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    Sony DualShock 3 - call for testers: "sixaxis" script module

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    sixaxisdriverbeta
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    • SanoS
      Sano
      last edited by

      I only had one controller connected at a time.
      Moreover, I use ethernet, and disabled wifi via /boot/config.txt.
      The only other BT device in range is the my wife's Fitbit Flex, but it's obviously not paired with the Pi.
      Guess I'll need to find an external BT adapter and do more tests :)

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      • P
        psyke83 Global Moderator @Sano
        last edited by psyke83

        @sano said in Sony DualShock 3 - call for testers: "sixaxis" script module:

        I only had one controller connected at a time.
        Moreover, I use ethernet, and disabled wifi via /boot/config.txt.
        The only other BT device in range is the my wife's Fitbit Flex, but it's obviously not paired with the Pi.
        Guess I'll need to find an external BT adapter and do more tests :)

        Well, do keep me updated on any developments.

        I just disabled wifi via dtoverlay=pi3-disable-wifi, and still can't reproduce the issue you're seeing. Maybe as a last resort, you could try to reset your controller using the pinhole at the back of the controller and then re-pair, but I doubt it'll help.

        You never had issues with ps3controller causing erratic axis events like this?

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        • P
          psyke83 Global Moderator
          last edited by psyke83

          @Sano,

          If you're up for a possible alternate to using a USB BT adapter, I have a suggestion:

          Edit /usr/bin/btuartas superuser and change the following line:

                          $HCIATTACH /dev/serial1 bcm43xx 921600 noflow - $BDADDR
          

          to:

                          $HCIATTACH /dev/serial1 bcm43xx 460800 noflow - $BDADDR
          

          Then reboot your Pi and see if Bluetooth works more reliably.

          Also, can you let me know the Pi revision you have?

          cat /proc/cpuinfo
          

          Although I don't experience the same issue as you, I do notice a lot of Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)messages, which led me to this discussion: https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/issues/2264

          My Pi 3 is a revision 1.2 board (a02082).

          Thanks.

          SanoS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • SanoS
            Sano @psyke83
            last edited by Sano

            @psyke83

            Thanks for the tip.
            Actually I've done a lot of research and found the same page as you (amongst other), that's why I was looking to test with an external adapter.

            Here is my RPi revision from cpuinfo (the exact same as yours BTW) :
            Revision : a02082

            I followed your advice and reduced the connection speed, and the hci(0) don't appear anymore. Moreover, no more unwanted input on analog sticks.
            Nice shot !

            Do you plan to merge your branch with master soon ?

            Edit : actually there are still some hci errors, but very few compared to before the speed change.

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            • P
              psyke83 Global Moderator
              last edited by psyke83

              Unfortunately, it's going to take some time before you'll see this merged in any form as we're currently busy testing everything for stretch compatibility.

              Additionally, there are issues with this scriptmodule that are going to require some evaluation:

              • I've backported the hid-sony driver from the 4.15 kernel, but patched it to revert to the old button mappings that were used by the driver in the 4.9 kernel (as well as the ps3controller driver), with the intention of minimizing user frustration from getting stuck in menus/having to remap their controller, after installing this module. I'm not sure this is a good idea, because the next Raspberry Pi firmware update on stretch will bump the kernel to 4.14.x, and the hid-sony driver from this kernel release will start using the newer button mappings anyway.
              • In order to support third-party (Shanwan/Gasia) controllers, we need BlueZ 5.48. The packages I've provided work well, but there are always potential pitfalls, complications and upgrade issues when overwriting distribution versions of packages. This won't be an issue once the official Debian/Raspbian packages are upgraded to this version, but the question is how long that will take to happen, or if it will happen at all in the case of stretch.
              • I haven't yet received any feedback on third-party Gasia controller compatibility. I'm fairly sure it will work just as well as Shanwan, but I need to be sure in order for us to consider this a full replacement for the old ps3controller driver.
              SanoS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • SanoS
                Sano @psyke83
                last edited by Sano

                @psyke83
                I see.
                I saw the future 4.14 kernel/firmware upgrade as stated above through rpi-update github.

                Regarding button mapping, IMHO, I think it would be better to stay as close as possible of the upstream packages/drivers.
                Moreover, the stretch image is still a beta and apparently no direct upgrade path from jessie will be supported, so we could hope than by integrating this directly in stretch, very few users will be bothered by controller remapping, because the new installs will use the new mapping anyway...

                My two cents.

                Oh, and thanks again for your work and advices !

