	hold the adapter's button until its light goes off, then pair the controller again
DualShock 4 (054c:05c4)	where it ends on a PS5 without padbridge's answer	does not work: it stops sending after a moment

Pairing a DualSense with the adapter unpairs it from the console: plug it into the console with its cable and press PS to pair it back. The adapter takes one controller at a time.

The Ultimate 2C's two dongle modes

The controller keeps the last mode chosen. With the controller on:

• DInput (the default): hold B + Home until it switches off, then B + Home again until it switches on.
• XInput: the same with X + Home.

Button map

Controller	DualSense
A / B / X / Y (Xbox layout)	✕ / ○ / □ / △ (by position)
LB / RB / LT / RT	L1 / R1 / L2 / R2 (analog)
View / Menu (Back / Start, - / +)	Create / Options
Home / Guide	PS
L3 / R3	L3 / R3
Ultimate 2C L4 / R4 (DInput), DualSense touchpad (adapter, DInput)	touchpad click

Notes

• "Turn off" in the console's menu disconnects the controller from the console, as with a DualSense, and Home connects it again. The controller itself stays on until it goes to sleep by itself.
• Every notification reads "padbridge by Sub", then the controller, its mode and what happened.

Files

All in /data/padbridge/ on the console:

File
padbridge.log	the log
stop	create it to stop padbridge (it also stops by itself before rest mode)
owner, owner.1...	the user the controller in each slot was last given to (delete to forget)
config	the settings page's choices (swap <controller name> for Nintendo layout)
bind_user	optional: main, other or a hexadecimal user id, to give controllers to that user at once

Upgrading from pad2c

padbridge 1.2.0 is pad2c renamed. On its first start it asks a running pad2c to stop and moves /data/pad2c to /data/padbridge, remembered users and settings included. Replace pad2c-<version>.elf with padbridge-<version>.elf in Payload Manager's autoload list.

FAQ

Can I use a non-Sony controller on a PS5? Not on a stock PS5: it only accepts its own and a few licensed controllers. On a jailbroken PS5, padbridge makes them appear as DualSense controllers.

Does it work in games, or only in the menus? In games too. Give each controller its own console user (the console asks when you press Home) and it is player 2, 3 or 4, like another DualSense.

Do I lose my DualSense? No. Both work at the same time; padbridge does not use the console's Bluetooth. (Pairing the DualSense itself with the USB Wireless Adapter 2 is your choice; see above.)

A/B and X/Y are swapped on my controller. Tick Nintendo layout for it on the settings page.

My controller does nothing. /data/padbridge/padbridge.log lists every USB device plugged in that padbridge does not read, with its id and name: a controller in another mode (Switch, DS4) shows up there.

My controller is not listed. Run padbridge-probe.elf with it plugged in and open an issue with /data/padbridge/probe.log (the issue template says what to include).

How it works

• src/usbpad.c opens each controller's /dev/ugenB.A node and reads its interrupt IN endpoint, up to four, each its own virtual DualSense. New devices are looked for every 100 ms. The console's own HID driver holds the interface but ignores the device. The internal Bluetooth chip (ugen0.2) is never touched.
• src/usbdesc.c picks the interface from the USB descriptor: XInput (ff/5d/01) from any vendor first, then an 8BitDo HID interface, never a keyboard. src/map8bitdo.c (8BitDo DInput report 1) and src/mapxinput.c (Xbox 360 report) turn the reports into DualSense buttons.
• XInput devices get what Windows sends first (the Microsoft OS string and the XUSB vendor request, then the LED): the USB Wireless Adapter 2 keeps XInput when its host answers like that. A boot keyboard or mouse beside the pad is detached from the console's driver.
• When a controller sleeps or switches off, the dongle or adapter enumerates again ("IDLE") and the open device ends.
• src/ps5_vpad.c creates the virtual DualSense (scePadVirtualDevice*), finds its device id in the kernel log, gives it to a user (sceMbusBindDeviceWithUserId) and feeds it. It follows the kernel log while running: the console's choice of user is remembered, and its "turn off" (sceMbusDisconnectDevice) removes the virtual pad.
• src/web.c serves the settings page without ever blocking the controllers; src/config.c keeps its choices.
• src/probe.c is a read-only diagnostic payload: it dumps the USB descriptors, names and reports of whatever is plugged in. Useful to add support for another controller.

Build

Needs ps5-payload-sdk and clang, lld and llvm. tools/setup-wsl.sh (Linux or WSL) or tools/setup-macos.sh (Homebrew) installs them and writes ~/.ps5sdk:

. ~/.ps5sdk
make test     # button maps, interface choice, settings, status JSON, on the PC
make          # dist/padbridge-<version>.elf and dist/padbridge-probe.elf

Credits

• The virtual DualSense code (ps5_vpad.c) and the helpers log.c, util.c, lock.c, ps5_power.c and pad.h come from AnyPad PS5 by @elmonomalvad0 (sinfiltros), GPL-3.0-or-later, adapted here.
• ps5-payload-sdk by John Törnblom.

Licence

GPL-3.0-or-later. See LICENSE.

No Sony code, keys or firmware are part of this project. padbridge does not jailbreak anything: it needs a console that already runs a payload loader.