PuckbridgePS5

Play your PS5 with the Steam Controller (2026). Puckbridge is a payload for a jailbroken PS5 that makes the Steam Controller work in real games: rumble, gyro aiming, flick stick, motion controls, adaptive-trigger feedback, full remapping with per-game profiles, and a clean hand-off to and from your DualSense. You set it all up from a web portal on your phone.

Built on Ghostcontrol by StonedModder, which adds USB controllers to the PS5 as a virtual DualSense. Ghostcontrol's original controllers (8BitDo / Switch Pro, Xbox One / Series) still work.

Not affiliated with Valve or Sony. For use with games you own.

Highlights

🎮 Plays real games	PS4 and PS5 games see a normal controller. No per-game setup.
📳 Rumble in games	Including PS5 games like Returnal that drive the DualSense through audio. Puckbridge passes that rumble to the Steam Controller's grip motors.
🎯 Gyro aiming	Turn and tilt the controller to aim. Turn it on always, only while you hold the grips, or with a button. Works in every game.
🔄 Flick stick	Point the right stick where you want to face and you turn there; pair it with gyro for aiming.
🕹️ Motion controls	Games that use the DualSense's tilt and motion get the Steam Controller's.
🔫 Trigger feedback	A game's adaptive trigger effects become clicks and buzzes you feel as you pull, at the strength you pick.
🔁 DualSense hand-off	Use either controller and switch with one button. The one not in use is switched off or kept quiet.
⏸️ Pause anywhere	Hold … for 5 seconds to pause Puckbridge and hand everything back to the DualSense. Hold again to resume.
🛠️ Remap portal	Remap every input with Steam Input–style activators. Profiles switch automatically for each game, and you can export and import them.
🔋 Battery	The portal shows the controller's charge, and the PS5 warns you when it runs low.

Quick start

1. Download ghost-control-ps5.elf from the latest release.
2. Jailbreak the PS5, start its ELF loader, and send the payload:

   nc -w 5 <PS5_IP> 9021 < ghost-control-ps5.elf

3. Plug the Puck into the PS5 and turn on the Steam Controller.
4. Open http://<PS5_IP>:8090 on a phone or PC on the same network.

That's it. The recommended settings are on by default; Settings & help → Quick setup → Use recommended settings brings them back if you change them.

Back up your save data first. In-game rumble works by hooking the running game. It's well tested on Returnal, but go carefully with new games.

Requirements

• A jailbroken PS5 with an ELF loader on port 9021. Tested on firmware 13.60.
• A Steam Controller (2026) with its Puck, or a USB-C cable. The original Steam Controller (2015) works over USB.
• To build it yourself: ps5-payload-sdk.

Using it

Playing

Start any game and play. To get rumble in a game, keep Move DualSense haptics and speaker on. It's on by default. It hooks each game as it starts, so restart the game after changing it.

Gyro aiming

Gyro aiming is off until you turn it on in the Gyro aiming card on the Remap tab. Each profile has its own settings:

• When it aims: always, while holding either grip or both grips, or while touching the right trackpad or right stick. The grips are touch-sensitive, so either grip means it aims while you hold the controller.
• Sensitivity for left/right and up/down. Left/right can come from turning or tilting the controller.
• Feel:
  • anti-deadzone gets small movements past the game's own stick deadzone.
  • steadiness filters out hand shake.
  • game stick curve makes the aim come back to where it started when you look away and back.
• Invert each axis.
• Calibration: drift is corrected automatically whenever the controller rests for a second.
• Gyro buttons: bind Gyro on (hold), Gyro off (hold) (to re-centre your hands) or Gyro on/off to any button, like any PS button.

Flick stick

Set Right stick to Flick stick in the Flick stick section. Push the right stick to the edge and you turn that way (right = 90°, down = turn around); rotate it around the edge to keep turning. Up and down are left to the gyro. Set Game's turn speed so that a flick to the right turns exactly 90°, and turn off camera acceleration in the game if it has it.

Motion controls

On by default: games that read the DualSense's motion sensor (tilting, turning, shaking) get the Steam Controller's instead. Turn it off per profile with Motion controls for games.

Trigger feedback

The Steam Controller's triggers can't push back, so when a PS5 game sets an adaptive trigger effect, Puckbridge plays it as haptics on that side while you pull: a click where resistance starts, a strong click where a weapon trigger breaks, a buzz for vibrating triggers. Pick the strength per profile in the Triggers section (Off, Light, Normal, Strong, or 0–200%). It needs Send game vibration to the Steam Controller on, and works after the game restarts with the payload loaded.

