RdpGamepad - a Remote Desktop Plugin for Xbox Gamepads

A Remote Desktop plugin to enable remote use of Xbox gamepads across a Remote Desktop session.

Download and Install

To use the Remote Desktop Plugin,

• On your local computer you can download the client installer from the latest release.
  To install, double-click RdpGamepadClientInstall-{version}.exe and follow the instructions presented.

• On every remote computer that you connect to you can:

  1. Download and install the latest ViGEmBus drivers from the ViGEmBus release page.
     To install, double-click ViGEmBus_Setup_{version}.exe and follow the instructions presented.
  2. Download the receiver installer from the latest release.
     To install, double-click RdpGamepadReceiverInstall-{version}.exe and follow the instructions presented.

How to use

You don't. The plugin is automatically loaded by Remote Desktop and the receiver connects to the plugin automatically when you start a remote desktop session. A virtual Xbox 360 controller is attached to the remote computer when the connection is established.

Troubleshooting

"It doesn't work"

• Symptom: It is often reported that the controller doesn't work after connecting to a remote computer.
• Cause: The receiver on the remote computer adds a new virtual controller to remote computer. It is often the case that a game or game engine is using "the first" controller which would default to any controller that is physically attached to the remote computer.
• Solution: Unplug any attached controller form the remote computer. This can be done by physically disconnecting the controller from the remote computer or by disabling the device using Device Manager on the remote computer.

About the Source

The RdpGamepadPlugin project contains the Remote Desktop plugin that reads the local gamepad with XInput and makes the data available over a Remote Desktop Virtual Channel.

The RdpGamepadViGEm project reads the gamepad data from the Remote Desktop Virtual Channel makes it available through a virtual Xbox 360 controller using the ViGEmBus kernel mode driver. It uses the ViGEmClient SDK to communicate with the driver.

Build from Source

To build and install the Remote Desktop Gamepad Plugin yourself, clone the sources (including submodules), open the solution file in Visual Studio 2019 (Community Edition is fine), and build the solution for your platform architecture (Win32 or x64). The output files will be under bin\Release.

To register the plugin with Remote Desktop, open and administrative command prompt and navigate to the bin\Release folder. Use regsvr32 to register the plugin dll for the appropriate architecture. For example:

regsvr32.exe /i RdpGamepadPlugin64.dll

Contributing

There are many ways to contribute.

• Submit bugs and help us verify fixes as they are checked in.
• Review code changes.
• Contribute bug fixes and features.

Code Contributions

This project welcomes contributions and suggestions. Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution. For details, visit https://cla.opensource.microsoft.com.

When you submit a pull request, a CLA bot will automatically determine whether you need to provide a CLA and decorate the PR appropriately (e.g., status check, comment). Simply follow the instructions provided by the bot. You will only need to do this once across all repos using our CLA.

Code of Conduct

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact opencode@microsoft.com with any additional questions or comments.

License

Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Licensed under the MIT license.