SHANWAN / PS3 CONTROLLER Pi3 RETROPIE 3.6 BLUETOOTH SETUP

luetzel

as a rule of thumb: If something like this happens, you have to install the header files, necessary for compilation. If libusb is missing, just do an apt-get install libusb-dev. Usually it is enough to append a '-dev' to the missing library. If it doesn't help, you can search with 'aptitude search <package>' for the desired <package>.
You may also find some build instructions within the README of QtSixA.

/luetzel

Wolfman100

@buddhastevend @luetzel Thanks guys, will look into this now.:)

Wolfman100

@buddhastevend @luetzel

After installing necessary packages I am very happy to report that I have now Paired the controller succesfully first time!

I am using the latest 3.8 RetroPie inside OSMC and am hoping that the pairing will survive a reboot as apparently this had been fixed in Retropie 3.8...let's see what happens

Wolfman100

Sweet mother of God it appears that it has indeed survived a reboot and connects first time no-problem!Can also report bluetooth keyboard is also working simultaneously without issues..

Wolfman100

Now all I need to do is locate the Roms folder in 3.8 which seems to have changed location or name....

buddhastevend

@Wolfman100
Should be the same location in 3.8:
/home/pi/RetroPie/roms

At least mine didn't change.

I can pick up and see my controllers in bluetooth, they just will not pair. I know it has to do with my Pi3 onboard registering the aa:aa:aa:aa:aa:aa address instead of its actual hwaddress. I cannot find a way to to make it reset itself either.

Wolfman100

@buddhastevend I'm guessing that you have RetroPi installed as standalone from your filepath?

I have RetroPi installed 'inside' OSMC,so the filepath will be different.

From my rudimentary knowledge,I would suggest possibly re-installing Bluez and making sure that you have the latest QtSixA which is actually version 5.1,not 4.9.

buddhastevend

@Wolfman100

Oh yeah. I already have the latest version of Bluez and QtSixA.

Oh yeah, forgot you were running it inside OSMC. It still shouldn't be to different than that though, maybe just buried a couple further down.

I feel like I should play with OSMC now, with retropie inside it.

pablo

Hi @buddhastevend

I am gonna try with a clean 3.8 image tonight and see if the aa:aa:aa:aa:aa:aa situation changes. When I tried to update 3.7 to 3.8 using the setup script it ran through cleanly, but after a reboot I lost any and all access to both wireless and bluetooth. The OS couldn't even detect the devices.

Wolfman100

@buddhastevend

You sound like you had similar issues to me.I should imagine that 3.8 may well solve your issue if your correctly follow @luetzels guide.

Wolfman100

@luetzel folder problems solved...wierd SSH issue.

One thing though,it appears that the Bluez folder and Sixpair folders are installed so they are visible within the browser in OSMC.Can I move these folders so they are out of view and cannot be messed with and everything will still work correctly?They were not visible before,I think because I must have installed as 'Sudo' Root user

buddhastevend

Already had 3.8 and updated Bluez and QtSixA. There's something wrong with some people's bluetooth hardware addresses.

I got it working no problem with a dongle I had, so I know it's the onboard bluetooth, and I'm done messing with it for now.

As far as hiding those, I have to play with OSMC more before I could tell you that.

pablo

@buddhastevend Just to also provide a bit of feedback.

Clean install of 3.8, bluetoothctl gives the following (no more aa:aa story):

pi@retropie:~ $ sudo bluetoothctl
[NEW] Controller B8:27:EB:A4:47:F7 retropie [default]

bluetoothctl can also see both of my controllers:

[NEW] Device 00:18:01:CA:EB:E8 PLAYSTATION(R)3 Controller
[CHG] Device 00:18:01:CA:EB:E8 Class: 0x001f00
[CHG] Device 00:18:01:CA:EB:E8 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 00:18:01:CA:EB:E8 Icon is nil
[NEW] Device 00:18:01:CA:FF:D1 PLAYSTATION(R)3 Controller
[CHG] Device 00:18:01:CA:FF:D1 Class: 0x001f00
[CHG] Device 00:18:01:CA:FF:D1 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 00:18:01:CA:FF:D1 Icon is nil

But then proceeds to cycle through saying Connected: yes, then no.

The most 'connected' I've managed to get anything to the Pi is with bluetoothctl:

[bluetooth]# info 00:18:01:CA:EB:E8
Device 00:18:01:CA:EB:E8
        Name: PLAYSTATION(R)3 Controller
        Alias: PLAYSTATION(R)3 Controller
        Class: 0x001f00
        Paired: no
        Trusted: yes
        Blocked: no
        Connected: yes
        LegacyPairing: no
        Modalias: usb:v054Cp0268d0000

Trying to pair returns:

[bluetooth]# pair 00:18:01:CA:EB:E8
Attempting to pair with 00:18:01:CA:EB:E8
Failed to pair: org.bluez.Error.AuthenticationFailed

lsusb gives me this:

