Questions about connecting 8bitdo controllers to Retropie

jplank

@mitu When I check the retropie-setup script, it says version 4.7.8. The Pi model is 3B rev 1.2.

I've unpaired the last controller I had connected. When I try to re-pair it, it has the same problem - the "Searching..." screen shows and then it's not listed in the list of bluetooth devices found.

mitu

Exit EmulationStation and run

sudo rm -fr /var/lib/bluetooth/*

Restart your Pi with sudo reboot and then try to pair the controller (s) again.

jplank

@mitu Same thing - it doesn't show among the list of devices that appear after the "Searching..." screen.

mitu

Can you try to see if the controller is discoverable - manually ? Run, from the command line, after exiting EmulationStation

bluetothctl

then enter

agent on
scan on

then put your controller into pairing mode. Does the controller show up in the list of devices listed after the scan ?

You can exit bluetoothctl by typing exit or pressing Ctrl+D.

jplank

@mitu Ok. I exited Emulation Station. When I entered scan on, it said "Failed to start discovery: org.bluez.Error.InProgress"

Edit: Actually, I tried rebooting a second time and tried again and it seemed to work this time. I wasn't sure the best way to capture all of the output, so I have a video.

I tried the SFC 30 and the NES 30 Pro. The NES 30 Pro didn't seem to show up, but around the 52s mark, you can see SFC 30 being displayed on the screen. After this finished, I rebooted into Emulation Station and tried connecting the bluetooth again with the SFC 30, but it still didn't display after the Searching... screen.

mitu

@jplank Do you know what mode are you using to connect the NES 30 Pro ? X-Input (Windows/PC), Android or Switch ?

The SN30 and SF30 are regular ones (i.e. non-pro) and I think they only support one connection mode, before 8bitdo started supporting multiple modes. Try re-scanning a few times and see if they show up for pairing.

Did you enable any other setting for Bluetooth - like 'Bluetooth Connect Mode' ?

jplank

@mitu The NES 30 Pro is using Mode 1 (Joystick), if I'm reading this correctly.

I just tried 7 more times to connect the SF30 via bluetooth with no luck. I had the controller about 2 inches away from the retropie. I saw some other threads where people suggested pressing a few buttons, so I tried connecting with and without pressing buttons and no luck either way.

I did change the bluetooth connect mode to background, but I think that's the only thing I changed.

mitu

@jplank said in Questions about connecting 8bitdo controllers to Retropie:

I did change the bluetooth connect mode to background, but I think that's the only thing I changed.

Can you change it back to default, please, and re-try the pairing.

jplank

@mitu ok. I switched back to default. No change - still not showing up.

mitu

It's weird that the controller shows up when you scan manually, but not from the Bluetooth menu. I should have an old SN30 around, I'll give that a test, I wonder if there's something related to the recent kernel/firmware upgrade from Raspberry Pi OS.

jplank

@mitu I had posted this question on /r/retropie to see if anyone could help me there. The thread is here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroPie/comments/lm52jk/questions_about_connecting_8bitdo_controllers_to/

Someone suggested I SSH into the retropie and go to bluetoothctl and then scan now. I did so and neither of the controllers showed up. I rebooted and tried again, same result. Then I tried one last time to load emulation station and pair the controllers - and it worked right away. I have no idea what was different this time around, but everything seems to be working for me now.

Thanks for your patience in helping me with this.

mitu

@jplank Glad you got it sorted out.
I did test with my old SN30 - turns out a firmware update makes it able to switch modes - and pairing always worked (either in D-Input or X-Input mode). I couldn't point my finger on it, but the connect mode might have been the culprit - interfering with a the scan used for pairing by the BT module.