@revolutionflat said in 8bitdo SF30/SN30 Pro controller bluetooth pairing trouble after updating RetroPi on Pi4:

This isn't so much of a please help post, but a "There's a problem, here's how I fixed got around it" post.

I purchased 2x bluetooth SF30 Pro controllers and the new RetroFlag NES case for the Pi 4. When the controllers arrived, I spent hours trying to get them to pair but one outright refused to connect after pairing, and the other wouldn't pair in a mode that allowed all the buttons to be used (triggers didn't work).

After 3 re-imaging and installations, I realized THEY WORK ON THE 4.6 IMAGE just fine, connects immediately and behaves as you'd dream. If you update, that's when the problems occur. I was able to install extra themes/emulator packages/retroflag scripts without disturbing the connections. Hope this helps people going through this!

Edit: On the clean 4.6 image, I had the controllers in [Start+B] mode, I'd recommend re-flashing the firmware if you've been troubleshooting.

Received my SF30 Pro for my RetroPie 4.7.1 and have been having bluetooth connectivity issues. Did what RevolutionFlat did by reverting back to flashing my SD card with ver 4.6 and SF30 Pro finally connected... HALLELUJAH!!! Thanks for the version revert advice!!!

Apparently this is an issue with the SN30 Pro itself. I got it working. Here's what I did:

Deleted /etc/udev/rules.d/99-bluetooth.rules Deleted SN30 Pro from registered Bluetooth devices Powered on SN30 Pro with Start+B (Android mode) and held Pair button (top of controller) for 3 secs to immediately go into pairing mode. While in pairing mode selected Register and Connect Bluetooth Devices in RetroPie-Setup Script >> Setup >> Configure Bluetooth Devices Selected 8Bitdo SN 30 Pro from list and finished config Did NOT set up udev rule

Now the controller is working perfectly; I'm able to open Launch Menu or go straight into games ... no sitting at black screen for ~40 secs. Also no waiting required to navigate script menus either.

I did have to reconfigure controller layout ... and the L/R triggers are actually recognized now as well.

@ogteeg If your controller is detected, then you're not experiencing the same issue as in this topic.
My advice is to make sure you're fully upgraded (OS/Packages and RetroPie), install the xpadneo driver from RetroPie-Setup (see here on how to install packages in RetroPie) driver section and then re-try the pairing. Make sure you remove the controller from the list of registered devices before attempting to re-pair.
If that doesn't work, then open a separate topic and provide more info about your setup, as detailed in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first.

Drivers are usually not installed in the image, you have to install them - such is the xpadneo driver.

ok so that may not have been my problem but i did get it paired but the only change i did was for something else which was turning off hardware acceleration cause it would crash when trying to scroll through games. dont have any idea how there connected though. but after that paired just fine.

Hi @w0nderw0rm , did @mitu ‘s solution allowed you to use just the Xbox One controller, or the solution also allows you to use the Nimbus Steelseries?

I just started researching which controller to order that would work best for RetroPie AND Apple Arcade on iPhone, and it looks like the Steelseries Nimbus+ is a great controller (but I’m not sure it works with RetroPie).

Is there a better controller I should consider?
Maybe the 8bitdo SN30 Pro+ ?

@mitu Awesome, thanks!

Can you provide some more details here for the SN30 and how you paired it. I think I am getting lost. I currently have it in switch mode, and all buttons except a few are working right now. I will try pairing it another way to see where I get.

4.2 is very old release, you should update to a more recent RetroPie version, as we cannot continue supporting such old version.

@quicksilver I did not know that. Sorry, but I can't change that now.

@Unknown To help us help you - please make sure you read the sticky topics before posting - https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

@gordonfreemanjr do you have any other controllers plugged in? Did you map your keyboard as a controller? It may be worth going into RetroPie-setup and resetting your mappings and then remapping just to see if that fixes the light issue.

@mitu OK thanks

where do i put this pairing code?

thanks again Mitu, didn't even know there was one, will try again. Thanks for helping with my issues.

Had the same issue on Lubuntu 20.04, the symbolic link was missing for /usr/bin/python

sudo ln -s /usr/bin/python2 /usr/bin/python

@mitu yes I did! thanks