ShikiPad

ShikiPad is a native Windows controller-to-keyboard and mouse mapper focused on the wired PS5 DualSense controller.

Chinese documentation: README.zh-CN.md

Supported Controller

Use an official DualSense controller over USB. Bluetooth, Xbox, and DualShock 4 modes are intentionally not supported in the current build.

ShikiPad now requires Interception for keyboard and mouse output.

Capability summary:

Mode	ShikiPad support	Limits
DualSense USB	Full PlayStation feature set: buttons, sticks, triggers, Home, touchpad click/gestures, Create/Options, DualSense Mute	Connect by USB before starting ShikiPad

Driver And Installation Order

Recommended setup order:

1. Connect the controller once and confirm Windows can see it.
2. Install Interception with install_driver.bat as administrator.
3. Restart Windows.
4. Run ShikiPad.exe as administrator and confirm it can send keyboard and mouse output.
5. Configure HidHide for the DualSense controller to prevent system or game double input.
6. Unplug and reconnect the controller after HidHide changes.

HidHide setup for DualSense:

1. In Applications, add the exact path to ShikiPad.exe.
2. Uncheck Inverse application cloak.
3. In Devices, check the target DualSense controller. A red lock icon should appear.
4. If the target controller is unclear, connect the controller successfully first, then temporarily check all matching game controllers.
5. Check Filter-out disconnected, Gaming devices only, and Enable device hiding.
6. Close HidHide, then unplug and reconnect the controller.

To let Windows and games see the controller normally again, re-check Inverse application cloak or disable Enable device hiding, then unplug and reconnect the controller.

Release Package

A release archive follows the actual desktop ShikiPad.zip package. The current package contains:

File	Purpose
driver/install-interception.exe	Interception driver installer
ShikiPad.exe	Main program
interception.dll	Interception runtime
install_driver.bat	Interception driver installer helper
README.md / README.zh-CN.md	Documentation
RELEASE_NOTES.md	Release notes
shiki.ico	Program icon
ShikiPad.manifest	Windows application manifest

Startup

ShikiPad needs administrator privileges for Interception output, so the recommended startup method is a Windows scheduled task with highest privileges. Run an elevated PowerShell or Terminal in the ShikiPad folder and use:

.\ShikiPad.exe --install-startup

This creates a Task Scheduler entry named ShikiPad that starts the current ShikiPad.exe path when the user logs in. If you move the ShikiPad folder later, run the install command again from the new folder.

To remove startup:

.\ShikiPad.exe --uninstall-startup

Do not rely on the normal Startup folder unless you are willing to handle UAC manually, because Startup-folder shortcuts cannot reliably start ShikiPad elevated.

Console Pages

Page	Enter	Esc
Home	Open mapping manual	Exit ShikiPad
Mapping manual	Return home	Exit ShikiPad

Closing the console window also exits and releases held keyboard and mouse inputs.

Mouse And System Buttons

Controller input	Output
Right stick	Mouse movement
L3	Left mouse button
R3	Right mouse button with a short cursor freeze on press
Left stick up / down	Mouse wheel
Create	Right Alt
Options	Right Ctrl
Short-tap DualSense Mute	Toggle one-shot Caps/Fn layer for the next action key
Long-press DualSense Mute	Enable / disable ShikiPad
No active touch point during touchpad click	Backspace
Two active touch points during touchpad click	Backspace
One active touch point in the left confirmed zone during touchpad click	Delete
One active touch point in the right confirmed zone during touchpad click	Backspace
One active touch point in the middle buffer during touchpad click	Tap real Caps Lock

Mouse Parameters

Parameter	Current	Purpose
MouseSensitivity	1.0	Overall right-stick mouse sensitivity
MouseMaxSpeed	20.0	Base maximum speed factor at full right-stick tilt
RightStickDeadzone	0.015	Right-stick mouse deadzone
RightStickCurve	power	Right-stick curve type; the current implementation uses a power curve
RightStickCurveExponent	3.0	Right-stick radius curve exponent
RightStickSmoothingMs	5 ms	Short exponential smoothing on the right-stick X/Y input before the mouse curve
Mouse frame multiplier	120.0	Internal multiplier in the right-stick velocity formula
Mouse rounding threshold	0.5 px	Fractional mouse movement is emitted once it reaches half a pixel
MaxMouseFrameSeconds	0.05 s	Per-frame mouse integration cap to prevent large jumps after a stalled frame
R3FreezeMs	60 ms	Cursor freeze duration when R3 starts a right click

The right stick uses continuous velocity integration. It first applies the 5 ms input smoother to X/Y, then calculates radius = sqrt(x*x + y*y), normalized = (radius - RightStickDeadzone) / (1 - RightStickDeadzone), power = normalized ^ RightStickCurveExponent, and per-frame movement as direction * power * MouseMaxSpeed * deltaSec * 120 * MouseSensitivity. X/Y fractional pixels are accumulated separately, rounded to integer pixels once they reach 0.5px, and the remainder is kept.

