If you play Call of Duty, Warzone, Modern Warfare, or Black Ops titles on PC with a PS5 controller through DS5Windows (DSX), you’ve probably run into the double input bug at some point.
In-game, this usually shows up as:
- Buy stations and settings menus jumping two items down per d-pad press
- Weapons swapping back and forth rapidly on their own
- The scoreboard opening and immediately closing again
- Both PlayStation and Xbox button icons flickering on screen at the same time
This happens because Call of Duty ends up detecting both your physical DualSense (as a DirectInput device) and the virtual controller DSX creates (as XInput) at the same time, and reads input from both simultaneously.
Why This Happens
When you connect a DualSense, Windows registers it as an input device. DSX then reads that physical controller and generates a second, virtual Xbox 360 or DualShock 4 gamepad on top of it. Call of Duty’s engine listens for controller input broadly, so when both the real and virtual devices are active, it ends up reading input from both at once instead of picking one.
The fix is to hide the physical controller from the game entirely, so Call of Duty only ever sees the virtual one DSX creates.
Installing and Configuring HidHide
This is the most reliable, permanent fix for double inputs across Call of Duty titles.
Steps
- Close DSX completely, right-click its icon in your system tray and select Exit.
- Open the HidHide Configuration Client from your Start Menu (get it from its official GitHub release page if you haven’t installed it yet).
- Under the Devices tab, find your DualSense (listed as a Sony wireless controller or similar DirectInput entry) and check the box to hide it.
- Under Applications, click Add, browse to DSX’s installation folder, and add it to the whitelist. This is what allows DSX specifically to keep reading the physical controller while everything else only sees the virtual one.
- Enable hiding at the bottom, you should see a lock icon confirming it’s active. Close HidHide, launch DSX, then start Call of Duty.
Disabling Steam Input (If You Play Through Steam)
If you launch Call of Duty through Steam, Steam’s own controller handling can interfere with DSX and cause the same double-input symptoms.
- Open your Steam Library, right-click Call of Duty (or Warzone), and go to Properties.
- Open the Controller tab.
- Under the override option for that game, select Disable Steam Input.
- Restart Steam and launch the game again.
Battle.net-Specific Considerations
If you’re playing through Battle.net rather than Steam, Steam can still cause conflicts if it’s running in the background, even without being your launcher for the game.
Close Steam entirely through your system tray before opening Battle.net. Then launch DSX first, wait until your controller shows as actively detected, and only then hit Play in Battle.net. Launch order matters more than people expect here, starting the game before DSX has fully picked up the controller is a common cause of these issues persisting even with HidHide configured correctly.
Choosing the Right Emulation Mode
Inside your DSX profile, under the emulated controller setting, you can choose Xbox 360 or DualShock 4. Xbox 360 emulation tends to give the most consistent, stable input across the widest range of games, including Call of Duty, so it’s the safer default if you’re not sure which to pick. DualShock 4 emulation is worth trying if you specifically want PlayStation-style button prompts on screen, though it’s worth testing whether it causes any input inconsistency for you specifically, behavior here can vary depending on your setup.
Verifying the Fix Worked
Before jumping into a match, it’s worth confirming the double input issue is actually resolved. Open a browser and go to a gamepad testing site like gamepad-tester.com, then press a button on your controller.
You should see only one controller listed, either as an Xbox 360 controller or DualShock 4, depending on your emulation setting. If you see two separate entries, one for the physical “Wireless Controller” and one for the virtual Xbox/DS4 device, HidHide isn’t actively hiding the physical controller, or DSX wasn’t whitelisted correctly. Go back through the HidHide steps above and double check both the device hiding and the whitelist entry.
Troubleshooting Common Problems
“Could Not Open Controller Exclusively” error: Another app, NVIDIA Overlay, Discord, or Steam, is holding onto the controller. Close Discord and Steam, make sure HidHide is enabled, then restart DSX.
Buy stations still double-click: Steam Input is likely still running alongside DSX. Set the Steam Input override to Disable for that specific game, or exit Steam completely before launching.
Aim assist feels weaker or turned off: This usually means the game is reading DirectInput axis data rather than XInput. Switch your DSX profile’s emulation to Xbox 360 and restart the game.
If none of this resolves the issue, our Troubleshooting guide and Drivers page cover broader connection and driver problems that can sometimes be the underlying cause.