Multiplayer

Your controller plays as itself, your keyboard and mouse become a second controller, and up to two more players can join on their own controllers or on the arrow keys of your keyboard.

It is part of Pro. You will find it under Play → Drive a Controller → Multiplayer.

Two players

1. Connect player 1's controller.
2. Under Shows up in the game as, choose Xbox 360 (works in almost every PC game) or DualShock 4 (only for games that support PlayStation controllers).
3. Turn on Two players on one PC.
4. Switch to your game. On its co-op screen, press a button on the controller first, then a key on the keyboard.

Player 1's controller is read by the game directly, so OmniControl's mapping and tuning do not apply to it. Player 2's keys and sensitivity are the ones on the Keyboard and mouse tab.

Your Drive a Controller hotkey still pauses and resumes player 2. Turning Multiplayer off also turns Drive a Controller off.

More players

Multiplayer supports up to four players in all.

• Another controller: plug it in while Multiplayer is on. It joins as the next player and plays as itself.
• Their own keyboard: click Add a player, then ask them to press a key on their keyboard. If OmniControl cannot tell yet which keyboard is yours, it asks Whose keyboard was that?: choose Theirs or Mine. If more than one mouse is connected, it then asks them to move their mouse, or choose No mouse. A player without a mouse turns the camera with the arrow keys of their own keyboard. This works with no controller at all, so two keyboards are enough for a co-op game.
• A shared keyboard: click Add a player, then press an arrow key. The new player plays on the arrow keys and the keys around them, with their own controller in the game. Open their row to give them the mouse, change how they show up in the game, change their keys or remove them.

Controllers a game cannot see

Many PC games, especially older ones, only see Xbox controllers. When a PlayStation or other controller is connected, its row says so and offers Make it an Xbox controller. That makes every such controller show up as an Xbox controller in this game, with rumble going back to the controller it came from. OmniControl remembers it for the game's profile. Let them play as themselves turns it off again.

If the game then sees a converted controller twice (some games read PlayStation controllers on their own as well), use Hide the original on its row. It needs one Windows approval. The controller is shown to games again when Multiplayer turns off, when you choose Let them play as themselves, or when you quit OmniControl from its tray icon. If anything is still hidden after that, OmniControl shows a reminder with a Show it again button. It never touches a controller you hid yourself.

When something is wrong

The tab lists problems only when there is one, each with a single fix:

• The player numbers are out of order: use Fix the order.
• Player 1's controller is hidden from games: use Let games see it.
• Your game can read the keyboard too: use Block keys, so your keys only drive player 2.
• Block keys cannot tell two keyboards apart: with a player on their own keyboard, use Play Mode instead, which keeps every keyboard separate.
• No room: Windows allows four Xbox controllers at once. A fifth cannot join as an Xbox controller.

FAQ

Do the other players need OmniControl settings of their own?

No. Controllers that play as themselves need nothing. A shared-keyboard player uses player 2's sensitivity and only has their own keys.

Does it work with Remote Play?

No. Multiplayer is for games running on this PC. While a Remote Play stream is live, the tab says so and waits.