Any way to bypass no controller option on bootup. Bluetooth hasn't connected yet

[whomperjaw]

Each bootup I get a message saying no controller was found and F4 takes me to a terminal instead of just out of the menu. The reason is my bluetooth controllers haven't connected yet on bootup. Is there a way to bypass this?

[mitu]

Normally no, but I remember the same question asked and the user simulated a keypress with a script to make ES skip this message. I assume you want to start ES just so the screensaver would kick in ?
If only I could find the topic...

[hhromic]

Hi, you can configure a standard keyboard to make EmulationStation not ask you for a controller on start-up, even if the keyboard not present. You can accomplish this in two ways (any of which only needed once):

1. Connect a standard USB keyboard and configure it in ES like any other controller.

2. If you are proficient with accesing the config files (SSH, Samba) and don't have a keyboard at hand, you can add the following snippet to /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_input.cfg to add a keyboard with standard mappings:

   <inputConfig type="keyboard" deviceName="Keyboard" deviceGUID="-1">
     <input name="pageup" type="key" id="113" value="1"/>
     <input name="start" type="key" id="13" value="1"/>
     <input name="down" type="key" id="1073741905" value="1"/>
     <input name="pagedown" type="key" id="119" value="1"/>
     <input name="right" type="key" id="1073741903" value="1"/>
     <input name="select" type="key" id="1073742053" value="1"/>
     <input name="left" type="key" id="1073741904" value="1"/>
     <input name="up" type="key" id="1073741906" value="1"/>
     <input name="a" type="key" id="115" value="1"/>
     <input name="b" type="key" id="120" value="1"/>
     <input name="x" type="key" id="97" value="1"/>
     <input name="y" type="key" id="122" value="1"/>
   </inputConfig>
   

   This snippet has to be added between existing <inputList> and </inputList> tags.

An added benefit of configuring a keyboard is that if you don't have any controllers handy you can always plug a keyboard and control ES with it. Good luck!