8bitdo snes30 - No buttons work in roms.

SegaLegend

Hello, I just got my pi setup last night but I'm having the issue where only the d-pad works for my 8bitdo snes30 controllers when I'm in a rom. Everything works fine in emulation station. I imagine this has to do with paring it wrong or the firmware on the controllers perhaps? The controllers function correctly when plugged in via USB.

I've seen people saying you need to hold R+Start while its paring but my instructions with the controller say just to hold start...?

I also see people messing with the config file to get the buttons working. I have no idea where exactly they are inputting these commands or where I can see which version of firmware is on the controllers.

Lastly, I attempted to poke around in retroarch to see if anything stood out as wrong and I can't for the life of me figure out how to "go back" in retroarch. For instance, I can go forward through the menus but never backwards. Someone said there was a command like L+R+start+select but it does nothing. Sadly, I've spent more time messing with these controllers than it took to do the whole retropie install.

gaavoid

@segalegend Have you turned off the 8bitdo hack? (Option is in the Bluetooth menu).
The hack was used for old firmware and I think it's still set on as default. The hack was to allow the face buttons to work correctly, but similarly will stop them working when using new firmware.
Switch to off and then reconfigure in emulation station.

Connecting with just the start button works fine. Used to be R+Start. Both methods work fine.

SegaLegend

@gaavoid I will check on that. Is there any harm at this point to just flashing to the 4.1 firmware from 8bitdo? At least then I would be sure which firmware I'm on to remove that variable.

gaavoid

@segalegend No harm as you can just pair it again. I think the update tool that 8bitdo provide will tell you the current firmware before you update. I think the hack was only necessary for v2.6ish and older, anything after that doesn't need the hack. Most controllers will have newer firmware than that.

Maybe it's possible that the hack is switched off by default going forward in future retropie releases because it's not really needed anymore.

SegaLegend

Mark this one as solved. Here is the current procedure for getting these to work:

Update 8bitdo firmware. Clear all previous paired Bluetooth devices. Make sure 8bitdo hack is OFF. With only a keyboard plugged in and both controllers off, turn on and pair each controller. Take one of the paired 8bitdo controllers and once back in emulationstation, hit start and assign the buttons.

Very important, you MUST assign the buttons in ES even if you have previously assigned the buttons while the controller was plugged in. The controller on Bluetooth is actually viewed as a different controller than when it is plugged in so your button map doesn't transfer over. Enjoy!