Radiata is a powerful radial menu for gaming controllers. Launch a game, join the Discord call, swap to headphones, start your stream, all from a controller.
Configurable: each slice's action, icon, color and position, the summon chord, the look, the sounds. Edit at the desk in Settings, or from the couch in the in-wheel editor.
Game Grid - a universal launcher for every installed game across Steam, Epic, Playnite, GOG, Xbox, Battle.net, Amazon, itch, Ubisoft and EA.
Nothing hooked, nothing injected - Radiata reads your controller directly and allows your input through only when a wheel isn't up, so the game underneath doesn't pick up duplicate input. For strict-anticheat titles, see Passthru Mode.
Start with Opening a wheel. Then open one and click the aiming stick (L3/R3) when you're ready to start editing.
Installing Radiata
Radiata ships as a single installer, Radiata-<version>-setup.exe. Download it from getradiata.app.
Only download Radiata from known sources. Anything else claiming to be Radiata isn't from the developer.
What you need
Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit (x64) on an Intel or AMD PC. Windows on ARM isn't supported.
Administrator account needed for driver installation (optional but strongly recommended)
"Windows protected your PC"
Windows SmartScreen may show a blue "Windows protected your PC" box the first time you run the installer, and your browser may warn that the file "isn't commonly downloaded".
In the browser: if the download itself is blocked, keep it (Chrome and Edge: the ⋯ menu beside the download ▸ Keep ▸ Show more ▸ Keep anyway).
At the SmartScreen box: click More info, then the Run anyway button that appears below it. If there's no More info link you might be seeing your browser's warning instead. See the previous step.
No Run anyway button at all? A managed or locked-down PC can have SmartScreen set to block outright. Radiata can't work around it.
You can confirm you have the genuine file before running it: every GitHub release lists the installer's SHA-256, and Get-FileHash .\Radiata-<version>-setup.exe in PowerShell should print the same value. Radiata's updater automatically runs the same verification check on every update.
Antivirus false positives happen for the same reason. If yours quarantines the installer, restore it and run it again, or download it fresh from getradiata.app.
What the installer does
Installs for your user account only, into %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Radiata. It never touches other accounts on the PC.
Adds a Start menu shortcut, and on a first install sets Radiata to start with Windows. You can turn that off in the tray menu or Settings ▸ Advanced.
Nothing sneaky or malicious comes with Radiata. Radiata is GPLv3 free software.
Installing over an existing copy is an upgrade in place. Your wheels, settings and game art are left alone.
Driver prompts (UAC prompts)
Leave Install drivers (recommended) selected and approve any necessary Windows prompts that follow. ViGEmBus and HidHide are the open-source drivers that keep duplicate controller input out of the game. See Input isolation.
Declining is safe. Radiata still works; games just also see your controller while a wheel is open, which is annoying. Install them later any time from Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Troubleshooting ▸ Install/Repair Drivers.
The drivers are shared system components other tools may also use, so if you uninstall Radiata, removing the drivers as well is optional.
First run
Setup opens by itself and walks you through the drivers, a controller check, the look, cover art, and a set of starter wheels. Re-run it any time from Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Troubleshooting ▸ Run First-Run Setup… - see System tools.
Radiata then lives in the system tray. Click the icon for Settings or right-click for the tray menu. Then start at Opening a wheel.
Updating and uninstalling
Updates are discovered automatically by default. You can manually check for updates at Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Check for Updates. Radiata always verifies the download before running it.
Uninstall from Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Troubleshooting ▸ Uninstall Radiata…, or from Windows' Installed apps list. Your settings and the shared drivers can be removed in the same step.
Hold the bumper/trigger; the second button is a tap that brings the wheel up.
Fn / L4/R4 and squeeze chords (Bumper+Trigger, +Home, +Select/Start) - the hand you squeeze opens the opposite wheel, so the free hand aims (R1+R2 → Left; L1+L2 → Right). For Select/Start, either button works.
L3/R3 and D-Pad L/R - the clicked stick or the direction determines which wheel; either bumper/trigger is the hold.
Touchpad swipe - in from the left edge → Left wheel, right edge → Right.
Flip mid-gesture: while holding a chord, tap the opposite bumper or trigger to switch to the other wheel without having to re-input the entire chord.
Activation is Hold (up while held; release fires) or Toggle (trigger opens; ✕ confirms, ○ cancels; re-trigger dismisses) - set it in Accessibility. Touchpad swipe is always toggle-style.
Either analog stick aims, but it's easiest if you use the hand that's not holding the shoulder button. Wheel ignores opposite stick (Accessibility setting) narrows it to one stick per wheel.
Aiming & firing
Tilt the stick toward a slice and it lights up. Release the trigger to fire it.
Release while centered (stick in the deadzone) cancels.
Center hub
Arming a toggle slice (mic/volume mute, HDR, process toggle) shows its current state before you fire, e.g. Mute Mic / Unmuted. After firing, the hub shows the new state.
A slice that still needs configuring (such as a voice-join with no URL) arms as "Configure in Settings". Choosing it takes you to the configuration screen or the setup wizard it needs.
Hold-to-confirm slices
Slices with Hold to confirm are protected from accidental triggering, which is useful for Sleep, Power Down, etc. Hold the stick on them (0.8 s) and they'll activate. You can set this on any slice in the Settings wheel editors.
Enable / disable the wheels with the "both sides" of your invocation chord, pressed together:
Bumper/Trigger + D-Pad is directional: D-Pad Up = enable, D-Pad Down = disable.
You can also toggle wheels on/off from tray menu's Disable/Enable Wheels or add a Disable Wheels slice action.
Disabling the wheels changes wheel routing only. The virtual controller and cloak stay exactly where they are, basic controls keep running through that controller, and native features do not come back. To release capture and get your real controller, use Passthru Mode. This will re-enable vendor features like special haptics and touchpads.
Edit mode (in-wheel, controller-only)
Start editing a wheel: with a wheel open, click either stick (L3/R3). The wheel centers and stays up after you release the trigger.
Use either stick. While you're editing, non-logo slices always show their labels regardless of the Label setting.
Move:✕ picks up the selected slice; aim at a target slot and ✕ drops it.
D-Pad ← → will nudge a slice one spot left or right.
Remove:hold ☐ on a slice until it disappears. Removing the last slice disables that wheel; see Single-wheel mode.
Add:△ opens the category→type Add picker (✕ drills in, ○ backs out). Installed Game opens the Game Grid to pick a game, then returns to edit carrying the slice. Other types drop a slice immediately; free-text types (raw URL / keypress) land as placeholders you finish in Settings.
A wheel holds up to 12 slices.
Undo / Redo:L1 / R1. You can undo/redo multiple steps while you remain in Edit mode.
Exit + save:○, click the stick again, or press an Fn / L4/R4 button.
Single-wheel mode
Want only one wheel? Delete every slice off the other one. A wheel with no slices is disabled. That side's chord stays fully usable in the game. Remove slices from Settings, or in edit mode with hold ☐ until the last one is gone.
Emptying one wheel turns its side off: the chord that used to open it passes through to the game untouched.
To bring it back: invoke it (hold the gesture) and click the aiming stick (L3/R3). The wheel opens centered, straight into the Add picker. (Toggle-style gestures have no hold, so they allow the stick click for a few seconds after the invoke.)