Touchpad Gestures

Touchpad gestures are available on the wired DualSense USB HID report. One-finger and two-finger gestures both exist in direct-swipe and hold-then-swipe forms. Finger count is decided only before a gesture has been recognized: if two touch points appear before recognition, the gesture counts as two-finger; once a gesture has been recognized, later extra touch points are ignored so the locked gesture stays stable. TouchGestureHoldStillDistance is only the stillness test: movement below it is treated as still, but swipe distance is always counted from the touch point's real start, so reaching the 150/180 trigger distance fires the gesture without subtracting the stillness distance. During two-finger continuation, the direct/hold decision uses the moving finger's continuous touch time, so one finger can stay down while a newly placed second finger still performs a direct two-finger swipe. Direction no longer uses the center point. Instead, vertical gestures trigger at 150 distance and horizontal gestures trigger at 180 distance. Touchpad side is decided by the moving touch segment that triggers the gesture: the leftmost and rightmost TouchGestureSideConfirmedWidth pixels are confirmed zones, so a segment that starts in the left/right confirmed zone locks that side; if it starts in the middle buffer, entering a confirmed zone or crossing the center split locks the matching side. The still finger in two-finger continuation never decides the side. Distance moved inside the buffer before side lock still counts toward that direction's first trigger. For distance-repeat gestures, first recognition also consumes every complete direction-specific segment and then continues counting from the last consumed trigger point.

Touchpad Mappings

Gesture	Up	Down	Left	Right
Left-half one-finger direct swipe	Alt + Shift + Esc previous window	Alt + Esc next window	Enter Alt-Tab with Alt + Shift + Tab, then hold Alt	Enter Alt-Tab with Alt + Tab, then hold Alt
Right-half one-finger direct swipe	Win + ↑ maximize	Win + ↓ restore/minimize	Win + Ctrl + ← previous desktop	Win + Ctrl + → next desktop
Left-half one-finger hold-then-swipe	Win + Shift + M restore minimized windows	Win + M minimize all windows	Unmapped	Unmapped
Right-half one-finger hold-then-swipe	Home	End	Win + Shift + ← move window to left monitor	Win + Shift + → move window to right monitor
Left-half two-finger direct swipe	Ctrl + Shift + Tab previous tab	Ctrl + Tab next tab	Alt + ← back	Alt + → forward
Right-half two-finger direct swipe	Ctrl + Shift + Esc	Shift + Win + S screenshot	Alt + F4	Unmapped
Two-finger hold-then-swipe	Unmapped	Unmapped	Unmapped	Unmapped

Two-finger continuation: after a two-finger swipe has been recognized, ShikiPad keeps that two-finger state alive while the still finger remains effectively still. Between moving-finger segments, the still-finger baseline is refreshed, so tiny thumb drift does not accumulate across several swipes and silently kill continuation. During an active segment, moving the still finger by TouchGestureHoldStillDistance or more ends that segment's stillness. The moving finger can keep sliding or lift and touch again, and each later segment still uses the normal two-finger ownership rule: the moving finger's segment decides both direction and side, while the still finger only keeps the two-finger state alive. Continuation does not change each shortcut's mapping or repeat mode: left-side up/down remains timed-repeat Ctrl + Shift + Tab / Ctrl + Tab; left-side left/right remains single-shot Alt + ←/→; the right side still uses the right two-finger mapping, such as left swipe Alt + F4. Single-shot actions do not repeat until the moving finger lifts and swipes again. Each moving contact decides direct-vs-hold independently: the decision is made at that contact's first trigger, stays fixed while that finger remains down, and is recalculated only after it lifts and touches again. If the moving finger leaves while the still finger remains still, ShikiPad keeps the two-finger continuation alive and waits for the second finger to return. Edge samples that briefly make one touch point unreadable do not restart the gesture while another touch point remains down; the continuation waits for the still finger to become readable again. If the remaining still finger starts moving instead, it is reseeded as a one-finger gesture from the position and time when the other finger left, and direct-vs-hold is measured from that moment. If the still finger starts moving while the other finger is still down, no new two-finger gesture is fired; the current two-finger continuation ends until the touch points are released.

