Phantom Input on a Dualshock 4 Remote

[Wanderer]

I have been having a reoccuring issue with a USB-connected Dualshock 4 Playstation remote (these are wireless capable) inside of Steam games. It is most notable when playing Destiny 2, but I am uncertain if this is exclusive behavior (i.e., it only happens in Destiny 2) or if I notice it most acutely there because it is what I play most often for the longest periods of time.

The phantom input is present on both the left and right control sticks, and is a spontaneous jitter. When the Controller HUD is toggled on, it is an extremely visible phenomenon that usually occurs after I have moved a stick (especially so on the right stick), as if it's an extremely strong response action. I have tried increasing dead-zones in order to attempt to remove the problem, but it seems that the phantom input is either just large enough to escape any deadzone I set (sometimes it feels as if the deadzone is being ignored) or it is overwhelmingly large kicks to the side.

This issue has persisted across two separate controllers, controllers which perform fine when used on a regular Playstation 4 and are fairly new (the one I am using currently is ~3-5 weeks old). Restarting Destiny 2 appears to alleviate symptoms temporarily, but they always return given enough time. The only thing I haven't tried yet is replacing the USB cable that connects the wireless remotes to see if that is the issue, but I suspect the issue is not the cable and something fundamental to how Steam is reading the remotes. I intend to replace the USB cable today to see if that is the problem, though I strongly suspect that the cable is not the culprit here. If it is, however, I will update the thread.

Any advice on how to address this issue would be deeply appreciated, as it is an especially irritating problem and one I would be very happy to put to bed once and for all.

[mimizukari]

turn steam's dualshock 4 support off in games that natively support dualshock 4. I'm not 100% sure what your issue is but if it's reading double inputs and such then that's the issue. Games with proper controller support do not need a wrapper to fake Xinput, more games than ever now allow DS4.

[Wanderer]

I'm giving that a go right now. I wasn't suffering from double input so much as phantom input, but it hadn't occurred to me that ticking the DS4 support box might cause an issue.

For the record, the new cord didn't resolve any problem, like I suspected - phantom jitter returned very notably to the left stick within an hour of use.

[Wanderer]

Update, disabling the support did not stop the jitter. I am still getting random stick inputs.

[Wanderer]

I recorded a video of the behavior for analysis, if it helps parse out what the issue is:

https://youtu.be/Y2eZ99vet4c

[crunchyfrog]

I have an old DS4 that jitters and the reason is simple - wear. My other one does none of this. I've noticed recently that it's just started to do it on the PS4 too.

From having repaired these things in the past, a common issue is that dust and plastic crap gets in the sensors and you can either open the joypad up and clean it out using an air can or brush, or leave the thing closed up, and simply put your mouth over the joystick in question (so that your lips seal around the surround of the joystick and blow hard. Obviously this is not suggested to do long term, as adding moisture ain't a good thing. But you can absolutely do this a few times and see if the problem gets any better.

If it does, then you know this is the issue and you can either open it up and do a better job on it, or if it's truly screwed, just get new parts. Assuming you're up to the job of course.

Other than that if it's not this hardware problem, then it can be down to the wrapper. I've seen problems galore with non standard joypads on Windows and Steam. The way I've got round these are using Joy2Key. It's not perfect but it's worth it if you're stuck.

[Wanderer]

I investigated if it was a wear issue (I even opened up my other controller and did a manual clean), but after buying a new controller and getting identical behavior within the day of purchase, I'd say that isn't the problem here.

I can investigate Joy2Key as a solution, but this is overall just an extremely frustrating situation.

[crunchyfrog]

Originally posted by Dan | Chéng Jìng:

I investigated if it was a wear issue (I even opened up my other controller and did a manual clean), but after buying a new controller and getting identical behavior within the day of purchase, I'd say that isn't the problem here.

I can investigate Joy2Key as a solution, but this is overall just an extremely frustrating situation.

Good call, there!

Yeah, it is frustrating. There has also been an issue thats been around for a few months where controllers will just stop working or do weird stuff like some buttons stop working. Mostly seems to be with non-XBox controllers.

So yes, it's bloody maddening, and thought I always prefer PS controllers, I've largely swapped over to Xbox for this reason.

[Wanderer]

I also really prefer the Playstation controllers over the XBox ones, they have better feel-in-hand and are much less bulky in my opinion. My old XBox 360 controller feels like a brick in my hand compared to a Dualshock 4.

It really may just be some weird cross-talk between the PC and the controller, but I wish there was a permanent solution other than "unplug and replug the controller when jitter emerges," as that means having to do that once every thirty minutes. I feel like it's worth testing to see if this behavior appears over a wireless connection, but I don't have Bluetooth capability on my PC so I think I'm pretty well SOL on that front.

[crunchyfrog]

Originally posted by Dan | Chéng Jìng:

I also really prefer the Playstation controllers over the XBox ones, they have better feel-in-hand and are much less bulky in my opinion. My old XBox 360 controller feels like a brick in my hand compared to a Dualshock 4.

It really may just be some weird cross-talk between the PC and the controller, but I wish there was a permanent solution other than "unplug and replug the controller when jitter emerges," as that means having to do that once every thirty minutes. I feel like it's worth testing to see if this behavior appears over a wireless connection, but I don't have Bluetooth capability on my PC so I think I'm pretty well SOL on that front.

From what I've experienced with messing around and repairing too it seems that the signal differences between the PS controllers and Xbox are different, so this means that if, say the PS4 potentiometers (or sensors) are working on a differnt voltage or signal range, then you'll get issues like this, at the deadzone range is being misinterpreted.

Now whether it's a problem that the software should rectify is another matter. That's the reason I believe Joy2Key works so well for me, as it's set to "emulate" the xbox controller, so I guessed somewhere along the line it does fix this issue.

Next time I have to open a PS controller, I'll hook it up to my scope and find out what the differences truly are.

[Wanderer]

That's actually really interesting! I had no idea that the controllers had that fundamental of a difference. Unfortunately, that also means that there is no easy solution to this, is there?

I hope that there's an option or widget or something I missed somewhere that will increase Steam's native compatibility with a Dualshock, but I fear the worst.

[crunchyfrog]

Originally posted by Dan | Tyli:

That's actually really interesting! I had no idea that the controllers had that fundamental of a difference. Unfortunately, that also means that there is no easy solution to this, is there?

I hope that there's an option or widget or something I missed somewhere that will increase Steam's native compatibility with a Dualshock, but I fear the worst.

As for a general OFFICIAL fix, if you will, likely not. As I said already, there has also been a bit of a random bug with many controllers but as it's erratic and not too common, if it is fixed, I probably won't find out for ages.

Yes, sadly all I can say is that Joy2Key because I've buggered around with all sorts of thing, and although I'm lazy, it's all I've found that actually is a workaround.

Of course, I will just reiterate that I THINK the voltage ranges or signals are different. I was buggering around fixing one and just testing certain points and I found that out, but I could be completely wrong.

I will have a dig around in the coming weeks as I have a few controllers that need a bit of love anyway.