BEBONCOOL controller bluetooth issues

mitu

@slimbrick I don't know why ES doesn't detect your joystick. Another way to test if SDL (which is used by Emulatiostation) detects your joystick is to use the jstest-sdl program from https://github.com/meleu/jstest-sdl.
Use SSH to connect to the PI system, then clone the repository and install it

git clone https://github.com/meleu/jstest-sdl
cd jstest-sdl
sudo apt-get install libsdl2-dev libncurses5-dev
make

If no error occurs, you should be able to run the test program with

# List the available joysticks, get the index number
./jstest-sdl -l
# Test the 1st joystick
./jstest-sdl -t 0

This might give us a clue why ES doesn't detect your joystick, but it still doesn't work, then I don't know what else we can do.

jonnykesh

@mitu Thanks for this. Another great script from @meleu. I didn't even know this existed.

slimbrick

@mitu Thank you. jstest-sdl does not register this controller. When I run jstest-sdl -l, I get the return "No joysticks were found." If I try to force a test with jstest-sdl -t 0, I get "Unable to open joystick 0."

Yet, as I have written previously, jstest does find the joystick and show appropriate responses.

So, I suppose we have an answer. Emulationstation uses SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer?) and jstest uses a different library to access bluetooth connected devices.

Thanks. Now I have to buy the right controller! :)

mitu

@slimbrick said in BEBONCOOL controller bluetooth issues:

So, I suppose we have an answer. Emulationstation uses SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer?) and jstest uses a different library to access bluetooth connected devices.

The way it looks, SDL2 uses /dev/input/eventY files to read information about the available joysticks, unlike jstest which reads them from /dev/input/jsX. See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Gamepad#Joystick_input_systems for an explanation.

Sorry we couldn't make it work, perhaps in the future this might be supported, but right now I think getting another controller would be a better choice.

slimbrick

@mitu said in BEBONCOOL controller bluetooth issues:

The way it looks, SDL2 uses /dev/input/eventY files to read information about the available joysticks, unlike jstest which reads them from /dev/input/jsX. See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Gamepad#Joystick_input_systems for an explanation.

This link suggests I could fix it by setting the environment variable SDL_JOYSTICK_DEVICE=/dev/input/js0. I did so, but no luck. I have to be honest, this has little to do with me being too cheap to buy another controller. I just find sorting out what's going on so interesting!

mitu

@slimbrick said in BEBONCOOL controller bluetooth issues:

This link suggests I could fix it by setting the environment variable SDL_JOYSTICK_DEVICE=/dev/input/js0

I've seen that, but it's for SDL1 only and it's ignored by SDL2 - which is the version ES is using.

slimbrick

@mitu said in BEBONCOOL controller bluetooth issues:

I've seen that, but it's for SDL1 only and it's ignored by SDL2 - which is the version ES is using.

Maybe I should make up own environmental variable SDL2_JOYSTICK_DEVICE=/dev/input/js0. Hah! Logitech F710 is on the way.

mark2472

In case anyone else is having a problem with Beboncool controllers and comes here from google, mine works via bluetooth after following this:

1.) Register the controller using the RetroPie menu "Configure Bluetooth Devices"
2.) At the main screen, press F4 to drop to the command line (or SSH in using putty)
3.) Type "sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/55-local.rules" to create a new udev rule file containing the following entry:
SUBSYSTEM=="input", ATTRS{name}=="BBC-GAME", MODE="0666", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"
4.) Press CTRL+X and save the changes
5.) Exit the command line by typing "reboot" or "exit"

From:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R3GVRHP307ROSX/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B01N8WWOE5

youngmathimus

@mark2472 sorry for the necro, I just created an account to say thank you for posting this. This allows me to use my Bluetooth controllers on raspbian through the new steam link app. Thank you!

i2b5k0

Well yes this did get the BB-GAME controller working in emulation station. And non-retroarch emulators. Unfortunately, Retroach hates this controller for some reason.