8bitdo SF30 Pro and SN30 Pro

trumad

I can confirm that SF30 Pro on newest firmware (1.23) works in Android mode. I just updated my retropie today, and I'm using a Pi3 with Berryboot. I added udev, kept connection type to "default" and had to setup the controls twice to get the triggers to work. There are no disconnection issues, and if the controller is turned off it reconnects without any issue. Thanks for everybody's help in treading this path before me. This is a fantastic controller for retropie!

mikepjr80

This post is deleted!

WuTangDan88

Guys i am absolutely ripping my hair out over this!

I have two SF30 controllers, and i have tried everything I have read online and i can still not get the following things working consistently;

1: Controller does not pair after reboot (I have tried udev, doesnt work for me)
2: Cannot connect both controllers using the same method. I was always connected on SWITCH method which i did manage to get working. Now i have tried to do the same with android method in light of above comments, and it simply refuses to work. I pair one without an issue (apart from the controller going into pair mode constantly while in the bluetooth menu afterwards) but no matter how many times i try it will not pick up the second controller using android mode. I am at a loss here, and feel like ive tried everything.

I had some success pairing one controller with android and the other with switch mode, however one controller (switch mode) had the worst input lag while the other one was working perfect.

I really just want these controllers to work as they are awesome.

If anyone has any suggestions on what i could be doing wrong please let me know

WuTangDan88

Also just to add some other things i have tried.

I have turned off wifi
updated to latest RP version
updated to 8bitdo firmware latest version
switching off the paired controller while putting the unpaired controller into pair mode
pressing the udev option (this always just says its already done, it doesnt seem to ever forget this somehow even when i remove the connected devices from the list)

I can probably think of other things i have tried, but yeah its just driving me mad, might have to send one back at this rate because i dont see them ever working without lots of faffing.

#plshalp

mitu

@wutangdan88 There are a few recommendations across this topic:

Update to the latest firmware
Start the BT Pairing with the controller in Android mode.

Are your controllers identical ? How did you install your system ?

WuTangDan88

@mitu thanks for the reply.

I have tried both of these suggestions as mentioned above.

Controllers are at latest firmware (literally updated them tonight)

Tried pairing in Android mode, can only get one of the two controllers to pair :(

When you say identical what do you mean? They seem to have different mac addresses.

I didn't install my system, it was a pre-build system.

I'm not too savvy when it comes to this sort of thing, but i am competent enough to follow online instructions which i have but i just cant seem to get both controllers working in android mode no matter what i do.

caver01

@wutangdan88 said in 8bitdo SF30 Pro and SN30 Pro:

I didn't install my system, it was a pre-build system.

This introduces the possibility of unknown settings or bad configurations that none of us know about. While you have some good tips here to help guide you, your best option is to get support from whomever built your image. Otherwise, you will reach a point where the best advice is to re-install using the official image. In fact, spending much time at all on a third party image is asking a lot from this community. We have all been burned too many times trying to help someone configure a system they did not build or one based on an image with a mysterious origin.

maxbeanz

I bought one of these the other day and it's O.K. Definitely not worth the price though, the d-pad feels a bit stiff. I used Android mode and when configuring the buttons in emulationstation, you don't have to configure it twice. When you get to the last button configured just go back up the list with the d-pad and do L+R again.

One thing I tried that other people haven't mentioned is the Turbo mode. It sets the button as Turbo and the Home button flashes when pressed but it doesn't 'Turbo' the button. It's quite pathetic really, try it yourself and see. It's a shame that they haven't fixed this feature that doesn't work properly.

I also see they have now fixed the Analogue's in Switch mode (v1.25) so what would be the best profile now ? 8bitdo doesn't actually say which one to use with the Raspberry Pi.

robertclemens

@maxbeanz said in 8bitdo SF30 Pro and SN30 Pro:

I bought one of these the other day and it's O.K. Definitely not worth the price though, the d-pad feels a bit stiff. I used Android mode and when configuring the buttons in emulationstation, you don't have to configure it twice. When you get to the last button configured just go back up the list with the d-pad and do L+R again.