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                • P
                  psyke83 Global Moderator
                  last edited by

                  @Sano,

                  Yes, but stretch is not yet using the new mappings. Once the next firmware package is released, I'd certainly be happy to drop the old mappings.

                  BTW, one more thing you could try is to verify that it's not BlueZ 5.48 causing your issue with Bluetooth stability.

                  • Revert the change to /usr/bin/btuart
                  • Revert the Bluetooth packages back to Raspbian defaults:
                    sudo apt-get install $(dpkg -l | grep 5.48-1~rpi1 | awk -v os_rel=$(lsb_release -sc) '{print $2"/"os_rel}')

                  Reboot and see if your controller is stable with the default BlueZ packages. To go back to the new BlueZ packages, just re-install the sixaxis module.

                  SanoS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • SanoS
                    Sano @psyke83
                    last edited by

                    @psyke83
                    Just tested as requested.
                    hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84) errors are back, as well as unwanted analog stick events.
                    Going back to the working solution then :)

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                    • P
                      psyke83 Global Moderator @Sano
                      last edited by psyke83

                      @sano said in Sony DualShock 3 - call for testers: "sixaxis" script module:

                      @psyke83
                      Just tested as requested.
                      hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84) errors are back, as well as unwanted analog stick events.
                      Going back to the working solution then :)

                      At least we know it's not caused by my custom BlueZ packages - much appreciated! I'm still curious as to why I don't experience the same issue, given that we have the exact same revision of Pi 3. Hopefully more people will test this to help discern if it's going to be a common issue.

                      SanoS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • SanoS
                        Sano @psyke83
                        last edited by Sano

                        @psyke83
                        Could the answer be that my RPi is near my wifi router (maybe 30cm) ?
                        Nevertheless those unwanted stick inputs were not there a couple of weeks ago.
                        Maybe a new firmware/driver/config rendering the BT controller more sensitive ?

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                        • P
                          psyke83 Global Moderator @Sano
                          last edited by

                          @sano said in Sony DualShock 3 - call for testers: "sixaxis" script module:

                          @psyke83
                          Could the answer be that my RPi is near my wifi router (maybe 30cm) ?
                          Nevertheless those unwanted stick inputs were not there a couple of weeks ago.
                          Maybe a new firmware/driver/config rendering the BT controller more sensitive ?

                          Could be, or perhaps some interference if you have your Pi inside a metal case. Are you on jessie or the stretch testing image? The latter may have different BT/wifi firmware that can affect how Bluetooth behaves.

                          SanoS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • SanoS
                            Sano @psyke83
                            last edited by Sano

                            @psyke83
                            My Pi is in a plastic case, and I use the stretch image for a few weeks.
                            Still trying to find bugs with my "regular" use of retropie, but no big deal ATM.

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                            • pjftP
                              pjft
                              last edited by

                              I have seen those hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84) errors in the past in my setup, before I even tried to play with these new drivers. I never got to the bottom of it, though since it didn't seem to have any material impact on the performance I just ignored them.

                              SanoS P 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • SanoS
                                Sano @pjft
                                last edited by Sano

                                @pjft
                                Just FYI those errors are logged in /var/log/kern.log*.
                                On my setup that was several MB of logs rewritten on a daily basis (I tested and had 500kB of logs for a few minutes of DS3 use), in addition to the random inputs.
                                Even with a F2FS formatted root partition, I don't like having error logs writing over and over a a several MB per day on a SD card for nothing :)
                                Gasp, my OCD is still kicking here...

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                                • P
                                  psyke83 Global Moderator @pjft
                                  last edited by

                                  @pjft said in Sony DualShock 3 - call for testers: "sixaxis" script module:

                                  I have seen those hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84) errors in the past in my setup, before I even tried to play with these new drivers. I never got to the bottom of it, though since it didn't seem to have any material impact on the performance I just ignored them.

                                  Yeah, those messages aren't unique to the BlueZ sixaxis plugin - they definitely occurred with sixad (ps3controller) too. I don't recall seeing complaints about ghost analog movements, though.

                                  It's hard to debug sixad because the virtual uinput device reports a lot of accelerometer events, and doesn't support setting axis fuzz (needed to skip reporting events when there's a small deviation).

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                                  • P
                                    psyke83 Global Moderator @Sano
                                    last edited by psyke83

                                    @sano said in Sony DualShock 3 - call for testers: "sixaxis" script module:

                                    @pjft
                                    Just FYI those errors are logged in /var/log/kern.log*.
                                    On my setup that was several MB of logs rewritten on a daily basis (I tested and had 500kB of logs for a few minutes of DS3 use), in addition to the random inputs.
                                    Even with a F2FS formatted root partition, I don't like having error logs writing over and over a a several MB per day on a SD card for nothing :)
                                    Gasp, my OCD is still kicking here...