Touchpad click is not the clutch key. It checks the active touch point state when the click begins. No active touch point sends Backspace, and any two active touch points also send Backspace. With exactly one active touch point, the left confirmed zone sends Delete, the right confirmed zone sends Backspace, and the middle buffer taps real Caps Lock; this is pure Caps Lock and does not enable Fn. Touchpad Delete and Backspace count as base-layer action keys. Whether a short-tap Home clutch lock can be consumed by an action key is decided once, when that Home short-tap lock is formed. If at least one modifier had already been collected at that moment, touchpad Delete or Backspace clears the lock after firing; modifiers collected later do not make that same lock consumable. Touchpad Delete and Backspace use the same progressive repeat timing as base-layer repeat. The middle-buffer Caps Lock click fires once on click-down and does not repeat.

Every touchpad swipe first trigger requires movement from that touch point's start by the direction threshold: 150 for up/down and 180 for left/right. If the touch starts in the middle buffer, distance moved before side lock still counts toward the horizontal 180. After the side locks and the shortcut fires, that trigger point becomes the new origin for later repeat or reverse checks.

Middle-buffer horizontal recognition is not a fixed decision based only on the start buffer. If the touch starts in the left buffer, 550..959, moving left by 180 immediately locks left and fires the left-side shortcut. Moving right by 180 while still inside the left buffer does not lock right; it waits until the touch enters the right buffer, 960..1369, then locks right and fires the right-side shortcut once. The right buffer is symmetric: moving right by 180 locks right immediately, while moving left must enter the left buffer before it locks left. In short, moving away from the center can lock within the current buffer, while moving toward the other side locks only after crossing the center split.

Distance-based repeat applies to the left-half left/right Alt-Tab entry gesture after the first trigger. The first left/right trigger enters the Alt-Tab switcher once with Alt + Shift + Tab or Alt + Tab, then only Alt stays held while the finger remains on the touchpad. After the switcher is open, each additional movement segment sends the matching arrow key: 180 left/right sends ←/→, and 150 up/down sends ↑/↓. Reversing does not use Shift; it sends the reverse arrow. If one state update jumps across multiple complete segments, ShikiPad sends one arrow per extra segment after the initial Alt-Tab entry and keeps the leftover distance for the next arrow.

Time-based repeat applies to left-half one-finger direct up/down window switching, right-half one-finger direct left/right desktop switching, and left-half two-finger direct up/down tab switching. The first trigger uses the same direction thresholds: 150 for up/down and 180 for left/right. Left-half one-finger up/down and left-half two-finger up/down tab switching use TouchGestureTimeRepeatIntervalMs, currently 450 ms. Right-half one-finger left/right desktop switching uses TouchGestureDesktopRepeatIntervalMs, currently 550 ms. Continuing in the same direction by that direction's repeat distance does not fire an extra shortcut; it only refreshes the origin used for reverse detection. Reversing without lifting by 150 vertically or 180 horizontally from that latest origin immediately fires the reverse shortcut, then the reverse direction continues with the same fixed interval for that shortcut. Hold-then-swipe shortcuts, right-half one-finger up/down Win + ↑/↓, left-half two-finger horizontal Alt + ←/→, and right-half two-finger shortcuts do not repeat.

Touchpad Parameters

Parameter	Current	Purpose
TouchGestureHoldStillDistance	50	Stillness threshold only; swipe distance is counted from the real segment start
TouchGestureVerticalThreshold	150	Distance required to recognize and trigger an up/down swipe
TouchGestureHorizontalThreshold	180	Distance required to recognize and trigger a left/right swipe
TouchGestureVerticalRepeatDistance	150	Movement distance required for each vertical repeat/reverse/navigation trigger
TouchGestureHorizontalRepeatDistance	180	Movement distance required for each horizontal repeat/reverse/navigation trigger
TouchGestureTimeRepeatDelayMs	450 ms	Initial delay before left-half up/down time repeat starts
TouchGestureTimeRepeatIntervalMs	450 ms	Fixed interval for left-half up/down time repeat after either forward or reverse trigger
TouchGestureDesktopRepeatIntervalMs	550 ms	Initial delay and fixed interval for right-half left/right desktop switching repeat
TouchGestureSideConfirmedWidth	550	Width of each left/right confirmed zone; the 550..959 and 960..1369 middle buffers lock by crossing the center split
TouchGestureHoldMs	450 ms	Touch duration required at the 150/180 trigger moment to count as hold-then-swipe

Voice Input

If controller typing still feels difficult, pair ShikiPad with voice input software such as Typeless or Shandian Shuo. DualSense is especially convenient here: Create maps to Right Alt, Options maps to Right Ctrl, Home handles clutch, Mute short-tap toggles the one-shot Caps/Fn layer, and Mute long-press toggles ShikiPad enabled / disabled.

