pad2c

Use an 8BitDo Ultimate 2C Wireless Controller, or almost any Bluetooth controller through the 8BitDo USB Wireless Adapter 2, on a jailbroken PS5, next to your DualSense.

pad2c is a payload for a jailbroken PS5. It reads the 8BitDo 2.4G dongle or the 8BitDo USB Wireless Adapter 2 plugged into the console's USB port and shows each controller to the system and to games as a virtual DualSense, up to four at once. The console's Bluetooth is not involved, so it never touches your DualSense's pairing. A settings page, opened from a phone or a computer, shows the controllers live.

Screenshots

Switching the 8BitDo on and off, with pad2c running on the console:

 

Left: switched on; the console asks who is using the controller. Right: switched off.

Which controller

Controller	Supported
8BitDo Ultimate 2C Wireless Controller (the one sold for PC / Android, with a 2.4G USB dongle), through its dongle	✅
8BitDo Ultimate 2C Bluetooth Controller (the Switch edition, no dongle)	❌ different product
The Ultimate 2C Wireless over Bluetooth, without the dongle	❌ not yet
8BitDo USB Wireless Adapter 2, with any controller it pairs with	✅ tested with a DualSense, the Ultimate 2C (Switch mode) and a GameSir G8 Plus Galileo (Switch mode, with "Nintendo layout")
Wired XInput (Xbox 360) controllers on a USB cable	✅ tested with a GameSir G8 Plus Galileo
Other 8BitDo 2.4G dongles	untested: run pad2c-probe.elf and open an issue with its output

Why this controller, and why the dongle

The controller is simply the one I own: pad2c was made to play with it on my PS5, next to the DualSense. It is also a cheap way to get a second controller: a DualSense costs at least twice as much as the Ultimate 2C Wireless, which still has Hall effect sticks and triggers.

The dongle instead of Bluetooth, on purpose:

• No conflicts. The PS5 has one Bluetooth chip, and the system uses it for the DualSense. Sharing it from a payload risks taking over or unpairing the DualSense, and the chip is laid out differently from one console model to another. The dongle is a plain USB device: pad2c never touches the console's Bluetooth.
• Simpler. No pairing, no Bluetooth stack to keep alive, no reconnection logic: the dongle and the controller already talk to each other, and pad2c only reads what the dongle sends.
• Practical. Plug the dongle into a USB port and switch the controller on. That is all.

FAQ

Can I use an 8BitDo controller on a PS5? Not on a stock PS5: it only accepts its own and a few licensed controllers. On a jailbroken PS5, pad2c makes the 8BitDo Ultimate 2C appear as a DualSense.

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

Do I lose my DualSense? No. Both work at the same time. pad2c does not use the console's Bluetooth at all.

Can I use my DualSense, an Xbox or a Switch Pro controller through the adapter? Yes: the USB Wireless Adapter 2 pairs with them over its own Bluetooth, and pad2c reads the adapter. 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.

A/B and X/Y are swapped on my controller. Some controllers in Switch mode send the Nintendo layout (A on the right). Tick Nintendo layout for it on the settings page.

Which firmware? Tested on 13.60 (PS5 Slim). It needs a console that already runs a payload loader such as elfldr or Payload Manager; it does not jailbreak anything itself.

Status

Tested on	PS5 Slim (CFI-2114), firmware 13.60, elfldr 0.26, kstuff-lite 1.11, Payload Manager 0.5.2
Controllers	8BitDo Ultimate 2C Wireless, 2.4G dongle, DInput (2dc8:301c) and XInput (2dc8:310a) modes; 8BitDo USB Wireless Adapter 2, firmware 1.10, XInput (2dc8:3106) and DInput (2dc8:3105) modes
Works	all buttons, sticks, analog triggers, d-pad, Home = PS, console menus and games, sleep and wake, the console's "who is using this controller" screen, remembers its user, "turn off" from the console's menu, up to four controllers at once
Not yet	vibration, light bar, motion sensors, audio

Other firmwares and console models are untested.