If you accidentally empty both wheels, Settings opens so you can rebuild one or both of them.
Arcade direct-launch (a wheel that is just the Arcade)
If a wheel has only one slice and it's the Arcade Launcher, then that wheel is replaced by the Arcade Launcher directly.
To set it up: just delete all slices on a wheel except a single Arcade ▸ Arcade Launcher slice. You can do that in Settings, or in edit mode with hold ☐.
The arcade opens where that wheel would have been - the left or right quarter of the screen, the same spot the wheel uses. ○ closes it as usual.
This applies to Arcade Launcher only. A single slice with just an individual Arcade game on it still draws as a one-slice wheel.
An Arcade Launcher wheel can't be edited with R3/L3; edit it in Settings ▸ Left/Right Wheel, or add a second slice to get the wheel back.
If you want, you can pair this with Single-wheel mode: empty the OTHER wheel and you have one gesture that opens the arcade and one that passes straight through to the game.
Slice editor tricks (Settings, mouse & keyboard)
Drag an app (.exe or .lnk) from Explorer into the slice list. A Launch slice lands at the drop position with its icon already extracted. Drop several at once for several slices.
Drag a slice within the list to reorder.
Set a slice's icon and color in the Icon & Color panel below the label.
Color swatches are paired - the wheel shows whichever variation suits its material. If you type an exact Hex value instead, that color is used exactly as-is, without tinting lighter or darker based on wheel Material. Reset to Default returns to the action-type color.
Show Label toggles the slice's text on the wheel. It appears only when Show labels on is set to Slices I Choose.
Artwork on a slice
Drop your own image onto the preview well to give any slice custom artwork. It needs a transparent background, so a logo-style PNG is best. Something like a screenshot or a photo with no transparency would be a solid block so it's rejected. The file is copied into Radiata's art cache, so moving the original later won't blank the slice.
When you choose a game, Radiata fetches its transparent logo automatically. The ↻ button restores that logo (downloading it if needed), and the ← → buttons cycle every logo already downloaded for that game. Requires SteamGridDB to be configured.
Choosing a different icon drops the original game logo. A slice's logo is independent of the Game Grid's.
Everything auto-saves - adds, removals, reorders, and edits to an existing slice (Revert undoes an in-progress edit). A new slice created in Settings is not saved until you click Save Slice. Entering Ctrl+S forces a save at any point.
A slice's action type locks once you Save it. To change it, delete the slice and add a new one.
Game Grid basics
The Game Grid is a controller-scrollable view of every installed game across your storefronts, sorted most-recently-launched first, favorites pinned on top. The button controls are spelled out along the bottom of the grid.
D-Pad / arrow keys or the left stick move the selection.
✕ / Enter or a mouse double-click - launch the selected game. ○ / Esc - close the grid.
△ - favorite the selected game. Favorites sit in their own row of larger tiles at the top of every view. Press again to un-favorite.
Hold ☐ - hide the game from the grid. Bring hidden games back with Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Game Grid ▸ Reset Hidden Games. The same hold on a storefront's Open <store> card hides that whole store - see Hiding a storefront.
L1 / R1 (or PgUp / PgDn) - cycle the storefront filter. A chip appears for each store you have installed.
Select and Start - cycle the selected game's cover and logo; see Cover art & logos.
Add a game to a wheel
Add games from the in-wheel editor: open a wheel → click the aiming stick to enter Edit → △ Add → Installed Game, which opens the grid in pick mode. ✕ picks the highlighted game and carries it into the editor (○ cancels).
Cover art & logos
Select (Create/Share) - cycle the selected game's cover and save it. Your choices will cycle through default, then up to 10 top-rated SteamGridDB covers, then 5 flat colors if you just want the logo on a clean background.
Start (Options/Menu) - cycle the logo overlay and save it: default logo → up to 2 SteamGridDB alternates → off (raw cover) → wrap. A game with no logo art uses its centered title text.
Covers come from SteamGridDB - add a free API key in Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Integrations for portrait covers and logos across every storefront. This is the best option. However, without SteamGridDB, you still get Steam's own art, Playnite's covers, and the flat colors.
Art is fetched once and kept on disk, so the grid opens instantly and offline after that. A big library fills in over the first few seconds of browsing. Reopen the grid and the stragglers should be there.
A game with no art found is re-checked every couple of weeks on its own, since art gets added over time. To recheck now, use Retry Missing Game Art (Advanced ▸ Game Grid).
Game Grid options (Settings ▸ Advanced)
Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Game Grid collects the grid's housekeeping buttons:
Retry Missing Game Art - re-attempts only the covers and logos that came up empty, keeping everything already downloaded and every cover you picked by hand (see Cover art & logos).
Clear Game Art Cache - deletes ALL cached covers, so everything re-downloads. Images you dropped onto a slice are kept. Try Retry Missing Game Art first if you only want to fill blanks.
Reset Hidden Games - brings back every game and storefront you hid with hold ☐ (see Hiding a storefront).
Prefer Playnite covers - shown when Playnite and a SteamGridDB key are both set up: favors Playnite's own cover art.
Hiding a storefront
A whole storefront can be hidden from the Game Grid, the same way a single game can.
Filter to the store with L1 / R1, then hold ☐ on its Open <store> card. A notice asks "Hide <store> and all its games in Radiata?" - ✕ hides it, ○ cancels.
Hiding a store hides its games in the Game Grid, the Add picker, and the starter wheels the first-run wizard suggests.
Bring it back with Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Game Grid ▸Reset Hidden Games, which un-hides storefronts as well as games.
Newly installed storefronts appear automatically the next time Radiata scans.
Only a store with its own Open <store> card can be hidden this way. A Playnite game you added by hand, or one from a third-party Playnite plugin, carries no storefront card. Hide those games individually.
Action types
Each slice runs one action, grouped by the editor's categories:
Games & Apps - installed game (direct launch), the Game Grid, storefront launcher (big-picture), launch/focus an app, Exit Current App (closes the frontmost app), and Game Bar (open, screenshot, start/stop recording, record the last 30 s, toggle mic - via Windows' Xbox Game Bar).
System - controller mode (Xbox / DualShock); audio (switch output, mute, mic mute, set volume, play/pause, next/previous); display (Toggle Extend/Clone and HDR toggle); Windows (Show Desktop - fire again to put the windows back - and Empty Recycle Bin); power (sleep/hibernate/reboot/shut down/log out/lock, and Power Plan, which flips between two plans you pick).
Reboot has a Log In after Reboot checkbox: checked (the default), Windows signs you back in where policy allows. Unchecked is a traditional restart, which can land at the sign-in screen.
Custom - Open URI and Key Combo (send a keyboard shortcut like Win+D or PlayPause).
Radiata - the Game Grid, open Settings, and disable wheels. Passthru Mode is not a slice: turn it on or off from the tray or Settings ▸ Passthru Mode.
A slice missing a required value arms as "Configure in Settings". Firing it opens that slice's editor.
Arcade
An Arcade slice opens a game right in the wheel, in an overlaid window you can quickly slide left or right to keep an eye on what's underneath. Pop it open to play a quick round without alt-tabbing out of your main game, while you wait on a patch to install, a lobby to fill up, or a loading screen to finish.
