RetroPie automatic reconnect at all times with 8Bitdo bluetooth remotes

Phoenix

I have been using my Wireless XBox 360 controller successfully with my Raspberry Pi 3 for a while now. I recently purchased an 8Bitdo NES30 Pro controller whitch connects via Bluetooth.

After going through all the steps the remote now connects automatically when the RetroPie is rebooting. Yet it does not reconnect any other time.

If I want to use the XBox remote, all I have to do is turn it on. The wireless receiver sees that it is there, it then connects, then I can use the remote.

If my NES30 Pro remote is turned off, when I turn it back on it does not reconnect. I have to reboot the RetroPie or use the XBox remote or keyboard to manually connect it again.

Most Bluetooth devices, like your mobile phone or tablet, are constantly trying to reconnect to previously connected devices. Yet this one does not. What I would like to find out is if there is a code that will force the RetroPie to search for bluetooth remotes if there is no Bluetooth connection just like the XBox wireless receiver does.

Thanks for the help :)

BuZz

I have added an option to connect in the retropie-setup bluetooth configuration - so you can do it manually via that. To do it in the background you would need some cron job or something that continues to try and connect if there is no connection.

Phoenix

@BuZz Good to know, do you have a link. I checked the RetroPie setup and I'm not sure if that is where you added the info.

But if the remote doesn't automatically connect it isn't as helpful if you plan to only use the Bluetooth remote control as your only interface lol I'm not quite sure how to create a "cron" job to accomplish this. I found this while googling but have no clue how to implement the code if this is what I need.

Floob

This may help:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=78&t=150228

retrododge

@BuZz I used the RetroPie-Setup script (on a blank Raspbian/Pi 3) to add Retroarch and setup the bluetooth on my 8bitdo SFC 30, and it always auto reconnects the pad whenever I turn it on. So I'm a little confused to read that it's not actually supposed to be doing that?

I've been using it this way since launch of the Pi3, just turning on my 8bitdo pad and having it auto reconnect every time I turn it on. I never turn the Pi off.

retrododge

I went ahead and setup a fresh Pi . This time a Pi 1 with a bluetooth dongle. The only thing I did was download retropie-setup and pair my 8bitdo pad. It auto reconnects every time I turn it off and on this way too.

Perhaps the original poster has outdated firmware on their 8bitdo pad?

Edit: For reference I turn my pad on with Start + R

BuZz

Could be related to firmware. On my keyboard it gets reconnected automatically also, but not on my "8Bitdo SFC30 GamePad Joystick". However I just pushed an update to the bluetooth module in RetroPie-Setup where you can now choose between default bluetooth stack behaviour, connect once on boot (will try to connect to any registered devices), or background, which will launch on boot a script into the background which will try and connect every 10 seconds to any registered devices.

This should solve it for devices that don't connect automatically.

retrododge

Odd, it's the '8Bitdo SFC30 GamePad Joystick' mode which has no problem reconnecting for me. Perhaps you're also on an older firmware? They improved auto reconnection in one update.

http://www.8bitdo.com/sfc30/firmware.html

Although the switchable stack behaviour is definitely welcome.

BuZz

I may well be - I've not updated the firmware. It affects other controllers too afaik.

Phoenix

@retrododge said in RetroPie automatic reconnect at all times with 8Bitdo bluetooth remotes:

@BuZz I used the RetroPie-Setup script (on a blank Raspbian/Pi 3) to add Retroarch and setup the bluetooth on my 8bitdo SFC 30, and it always auto reconnects the pad whenever I turn it on. So I'm a little confused to read that it's not actually supposed to be doing that?

I've been using it this way since launch of the Pi3, just turning on my 8bitdo pad and having it auto reconnect every time I turn it on. I never turn the Pi off.

@retrododge said in RetroPie automatic reconnect at all times with 8Bitdo bluetooth remotes:

I went ahead and setup a fresh Pi . This time a Pi 1 with a bluetooth dongle. The only thing I did was download retropie-setup and pair my 8bitdo pad. It auto reconnects every time I turn it off and on this way too.

Perhaps the original poster has outdated firmware on their 8bitdo pad?

Edit: For reference I turn my pad on with Start + R

Sorry for the delay in my response. I am using the 8Bitdo NES30 Pro with firmware 1.69. I had issues witht he remote not working but I found this post that allowed me to edit 8BitdoNES30ProJoystick.cfg and make it work.

This is a new remote and it is a beauty... only problem is the R1 button came broken so I am talking to the company to get a replacement. That being said I cannot attempt to try out the Start+R1 option so I have only ever paired with the simple Start option. Can you let me know what the difference is as I have read that is the correct pairing mode on many forums but it appears to be undocumented in the instructions.

As for the main question.
@Floob said in RetroPie automatic reconnect at all times with 8Bitdo bluetooth remotes:

This may help:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=78&t=150228

Thank you @Floob that basically solved it. I did have to edit it a bit. If I rebooted the system it would now take about two min before it would pair. So I usually turned it off/on to make it connect after the startup screen.

Here is the slightly modified code I used

#!/bin/bash
sudo bluetoothctl << EOF
 power on
 connect [MAC Address]
 exit
EOF

while (sleep 20)
do
 sudo bluetoothctl << EOF
  power on
  connect [MAC Address]
  exit
 EOF
done

Phoenix

I moved my off topic question to:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/1984/questions-about-retropie-with-multiple-remotes-the-retrode

Floob

Just a note to say that RetroPie now supports automatic re-connection of Bluetooth devices:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/1905/retropie-3-8-bluetooth-configure-issue/18

Phoenix

@Floob said in RetroPie automatic reconnect at all times with 8Bitdo bluetooth remotes:

Just a note to say that RetroPie now supports automatic re-connection of Bluetooth devices:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/1905/retropie-3-8-bluetooth-configure-issue/18

Wow! I'm watching it right now. I'm curious did my question help at all or was it just ironic timing on my part? I'm guessing I shouldn't follow the steps shown now that I have made everything work.