Pi4 and Xbox One Controller: Emulators not working

SinusJayCee

Hi there,

First of all I would like to thank you for this really great project!

However, I recently set up my Raspberry Pi 4 with the official pre-build image, and when my Xbox One bluetooth controller is connected, none of the emulators work. More precisely, after the dialog "Starting emulator... Press any key to configure...", just a black screen is shown. When only my Xbox 360 wireless controller is connected, the emulators run fine. The controller works fine on RetroPie 4.5 on my Pi 3 B as well as in the Emulator Station main menu and in Steamlink on the Pi 4.

My installation is basically vanilla, but I did some minor modifications:

Added the following to autostart in order to make the Xbox One controller working:

sudo bash -c echo 1 > /sys/module/bluetooth/parameters/disable_ertm

Instralled xserver-xorg, xinit, and steamlink (the first two are needed to make the latter work)
Disabled overscan via /boot/config.txt in order to remove the black boarders on my TV (Pi is connected using HDMI)

Here is the addition information you requested:

Pi Model or other hardware: Pi 4, 2GB
Power Supply used: original Raspberry Pi USB-C EU power supply (5.1 V, 3.0 A)
RetroPie Version Used: 4.6
Built From: Pre made SD Image on RetroPie website
USB Devices connected: Xbox 360 wireless receiver, Logitech wireless keyboard, Logitech wireless mouse
Controller used: Xbox 360 wireless, Xbox One wireless (bluetooth)
Error messages received: no error message
Log found in /dev/shm/runcommand.log (if relevant): example output for SNES, the others look basically the same

Parameters: 
Executing: /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-snes9x/snes9x_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/snes/retroarch.cfg "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/snes/N-Warp Daisakusen V1.1.smc" --appendconfig /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg

Guide used: official installation guide
File: tried different ROMs, e.g., N-Warp for SNES
Emulator: all that I tested (Gameboy, GBA, NES, SNES, N64)
*Attachment of config files: n/a
How to replicate the problem: connect Xbox One wireless controller via bluetooth and start arbitrary emulator

Please let me know if you need more information.

Do you have any suggestions on how to troubleshoot the issue? Thank you in advance for your help!

mitu

@SinusJayCee said in Pi4 and Xbox One Controller: Emulators not working:

sudo bash -c echo 1 > /sys/module/bluetooth/parameters/disable_ertm

That won't work.

Try installing the xpadneo driver - https://github.com/atar-axis/xpadneo - then re-connect and re-pair your XBOne BT controller.

SinusJayCee

Thanks for your quick reply!

@mitu said in Pi4 and Xbox One Controller: Emulators not working:

sudo bash -c echo 1 > /sys/module/bluetooth/parameters/disable_ertm

That won't work.

That is my working solution for the Pi 3. Anyway, I removed this line and installed the xpadneo driver as suggested. Now everything is working perfectly!

Thank you very much for your quick and competent help!

Toofan

@mitu it wont work for me. After installing xpad, it will find the xbox one controller and on 'displayyesno' it pairs successfull. But then it looks like it keeps disconnecting and trying to connect. It rumbles like every minute. When I try to assign buttons, if Im lucky it gets half way trough before it disconnects but most of the time it wont assogn any button.

Ive tried 2 diff xone wireless contollers with same issue.

360 controller with usb wire works like a charm but I would like a wireless one to work.

It also looks like the controllers are added as gamepad 2 and 3 and 4. Is it possible to choose the wireless as default controller when the 360 one is connected?

quicksilver

@Toofan what model is your Xbox one controller. I believe the xpadneo drivers are only compatible with the model 1708.

Toofan

@quicksilver I got like 4 diff ones with bluetooth. There are two different versions of xbox one wireless controllers. V1 which only has wifi direct. And version 2 which has bluetooth in addtion and also a headphone jack.

Short answer is that the ones I have are 1708 model.

mitu

@Toofan In this case, give xpadneo a try - install it from github.com/atar-axis/xpadneo. This should handle the Xbox One wireless controllers, while xpad should be able to handle the wired (Xbox 360) controller.

Toofan

@mitu my bad. Its xpadneo Ive installed. I wrote xpad in the first post for short :) im gonna make a video so you see what I mean.

mitu

No need for a video. If the xpadneo driver doesn't work, then try the xpad driver (reinstall from source). It should handle at least the wired Xbox 360 controller.

Toofan

@mitu wired 360 works fine. I need wireless

theretroprince

Xpadneo worked awesome on RPI3, but it does not work on RPI4... at least not yet. I've tried several times with different methods, and it's got some compatibility issues.

You can always do what I did - head over to the Atar-Axis Xpadneo github page, show some love and donate a few coffees with a request comment, and wait patiently hoping that the driver will get updated. I certainly hope it does... Atar-Axis nailed it on the RPI3.

Toofan

@theretroprince I did. Supported 2 cups 😀

theretroprince

@Toofan Awesome! Hopefully we'll get an update for RPI4 with the same flawless performance that we had on RPI3.

CobraKai

@theretroprince Did you try this https://github.com/medusalix/xow ?

theretroprince

@CobraKai I have not, but it looks like the xow driver is only for use with the Xbox wireless dongle. (I think it only references bluetooth on the 'supported devices' frame to differentiate it from the the other models)