Arcade Launcher opens the whole arcade. Each game is a cabinet on a round carousel with a live screenshot of where it was left. Left/right on the stick or D-Pad swings the next cabinet to the front, ✕ plays it. It picks up where you left off - straight back into the game you were last playing, or at the cabinets if that's where you closed it. Each game can also be directly-launched by adding a slice for it.
A wheel with the Arcade Launcher and nothing else skips the wheel and goes straight to the Arcade Launcher - see Arcade direct-launch.
○ always backs you out. One press closes a menu or help card, the next steps out of the game: back to the Arcade Launcher when that's how you got in, otherwise straight out. The game freezes exactly as you left it, so you can come back later and carry on. Each game stores its own state and scoreboard.
✕ acts, ☐ is each game's second action, and the left stick aims. The D-Pad drives the menus. △ explains the game you're in, and START pauses with Resume, How to play, Reset, and that game's own settings.
Over a game, the arcade only plays while your controller is isolated from it. Otherwise a card explains why and offers hold △ to play anyway. Passthru Mode will mean no Arcade games can be played while you're in another game. See Input isolation.
Arcade: Kabloom
Kabloom: Minesweeper logic on a Floret Pentagonal Tiled field of flower petals. Move the cursor with the stick or d-pad. ✕ reveals a tile, ☐ flags where you think there's a bee (or multiple bees, on later levels). Press ☐ again to increase the flag count, or hold it for a question mark flag. Remaining bees are shown at the bottom of the screen. At the center of each floret is a nectar gem, collected when all the petals around it are cleared, which adds to your total score. Every board is solvable with no forced guesses.
More about "no forced guesses": Boards 1-10 are generated on the fly and validated by the Solver before play. Every board from level 11 up is baked ahead of time and certified by a complete solver before it ships. Individual petal tiles can hold up to three bees on the later levels. The solver plays the board from every zero-clue petal you could open on. It runs the human patterns first (saturation, subset difference, overlap bounds, chained constraints) and when those run dry it groups the unknown petals that share the same set of clues into boxes, enumerates every way the remaining bees can be spread over each connected group of boxes, and folds in the total bee count so the petals no clue touches get reasoned about too. A level ships only when the certified start-points cover the whole crop, so the first petal you open is always one the proof began from, ensuring every possible start guarantees a solvable board.
Connate: Your craft rides the rim around a cluster of orbs and garbage blocks. Shoot orbs to merge the numbers before the pile grows past the inner ring. Tap ✕ to fire your held number into the cluster. Hold it for half a second, until a ring flashes at the orb, then release for a hard slam that shoves the pile; holding longer adds nothing. Star and Star-Gap pieces merge to make orbs of 3, and matching numbers from 3 up combines their values. Only matching colors merge, although mixed-color orbs can be created by matching stars and gaps of opposite colors; these merge with either color or with other mixed-color orbs. Combos charge up a bomb you can fire. Bomb high-value orbs to collect them to your score. If the pile stays pressed past the inner ring for too long, your run ends.
Garbage: blocks of junk join the cluster as the run goes on, and they never merge. A merge that touches one breaks it, and breaking garbage counts toward your combo. A bomb that hits an orb sweeps away all of it at once.
The shot clock: wait too long and the orb in your craft fires itself. A sweep closes around it through the final stretch of the countdown. Keep ✕ held with a full charge when the clock runs out and that shot is a slam.
Stages: the pace follows your score, up to stage 20. Each time your collected total crosses a stage line (100, 250, 450, and on up to 10,000), the shot clock gets shorter, garbage arrives sooner, and a bomb takes more combo charge to fill, up to a cap. The current stage is shown under the score, and a banner announces each new one. Passing your best score partway through a run shouts NEW BEST.
Unlocked starts: the first time a run reaches stage 5, 10, 15 or 20, that start is unlocked quietly, with no card. Once anything above stage 1 is unlocked, the pause menu shows START AT STAGE after RADIAL CONTROLS, cycling 1 and each start you have unlocked. Choosing a stage begins a new run there (if one is in progress you are asked first, as with Reset) with exactly that stage's score and pace, and that score counts toward your best. Reset and AGAIN always start at stage 1.
Earned bombs wait for your shot: a bomb you earn does not replace the orb in your craft. It loads after that orb has fired, flies in from the charge meter, and the next orb waits behind it. The preview beside the score shows a bomb while one is waiting.
Clearing the board: empty the field of every orb and garbage block and a boss block drops in. You earn one more bomb (three in all at most), the orb in your craft shatters into a bomb, and only bombs can fire until the block is broken. The shot clock, garbage and stage changes all wait. Each bomb that hits pays a share of your score so far and cracks the block, and the last one breaks it. Play resumes with your next orb and a fresh garbage block, and any stage you earned is announced then.
Petalpop: a ring of paddles around a flower of petals. Your analog stick controls every paddle together, so be careful! Hold ✕ to draw the paddles back like a slingshot, then release to smash the ball. Hit the core with a smash shot to clear the level. Pop a blue petal for multi-ball.
Four sides and four levels to start, then five, six, seven and eight. You get one extra life for each size increase. Switch between spring and rail control via the Start menu.
Choose the app two ways: Browse for App… picks an .exe from disk, and Installed Apps… lists everything with a Start-menu entry (including Microsoft Store apps, which have no .exe to browse to). Either way the icon is pulled in automatically. You can also drag an .exe, a shortcut, or a Start-menu app straight into the slice list.
Behavior - Run launches the app, or focuses it if it's already running. Toggle launches the app or requests a normal close, like clicking its ✕. The hub reports Close requested, not a confirmed exit: unsaved-work prompts stay open until you answer them, apps may refuse to close or keep running in the tray, and Toggle leaves windowless processes running.
A Store app can't be detected as already-running, so Run just re-opens it and Toggle won't reliably close it. And an app started through an updater or launcher stub may run under a different name than the file you picked, so picking the app's real .exe is the reliable choice.
Storefront (launcher slices) - opens the store's big-picture/fullscreen mode. Only Steam and Playnite have a true one; the Xbox app is maximized; the rest just open. A storefront is offered only when its launcher app is actually installed.
Installed Game slices launch the game directly where possible. A GOG game runs its own exe even without GOG Galaxy installed; only stores that need their client running (like Steam) will route through the launcher.
Controller mode (Xbox / DualShock)
Radiata forwards a virtual controller, and Controller mode decides which kind the game sees: an Xbox pad or a DualShock pad. Two slices under System ▸ Controller flip it - Toggle Xbox Mode and Toggle DualShock Mode.
What it's for: many games only accept one class of controller. A Game Pass or Xbox-app title that refuses a DualSense controller will allow it if it's in Xbox Mode in Radiata. Games that want PlayStation input go the other way.
Button prompts follow the mode. The glyphs a game draws come from the pad it thinks is plugged in, so Xbox Mode gets you A B X Y and DualShock Mode ✕ ○ ☐ △.
Arming the slice shows On or Off in the hub, so you can check which mode you're in without changing it.
The switch is instant and stays put until you flip it back, but the game sees a controller swap at that moment. Flip it before launching the game for best results.
