DSZ - DualSense Zen 0.3.7

Download dsz.exe and run it. There is nothing to install. It replaces 0.3.6 in place, and your settings and profiles carry over.

Switching from the DualSense profile to Xbox works everywhere

• Some apps and games didn't see the virtual Xbox controller after a switch to the Xbox profile, even though Windows listed it. This happened when DSZ started on the DualSense profile (Game Bar and other apps then got no input from the controller), and when a game such as Astral Ascent started in DualSense mode and you switched to Xbox mid-game.
• On the DualSense profile, DSZ keeps the Xbox controller plugged in but hidden from games. Showing it again doesn't tell Windows a controller arrived, so anything that looked for controllers while it was hidden kept missing it.
• In those two cases DSZ now plugs the Xbox controller in again when you switch back (you hear Windows' disconnect and connect sounds). Switching back after a DualSense game closes stays as quick as before, with no reconnect.
• HidHide lets only one program talk to it at a time. When two parts of DSZ checked on it at the same moment, DSZ took HidHide for gone and briefly showed the hidden Xbox controller to games. DSZ now waits its turn instead.
• If DSZ ever lost track of a virtual controller it had hidden, that controller could stay hidden from games for good. DSZ now cleans those up when it starts.

Game Bar works on the DualSense profile again

• A recent Windows update stopped Game Bar from taking DualSense input, even with DSZ closed. On the DualSense profile, the PS button still opened Game Bar, but no other button worked in it.
• While Game Bar is open, DSZ now sends your buttons, sticks and triggers to the hidden Xbox controller, which Game Bar can use. Move around with the D-pad or left stick, pick with Cross (A) and go back or close with Circle (B).
• The game gets no input while Game Bar is open, so pressing Cross to pick a widget doesn't also make your character jump. Everything goes back to the game as soon as Game Bar closes.
• This needs Keep the Xbox 360 controller as player 1 on (the default) and HidHide, on the Virtual controller page. It works the same on the DualShock 4 profile.

Back up and restore all your settings

• Settings has a new Backup & restore card. Back up all settings… saves every profile and app setting to one file, for safekeeping or another PC.
• Restore from backup… checks the file, asks first, and saves your current setup to a backups folder before replacing it, so you can always go back. Settings DSZ learned about this PC (which devices it hides, your audio choices for the virtual DualSense) are kept.
• Open settings folder opens %APPDATA%\DSZ, where profiles, settings and logs live.
• On the Profiles page, import and export are now labeled Import profile… and Export profile… (one profile). Open profiles folder sits next to them, and Backup & restore… takes you straight to that card in Settings and lights it up.

usbip-win2 0.9.8.1

• The one-click usbip-win2 install on the Virtual controller page now gets 0.9.8.1, the current release, instead of 0.9.7.7. As before, DSZ checks the download against its published fingerprint before running it.
• If you already have 0.9.7.7 or 0.9.8.0, there's no need to change: both keep working. Updating from 0.9.7.7 can take a restart or two.

The virtual Xbox controller describes itself like a real one

• When Windows asked the virtual Xbox 360 controller what it has, DSZ answered "nothing": no buttons, no sticks, no triggers. Games and Windows' own controller features saw a pad that, on paper, had no controls at all.
• It now answers like a wired Xbox 360 controller: every button, both triggers, both sticks and both rumble motors. Games that check a controller's capabilities before using it now see a normal pad.
• This may also fix a rare bug where Windows acted as if the Xbox button was held down after startup, so Task View opened whenever you clicked the desktop or taskbar. That bug has been seen once; quitting and restarting DSZ cleared it.

DSZ no longer switches itself to DualSense mode

• If DSZ's exe had any name other than dsz.exe (a browser saving a second download as dsz (1).exe, for example), DSZ took itself for a game with DualSense support and kept switching to the DualSense profile. It now always skips its own exe, whatever it is called.

Requirements (the same as 0.3.6)

• Windows 10 or 11. A DualSense, DualSense Edge or DualShock 4, over USB or Bluetooth.
• Virtual controllers need usbip-win2 and HidHide. The Virtual controller page installs either in one click.
• The exe isn't code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may warn the first time. Choose More info, then Run anyway.