Left Stick

Direction	Output
Upper-left	Left Shift
Lower-left	Ctrl
Upper-right	Win
Lower-right	Left Alt
Up / Down center sectors	Mouse wheel

The left stick is divided into six sectors: three in the upper half and three in the lower half. The pure left/right sectors are removed.

Left-stick wheel speed is continuous by radius while the current sector is Up/Down. Up/Down wheel sectors enter at LeftStickEnterDeadzone, currently 0.15. Moving into a modifier sector immediately stops wheel output; that modifier starts only after the stick reaches LeftStickModifierEnterDeadzone, currently 0.45. Moving back into Up/Down resumes wheel output from the current radius once the wheel threshold is met. Distance from center drives an exponent-3.0 speed curve from the 1500 ms slow floor to the 15 ms fast ceiling.

Left-stick modifier sectors are immediate, not locked. The 360 degrees are still divided into six equal 60-degree sectors, but the radial deadzone is sector-specific: wheel sectors enter at 0.15, and modifier sectors enter at 0.45. ShikiPad follows the current sector every frame: moving from Left Shift to Win, Ctrl, Left Alt, or wheel sectors releases the previous output and applies the current one only while that target sector reaches its own threshold. If the target sector is below its threshold, left-stick output is neutral.

Left-Stick Parameters

Parameter	Current	Purpose
LeftStickEnterDeadzone	0.15	Radius needed to enter an Up/Down wheel sector; the wheel accumulator resets below this same threshold
LeftStickModifierEnterDeadzone	0.45	Radius needed to enter one of the four modifier sectors
MouseScrollCurveExponent	3.0	Left-stick wheel radius curve exponent
MouseScrollSmoothingMs	5 ms	Short exponential smoothing on the normalized wheel radius before the scroll curve
ScrollSlowIntervalMs	1500 ms	Slowest wheel interval
ScrollFastIntervalMs	15 ms	Fastest wheel interval
WheelDelta	120	One standard wheel detent
WheelRoundingThreshold	0.5	Same idea as right-stick mouse rounding: fractional wheel amount rounds to an integer once it reaches half a unit
MaxWheelDeltaPerFrame	120	Maximum wheel output per frame

The left-stick wheel now follows the right-stick mouse integration idea more closely. Radius is normalized as (radius - LeftStickEnterDeadzone) / (1 - LeftStickEnterDeadzone), the normalized radius receives the same short 5 ms style of smoothing, then power = normalized ^ MouseScrollCurveExponent. Maximum speed is WheelDelta * 1000 / ScrollFastIntervalMs; current speed is maximum speed * power, with a slow floor of WheelDelta * 1000 / ScrollSlowIntervalMs. Fractional wheel amount accumulates each frame and rounds to an integer after it reaches 0.5, just like right-stick pixel movement, capped at 120 per frame.

Clutch

Normally, the left stick holds one modifier at a time. Clutch collects multiple modifiers and releases them together.

While clutch is active, the currently collected modifiers remain held even as the left stick moves elsewhere. To add another modifier, move directly into its sector; to use wheel input, move into the Up/Down sector. Home is only a clutch key and no longer becomes real Left Shift when no modifier is active. A short-tap clutch lock records whether it can be consumed at the moment the lock is formed: if at least one modifier has already been collected then, the next action key releases that short-tap lock after firing; if no modifier has been collected then, later modifier collection does not make that same lock action-consumable, and it must be cancelled with another short tap. Long-press clutch still holds while pressed and releases on button up. Action buttons keep their normal mappings while clutch modifiers are held. Pressing a normal mapped 1 still sends 1, not F1.

Mute provides the controller Caps/Fn layer. Short-tap Mute toggles one-shot Caps/Fn on or off; pressing it again before an action key cancels the layer and restores normal output. While active, unshifted action mappings 1..0, -, and = become F1..F12; unshifted letters are sent as shifted uppercase letters instead of their normal lowercase output. The next action key always clears Caps/Fn. Other keys keep their normal mapping. Long-press Mute uses the same timing as Home clutch, ClutchLongPressMs, and toggles ShikiPad enabled / disabled.

