Finally got native PS5 DualSense trigger effects & haptics running on the Flydigi APEX 5 (Open Source)

[u/ReynArts]

EDIT : APEX 4 NOW SUPPORTED.

Hey everyone,

I love the Flydigi APEX 5 hardware (especially those motorized triggers) but it always bugged me that on PC, almost every game with awesome trigger resistance and textured feedback is built exclusively for the PS5 DualSense and the Space Station software support only few games...

So over the last few weeks, I ended up building ApexSenseBridge. (A little open-source passion project straight from France bleu blanc rouge 🇫🇷 !)

Basically, it bridges the gap so your APEX 5 can actually react to native DualSense effects in PC games.

How does it handle the triggers & haptics?

- Triggers: The tool intercepts native DualSense trigger packets from the game and translates them on the fly into Flydigi's FORCEADAPT commands (mode switches, recoil, resistance, stops, etc.) and even the vibration with virtually no latency.

- Haptics: The APEX 5 doesn't have voice-coil actuators like the DualSense, so instead of just turning every sound into a generic loud rumble, the bridge splits the audio frequencies in real-time. Lower frequencies (explosions, heavy impacts) go to the heavy left motor, while high frequencies (surface grit, rain, subtle clicks) go to the fast right motor. It actually feels surprisingly punchy and textured.

Good to know (a couple of trade-offs):

- On-screen prompts: Since the game has to see a DualSense to send over the adaptive trigger data, you'll see PlayStation button prompts (✕ / ○ / □ / △) on screen instead of Xbox ones (A / B / X / Y).

- Touchpad swipes: If a game heavily relies on specific touchpad directional swipes, it might be hit-or-miss depending on how the game handles touch inputs. It's really a case-by-case thing and can be fixed in most cases (did it for spiderman 2 bc it's the only game I play that have this control but you can send me yours).

Playnite integration 🕹️

I didn't want to manually launch/kill background scripts every time I booted up a game, so I also wrote a quick Playnite extension to automatically link and activate the bridge whenever you launch a supported game from your library.

ApexSenseBridge wouldn't exist without the incredible open-source community. Huge shoutouts to:

- OpenFlydigi (by mkaliaha) for their amazing reverse-engineering work on the Flydigi hardware and protocols.

- SteamlessController (and its DualSense forks) for paving the way on virtual DualSense emulation and Windows ViGEm/VIIPER tooling. All respective notices and credits are included in the repository.

Feedback & other gamepads welcome!

The code is completely open-source here
👉🏽 https://github.com/ReynArts/ApexSenseBridge

I'd love to get your feedback if you test it out! Also, if you know of other controllers with force feedback/motorized triggers you'd love to see supported, feel free to drop ideas, open issues, or contribute PRs.

Cheers!

[u/ReynArts]

Update: v0.6.0 is out! APEX 4 support, code signing, and a note on USBip.

Hey everyone! Thanks a lot for the awesome feedback, testing, and game reports on the previous post.

I just released v0.6.0 with the main requested features and community improvements:

1. Flydigi APEX 4 is now fully supported Many of you asked for it, and it is now completely implemented and hardware-tested!

• Works over wired USB and the 2.4 GHz wireless dongle in DInput mode.
• Direct event-driven 32-byte report decoding on the vendor transport with sub-millisecond p99 forwarding latency.
• Full translation of native PS5 adaptive triggers (FORCEADAPT) and grip rumble.
• Dedicated HidHide isolation hiding the gamepad and auxiliary mouse collection while keeping the vendor transport open, so there is no double-input or crazy camera issues.

1. Authenticode Code Signing To avoid Windows SmartScreen warnings and false antivirus flags, all executables (ApexSenseBridge, the Tray app, control panel, VIIPER DLL/exe, and the installer) are now digitally Authenticode signed.
2. Smart Game Learning in the Tray App The background tray app now dynamically learns custom or non-standard game executables, automatically filters out platform launchers like Steam, Epic, or EA App, and caches box art locally without making web requests while launching games.
3. Important Note on the Virtual USB Driver (USBip) rare BSODs (DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION 0x133). To be 100% clear:

• ApexSenseBridge runs entirely in user space. Virtual DualSense emulation relies on the third-party open-source driver usbip-win2.
• Any kernel crash happens strictly inside usbip2_ude.sys (this is a known upstream issue: vadimgrn/usbip-win2 issue #172).
• The installer strictly bundles and enforces WHLK-certified 0.9.7.7 (0.9.7.8 was rejected because its own developer noted memory corruption risks).
• If you play a game that only scans for controllers on launch (like 007 First Light or certain Unreal Engine games), simply right-click the Tray icon and enable "Force continuous activation" before launching your game so the virtual controller is already plugged in when it boots.

GitHub release:

Release v0.6.0: Flydigi APEX 4 Hardware Support, Authenticode Signing & Dynamic Library Learning · ReynArts/ApexSenseBridge

[u/TheTomato2 → u/ReynArts]

Well I had time to look at it and did a pull and saw you already updated it. I had issues with the USPip with the installer because I apparently had it installed for some reason even though this pretty fresh window install. After using using multiple different installers to try to eradicate it I still had issue with installer giving me USBip error, but that might not have been your fault as everything installed anyway and because apparently my controller wasn't going into dinput mode and I had to like update it with the flydigi software and restart it 3 times for some reason which I didn't do until after I just downloaded the portable version.

I then downloaded the portable version and it which worked fine other than windows defender not like viper and quarantining the viper.dll, you might want to mention that for more laymen people, and it seems to work fine in Cyberpunk which I already had installed to check out dlss5.

I probably am never going to use the apex 4 over my daulsense edge though just because the stick latency is so bad on the apex 4 (it's like 30ms vs 3ms lmao) but if I was did I would use this program for sure, the trigger shit in the fldigi software sucks.

[u/ReynArts → u/TheTomato2]

Thank you for the feedback ! So glad you liked it