Bus 001 Device 005: ID 054c:0268 Sony Corp. Batoh Device / PlayStation 3 Controller
Bus 001 Device 010: ID 054c:0268 Sony Corp. Batoh Device / PlayStation 3 Controller

With sixad and sixpair up and running, I get the following read out:

pi@retropie:~ $ sudo sixpair
Current Bluetooth master: b8:27:eb:a4:47:f7
Setting master bd_addr to b8:27:eb:a4:47:f7
pi@retropie:~ $ sudo sixad -start
[ ok ] Starting bluetooth (via systemctl): bluetooth.service.
sixad-bin[5160]: started
sixad-bin[5160]: sixad started, press the PS button now
Watching... (5s)
sixad-bin[5160]: unable to connect to sdp session
sixad-bin[5160]: HID create error 107 (Transport endpoint is not connected)

I'm at my wit's end. No idea where to go from here.

EDIT: Just as a sanity check I went through the other sixad installs for the clones and I can confirm that Removing PS3 controller configurations and installing the SHANWAN clone support resulted in proper pairing with the internal RPi 3 Bluetooth. This had no effect before.

BuZz

@pablo https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first - Please format your posts - eg using code blocks for easier reading etc

pablo

@BuZz Apologies

luetzel

Hi @pablo,

the logs you have posted look promising to me, however, I am a bit confused why you're still trying to use 'sixad' to pair your controller? Sixad takes over bluez/ bluetoothd service so that other bluetooth devices, such as keyboards or mice can’t connect while sixad is active.

If this is what you want to achieve, you should stick to the patched bluez, which can handle PS3 controller clones AND
keyboard/mice at the same time, whereas sixad can handle ONLY PS3 controllers.

Again, just for clarification: sixad and bluez should not run at the same time. However, if you decided to use the patched bluez, sixpair is still necessary to trust/pair the PS3 controller, since bluetoothctl otherwise asks for a passkey, which cannot be entered with the controller.

Krayzie8

@luetzel please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm really still learning a lot and I have from you guys. So even with the new retropie 3.8, every time you install ps3 configs from retropie setup it breaks the onboard bluetooth yes? so to install ps3 clone controller I will need to follow your guide to install the patched bluez and sixpair to pair and trust the controller? does the 3.8 update fix the bluetooth and I can only install sixpair to make everything work?

Krayzie8

@luetzel do you have a little more detailed guide to installing sixad? I'm not very good at working the terminal but I can if I had the detailed instructions. Or could I just ssh and copy the folder (QtSixA) I downloaded to my pc into the pi then run a command from terminal? would that be possible?

luetzel

Hi @Krayzie8

@Krayzie8 said in SHANWAN / PS3 CONTROLLER Pi3 RETROPIE 3.6 BLUETOOTH SETUP:

@luetzel please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm really still learning a lot and I have from you guys. So even with the new retropie 3.8, every time you install ps3 configs from retropie setup it breaks the onboard bluetooth yes?

AFAIK the "Install/Pair PS3 controller" menu option of the retopie-setup.sh installs and configures the sixad daemon.
Sixad takes over the function of "regular" blutetoothd (bluez). You cannot run bluez AND sixad at the same time!

The RetroPie PS3 setup doesn't "break" the onboard bluetooth, it just prevents start of the bluez/bluetoothd service, so that pairing of other BT devices than your PS3 controller does not work anymore. So you're in trouble if you don't have a wired mouse or keyboard.

so to install ps3 clone controller I will need to follow your guide to install the patched bluez and sixpair to pair and trust the controller?

In case that you have a Gasia/Shanwan clone, pairing should be possible using the Gasia/Shanwan menu option of the retopie-setup.sh. AFAIK it is possible to pair "genuine" Sony controllers using bluez with the sixaxis plugin. If you own this kind of controller, RetroPie is supposed to work out-of-the-box. Check the output of 'dmesg' while connecting your controller via USB to figure out which type of controller you have.

If you want to use other BT devices AND your controller clones at the same time, you should skip installation through retopie-setup.sh script and use the patched bluez version instead. These patches enable bluez to pair Gasia/Shanwan controller clones using the bluez sixaxis plugin.

does the 3.8 update fix the bluetooth and I can only install sixpair to make everything work?

If you run retopie-setup.sh on Raspbian it will do an apt-get update && apt-get upgrade in order to update all packages on your system. This will probably fix the problems that have been recently reported with the build-in bluetooth hardware on a Pi3. There are a couple of threads in this forum dealing with the broken build-in BT on Pi3.

Depending whether you want to use other BT devices you have to install either sixad/sixpair or patched bluez/sixpair.

luetzel

@luetzel do you have a little more detailed guide to installing sixad? I'm not very good at working the terminal but I can if I had the detailed instructions. Or could I just ssh and copy the folder (QtSixA) I downloaded to my pc into the pi then run a command from terminal? would that be possible?

@Krayzie8
Detailled installation instructions can be found within the INSTALL file of the qtsixa-1.4.96.tar.gz archive found at https://sourceforge.net/projects/qtsixa/