The controller has two modes on its dongle, both work. It keeps the one last chosen:

• DInput (the default): with the controller on, hold B + Home until it switches off, then B + Home again until it switches on.
• XInput (seen by a PC as an Xbox controller): the same with X + Home. L4/R4 send nothing in this mode.

The 8BitDo USB Wireless Adapter 2

Plug it in and switch the controller on: nothing to set. The adapter picks its mode from the host it sees; pad2c answers it as Windows does, so it settles in XInput by itself, and pad2c hides the keyboard and mouse the adapter adds in that mode, so the console lists only the controller.

DInput works too and also passes a DualSense's touchpad click: with the controller connected, hold View (Create on a DualSense) + Left for 3 seconds (the adapter's light blinks twice). To let the adapter choose by itself again, hold its button until its light goes off, then pair the controller again. Its DualShock 4 mode does not work (it stops sending after a moment); pad2c's answer keeps it from ending there.

Notes:

• The 8BitDo has no touchpad: its extra L4 / R4 buttons press the touchpad.
• "Turn off" in the console's menu disconnects the controller from the console, as with a DualSense, and Home connects it again. The 8BitDo itself stays on until it goes to sleep by itself (the dongle's commands to switch it off are not known).
• Vibration: PS5 games send DualSense haptics as audio to the controller, and a virtual DualSense has no known way to receive them yet.

Button map

8BitDo	DualSense
A / B / X / Y	✕ / ○ / □ / △ (by position)
LB / RB / LT / RT	L1 / R1 / L2 / R2 (analog)
View / Menu	Create / Options
Home	PS
L3 / R3	L3 / R3
L4 / R4	touchpad click

Install

1. Plug the dongle (or the USB Wireless Adapter 2) into a USB port of the PS5 and switch the controller on.
2. Send pad2c-<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. Press Home on the controller: the console asks who is using it. For a second player, pick a second user (a game takes one controller per user). pad2c remembers the choice and gives the controller back to that user next time, as a DualSense does.

Files, all in /data/pad2c/:

File
pad2c.log	the log
stop	create it to stop pad2c (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 the controller to that user at once

Settings page

Open http://<console IP>:8090 in a browser on the same network (the address is in the notification when pad2c starts). For each controller: its name, mode, slot and user, the Nintendo layout switch (A/B and X/Y swapped, applied at once and kept), and its buttons, sticks and triggers live, to check a mapping. The page is open to the local network, without a password.

How it works

• src/usbpad.c opens each pad's /dev/ugenB.A node and reads its interrupt IN endpoint, up to four pads, each its own virtual DualSense. The console's own HID driver holds the interface but ignores the device. New pads are looked for every 100 ms. The internal Bluetooth chip (ugen0.2) is never touched.
• The USB Wireless Adapter 2 shows several identities when plugged in (8BitDo XInput, Xbox 360, DualShock 4) and keeps the one whose host answers like Windows or a Switch. pad2c sends XInput pads what Windows sends first (the Microsoft OS string and the XUSB request, then the LED), and detaches the console's driver from a boot keyboard or mouse beside the pad.
• With no controller the dongle shows up as "8BitDo IDLE". When the controller connects, the dongle enumerates again: in DInput mode it sends HID report 1, turned into DualSense buttons by src/map8bitdo.c; in XInput mode it becomes 2dc8:310a with an Xbox 360 interface, read by src/mapxinput.c. src/usbdesc.c picks the interface from the USB descriptor (XInput first, then the 8BitDo HID, never a keyboard). make test checks both against reports and descriptors captured on consoles. When the controller sleeps, the dongle enumerates again 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 blocking the pads; src/config.c keeps its choices.
• src/probe.c is a read-only diagnostic payload: it dumps the USB descriptors and the reports of whatever is plugged in. Useful to add support for another USB 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/pad2c-<version>.elf and dist/pad2c-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. pad2c does not jailbreak anything: it needs a console that already runs a payload loader.