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Switch 2 DualSense feedback conversion policy

Source and scope

Behavioral source: Switch2Connect, pinned commit 61ac6642ce12fe7217e38a860b14863b18ca7e28. The authored src/config.py header grants GPL-3.0-or-later; LICENSE.md contains GPL version 3. The relevant source symbols are:

  • Config.audio_haptics_enabled and Config.adaptive_triggers_enabled;
  • gui.py:open_audio_haptics_settings;
  • virtual_controller.py:_setup_vg_controller, get_current_adaptive_trigger_frames, and its native trigger-output handler.

These establish separate default-on preferences. DS4Windows retains its own existing translators, canonical ownership and sole physical writers. No Switch2Connect transport architecture, bundled binary, or PadForge code is copied by this change.

User controls and persistence

The profile editor's Switch 2 Controls section exposes:

  • Convert DualSense audio haptics to HD rumble;
  • Convert DualSense adaptive-trigger effects to HD rumble.

XML keys are Switch2DualSenseAudioHapticsEnabled and Switch2DualSenseAdaptiveTriggersEnabled. Both default to true in backing storage, profile DTOs, absent-key migration and reset. They are independent of the master output-data setting, which overrides both and ordinary body rumble. They do not change virtual audio endpoint descriptors or physical Sony trigger settings.

Audio conversion retains the existing stereo/chronological HD-rumble synthesis. Adaptive-trigger conversion remains a side-local approximation, only for supported effects and a pressed physical trigger. Switch 2 has no resistance actuator. Neither setting makes this transformation lossless or hardware-proven.

For a native DualSense report, the latest fresh control update owns both the compatibility selector and motor amplitudes. That compatibility command remains held until a fresh zero-motor command, source change, or lifecycle boundary. Incoming media may renew the canonical 250 ms lease as evidence that the source is live; it is not new motor intent and cannot replace those cached values with an older broker snapshot. The 250 ms lease is therefore not an individual compatibility-effect duration. Compositions containing PCM remain finite even when an adaptive-trigger approximation is mixed into the same packet; output maintenance cannot repeat that PCM interval to hold the trigger overlay.

Live changes and safety boundaries

Switch2DualSenseFeedbackPolicyLane retains at most one fixed-size compact feedback packet. It is used only on feedback/control paths, never on input. The existing physical session, canonical ingress, state-lane pump and writer remain authoritative.

  • Disabled audio is not allowed back through the generic PCM-to-body fallback. Only the compact compatibility motor bytes remain in that fallback.
  • With zero configured delay, removing a component preserves compatibility body rumble and the other enabled component, bounded by the original absolute CFBK expiry. The owner computes remaining TTL at publication; an expired refresh is Neutral. This cannot extend the event's lifetime.
  • A re-enable alone never restores a removed cached component. Fresh game feedback is required. Physical trigger activity can only narrow on refresh.
  • A change while delayed media is queued immediately requests Neutral and discards the queue. It does not advance a future media event to the present. Fresh events again use the configured delay.
  • Every admitted session publication attempt advances an exact local watermark before owner dispatch. A cached refresh compares that watermark under the same session gate. Newer Neutral, Stop, failed-but-admitted publication, retirement or a replacement owner cannot be overwritten with an older cached event.
  • A failed clock or failed-but-admitted source/refresh discards replayable bytes while retaining only its exact cleanup receipt. A later refresh can compare-and-neutral that receipt, including with unchanged preferences; it cannot inherit another producer's watermark or reconstruct old media.
  • Cached data is bound to the stream generation as well as the physical session/profile slot. Recovery drains admitted callbacks, requests an exact release and invalidates the cache before starting the replacement reader.
  • UI refresh uses the existing feedback callback admission lease. It does not acquire the policy/session gate while holding the callback-admission lock.
  • Profile-option application may execute on the physical input queue; it only signals the existing feedback-control worker. A struct-only final guard on this lane's delayed events checks current profile revision, enable flags and captured stream generation before admission, so a queued old event cannot evade a load/disable or recovery while cleanup is waking. The stream reader is one cold method-group delegate per output device and performs only a Volatile.Read; no per-frame closure or input-path lock/I/O is introduced. The delayed queue also treats bound policy/stream changes as a selection boundary: fresh post-edit media replaces the obsolete queue instead of being discarded behind a stale predecessor. This does not cancel an already-admitted transport write; the existing neutral/retry and teardown contracts remain in force.

An accepted policy publication is canonical/physical-owner acceptance, not a claim that the device's actuator has already stopped or that a HID/USB/GATT flush completed. Existing transport retry and lifecycle evidence must be used for those claims.

Test coverage and remaining validation

Switch2DualSenseFeedbackPolicyTests covers all four conversion combinations, compatibility preservation, PCM-only suppression, immutable packet retention, master disable, delayed admission/queue clearing, no re-enable resurrection, absolute expiry, newer same-session Neutral including failed delivery, stream replacement, trigger-release narrowing and default-on XML round trips. Switch2BluetoothFeedbackLifetimeTests and Switch2ProUsbOwnedFeedbackActivationLifetimeTests include actual owner/pump paths proving expired refresh requests produce neutral simulated wire output. The existing ViiperSwitch2DualSenseHdRumbleTests retain composition and allocation coverage.

These are source/replay/simulation tests, not hardware certification. No app, controller test, pairing operation, driver installation or installed-binary replacement was performed for this change. Record central test results in the main validation ledger; USB/BLE actuator, game, latency and full product gates remain separately open until measured.