                                    That seems quite excessive. I would see perhaps a dozen or so messages in one day at most, not several megabytes worth. I haven't seen any warnings at all since reducing the UART speed.

                                    Perhaps it's due to overclocking your Pi?

                                    SanoS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • SanoS
                                      Sano @psyke83
                                      last edited by Sano

                                      @psyke83
                                      No overclock :)
                                      I have a personal motto to stay as vanilla as possible.
                                      The only changes I make on my installs are :

                                      • disabling overscan
                                      • disabling wifi
                                      • migrate root partition to F2FS

                                      Here is an example of log I had for a single second before reducing speed :

                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.012012] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.012040] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.012088] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.012184] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.012274] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.012353] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.114573] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.114577] Bluetooth: hci0 ACL packet for unknown connection handle 520
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.114642] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.114728] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.114813] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.114900] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.114966] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.181939] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.181991] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.182071] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.182165] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.182252] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.182340] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.182426] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      Feb 24 09:51:37 retropie kernel: [552204.182480] Bluetooth: hci0: Frame reassembly failed (-84)
                                      
                                      P 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • P
                                        psyke83 Global Moderator @Sano
                                        last edited by

                                        @sano said in Sony DualShock 3 - call for testers: "sixaxis" script module:

                                        @psyke83
                                        No overclock :)
                                        I have a personal motto to stay as vanilla as possible.

                                        It's good that we have a mitigation for the issue; regardless, if your warranty isn't void, perhaps you could report the issue to the firmware issues tracker. No need to go into detail about RetroPie or this scriptmodule, as you can replicate the behaviour with stock bluez and the default hid_sony driver on the current stretch kernel.

                                        I have a suspicion that your Pi's bluetooth module may be faulty, considering that we have the same revision of Pi. I've often seen them offer to replace boards when a HW fault is diagnosed (but of course, I'm only speculating about your board).

                                        To be clear, the problem is not that the frame reassembly errors are appearing; our revision board doesn't support HW flow control, so those messages are (unfortunately) expected. The reason I suspect a HW fault is due to the magnitude to which the error is occurring for you along with the phantom feedback. Perhaps if you can test in a "quieter" environment and rule out interference etc., it might help. I'd like to see more people test this module so we can get a wider assessment as to whether this would be a common problem.

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                                        • M
                                          MadHorse
                                          last edited by MadHorse

                                          Hi all,
                                          i have a Shanwan and a Gaisa controller, i would like to try sixaxis.
                                          I installed sixaxis and automatically it will install customhidsony.
                                          Becasue my controllers are not sony i try to install custombluez but it give me an error because a lot of package are missing

                                          dh-systemd git-buildpackage icu-devtools libcap-ng-dev libdbus-glib-1-dev libdw-dev libical-dev libicu-dev libreadline-dev libsubunit-dev libsubunit0 libtinfo-dev libical2
                                          

                                          Tried to install all the packages manually with the command

                                          sudo apt-get update
                                          sudo apt-get install dh-systemd git-buildpackage icu-devtools libcap-ng-dev libdbus-glib-1-dev libdw-dev libical-dev libicu-dev libreadline-dev libsubunit-dev libsubunit0 libtinfo-dev libical2 
                                          

                                          I was able to install all the packages except libical2
                                          E: Unable to locate package libical2.
                                          Someone can help me ?
                                          I'm using Retropie 4.3.12 on a Raspberry Pi 3.

                                          Thank you

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                                          • P
                                            psyke83 Global Moderator
                                            last edited by psyke83

                                            @MadHorse,

                                            Thanks for bringing the problem to my attention. It seems that I accidentally left in some unnecessary depends that should fulfilled by the corresponding -dev packages; libical-devshould be sufficient, as it selects libical2 on stretch, but on jessie it probably selects the old package.

                                            I've updated the PR/branch to remove the excess depends, so it should work for you now.

                                            P.S. You have the option to install custombluez from binary, but it's also possible to build from source. If building from source fails, then I may need to add more explicit dependencies to the script for jessie. I only have Raspbian stretch installed on my test card at the moment, so let me know if installing from source is broken and I'll re-flash jessie to test.

                                            In case you're not familiar with git, this should refresh the branch for you due to the branch update being forced, assuming you chose the remote name as psyke83:

                                            git fetch psyke83
                                            git reset --hard psyke83/sixaxis
                                            

                                            Thanks.

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