A wired Xbox pad stays an Xbox pad. If your physical controller is an Xbox pad on USB, or a USB wireless dongle, the game always gets a virtual Xbox pad and DualShock Mode cannot change it.
This requires installing the isolation drivers. There's no virtual pad to switch without them, and firing the slice puts up an on-screen notice saying so. In Passthru Mode the game reads your real controller, so the mode has nothing to change. See Input isolation.
Switch Audio Output
Switch Audio Output changes the Windows default audio device(s). Both fields match by partial name, case-insensitively - "Speakers" matches "Speakers (Realtek…)". The ▾ button beside each field lists your connected devices, and a new slice starts pre-filled with your current defaults.
Output Device - the playback device to switch to. Blank = cycle through your outputs on each fire (unless a Mic Device is set, which leaves the output alone).
Mic Device - the recording device to switch to. Blank = leave the mic unchanged.
Set both fields to switch output + mic in one slice - "TV + no mic", "Headset + headset mic". Firing shows the device switched to in the hub.
Open URI
An Open URI slice hands its value to Windows to open with whatever handles that scheme. That covers a lot more than web links:
Web URLs - https://twitch.tv/yourchannel opens in your default browser.
App deep links - steam://open/bigpicture, discord://discord.com/channels/…, com.epicgames.launcher://apps/…, spotify:playlist:… - anything an installed app registers a protocol for.
Windows pages - ms-settings:display opens that Settings page.
The value must be a complete, absolute URI. A bare twitch.tv/... won't launch - include the https://.
Game-launch URIs (steam://rungameid/…) work here too, but the Installed Game slice type builds them for you, which is easier.
Key Combo (send a keyboard shortcut)
A Key Combo slice (Custom) presses a keyboard shortcut for you. Write it as key names joined with + - Win+D, Ctrl+Shift+Esc, Alt+F4 - or a single key like PlayPause. The last name is the key pressed; everything before it is a modifier held around it. Names aren't case-sensitive.
In a combo, the last name is the key that actually gets pressed and everything before it is a modifier held down around it.
Modifiers:Ctrl, Alt, Shift, Win.
Keys: letters and digits; F1-F12; Enter, Esc, Tab, Space, Backspace, Del, Insert; Home, End, PgUp, PgDn; the arrows UpDownLeftRight; PrintScreen, Pause; Backtick and Slash; and the media keysVolUp, VolDown, Mute, PlayPause, Next, Prev, Stop - media keys work on their own, no modifier needed.
The combo is sent as real keystrokes. One thing can block it: an app running as administrator won't accept keystrokes from Radiata. This is a Windows limitation.
Discord voice-channel setup
Launch Discord works out of the box. Join/Leave Voice Channel, Deafen and Mute Me talk to Discord directly, so those three need your own free Discord application credentials. Until they exist the slice editor shows a Configure Discord Integration button, and the same wizard sits in Settings ▸ Advanced; firing one of those slices from the wheel opens it too, rather than doing nothing.
Deafen and Mute Me toggle Discord's own switches - the same ones the headphone and microphone buttons at the bottom-left of Discord flip - and they work while a game has focus. No keybind to set up, and the game never sees a keystroke.
To get the channel link: in Discord, right-click the voice channel → Copy Link, and paste it into the slice's Discord URL field (Radiata normalizes it to the discord:// form).
Discord must be running. These slices talk to the Discord app on your PC, not to Discord's website.
Steam voice chat
The Steam Chat group does everything Steam allows a third-party app to do, which is less than Discord allows. Discord provides a local control channel that Radiata's Join/Leave slice uses; Steam provides none. What you can do:
Open Steam Chat - opens Steam's Friends & Chat window. Join a group's voice channel from there. Steam gives another app no way to join, leave or switch voice channels, and has no mute-incoming-voice control at all.
Mic Mute - in the group, and the same slice as System ▸ Audio. It mutes your Windows microphone, which is what Steam transmits from, so the others can't hear you. Every other app loses the mic as well, since Steam exposes no app-scoped mute. Live Muted/Unmuted state shows in the hub.
For full voice control from a slice - join, leave, mute, deafen - Discord remains the best-supported option; see Discord voice-channel setup.
OBS Studio
OBS Studio (obsproject.com) is the free, open-source program that dominates the Twitch and YouTube streaming space, and also allows you to record the screen. It builds a broadcast out of scenes - named layouts of game capture, camera, mic and overlays - that you switch between while live.
OBS Studio slices - Toggle Streaming, Toggle Recording, Save Replay Buffer, Switch Scene…, Toggle Source Mute… - drive OBS over the obs-websocket protocol.
One-time setup: in OBS, Tools ▸ WebSocket Server Settings ▸ enable the server, then copy its port (default 4455) and password into Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Integrations ▸ Configure OBS Integration…. It's one shared setting, and Test confirms the connection on the spot. Until it's set up, OBS slices arm as "Configure in Settings", and an OBS slice's editor offers the same setup pane.
Scene and audio-source names on the slice must match OBS exactly.
What's supported:OBS Studio 28 or later (the WebSocket server is built in) and OBS 27 or earlier with the obs-websocket 5.x plugin. Forks that speak the same protocol (StreamElements OBS.Live, for one) work identically. Streamlabs Desktop does NOT - it's a different app without obs-websocket.
Text Chat (send a message into a game)
A Text Chat slice (Chat & Streaming) types a message into the running game's text chat: it presses the game's chat-open key, types your text, and presses Enter.
Chat Button - Try Game Default looks up the chat key for whatever game is running each time the slice fires, from a built-in index of around 1,000 PC games, so the same slice works across multiple games. Custom… lets you enter the key yourself, so use it for games with remapped or unusual chat keys, or for a game the index doesn't cover.
Message - the line of text to send. An empty message (or Custom with no key) arms as "Configure in Settings", and firing opens the slice's editor.
Try Game Default sends nothing unless the focused game is in the index. When the game in front isn't covered, the hub names it and says "No chat key default found. Configure in Settings" - switch that slice to Custom… and set the key.
Sends are limited to one per 15 seconds. Hub shows the remaining cooldown. No spamming, please!
Limits: the game must be focused and must accept its chat key at that moment.
Supported controllers
Sony family (DualSense Edge, DualSense, DualShock 4) over Bluetooth or USB: good support with clean input isolation. The Edge's Fn buttons are the reference trigger. Haptic triggers and touchpad will not be seen by games due to driver limitations unless you are in Passthru Mode.
Third-party Xbox-style pads over Bluetooth - most present as a DualShock 4 over BT, so they get the full isolation path too.
Pads with extra paddles or buttons (e.g. 8BitDo Ultimate 2C) - over Bluetooth the extra L4/R4 buttons are read directly, so you can pick them in Settings ▸ Customize ▸ Triggers to summon a wheel on their own, or paired with a second button if you also use them in games. They're offered, not assumed: the default stays the standard bumper chord. Over USB the extra buttons are invisible to Radiata, except as mapped by the controller's own drivers. So connect over Bluetooth if you want native L4/R4 support, or map them deliberately.
If you've remapped L4 or R4 on the pad itself (holding L4/R4 + a button + the mapping key), that paddle now sends the button you assigned and Radiata can no longer see it - so it stops opening wheels. Clear the remap on the pad to get it back, or pick a chord in Settings ▸ Customize ▸ Triggers instead.
