What does ViGEmBus do?
A game reads controllers through Windows, and a remapping tool cannot change what your physical controller reports. So every tool that reshapes controller input works the same way: it reads the real pad, processes the input, and sends the result to a second, virtual controller. The game is pointed at that one.
ViGEmBus is what makes the second controller exist. It is a bus driver: once installed, an application can ask it to plug in a virtual Xbox 360 or DualShock 4 controller, and to Windows and every game the device looks like one connected over USB. In Device Manager it appears under System devices as Nefarius Virtual Gamepad Emulation Bus; in Settings → Apps it is listed as ViGEm Bus Driver.
ViGEmBus does nothing on its own. No virtual controller appears until an application asks for one, and it disappears when that application closes it.
Which programs use it?
- DS4Windows (3.x) needs it and offers to install it.
- x360ce 4.x creates its virtual Xbox 360 controllers through it.
- JoyShockMapper uses it for its optional virtual controller; its main output is keyboard and mouse.
- Coda presents its virtual Xbox 360 or DualShock 4 controller through it, and its installer offers ViGEmBus 1.22.0 when it is missing.
Not everything does. Steam Input on Windows hooks the game's controller APIs and injects an emulated Xbox controller there, according to Valve's documentation, so it needs no driver. reWASD installs driver components of its own. DSX creates its virtual DualSense through Nefarius's newer, commercial VirtualPad driver.
Why was ViGEmBus retired?
Over the name. In Nefarius's words: “In May 2023 a conflict with a registered trademark by ViGEM GmbH was discovered.” The project went through a transition period and the repository was archived on 2 November 2023, the same day 1.22.0 was released. Its README now opens with “This project has been retired”.
Nefarius continued the technology as VirtualPad, a commercial framework available to business partners rather than as a free download. The free driver was not replaced by another free driver from the same authors.
Is ViGEmBus still safe to use?
Four things are true at once, and it is worth holding all of them.
The driver is signed and still loads
The release binaries are production-signed for Windows 10 and 11. On an installed copy we checked, the driver file carries the signature of Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility Publisher, and Windows verifies that signature each time the driver loads. Nefarius states that retirement has “no impact on existing installations except for the updater components”.
Retired means no more fixes
Nothing found in the driver from now on will be patched by its authors. That is what retirement means for any software, and it is the honest cost of using it. If that matters more to you than the tools it enables, the safe choice is not to install it.
Older versions shipped an updater worth removing
Versions up to 1.21.442 came with an updater that contacts a domain Nefarius no longer owns, which, in their words, “could lead to your public IP address getting leaked to whoever has the ownership of the domain.” Their end-of-life page offers a tool called Legacinator to fix this, or manual steps; if nothing on your PC still needs the driver, uninstalling it through Apps does the same.
Anti-cheat software can see it
ViGEmBus is a driver, so any anti-cheat that lists installed drivers can see that it is present. That is true of every tool built on it. How a given publisher treats it is that publisher's decision, and nobody outside the publisher can promise you an outcome.
How do I check whether it is installed, or remove it?
- Open Settings → Apps → Installed apps and search for ViGEm. The entry shows the version.
- To remove it, uninstall that entry. Any tool that creates virtual controllers through it stops working until it is installed again.
- Device Manager → System devices → Nefarius Virtual Gamepad Emulation Bus confirms the driver is loaded.
What comes after ViGEmBus?
Two directions exist today. VirtualPad is Nefarius's commercial successor, licensed to companies that build on it. VIIPER is an open-source project (GPL-3.0) that emulates controllers in user space over USB/IP, using the signed usbip-win2 driver on Windows; the release candidates of DS4Windows 5 use it instead of ViGEmBus.
Where Coda stands
Coda depends on ViGEmBus like the other tools on this page, and its installer sets up 1.22.0, the final release, when you do not have it yet. What Coda adds on top happens before the driver is involved: it reads your controller, shapes the sticks and triggers, and hands the result to the virtual pad. None of it touches the game. If Coda ever moves to another driver, this page will say so.