Touchpad middle-buffer click taps real system Caps Lock, so the keyboard indicator follows it. It does not enable Fn and does not participate in clutch release.

Controller	Activate / hold
DualSense	Short-tap Home to toggle clutch, or long-press Home to hold clutch until release; action keys consume a short-tap clutch only if at least one modifier was already collected when that short-tap lock formed

Clutch Parameters

Parameter	Current	Purpose
ClutchLongPressMs	250 ms	Long-press time for holding clutch on Home and for Mute long-press enable / disable

Typing Layers

The v3 release maps letters around familiar keyboard positions. This keeps layouts such as WASD and IJKL recognizable instead of sorting every letter purely by frequency.

The columns in the following tables correspond to: ↑, →, □, △, ←, ↓, ×, ○.

Layer	↑	→	□	△	←	↓	×	○
Base	↑	→	Tab	Esc	←	↓	Space	Enter
R1	o	p	j	i	n	m	k	l
L1	w	d	q	e	a	s	z	x
R2	0	g	y	u	-	=	b	h
L2	r	f	t	1	c	v	3	2
R1 + L1	4	,	.	7	5	6	9	8
L2 + R2	+	/	&	*	_	^	$	%
L1 + R2	[	]	!	?	{	}	@	#
R1 + L2	(	)	;	'	<	>	backtick	\

The program sends physical keycodes. Characters requiring Shift (", :, |, ~) are shifted automatically by the corresponding layer entries.

Base-layer D-pad keys repeat while held. Base-layer face buttons (Square, Triangle, Cross, Circle) do not repeat. Character layers are virtual taps: one press sends one key stroke, and holding does not repeat. Once an action key has resolved to a layer and is held, later shoulder/trigger changes do not reassign that held physical key until it is released.

Base Repeat Parameters

Parameter	Current	Purpose
RepeatDelayMs	300 ms	Delay after the first repeatable base-layer or touchpad Delete / Backspace press before repeat starts
BaseRepeatSlowIntervalMs	120 ms	Starting repeat interval
BaseRepeatRampMs	1500 ms	Time to ramp from slow repeat to fastest repeat
RepeatIntervalMs	12 ms	Fastest repeat interval
Repeat curve exponent	3.0	Cubic acceleration over frequency; the ramp segment is continuous

If multiple layer buttons are pressed on the same polling timestamp, tie priority is R1 > L1 > R2 > L2. Combo formation still only considers the latest two active layer buttons after that priority sort.

Layer Timing Parameters

ShikiPad uses short time windows to absorb human input errors when typing quickly.

Parameter	Current	Purpose
ComboLayerWindowMs	35 ms	Maximum interval for two layer buttons to form a combo layer
ActionLayerGraceMs	45 ms	Grace window between action key and layer recognition
ActionLayerPostGraceMs	15 ms	Grace window after a layer is released before a new layer is pressed; releases from a layer input that overlapped another layer input do not get this post-grace window
LayerTakeoverWindowMs	30 ms	Cumulative body cap; after the 20 ms cutoff lands inside a boundary old layer body, backward tracing can continue only until cumulative body occupancy reaches 30 ms
LayerOccupancyCarryCutoffMs	20 ms	Cumulative body cutoff for backward layer tracing; total lookback is still ActionLayerGraceMs, but once cumulative body occupancy reaches this cutoff, tracing can continue only inside the current boundary body up to LayerTakeoverWindowMs and cannot cross into its pre-window or older layers

Combo layers are treated as their own layers: the same physical single-key press that helps form a combo still occupies the 35 ms timeline, but it does not count as that combo layer's own body accumulation and cannot trigger that combo layer's 20 ms / 30 ms body limits.

Troubleshooting

No keyboard or mouse output

Install Interception, restart Windows, and run ShikiPad.exe as administrator.

System or game double input

If Windows still sees the physical controller while ShikiPad is running, the same stick movement can be handled twice: once by ShikiPad and once by Windows or the focused app. Typical symptoms include left-stick Alt plus Tab jumping unpredictably between windows, or the left-stick Win modifier failing because Windows treats controller input as Start menu, taskbar, or app icon navigation. Configure HidHide as described above so only ShikiPad can see the DualSense controller.

If HidHide is already configured as described above but double input or Windows input stealing still happens, try placing the whole ShikiPad folder at the root of the C drive, for example C:\ShikiPad. This is the location currently used by the author.