Xbox pads over USB or wireless dongle (XInput) - isolated with the same cloak, presenting a virtual Xbox 360 pad to the game. If a pad can't be cloaked for any reason, Radiata falls back automatically to shared-input mode: the wheel still works, but the game also sees your input while a wheel is up.
Genuine Xbox pads over Bluetooth - isolated too, with an extra safeguard. Before presenting the stand-in pad, Radiata has a separate helper process observe that games really can't see the physical pad any more. If that check can't pass - or can't run - it falls back to shared-input mode instead of guessing, so a hidden pad with no stand-in won't leave you without a working controller.
Two or more Xbox pads plugged in at once - isolation switches off and both pads keep working in shared-input mode, since cloaking would make a second player's controller disappear. Unplug the second pad and isolation comes back on its own.
Isolation needs the drivers (ViGEm + HidHide). Without them every pad runs in shared-input mode (e.g. "bleed-thru"). Install from Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Troubleshooting ▸ Install/Repair Drivers. Not sure which mode you're in? Hover the tray icon - see Input isolation.
Input isolation (what the drivers do)
With the optional isolation drivers installed, Radiata gives games a virtual controller - a DualShock 4 for Sony pads, an Xbox 360 pad for Xbox pads or in Xbox Mode - and cloaks the physical pad (HidHide) so the game can't see it twice. That's when capture succeeds. Other remappers, existing device access and unsupported input paths can all sabotage full isolation, and without the drivers games keep seeing your controller while a wheel is up. This is how you get bleed-thru.
With successful isolation, the game reads the virtual pad; in Passthru Mode or with no drivers installed, the game reads your controller directly and Radiata simply watches alongside it.
Which mode am I actually in? Hover the tray icon. It reads "Radiata - isolated", or names the reason it isn't (no drivers, Passthru Mode, a pad that can't be cloaked). When capture drops to shared-input mode you also get an on-screen notice.
Isolation forwards sticks, triggers, D-Pad and standard buttons. Sony touchpad, gyro, speaker/mic, adaptive triggers, haptics and rumble are not forwarded. Captured Xbox input supports standard two-motor rumble, but not Share or impulse-trigger motors. Passthru Mode or quitting requests removal of Radiata's capture; games may need to reconnect or restart, and other remappers can still affect native features.
Input latency
Sony pads and Xbox pads over Bluetooth - imperceptible. Reports are passed straight through as they arrive.
Xbox pads over USB or a wireless dongle (XInput) - a few milliseconds at most, because these have to be polled.
Passthru Mode, or no drivers installed - none. The game reads your physical controller directly.
For scale: a 60 fps game draws a frame every 16.7 ms. Radiata never injects into or hooks a game, so it adds nothing to rendering or frame pacing.
While a wheel, Game Grid or editor is on screen, Radiata holds its virtual pad neutral. If the game still reacts, another input path may be active - follow the Controller conflict checklist. Passthru Mode deliberately lets controller input reach the game.
Some competitive titles with kernel anticheat (Valorant, Call of Duty, Fortnite, Rainbow Six Siege) could theoretically react to emulated or hidden devices. Passthru Mode bypasses input isolation entirely: Radiata removes its virtual pad and requests release of its own controller blocks. Other tools may still hide or remap the controller. The wheel still works; the trade-off is that input reaches the game while a wheel is open, which is what "bleed-through" or "double input" means. Don't confuse it with disabling the wheels - that keeps the virtual pad in place and only stops summons. Passthru Mode removes the virtual pad altogether.
Global toggle: the tray's checkable Passthru Mode item, or the checkbox on Settings ▸ Passthru Mode. The tab appears only when the isolation drivers are installed.
Automatic per-game: add a game to the Always use Passthru Mode for list - from the installed-games dropdown, or Add Application… for a specific .exe. Radiata enters Passthru Mode while it runs and restores capture on exit; the tray shows "(auto: <game>)".
Each entry engages While Running (recommended - anticheat watches from launch) or While Frontmost (only while the game's window is focused).
Passthru Mode is best-effort. Per-game detection polls every ~2 seconds, so a just-launched game can briefly see normal capture. For the strictest titles, toggle Passthru Mode on manually *before* launching. The isolation drivers also stay installed system-wide either way.
Switch Passthru Mode on or off between play sessions, not mid-game. Either direction swaps the controller a running game is reading - the virtual pad for your real one, or back - and most games don't go looking for a new controller once they've started, so the game loses input until it's relaunched.
D-Pad ← →
While a wheel is open, D-Pad ← → does one of four things. Pick in the Settings ▸ Customize ▸ D-Pad ← → section:
Cycles Windows (default) - steps through the Alt-Tab switcher, one window per press. The switcher stays up while the wheel is open and lands on the highlighted window when the wheel closes.
Cycles Desktops - switches Windows virtual desktops, the same as Win+Ctrl+← →.
Skips Songs - the same track-skip keys as the Audio slices; each skip flashes a ⏮ / ⏭ icon in the hub.
Mic Volume - turns your default mic up and down in 5% steps, holding to repeat, and un-mutes it on the way up. The level shows in the hub with a microphone icon.
Tray icon: left-click opens Settings; right-click has the menu (Disable/Enable Wheels, Passthru Mode, Game Grid, Settings, Help, About Radiata, Start with Windows, Exit).
Test Wheel - each Wheel tab has a Test Left/Right Wheel button under the slice list that opens that wheel on screen (with the wheels enabled).
Settings tabs: Left Wheel, Right Wheel, Customize (look, feel, sound, triggers, the D-Pad ← → picker and the Show labels on picker), Passthru Mode (Passthru Mode - shown when the isolation drivers are installed), Advanced (a Current Controller readout, Integrations, Game Grid housekeeping, Accessibility, Start with Windows, and System tools incl. backup & reset and Quit Radiata), Help, and About. Settings auto-save; Ctrl+S forces a save.
Language - Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Language sets the language for the whole app. Help language switches immediately. Everything else follows at the next launch.
Customize (look, feel & sound)
Settings ▸ Customize sets how the wheels look, feel and sound. Every pick applies live.
Material - the resting-slice look. Eight, in two groups. Simple contains solid-color Flat Light and Flat Dark; Deluxe contains the glassy Pearl and Obsidian, plus four styled looks:
Kawaii - pastel wedges, each slice a different hue; firing bursts heart-and-star confetti.
Salvage - charcoal slices with a rusted-metal texture, fluorescent-light highlighting, and a stamped plate edge.
Mesa - rounded cream wedges on cracked terracotta; the armed slice lifts like a 3D card.
Reactor - dark hollow wedges; the armed slice lights an animated circuit-board of traces and sparks.
Sound Effects - Themed (the default) plays whatever sound set matches the material above. Digital and Physical are fixed sets if you'd rather pin one, and Silent turns the sounds off. Picking a material switches the choice back to Themed.
On the Kawaii sound set, arming a slice strikes the next note of a xylophone melody, so scrubbing around the ring plays the song. There are 5 melodies... you might recognize a few of them :)
Slice Thickness - the radial thickness of the slice ring. Thick only reads well up to 8 slices, so a 9th slice on either wheel switches the setting to Medium - and it switches back on its own once you're at 8 or fewer again.
