Questions regarding generic Wii Pro controller on x86 install
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Hi,
I understand when using a Generic Wii Pro controller with a Pi, more often than not ghost inputs occur, and the solution is to use a Mayflash adapter (which sorts the problem).
I am looking to purchase two new controllers for occasional use with my RetroPie machine (which is a dedicated x86 box connected to the TV, so not a Pi), but had a couple of questions for anyone who might own these types of controller.
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Has anyone tried a generic Wii Pro controller (such as this one) on a PC and had it work ok without the Mayflash adapter? I understand the original need for the adapter is because the bluetooth chip in the Pi doesn't work well, causing these ghost inputs. I am just working out costings, because the cost of two generic controllers plus a Mayflash adapter is not far off picking up two official controllers second hand. Two generic controllers on their own though is £22.70 from Amazon currently which isn't too bad.
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Does anyone know if any generic Wii Pro controllers will auto power off after a period of inactivity? Or must they be powered off manually?
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Once they are both paired with RetroPie, are these controllers remembered for all future sessions, or do they need any re-pairing action post-reboot?
Currently I am using a single Xbox 360 wired PC pad, it's ok but the d-pad is not great. After various reading, I think the Wii Pro type controller is the best overall, because I am also emulating Gamecube, DC, etc, as well as the usual MAME, SNES, etc. I am not looking to spend the earth on controllers at this point, as it's only going to be used occasionally. I would keep the Xbox 360 controller as a third controller if ever there is a need.
@Clyde - tagging you on this in case you have any insight, as i've read some of your other posts regarding the Qumox controllers. Perhaps you have tried them on a PC?
Cheers!
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Hello movisman, I will gladly share with you what I know.
My Qumox controllers do work with my Laptop with an Atheros AR9462 chipset. They power off after five minutes of inactivity, and they only have to be paired once. After that, they reconnect automatically if I wake them with a button press. But I don't know enough about Bluetooth to say if that is OS-dependant. I don't have any experience with them on Windows.
They'll automatically repair with Retropie on my Pi and with Kubuntu Linux 18.04 on my Laptop, depending on which I paired them with the last time (and maybe on the signal strength of both, that I also don't know).
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Hi there,
Thanks a lot for sharing the info with me, that's extremely helpful. It all sounds really positive in terms of the answers that I was looking for. Completely understand about it potentially being OS dependant etc. I understand my mileage may vary. For my use case, they would be paired with a Lenovo m93p Tiny machine which has a different BT chipset (not Atheros I don't think), so i'd have to take a punt there. OS though is Ubuntu Server 18.04 so I imagine if it works with Kubuntu, it should work with Ubuntu.
Just to confirm, on Kubuntu, do the controllers still power down automatically after 5 minutes when ES is active? And you get no ghost inputs when using Kubuntu with the controllers paired direct?
Thanks a lot!
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@movisman I don't have the time right now to test the powerdown and ghost inputs like you asked, but I will do so as soon as I can (maybe not today, but tomorrow).
I think though that the powerdown is hard-coded into the controllers independent of any software on the machine it is connected to. What I can say is that they power down when connected to my Pi via the Mayflash adapter no matter if ES or any game is running.
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Hi,
No worries at all! If you get time to try them on your Kubuntu PC that would be amazing, but I don't expect you to take time out of your day for it, so no problem if you don't get round to it. I think it's just the potential of ghost inputs without Mayflash adapter that concern me most, because although this is alleviated with the adapter in place, the cost of two controllers plus the adapter - I may as well look down the route of spending a bit more for 2 official ones second hand.
Looking at some YouTube videos and other posts, it looks like the Qumox controllers are a reasonably safe bet though. And if I get them new from Amazon, any issues with them they would be very easy to return.
Thanks!
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@movisman I tested one of my controllers on my Laptop for approx. 15 minutes with
jstest --event /dev/input/js0. The option--eventshould have listed all ghost inputs over the time the command was running. There weren't any ghosts, but it listed all real button presses I made to keep the controller from powering down. So, it really might be that it's an issue with the Pi's BT controller, maybe in combination with the Qumox controllers themselves.I suspect the latter, because in another long thread about ghost inputs of various controllers, someone fixed them by modifying his wired game controller directly. If I remember correctly, the theory behind it was that some controllers would send micro stutter which the Pi does register as inputs, whereas a BT adapter like the one from Mayflash (edit: or the BT chip/driver on my Laptop) does not, ultimately working as a kind of filter.
I will do further testing in the next days, stay tuned.
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Thanks a lot for testing this out for me! That is very kind of you. It sounds very positive, and that makes total sense about the theory of 'micro stutters' being sent out, which the Pi is registering.
I know there is a risk the BT controller in the Lenovo machine could suffer the same fate, but I think there is a good chance it'll work ok.
Let me know if you have time to do any further testing you mention - I am tempted to take a punt on them and see what happens.
Thanks!
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Let me know if you have time to do any further testing you mention - I am tempted to take a punt on them and see what happens.
I will, but testing them on your own with a refund option is a good idea, since my tests can only tell you so much about your own hardware environment.
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Absolutely agree, I think the info you have given me so far gives me the confidence they are likely to work, so that's great. It all comes down to the BT module in my machine but it's definitely different to the Pi one.
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Sorry for the late answer, but my weekends are pretty full right now. Too many x-mas and winter fairs to visit. o/ᵁ ᵁ\o *ᴷᴸᴵᴺᴷ*
Nevertheless, I did some further testing. The controllers work flawlessly with my MSI Cubi 3 mini pc which has an Intel Bluetooth 7265 chipset as far as I could determine. They also disconnected after five minutes and they didn't show any ghost inputs in those five minutes.
