How to get haptic feedback with Xbox One or PS4 Controllers?

[Hawthorne]

Hello!

TLDR: Haptic Feedback does not seem to work with PS4 and Xbox One controllers (it works spottily with the Switch Pro controller). Is there any way (including external programs) to get it to?

Long wall of text backstory/answer to "why on Earth would you want that?":

First of all, I am a huge fan of the Steam Controller Configuration functionality, and use it all the time. It is literally game saving for many old or indie games I play that don't support controller remapping. Once I learned how to use it I realized how much I value having good control schemes (and, most importantly, keeping them consistent across games).

Anyways, as mentioned, I enjoy playing older games, and indie games (and also modern AAA games, but that's not relevant atm). Thing is, there were two main things that annoyed me greatly with such games: lack of vibration support, and "pixel art." I know I'm hugely in the minority here, as any time I google things like vibraiton I always seem to encounter only request to turn it off, and as for "pixel art," well, apparently people don't mind it. Personally, I really enjoy controller vibraiton, and have ever since the Rumble Pak for Starfox 64. As for pixelated graphics, I just personally don't enjoy them now, and never have, back when games were actually pixelated for technical reasons. When LCDs and HDTVs first came out, people -- including myself -- noticed that games looked a lot worse than they did on CRTs.

Well, I've recently learned about ReShade, and its ability to apply things such as CRT and HQ filters generically to games seems like a gift from heaven! One problem solved.

That just leaves vibraiton. Obviously, if the games aren't programmed to support vibration then the best you can do is just somehow "guess" at when the controller should vibrate. The simplest way to do this is to map it to an input, such as the "attack" button -- obviously, it's not as good as if the game were actually programmed to support vibration -- for isntance, it won't vibrate if you *get* attacked -- but it's certainly better than nothing.

And isn't mapping vibration to a button exactly what "haptic feedback" is? This seems like the answer to my prayers! Unfortunatelty, despite the option being present in the Steam Controller Configuration for both Xbox One and PS4 controllers, they don't seem to actually work.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you and have a great day!

[cammelspit]

Those controllers only have rumble, not linear actuators like the SC so you can't get what Valve calls "haptics" out of anything but an SC. They are not directly transferrable due to the physical differences between rumble motors and linear actuators. Honestly, I wasn't even aware that the Switch pro worked with Steam haptics like the SC does, though since Nintendo also uses linear actuators with all switch controllers, it makes sense. Due to a rumble motor needing to have a spin up and spin down time, I doubt you will ever see a feature like this and as you mentioned, most people don't really care so a third party solution is even less likely.

Sorry to be such a naysayer, but I just don't see a way around this.

[Hawthorne]

Hey, sorry for the late reply. Just wanted to say thanks for your response! In that case I just have to remain hopeful that a third party program for generic vibration will be created. Wish I knew coding so I could make it myself :P