Button Icons - the symbols in on-screen prompts: Best Guess (the default - follows the connected pad), PlayStation (✕ ○ □ △), or Xbox (A B X Y).
Triggers - which controller gestures summon a wheel. See Triggers.
D-Pad ← → - what left and right on the D-Pad do while a wheel is open. See D-Pad controls.
Show labels on - which slices draw their text label. See Show labels on.
Accessibility - activation, wheel sides, both-stick aiming, the hub, Reduce motion and narration - lives on Settings ▸ Advanced. See Accessibility.
A wheel holds up to 12 slices, but 6-8 is the sweet spot.
Triggers (summon chords)
Settings ▸ Customize ▸ Triggers is the chord builder: which controller gestures summon a wheel. Each row is one live chord - a button (Fn or L4/R4 / Bumper / Trigger / Touchpad) paired with how it's combined (Trigger, Home, L3/R3, Select/Start, D-Pad L/R, or a touchpad edge-swipe). The options adapt to the detected pad: Fn appears for a DualSense Edge, L4/R4 for a pad with extra buttons on Bluetooth, and Touchpad only for pads that have one. Those dedicated buttons need no second button - they open a wheel on their own.
+ Add Another Trigger appends a row; a row's ✕ removes it. Every row stays live at once - up to three - and the set is remembered per controller type, so an Edge and an Xbox pad each keep their own chords.
How each chord behaves (hold + tap, which wheel it opens, Hold vs Toggle) is in Opening a wheel; the both-sides version of a chord toggles the wheels on and off, see While a wheel is open.
Accessibility (Settings ▸ Advanced)
The Accessibility section gathers six checkboxes, in Settings ▸ Advanced. The same set is offered during first-run setup from the Accessibility… button on the Look step:
Two of them are indented under the box that ticks them: turning on Wheels toggle on/off also ticks Swap left/right, and turning on Reduce motion also ticks Always show hub, because each pair works best together. Both children stay yours to tick or clear on their own, and once you set one by hand it stops following its parent.
Wheel ignores opposite stick - normally either thumbstick aims (whichever you tilt further), and either stick's click opens edit mode. This option has each wheel listen to one stick only: the free hand's under Hold, the wheel's own side under Toggle.
Wheels toggle on/off and Swap left/right - whether an invoked wheel stays up until you dismiss it, and which wheel each hand opens (see Opening a wheel).
Reduce motion - stops decorative movement everywhere. No confetti or sparks, no parallax, no zooming or drifting; wheels fade in in place, edit-mode rearranging is instant, and every hold-to-confirm effect becomes the same steady progress arc. Some Arcade features are automatically disabled. Progress meters, selection highlights and state readouts all stay. This setting respects Windows' own Animation effects switch as well.
Always show hub - off (the default), the wheel's centre hub appears only when it has something to show. On, the hub is always drawn and also shows the controller battery: a steadier centre to read. Reduce motion assumes you want this checked as well, but you can set them independently too.
Narration - speaks what you're doing aloud: which wheel opened, the slice you arm and its current state, hold-to-confirm progress, what a fire actually did, volume levels as you scrub, edit-mode moves, and Game Grid browsing. It works alongside a screen reader.
Narration covers the wheel and the Game Grid only - the overlay surfaces a screen reader can't see. Settings, first-run setup and every other ordinary window are Windows Narrator's job, so run Narrator alongside Radiata if you want those read too. Ticking Narration offers a button to turn Narrator on; and if Narrator is running when you first set Radiata up, Narration starts on by itself.
Show labels on (slice text)
Show labels on - which slices draw their text label on the wheel.
Icons, not Logos (the default) - only slices showing one of Radiata's built-in icons are labelled. A slice carrying artwork (a game logo, cover art, or a PNG you added) goes unlabelled, assuming the artwork includes or replaces the name.
All Slices - every slice is labelled, artwork ones included.
No Slices - no slice is labelled.
Slices I Choose - each slice's own Show Label checkbox decides, and it's the only mode in which that checkbox appears in the slice editor (see Slice editor tricks). Every slice is created with Show Label unchecked, so switching to this mode starts you from an unlabelled wheel: check the few slices you want named.
Editing a wheel is exempt: in edit mode and its Add picker, non-logo slices always show their labels whatever this is set to.
The setting lives in Settings ▸ Customize, directly under the D-Pad ← → selector, and applies live - bring up a wheel to see it.
Configure Discord Integration… - sets the Discord credentials (Client ID/Secret) that Join/Leave Voice Channel slices use, the same wizard the slice editor offers. Stored encrypted (Windows DPAPI) and sent only to Discord.
SteamGridDB API key - unlocks portrait cover art and logos for every storefront's games (the Game Grid's Select/Start cycling). Get a free key at steamgriddb.com ▸ Preferences ▸ API. It's checked when you finish entering it, and entering your first key automatically fills in covers skipped while you had none.
OBS Studio - Configure OBS Integration… sets the WebSocket port and password, one connection shared by every OBS slice; see OBS slices. Test checks it against a running OBS. The password is stored encrypted (DPAPI).
With Playnite and a SteamGridDB key both set up, a Prefer Playnite covers toggle appears in the Game Grid section. Without Playnite, an Install Playnite… button appears here instead.
Playnite (optional library manager)
Playnite is a free, open-source game-library manager for Windows (playnite.link) that gathers all your games - Steam, Epic, GOG, Xbox, emulators, standalone - with metadata and cover art.
Radiata works fully without it, scanning your storefronts directly. Playnite is an optional enhancement:
More games found - Radiata reads Playnite's library, so emulated and manually-added games a raw storefront scan misses can appear in the Game Grid.
Curated cover art - Playnite's own covers become an art source, with a Prefer Playnite covers toggle (Advanced ▸ Game Grid) to favor them over SteamGridDB.
Radiata only ever reads Playnite's local database. Playnite does not need to be running.
Not installed? Install Playnite… in Advanced ▸ Integrations opens its download page. Set up your libraries in Playnite and Radiata picks them up automatically.
System tools & Backup (Settings ▸ Advanced)
Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ System holds the update controls, the Start with Windows toggle, the Troubleshooting dropdown, and Quit Radiata:
Recover Controller - the ↻ button beside the Current Controller name. This is a soft input reset for a wedged pad. If the pad stays silent afterwards, turn it off (hold its home button until the light goes out), turn it back on, and reconnect it — a controller whose input has frozen at the device only comes back from a power-cycle.
Battery - beside the Current Controller heading, the same reading the wheel hub shows. PlayStation pads report a percentage (in 10% steps); Xbox-compatible pads only report four coarse levels. Nothing shows until the pad has reported a level.
Quit Radiata - releases its virtual controller and requests removal of the HidHide blocks Radiata owns. Another tool's blocks remain; see HidHide troubleshooting if the pad stays hidden.
The Troubleshooting dropdown
Run First-Run Setup… - re-runs the setup wizard (controller check, drivers, look, cover art, starter wheels). Your customized wheels are never overwritten without asking.
Install/Repair Drivers… - installs or repairs the isolation drivers (ViGEmBus + HidHide). Fixes most isolation problems, and shows a result log.
