No vibration with Xbox 360 wireless controller in Retropie 4.3

SadasK

Hi everybody,

I'm configuring a RPI 3 with Retropie from scratch, using an Xbox 360 controller, but can't make it work with vibration on PSX games. Everything is almost as out-of-the-box, with the controller working perfectly except for the rumble feature.

Pi Model or other hardware: 3 Model B (UK Version)
Power Supply used: 5v / 3A
RetroPie Version Used: 4.3
Built From: Pre made SD Image on RetroPie website
USB Devices connected: Official Microsoft receiver for Xbox 360 wireless controller; dongle for TV remote control.
Controller used: Official Xbox 360 wireless controller
Error messages received: N/A
Log found in /dev/shm/runcommand.log: -
Guides used:
https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/First-Installation
https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Xbox-360-Controller
File: -
Emulator: lr-pcsx-rearmed
BIOS: SCPH1001.BIN

As far as I know, key options in retroarch are well configured:

Input driver: udev
Pad 1 type: Analog
User 1 Device Type: RetroPad w/Analog
Vibration: Enabled

I have tested it with both the original driver and the xboxdrv, without success.

I'm using a padtest rom for PSX (http://www.psx-place.com/resources/padtest.396/) to test rumble. It detects the analog controller, and every key input, but L3/R3 that should activate vibration doesn't work. It however works fine with the same controller in PCSX emulator for PC (Windows). I've also tested a Dual Shock 3 (gasia) with same results.

I've read that this should work, as it's working for other people, so I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or it's related with some firmware/driver version or Retropie/Retroarch version. Maybe it was working in the past but has been recently disabled in the last releases?

While searching for information I've found a lot of threads in this forum from people complaining about continous vibration in their controllers and asking for an option to disable it. My case is the opposite, and I don't know which physical component / software version / configuration maybe responsible of this vibration absence.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

SadasK

Sorry for insisting on this.

Nobody uses this controller (Xbox 360 Wireless) in Retropie? Could you confirm if vibration is supported for this controller in the current version of Retropie (4.3) or in previous versions?

edmaul69

@sadask when in a game you need to go into the retroarch menu. Then go to quick menu then options. Turn vibration on

SadasK

@edmaul69 said in No vibration with Xbox 360 wireless controller in Retropie 4.3:

@sadask when in a game you need to go into the retroarch menu. Then go to quick menu then options. Turn vibration on

Hi edmaul69, thanks for your response. Indeed this option is enabled, is one of the options that I reviewed in retroarch (which I described as "Vibration: Enabled"). Even after restarting the game or the whole system this option is still enabled, but not vibration at all.

I have tested it with a padtest iso and Final Fantasy VIII.

The only thing that I've achieved in these days is to make it "work" with a real Sony DS3 (the gasia one didn't work either). But it only really worked when pairing, with a strong vibration for about 4-5 seconds. After that I have a very, very weak vibration ingame, almost imperceptible.

tashman

@sadask

In previous versions of RetroPie (probably 3.8.1) I have used an official wireless XBox 360 controller (via third party dongle) and a wired Afterglow Xbox 360 controller. I found that vibration worked ok on both up until a certain point - then for some reason the vibration would become "out of sync" and end up wildly vibrating at inappropriate times. I'm mainly using Gioteck PS3 controllers on newer Retropie builds - they don't vibrate at all regardless of settings (they are supposed to on a real PS3).

That probably doesn't help you much!

edmaul69

@sadask on ds3 official it is really weak for some reason. I dont have a 360 controller lying around anymore to test

ChuckyP

Vibration on my Xbox 360 wireless with official dongle works out of the box with PSX retroarch. I have never had to turn on any settings.

I have also never experienced the out of sync condition. Although a few versions back it had a tendency to vibrate when exiting games for a while. But I haven’t seen this happen recently... not sure if it was fixed via update.

SadasK

Thank you everyone, now it's "working" but I'm not sure why. I've started again from scratch with a fresh installation, and it's working fine out of the box, as @ChuckyP said. At least is working with the padtest iso, when I push on R3 it starts running the weak motor, and with L3 the strong one. I suppose that I messed up something while trying to install/uninstall packages and stuff.

However it's not working with Final Fantasy VIII. Vibration is enabled ingame, I've tried with several bios and two different copies from the game, without success. Anyway, if it's working with the padtest then it works, and based on other comments I suppose that this feature doesn't work for all the games, but I need to test it more.

Thanks again everyone for your help!