How to Play the PS4 Console from a PC Using Keyboard and Mouse

Sony‘s PS4 console already allows you to natively connect a keyboard and mouse to play, although in this case it is a bit uncomfortable (unless you have the console itself on the PC table) due to the length of the cables, the surface of gameplay and game compatibility, not to mention having to go around connecting and disconnecting peripherals from the console. However, there is a method to be able to play the PS4 from the PC with your own keyboard and mouse and then we are going to tell you how.

In essence, for this method to work you will have to use the PS4 Remote Play functionality that, for free, you have available for PC. In addition to that, it will be necessary to download, install and configure an emulator that allows mapping the actions of the console control on the keyboard and mouse, but as you will see below, it is a very simple process and also free.

PS4 Console from a PC

Install and configure PS4 Remote Play

Obviously the first thing you should do is download and install PS4 Remote Play , and although this application is available for several operating systems, in this case you will need a Windows PC for the emulator that we are going to talk about in the next step. The installation is extremely simple (next, next, next) and you don’t have to complicate yourself at all.

PS Remote Play

Now you must link the console with the application, and for this you must follow the following steps (it is necessary that the console and the PC are on the same LAN network):

  • Turn on the console.
  • Connect the PS4 controller with the supplied cable to the PC via USB. Initially you need to use the original remote.
  • Launch PS Remote Play and log in with your PSN account, the same one you have on the console.
  • From the console, go to Settings -> Remote Play connection settings -> Enable Remote Play.
  • Go back to PS Remote Play and select PS4. The software will search for PS4 consoles with Remote Play enabled on your local network; When you find the console, a screen will appear asking you for a code, so you will have to go back to the console, write down the code that is displayed on the screen and enter it in the application.

Ready, with this you have already linked the console to the application and if you have the controller connected to the PC you can play the console with the controller.

As additional information, in PS4 Remote Play you can press the gear icon to go to the options, and from the second tab “Video Quality for Remote Play” you can select the resolution and the FPS rate you want to use.

Opciones PS4 Remote Play

By default it comes set to 540p which is quite poor, but with a normal PS4 you can select 720p and with a PS4 Pro you can even do it at 1080p.

Configure your keyboard and mouse to work on PS4

Up to this point you already have the console configured to be able to play on PC with the controller, but as we said at the beginning, the objective is to play with the keyboard and mouse that you have on your PC, so let’s see how to do it.

You need to download and install an emulator called reWASD , free for 14 days or permanently if you pay 6 euros. During the installation process you don’t have to do anything, just accept the terms of use and the process will continue automatically.

rewasd

Then, you must open the application and create a group with your keyboard and mouse. The process is very simple and quite self explanatory, since in fact the application is in Spanish.

Rewasd config

Once done and as the objective is to be able to play the PS4 with a keyboard and mouse, that is, without having to connect the console controller, you will have to go to the virtual devices option on the right side since by default It comes configured for the Xbox 360 controller (select DualShock 4 from the menu).

Now is the time to add the keyboard mappings. Select the keyboard configuration and click on the Add button, select the keyboard key you want to use and assign the controller action you want to be performed. For example, you can select the WASD keys for the controller D-Pad or the left joystick, but note that in this initial setup you will need to configure all the actions key by key.

To configure the mouse is similar, go to the configuration of this and select the mouse buttons and the action of the controller that you want them to perform individually. If you want to make the mouse movement work like the right stick of the controller to move the camera, simply click on the arrow icons and select the option. Once you have mapped all the keyboard and mouse actions, click the Save button and Apply and you are done.

Jugar PS4 en PC con ratón y teclado

Now simply open Remote Play, select your console and you will see that you can now perform all the actions that you have configured directly from the keyboard and mouse, without even having to connect the controller. Obviously you can also connect the remote if you want, of course.

What if you want to use a controller other than the PS4 one?

PS4 Remote App works only with the original controller of the console, but thanks to this same emulator you can also make any controller that works on your PC work. The process is similar to the configuration we have seen for the mouse and keyboard, you simply have to go to the controller configuration within reWASD, press the magic wand icon and select the “Virtual DS4” option.

Virtual DS4

Once that is done, simply go to the controller configuration to map the actions, since as with the keyboard and mouse you will have to assign the buttons of your controller to the actions of the original DualShock 4 controller of the PS4 console.

Once this is done, you can now play the PS4 from your PC with any controller compatible with your PC, including, for example, the famous Xbox Elite Controller.