HID Diagnostics… - a live view of the raw controller reports Radiata reads. Useful when support asks what your pad is actually sending.
Email Log to Developer… - saves a diagnostic ZIP to your Desktop and opens an addressed email. Review the ZIP before attaching and sending it: logs can include device identifiers, account names in file paths, and application or game names. Radiata does not automatically send the attachment.
Back Up Settings… and Restore Settings… sit lower in the same dropdown, and the resets below them - all described under Backup & reset.
Backup & reset
Back Up Settings… - saves everything that makes Radiata yours (wheels, colors, settings, and your Game Grid cover/logo picks) to a .zip in Documents\Radiata Backups.
Restore Settings… - replaces settings and art picks only after validation and a successful save, then restarts Radiata. Automatic recovery backups are encrypted for your Windows account; restore them through this command. Exported ZIPs contain readable settings and artwork, but protected credentials may need re-entry on another account or PC.
Reset All Settings… - factory defaults for wheels, colors and settings; first-run setup runs again on the next launch. Cached art survives.
Wipe App Data and Reset… - deletes everything in %APPDATA%\Radiata, including automatic backups. Only backups saved outside that folder survive. Export a settings ZIP first if you want. Radiata restarts after a successful reset.
Uninstall Radiata… - removes the startup entry, the HidHide registration, and Radiata's own files, with OFF-by-default opt-ins for the shared drivers and your settings. Anything else in Radiata's folder is left alone.
Updates
Check for Updates - asks getradiata.app/update for a newer version right now. When one is found the button becomes Install Update and opens the update prompt.
Automatic - the checkbox beside the button: when on, the same check runs at startup and once a day. Found updates announce themselves with an on-screen notice (click it to open the update) and a line in this tab; a version you choose to skip stops announcing itself, though the line here still shows it. Skip This Version is offered only after you have pressed Later on that version once.
Resets can't be undone - back up first.
The game-art buttons live in their own Game Grid section - see Game Grid options.
Controller not detected
Replug / re-pair first. Bluetooth stacks occasionally wedge, and power-cycling the pad fixes most one-offs.
Bluetooth pad connected but frozen (Windows still lists it, input never moves)? That's a Windows Bluetooth wedge that power-cycling the pad won't fix - toggle the PC's Bluetooth off and on instead. Radiata shows a "toggle Bluetooth" notification when it spots this.
Settings ▸ Advanced shows a ↻ button beside the Current Controller name. This does a soft input reset - drops and reopens the HID stream - without restarting Radiata.
HidHide lockout: if the cloak hides the pad while Radiata isn't on its allow-list, Radiata goes blind. That means no input, and the Current Controller readout shows nothing even though Windows sees the pad. Radiata catches this at startup and offers a one-click fix via a clickable on-screen notice; repair can help with registration, but it does not cure every access problem. See HidHide troubleshooting.
Peer controller tools can remap or hide the controller and create additional outputs. Installed software alone does not establish a conflict; see reWASD, DS4Windows & other tools.
Controller conflict checklist
Use this sequence when one press moves a menu twice, the game reacts beneath a wheel, the wrong controller responds, or input disappears. Change one thing at a time and test between changes.
1. Save and exit the game. Controller mode, Passthru Mode, remapper output changes and reconnects can all replace the device a game is using. Relaunch after the test setup is stable.
2. Establish a simple baseline. Temporarily use one controller and one connection (USB, Bluetooth or receiver). Disable other tools' remapping and automatic profile switching; close their tray agents and HidHide configuration windows. For a local test, end unused streaming sessions that create virtual pads.
3. Check Radiata first. Read Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Current Controller and hover its tray icon for isolation status. No controller points to detection or hiding; a working wheel with game input underneath points to isolation or another input path.
4. Reconnect in a controlled order. With the game and competing readers closed, start Radiata, connect the controller, and wait for its status to settle. Start Steam or the launcher afterwards, then the game. A reader that opened the device before cloaking may retain access until it closes or the device reconnects.
Start Radiata before anything else that reads the controller, connect the pad and let its status settle, then open Steam or your launcher, and the game last.
5. Test in a safe game menu. Opening a wheel should stop Radiata's virtual pad from driving the game until the wheel closes. Windows' joy.cpl can help identify extra controllers, but one entry there does not prove isolation in every game or input API.
6. Restore other tools one at a time. The combination that brings back the symptom is useful evidence. Reading a controller and successfully isolating it are separate things: Radiata does not provide a general physical-device-to-XInput-slot picker.
For comparison, enable Passthru Mode before launching the game. Other tools can still hide or remap the device, and wheel input reaching the game is expected in this mode. Disabling the wheels alone does not release capture.
What to include in a support report
Record Windows and Radiata versions, controller model and transport, controller mode, tray status, driver versions, other tools and active profiles, startup order, and the first step that changes the result. Include whether input works with Radiata closed and in Passthru Mode.
Use Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Troubleshooting ▸ Email Log to Developer… to prepare a diagnostic ZIP. Review it before attaching it; it may contain device identifiers and personal paths. Include the actual error text from driver setup or HID Diagnostics.
reWASD, DS4Windows & other controller tools
Two tools can read one pad and produce two outputs, or one can hide the pad from the other. Start with one active remapper for that controller. Coexistence depends on versions, hiding rules, transport and game.
reWASD
Turn Remap OFF for the affected device or group and pause Autodetect for the test. Closing the main window does not necessarily stop mappings. Check the tray agent and confirm its virtual output is gone before retesting. See reWASD Tray Agent.
reWASD has its own virtual-device and hiding settings. Repairing ViGEmBus or adding Radiata to HidHide cannot fix every reWASD visibility rule. Record which devices remain visible; consult reWASD troubleshooting for its own errors.
DS4Windows, DSX and InputMapper
Stop controller output and fully exit the tool, including its tray process, for the baseline. Check automatic startup and profiles if it returns. Another virtual Xbox or DualShock controller can cause duplicate actions or change which device the game selects.
If the setup uses HidHide, physical-device blocks can remain after the remapper exits. Check Radiata's access using HidHide troubleshooting. Radiata does not take ownership of another tool's existing blocks, so quitting Radiata does not clear them.
Other sources of input
JoyToKey, AntiMicroX, macros and hardware profiles can emit keyboard or mouse events alongside gamepad input. Neutralizing Radiata's virtual pad does not neutralize those events. Disable the mapping or controller Turbo mode for the test.
x360ce, vJoy-based tools, streaming clients and vendor utilities can add controllers or translation layers. Check Steam Remote Play, Sunshine/Moonlight, Parsec and controller software when relevant. End only unused sessions; a remote player's virtual controller may be their only input.
Old HidGuardian or ScpToolkit installations can leave filtering or replacement drivers behind. Use the original project's removal guidance or support; do not delete arbitrary HID devices, Bluetooth drivers or registry filters. HidHide and HidGuardian are different components.
Wrong player or no spare Xbox slot? XInput exposes four slots, which may include virtual pads. Temporarily stop unused virtual outputs and reconnect in the intended order. If Radiata reports uncertainty about its own output, wait for reconnection or quit and reopen Radiata; reinstalling drivers is not the first fix.
If another remapper is essential, test it with Radiata in Passthru Mode first. That avoids a second Radiata stand-in, but it does not promise isolation or preservation of native controller features through the other tool.