Switching between the Steam Controller and the DualSense

• Without the hand-off (default): both controllers work. While the Steam Controller is in control, the DualSense's rumble and speaker are kept quiet. Turn the Steam Controller off and the DualSense takes over; its Steam button brings it back.
• With the hand-off: turn it on in Settings & help → DualSense hand-off.
  • The DualSense switches off the first time you use the Steam Controller.
  • Press the DualSense's PS button, or just turn it on, to switch back. The Steam Controller then powers itself off.
  • Press the Steam Controller's Steam button to take over again.
  • With two DualSenses on (local co-op), leave the hand-off off.

Pausing

Hold … for 5 seconds, anywhere: in a game, on the home screen, or in a menu. Puckbridge steps aside and the DualSense works exactly as normal. A long buzz confirms the pause, and a short one the resume. … is reserved for this, so it never sends anything to the PS5. The portal also has a Pause button.

Remapping and profiles

The portal at http://<PS5_IP>:8090 lets you:

• remap every input, including the back grips, trackpad clicks and the Steam button;
• add Steam Input–style activators: long press, double press, Shift layer, turbo, toggle, and full trigger pull;
• find a button in the list by pressing it on the controller;
• set the trackpads to touchpad, stick, d-pad or off, and set invert Y, swapped sticks and deadzone;
• fine-tune every slider by typing an exact value next to it;
• create per-game profiles that switch on automatically when that game starts, and export / import them as files;
• use an on-console menu to switch profiles or remap without leaving the game;
• view the log for troubleshooting.

The portal remembers which page, profile and section you were on, so a reload brings you back to the same place. Its header shows the controller's battery level, and the PS5 warns you at 15% and 5%.

Profiles and settings are plain text files in /data/ghostpad/, so you can back them up over FTP.

What doesn't work (and why)

• Adaptive trigger resistance: the Steam Controller (2026) has plain triggers with no resistance motors, so effects are felt as haptics instead of resistance. This is a hardware limit.
• Haptic detail: rumble carries intensity, not the DualSense's full waveform, so effects feel coarser.
• Two controllers playing at once: one controller is in control at a time. Ask the hand-off to switch between them.
• Two Steam Controllers on one Puck: only the first one is used for now.
• Portal password: there isn't one. Anyone on your home network can open the portal.

Troubleshooting

• The Puck isn't found: try the other USB port.
• The wrong profile is used: game detection may not work on your firmware. Pick the profile yourself with the Use menu.
• Gyro drifts or sticks: put the controller down for a second to recalibrate, and check the live readout in the Gyro card.
• Anything else: open the portal, go to Settings & help → Troubleshooting log, tap Copy log, and include it when you open an issue. It's also saved at /data/ghostpad/gc_status.log.

The full reference (every setting, binding and how the game hooks work) is in STEAM_CONTROLLER_2026.md.

Building

export PS5_PAYLOAD_SDK=/path/to/ps5-payload-sdk
cd payload && make

The payload is written to payload/ghost-control-ps5.elf.

• Portal: the portal page is payload/web/index.html. After editing it, run python3 gen_html.py in payload/ to embed it, then rebuild.
• Releases: pushing a v* tag builds the payload on GitHub Actions and publishes a release (.github/workflows/release.yml).
• Test builds: Actions → Release → Run workflow builds any branch and attaches the result to the run, without making a release.

Where things live

File	What it does
payload/gc_main.c	USB controller threads, virtual DualSense, main loop
payload/controller_sc2.c	Steam Controller (2026) reports, pause, battery, power off
payload/sc2_profile.c, sc2_binding.c	Profiles and Steam Input–style activators
payload/sc2_gyro.c	Gyro aiming, gyro buttons and motion controls
payload/sc2_flick.c	Flick stick
payload/sc2_trigfx.c	Adaptive trigger effects as haptics
payload/sc2_haptics.c	Rumble to the Steam Controller
payload/ds_handoff.c	DualSense hand-off
payload/game_hooks.c, payload/bridge/	In-game hooks for input, rumble and the DualSense speaker (PoorDS4)
payload/webui.c, payload/web/	The portal

Credits

• Ghostcontrol virtual DualSense: StonedModder
• Steam Controller (2026) protocol: the Linux hid-steam driver (Vicki Pfau et al.) and SDL
• Game bridge (in payload/bridge/): PoorDS4 by ItsBlurf
• DualSense hand-off idea: the Manba V2 fork of Ghostcontrol by NikoBellikJR31
• Steam Controller illustration in the portal: Akhil Moola
• Button icons: Xelu's Free Controller Prompts by Nicolae Berbece and Paul Paun (CC0)
• PS5 payload SDK: ps5-payload-dev

License

GPL-3.0-or-later, the same as upstream. See LICENSE. The original upstream README is kept in README.upstream.md.