I'd say it's very likely that a) the five minutes are hard-coded and b) the ghost inputs are mainly a problem with the Pi's hardware and/or drivers, even if only because of a too high sensivity for any micro-stuttering of the controllers.
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Hey there, thanks for taking the time to check this out. I know what you mean, was at a Christmas market myself yesterday! It's a busy old month!
Sounds really good and I agree with everything you say. The two pack of controllers are OOS on Amazon prime at the moment - they do sell them singularly, but at higher cost than buying two in a pack.
Will wait for them to come back in or take a punt on one
for now and see how it goes! If I do so I'll come back to this thread with my findings.Thanks for all of your help!
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Hey there,
Just an update for you - I ended up ordering 2 of the black Qumox controllers, but unfortunately they were both damaged and I could get neither of them paired up! The first one had clearly been tampered with - the seal was broken and the screw head on the back above the label was rounded off, and the second one had a nasty scratch along the fascia. Quite bad really!
I thought i'd test them anyway, but when trying to sync to Retropie, they were not seen in the bluetooth registration screen at all. My other PC and TV were showing up fine though.
The controllers also didn't show up on my Windows and Linux Mint machine. Tried all variations of pressing sync and power, etc at different intervals.
So as well as being damaged, I couldn't get them working anyway.
I ordered a replacement pair just now and will be sending these back in the morning. Maybe second time lucky...
Just wanted to confirm...you didn't need to do anything out of the ordinary with your MSI Cubi 3 mini pc in terms of pairing these up did you?
Thanks!
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@movisman My sympathies … it shows why it's good to have a refund or replacement option.
And no, I didn't have to do anything special to pair the controllers with my Cubi 3. They just showed up in Kubuntu's bluetooth pairing dialog. I use one of them with Retropie and Kodi on the Cubi 3 which is connected to my video projector.
edit: typo
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Hey there, ah cheers for clarifying. I figured that was the case, they should have just appeared and I did try them on three machines. Never mind though - two more being delivered tomorrow so hopefully these will work!!! Will keep you posted!
Cheers
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Hmmm! The new controllers arrived, these ones were actually boxed with a sticker to peel off the fascia and included a charging cable! The other two were just in a bag without any of this (and they were damaged as I mentioned)!
So that was a good start. Unfortunately though neither of them will show up as devices to pair no matter what I try, which is a real shame.
I think these controllers probably do not work with the built in bluetooth adapter in this IBM m93p. I guess only options now are to return these and try official, pick up a USB bluetooth dongle, or shell out for the Mayflash adapter.
Shame!!
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@movisman Just to be sure, do your controllers have a little red button on the underside? If so, did you use this button for pairing?
I'm asking because I forgot about this button after I didn't used my controllers for some time, and I wondered why they wouldn't pair with a new machine (my Cubi 3) when I just pressed any of their normal buttons. When I realized my error, it was a real facepalm moment.
If you did use the red button and/or the controllers do pair with other machines, you may be right about the other options.
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Hey there,
Yeah I used the sync button on the back to try and pair it, at various intervals of the searching (pressing just before, during etc). It flashes away but only my TV and other laptop appear in the bluetooth list.
Just trying to decide whether to send these back and obtain an original one, as maybe that could work with no extra adapters. Either that or will stump up for a Mayflash which seems to have good success. I found an old bluetooth dongle, unsure of chipset but that also didn't work, it did exactly the same (found TV and laptop but no controllers).
Thanks!
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@movisman Do you have the option to try them on another machine with a different BT chipset?
Alas, I don't know how similar the Wii U Pro clones are to the originals, so I can't say if the latter have a bigger chance of success.
It may be a bit unfair to the vendor, but at this point and in your place, I would consider buying both the originals and a Mayflash adapter, test both of them, and then refund the inferior one(s). At least I would keep the clones until I'd have checked if the originals are in fact better.
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I tried to pair the controllers with two different DELL Latitude laptops, one is a DELL E5550 running Mint and the other a DELL E7470 running Windows 10. I need to check out what chipset both of these laptops use, but I could not get either controller paired to these either.
I imagine if I use a Mayflash adapter, it'll work fine, but ideally I didn't want to rely on a separate adapter, which costs nearly the same as these two controllers. However, i'm wondering if I purchased an official controller, with my hardware maybe i'd have the same result and need an adapter regardless. It's impossible to know without picking up an official one somewhere I guess.
One other question I had, a few posts on reddit suggest that when using the Wii Pro controller, the 'home' button cannot be mapped to anything, whereas some other posts suggest it can be mapped like any other button. What is your experience with this?
Thanks!
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@movisman said in Questions regarding generic Wii Pro controller on x86 install:
I tried to pair the controllers with two different DELL Latitude laptops, one is a DELL E5550 running Mint and the other a DELL E7470 running Windows 10. I need to check out what chipset both of these laptops use, but I could not get either controller paired to these either.
That is strange, given that I can pair my Qumox Wii U Pro controllers with my Pi and my Cubi 3 without any adapter (they'll only get ghost inputs on the Pi). I even tested the direct Pi connection just now, in case something had changed in RetroPie since I bought the Mayflash adapter. But it still worked without problems.
Are your controllers also from Qumox? If so, they may have changed the hardware since I bought them roughly a year ago. Or you were so "lucky" to get faulty controllers each time, which would be very strange on its own.
One other question I had, a few posts on reddit suggest that when using the Wii Pro controller, the 'home' button cannot be mapped to anything, whereas some other posts suggest it can be mapped like any other button. What is your experience with this?
I just tested this on the Cubi 3. I could bind the home button to any button that I tested, namely Start, Hotkey, and A. They worked as such in ES and lr-mame2003. The home button appears as button 10 in the input configuration dialog of ES.
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