HidHide: contention, lockouts & shared settings
Busy or access-failed status
The HidHide Configuration Client holds the driver's exclusive configuration connection while it's open. A running or stuck HidHideCLI can also contend with Radiata. Close those tools completely, then allow about 15 seconds for Radiata's retry before trying Recover Controller. Contention does not mean the driver needs reinstalling.
Windows sees the controller, but Radiata does not
Close the game and quit Radiata before inspecting HidHide. In normal mode, the Applications list grants access to hidden controllers. Verify the exact Radiata.exe you launch is listed - installed, portable, renamed and moved copies all have different paths. Radiata normally registers itself; Install/Repair Drivers… can repair registration, subject to its reported result.
Check the selected physical device on Devices. USB and Bluetooth can have separate entries. Do not hide the virtual stand-in the game needs. Use Nefarius's setup guide to identify the device, and close the client before restarting Radiata.
Inverse application cloak reverses the list's meaning. Radiata preserves this shared setting and declines capture when it is enabled. Record the configuration and coordinate with the tool that needs it before choosing normal mode for Radiata; changing it affects other applications too.
The game still receives input
An application allowed through HidHide can still read the physical device. Review entries deliberately; do not add the game, Steam, or every executable as a general fix for double input.
After a fresh install, reconnect the controller or restart Windows if requested, so the filter can attach. Restart readers that opened the device before cloaking. Configuration readback alone does not verify what a running game receives.
HidHide has limitations, including some Raw Input readers and Xbox/XInput configurations. If leakage survives a clean startup, record the game and transport rather than assuming a successful hide operation guarantees exclusive input. See the HidHide FAQ.
The controller stays hidden after exit
Radiata adopts existing hidden-device entries matching the controller model it manages, including entries from another connection method, so they can be released on exit. This can also release another tool's matching entries; you should never have two tools manage hiding for the same controller. Uninstall clears all hidden-device entries unless another Radiata copy is running. A failed release must be recovered before removal can finish.
Keep keyboard and mouse access available while changing controller visibility. Record existing settings first, change only the identified controller or application entry, and close the configuration client before retesting.
HP OMEN & driver version conflicts
ViGEmBus creates the virtual controller; HidHide controls access to the physical one. A working driver of one kind does not establish that the other works. Check the driver result log and Radiata's isolation status before repeating an installer.
HP OMEN Gaming Hub / OMEN Fusion
Some HP OMEN systems have a vendor-modified ViGEmBus, and Radiata can connect to that bus instead of the correct one. A reported 10.x version can be HP's old fork, not a newer compatible Nefarius driver.
Radiata names detected foreign buses and skips installing over them. Its driver removal also leaves another program's bus in place. Repeated Install/Repair Drivers… attempts will not switch an HP-owned bus to Nefarius's.
A foreign bus that refuses a virtual DualShock 4 may make Radiata fall back to an Xbox 360 stand-in for that session. Unexpected Xbox prompts can therefore be a driver clue rather than a changed glyph setting. This fallback is not a compatibility guarantee.
Versions and duplicate buses
This Radiata build bundles ViGEmBus 1.22.0 and HidHide 1.5.230. ViGEmBus is retired; 1.22.0 is its final official release. Installer, application, client-library and driver versions are different numbers - they are not supposed to match each other.
Open Device Manager ▸ View ▸ Devices by connection and inspect virtual gamepad bus entries. Record each bus's name, provider, driver version and device status. Multiple buses, unexpected providers, or a version different from the one Radiata bundles all warrant investigation; a higher number alone does not prove compatibility.
Oculus and Virtual Desktop setups can also supply their own buses. Several virtual gamepads beneath one bus are different from several competing bus drivers. Identify the owning program before changing either.
For an ordinary missing or older bundled driver, use Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Troubleshooting ▸ Install/Repair Drivers…, review its result, and complete any requested restart. Close HidHide tools first. If repair fails, keep the error text and driver versions for support.
Driver removal affects every application using that shared component. Use the official ViGEmBus install/remove guide for a confirmed conflict. Its full purge is advanced recovery, not a first step for double input. Do not force-delete unrelated drivers or use unofficial download sites.
Wheel not visible over a game
Run games Borderless Windowed, not exclusive fullscreen. Exclusive fullscreen bypasses the compositor Radiata draws through. The setting is in most games' display options, and the performance difference on Windows 10/11 is negligible.
Radiata draws on the primary display only - on a multi-monitor rig, make your gaming display the Windows primary (Settings ▸ System ▸ Display).
Windows-secured screens (UAC prompts, the lock screen) can never be drawn over. That's a Windows limitation, and nothing can work around it.
Steam Input & Steam quirks
Steam Input can translate a controller into gamepad, keyboard or mouse input. Another mapping layer can change prompts and bindings or create duplicate actions. Test per game before changing global settings.
Wrong buttons or duplicate actions? With the game closed, open its Steam Library ▸ Properties ▸ Controller and try Disable Steam Input in the per-game override. Relaunch and compare; restore the previous setting if the game or remote setup needs Steam Input. Global options are under Steam ▸ Settings ▸ Controller, with names that vary by Steam version.
No input with Steam Input disabled? The game may not support Radiata's virtual DualShock controller. For a Sony pad, try Xbox Mode before launching, or restore Steam Input. That's a game compatibility choice, not necessarily a driver failure.
Double input despite a successful cloak? Steam may have opened the physical controller before Radiata hid it. Save and close Steam games before fully exiting Steam, then start Radiata and let capture settle before reopening Steam. Reconnecting the pad can also release stale handles. Follow any controller-unblock notice; closing Steam's window alone may leave it running.
Desktop keys or mouse movement? Check Steam's Desktop Layout and Guide Button Chord layout as well as the game's layout. These can emit input outside the game. See Controller conflict checklist for a controlled comparison.
Steam Remote Play may rely on Steam Input. Keep a local fallback before changing its input path. Valve explains the translation layer in Steam Input gamepad emulation.
Windows Magnifier opens by itself? That's Steam's *Guide Button Chord* layout (Guide + face button), not Radiata - and powering a pad off by holding the PS button can leave that layout latched. One clean Guide press-and-release clears it; disable it under Steam ▸ Settings ▸ Controller ▸ Non-Game Controller Layouts ▸ Guide Button Chord layout.
Controller Turbo / rapid-fire mode
Many third-party pads have a hardware Turbo / rapid-fire mode that auto-repeats a held button. An accidental button combo can toggle it on in the controller firmware, and that can look exactly like a bug:
The wheel flickers open and shut, or dismisses on its own right after opening.
The Game Grid's filters cycle rapidly, or the selection jumps on its own.
Slices fire the instant a wheel opens, or a hold-to-confirm slice never settles.
Turn Turbo off on the controller itself - usually a button combo (often Home/Guide + a face or shoulder button, or a dedicated Turbo button), frequently with its own LED. Check your pad's manual for the exact combo.
HDR shows Unavailable - the display state can't be read in that context, such as in Remote Play or streaming.
Editing config.json by hand (%APPDATA%\Radiata) - supported. The app hot-reloads its own writes reliably, but outside edits are occasionally missed, so restart Radiata after manual edits.
