There are two gaming scenarios that you may need to configure your Nintendo Switch Pro controller to your PC for. The first is to play games through the Steam Engine. The second is to play non-Steam PC games with their own independent clients. For each of the two scenarios, the steps for configuration are slightly different. You can connect the controller through the wire or wirelessly via Bluetooth. All you will need to get started are your PC that you want to configure with, your Nintendo Switch Pro controller, and a USB C cable to process the pairing.
Configuring For Steam
Now that you’ve set your controller up with your Steam Engine, all you will have to do before playing any game is plug it in to your PC. The system will automatically detect your controller and your control mapping and latency profiles will be saved for each game as you’ve made them, ready for use.
Wired Connection
To configure your Nintendo Switch Pro controller for games that do not run on the Steam Engine or run on independent clients, you will have to configure the controller generally with Windows. Steam makes it much easier to configure your controller. The procedure for configuring it with Windows is slightly more challenging but doable, nonetheless. If you want to take a wireless over Bluetooth configuration route, you can opt for the easier way which will cost you USD $20. For this you will need two additional pieces of equipment, namely: a Bluetooth dongle and an 8Bitdo wireless Bluetooth adapter (the costing element). If you would like to go through the regular Windows installation without these two pieces of equipment and free of cost, follow the instructions below: Note that the above procedure needs to be carried out in the folder of each individual executable game you have installed to configure the Nintendo Switch Pro controller for each of the games. You may encounter key mapping problems in any of the games where the buttons, despite being configured according to the template your system downloaded, may not operate that way in-game. To resolve this, you can head into the in-game settings and map out your keys again specific to that game. This will ensure that they operate the way that you would like.
Wireless Connection (via Bluetooth)
A standard Windows Bluetooth configuration to allow for wireless gameplay requires that you carry out the steps above as well. Before doing so, however, ensure that the controller is disconnected from the USB C wire connecting it to your PC system. Turn on your computer’s Bluetooth settings and look for new devices. Simultaneously, press the button on top of your control to get it into pairing mode and pair the two devices. Once this is done, carry out steps 1 to 6 listed above for generic Windows configuration with x360ce for each game you would like. In this process, you can opt to use the 8bitdo wireless Bluetooth adapter module as your connector instead of the inbuilt Windows Bluetooth processing.
Final Thoughts
Connecting a Nintendo Switch Pro controller to your PC device for PC gaming is a manageable process. The only hurdle comes out when you’re looking to use it for multiple games. PC games can generally be broken down into Steam and Non-Steam games. For either, a client that is able to project your controller configurations to all your games is needed. In the case of Steam games, the Steam client acts as a one-stop configuration outlet for you to set up your Nintendo Switch Pro controller (with inbuilt compatibility in Steam) and it projects these settings across all of your Steam games. You can individually customize your controller buttons for each game on the Steam engine as well. For non-Steam games, the x360ce controller emulator configures your controller for each game individually. With these two solutions, you’ve got all your gaming configurations covered.
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