One thing I tried that other people haven't mentioned is the Turbo mode. It sets the button as Turbo and the Home button flashes when pressed but it doesn't 'Turbo' the button. It's quite pathetic really, try it yourself and see. It's a shame that they haven't fixed this feature that doesn't work properly.

I also see they have now fixed the Analogue's in Switch mode (v1.25) so what would be the best profile now ? 8bitdo doesn't actually say which one to use with the Raspberry Pi.

Switch mode loses a couple of things. You can't turbo mode for instance in Switch mode if I recall correctly. I still like Android mode for my setup. It really comes down to preference and options used. I think so far in this thread we hold that Android mode is generally the most acceptable mode to run in. Should you find something different please share the results and features that are working or not working.

dowster

@louiehummv , Your information, and the rest of the contributions to this thread were extremely helpful in setting up the SF30 Pro in Bluetooth mode. I got two with a Core Electronics full bundle with a NESPi case. I had found recommendations to use the macOS mode - which was great wired but never worked properly in Bluetooth mode (as indicated here), even with updated firmware. There are many threads /videos but this is the most complete

I've switched to Android mode and can finally play wireless Crash Bandicoot on the couch! This is really just a 'thank you' post. If only I'd found this 3 days ago...

fuganater

I've been trying to get the SF30 Pro to work with Retropie 4.3 for 3 days now. I've tried all the FW versions, I've tried all the key combos. They connect with no issues but when I get into the game, it says "8Bitdo SF30 Pro (0/0) not configured." So none of the buttons work in any of the games.

Any suggestions?

RaRlReRxR

My 2 cents for those still trying to figure things out:

I just setuped RetroPie 4.3 in a NesPi case with a custom PCB for the Power/Reset going to GPIO pins (you can find the info in the history of this repository.
I've updated everything, including the kernel, uname -a gives:
Linux retropie 4.14.24-v7+ #1097 SMP Mon Mar 5 16:42:05 GMT 2018 armv7l GNU/Linux

With 2 x SF30 Pro updated to the latest 1.25 firmware:
I managed to connect the first one on the first try and it worked well but I was having the issue of the shoulder buttons on input configuration.
I found that you can either go back a 2nd time, go up at the end and edit those or, on the first run, you can long press them (1+ second?) and it seems to work most of the time too, go figure.

More importantly, I was unable to configure the 2nd controller until I had one of them in Android mode but the other in Switch mode so their names wouldn't conflict.
Bluetooth reconnection is set as default, but I'm not sure this affects anything compared to background.

I never had the not configured error in games though, NES / SNES at least seems to work just fine.

MagicPolly

This is just my theory on why the triggers don't work in xinput/windows mode.

According to the specifications listed on Wikipedia, xinput supports "4 axes, 10 buttons, 2 triggers and 8-direction digital pad", corresponding to a 360 controller. On the sn/sf30 pro, the buttons are taken up by A, B, X, Y, L, R, select, start, star, and home. While you would think that the triggers would just count as triggers, the specification is for analog triggers. Since the sn/f30 pro's triggers are digital, this means they would have to be counted as buttons instead.

Dinput instead specifies that a controller may have 128 buttons, which is why the triggers will register correctly in dinput mode. My guess is that the addition of the star and home buttons took up extra "slots" that were used by the triggers on previous 8bitdo controllers.

lesk

I had similar problems with my SFC30 controllers, and still have some problems.
The pairing worked, and the controls works in Emulationstation but not in game. I used the controls to navigate to config - Retroarch and from there I found under input user binds. And selected user bind 1 and rebind all the buttons there. Saved it. And it works in all games now, on all emulators. BUT, the hotkeys don't work. xD But its a step forward!

T68K

Hi,

Is there any way to get rumble function working on Steam Mac OS?

