PS3 controller lag over BT, but not USB?

cbarr · 22 Oct 2016, 21:48

I've got a Pi 3B with RetroPie 4.0.2 and I've got 2 PS3 controllers connected via the "gasia" drivers (for some reason the sixad drivers did not work for me!) see my SO post troubleshooting this here . It was built from a pre-made image on the RetroPie website.

My TV is in "game mode", however I notice a decent amount of lag when playing games, or even navigating the menus. It makes even simple games like Dr. Mario difficult to play. I did notice that the lag goes away if I plug the controllers in over USB. Any reason why BT would cause this much lag?

When I first got the BT drivers working I was able to play Silent Hill for PS1 just fine over the wireless controllers (which I would suspect is a much more taxing game on the system than Dr. Mario is!), but now it seems to have a lag. I've rebooted the whole system, tried connecting just one controller at a time... no luck. The only thing thats changed recently is that I've copied a few more PS1 games over to my SD card, but I'm highly doubtful that filling up the card more would have any kind of effect on wireless controller lag.

Right now my only "solution" is to plug in via USB, but the whole reason I bought PS3 controllers for this project was so that I could be wireless. I'd hate to have to revert to plugging in all the time.

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated!

FYI: This forum breaks on Safari 10 for OS X and Safari for iOS 10. This post was my 3rd attempt to submit this issue, I had to use Chrome. Attempting to create a new post in Safari for iOS did nothing. I could write the post in Safari for OS X, but attempting to submit it just gave me the error message "Category does not exist"

BuZz · 22 Oct 2016, 21:51

Nothing that can be done that I know of if the lag is due to BT. BTW if your controllers work in "Gasia" mode only, then I suspect they are not original controllers. Perhaps the controllers are to blame (or some incompatibility).

I use 8bitdo controllers over BT and don't notice any additional lag over a USB connection.

cbarr · 22 Oct 2016, 21:55

@BuZz Yeah, that my my suspicion as well since they only worked in that mode. They might work in some of the other 3rd party modes as well, I just haven't tried them out since gasia was the first one I tried and it worked. I did buy them on ebay for a bit cheaper than usual, but they appear genuine to me... but who knows?

Hmm... so it sounds like I just need to buy some really long USB cables then :(

Do you think getting a small USB BT dongle would change anything? This is currently connecting over the built-in BT in the pi.

BuZz · 22 Oct 2016, 21:56

Regarding the forum issue I believe it likely this problem - https://github.com/NodeBB/NodeBB/issues/5105 which will be fixed when the next version of nodebb comes out.

BuZz · 22 Oct 2016, 21:58

I don't know if another dongle would make a difference.

Regarding the controller being fake - heck the label on the controllers - see if you can see any spelling mistakes. see https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/4658/ps3-controller-bluetooth-woes/16

cbarr · 22 Oct 2016, 22:19

Dang, i just threw the boxes out a few days ago once I saw that BT connection was working, good info though.

To be clear though, the controllers do work over bluetooth, they just have a fraction of a second lag when connected wirelessly, and no lag when connected over USB.

Machtroid · 24 Oct 2016, 15:32

@cbarr I bought 3 Gasia controllers to test via bluetooth since they were cheap-o. In my experience, two of the controllers worked well while one of them had input lag as you described. I don't know if there is any correlation, but the ones that worked well were blue and red colored and that one that didn't was black. I think I got the blue and black one in a 2 pack. So I believe it to be just random luck with Gasia controllers. I tested on both 3.8.1 and 4.0.2 with the same results.

cbarr · 25 Oct 2016, 01:22

@Machtroid Mine are both black "official" (I think) PS3 controllers I bought on ebay. I was under the impression that I was purchasing real PS3 controllers, but now that I see they work with the gasia drivers, perhaps they are not. I no longer have the boxes, but the controllers themselves feel correct (I used to own a PS3 a few years ago), the stickers on the back look correct (no typos, real SONY logo, etc.), and I was able to pair the controller with my laptop which showed the device name as "PLAYSTATION(R) 3 CONTROLLER".

edmaul69 · 25 Oct 2016, 04:42

@cbarr can you tell me if the sticker on the back is a foil sticker with black printed on them? If they are white or grey instead of shiny silver especially the big silver strip on the bottom of the sticker then they are definitely bootlegs.

Machtroid · 25 Oct 2016, 13:38

@cbarr When you get a chance try typing in dmesg from the console to see what the controllers are registered as.

cbarr · 26 Oct 2016, 00:57

It's all seeming now like these are real Sony controllers from all the info I'm hearing from you all. Here's a photo of the back of one of these controllers.

And here's a relevant portion of the output from running dmesg

4181.459930] usb 1-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=054c, idProduct=0268
[ 4181.459959] usb 1-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 4181.459972] usb 1-1.3: Product: PLAYSTATION(R)3 Controller
[ 4181.459985] usb 1-1.3: Manufacturer: SZMY-POWER CO.,LTD.
[ 4181.472051] input: SZMY-POWER CO.,LTD. PLAYSTATION(R)3 Controller as /devices/platform/soc/3f980000.usb/usb1/1-1/1-1.3/1-1.3:1.0/0003:054C:0268.0005/input/input7
[ 4181.473768] sony 0003:054C:0268.0005: input,hiddev0,hidraw0: USB HID v1.11 Joystick [SZMY-POWER CO.,LTD. PLAYSTATION(R)3 Controller] on usb-3f980000.usb-1.3/input0
[ 4181.866803] usb 1-1.3: reset full-speed USB device number 6 using dwc_otg
[ 4181.971606] input: SZMY-POWER CO.,LTD. PLAYSTATION(R)3 Controller as /devices/platform/soc/3f980000.usb/usb1/1-1/1-1.3/1-1.3:1.0/0003:054C:0268.0006/input/input8
[ 4181.972218] sony 0003:054C:0268.0006: input,hiddev0,hidraw0: USB HID v1.11 Joystick [SZMY-POWER CO.,LTD. PLAYSTATION(R)3 Controller] on usb-3f980000.usb-1.3/input0
[ 4196.128327] usb 1-1.3: USB disconnect, device number 6
[ 4205.294171] input: PLAYSTATION(R)3 Controller as /devices/virtual/input/input9

edmaul69 · 26 Oct 2016, 02:25

@cbarr that thing Is a fake. Look at this pic. This is how the decals look. Its straight and has more info including the ul rating. That sticker is super badly applied and super crooked. Also look at the little rectangle above the sticker. Real sony's have a circle in them. also notice yours has a white reset button. also real ones are 300mA not 500mA.

Machtroid · 26 Oct 2016, 13:22

@cbarr Manufacturer: SZMY-POWER CO.,LTD

SZMY-Power is a Chinese manufacturer. Looks like the controller is not official Sony brand. What you would want for this brand is the "Gasia only" driver, which it sounds like you've been using.