I tried MacOS and Xinput Mode.
I enabled rumble in controller settings but it's still not working.

Officialy 8bitdo says that rumble for MacOS mode is not supported but it is for Xinput mode...

Any idea how to make it work?

Keeners14

I am having a problem with my 8bitdo SN30 Pro controllers. I bought 4 since I made the retropie for a large group of teenagers that I work with. They work just fine while plugged in. I have tried playing with all of the bluetooth settings and here is what happens:

The controller may work while in the blue screen settings but disconnects when I exit back into the main menu of Retropie - like where I can select emulators - (Yes I have done the udev stuff or what ever it is called so that it connects to the pie even after a reboot)
After trying to disconnect it so that I reconnect it in hopes that it works, it glitches and even though it says it disconnected it still gives a quick vibrate and shows up under my registered devices. It also always shows up in register devices, only 3 of 4 show up, but they show up with like 10 other no-name devices.
Alternatively, following the same steps, the pi will simple say it found no devices when searching.

4 I have got it to stay connected once right up to configure input however it is not recognized and it only recognizes what ever controller is currently plugged in.

Firmware is fully updated on the controllers, but they just don't seem to want to work, please help if you have had this issue and/or know how to resolve it. I'm pulling my hair out and a dangerous pace working on this hahaha.

Thanks in advanced

xadox

Any solution to get the Triggers working in START+X mode?
With jstest-gtk they are working but not in emulation station.

lesk

@keeners14
I got mine to work after this:

I looked at several tutorials on YouTube telling me to hold start + right trigger to start them before pairing them.
But that never worked for me.

After checking the manual I saw that there were 4 different pairing modes. The first 2 options (Android and Windows in my manual) worked for me.

I used a usb keyboard to navigate to the bluetooth screen and before hitting Search devices I press and hold START for 1 second. Looked at the light and compared flickering to the manual. In this case, 1 per cycle. Then I press and hold SELECT for 3 seconds to make the light flicker. Then I pressed search for devices.

First controller paired perfectly. Second I only saw a lot of MAC addresses. Canceled and tried again until I saw the controller.
Went back to the Emulationstation and press start on the keyboard then - configure input. Press and hold A on the controller and set my buttons. Only had to do the last part for the first controller.(I had turned off the second controller after it got paired).

I also noticed. That before I did all this. My retroarch input config was a bit messed up because I had tried mapping controllers directly in the retroarch gui. If you have tried doing the same. Resetting those config first might help as well. But don't quote me on that ^^

xnickygx

I was having a lot of trouble with my SF30 pro controllers disconnecting and not reconnecting. I recently used the Android configuration and they are working well now. I was seeing there they would disconnect or freeze while playing a game or leaving the controller idle. They would not reconnect and would just search for a connection. I would find out later I had them on the Switch setting. I can confirm that using Android has been working for a couple days now and they reconnect after being idle almost immediately. The only other issue I see (and I was seeing this prior to changing to Android as well) is that sometimes there is ghost input. For example in Kodi it will randomly fast forward if I leave the controller on (I started using my phone as a remote for Kodi), I had a game exit the emulator while playing in the DS emulator. Mostly I have seen the ghosting happen in Kodi through retropie.

caver01

@xnickygx I saw similar ghosting challenges in Kodi and I fixed it by changing the controller type. My controllers are the NS30 Pro, and the issue in Kodi was that it would pickup spurious inputs from the analog sticks. We would be watching something, and out of the blue, it would skip ahead. I soon realized this was probably due to an imprecise input from the analog stick combined with whatever the dead zone configuration was.

Rather than falling down the rabbit hole of dead zone settings which may or may not have solved it, I simply changed my input from this controller away from the default gamepad and chose SNES instead. The SNES does not have analog inputs, so after mapping my D-pad and other buttons I was done. I have no actual need for the analog inputs in Kodi anyway, and the skip problems have been gone ever since.