Bluetooth and USB not working in RetroPie

jas51384

This was created on a fresh install of Ubuntu 21.10 and Retropie from the git-hub. The USB gamepad says not configured when starting roms and I have to use the keyboard to exit. When back in EmulationStation it works fine. Now the 8Bitdo SN30Pro is a whole different mess. It works in EmulationStation but when I start a rom it shows configured but then no buttons work and the keyboard which is also USB all stop working forcing me to hold the power button down to reboot the computer. We can stick with the USB gamepad issue and see if that gets corrected it will also correct the other issue.

mitu

@jas51384 said in Bluetooth and USB not working in RetroPie:

Verbose Log for USB Gamepad

The log shows a gamepad being detected, though it doesn't log if a configuration file is loaded:

...
[INFO] [udev]: Pad #0 (/dev/input/event3) supports 0 force feedback effects.
[INFO] [Joypad]: Found joypad driver: "udev".
...

What's the game of the .cfg file from the config folder ? Can you post its contents also ?

jas51384

@mitu Here you go
USB SNES Controller

I'll include the 8bitdo cfg aswell
8Bitdo SN30Pro

Just so you know, It does this with any USB controller I try. I have a USB N64 controller that doesn't work either.

mitu

Can you also post the ES configuration for the gamepads ? I wonder if there aren't any special characters in the gamepad's name which are cut off when the RetroArch's config is saved.
You can find it in the $HOME/.emulationstation/es_input.cfg file, just post the contents.

jas51384

@mitu Here you go
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<inputList>
<inputAction type="onfinish">
<command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/scripts/inputconfiguration.sh</command>
</inputAction>
<inputConfig type="joystick" deviceName="8Bitdo SN30 Pro" deviceGUID="05000000c82d00000161000000010000">
<input name="rightanalogdown" type="axis" id="3" value="1"/>
<input name="left" type="hat" id="0" value="8"/>
<input name="rightanalogleft" type="axis" id="2" value="-1"/>
<input name="right" type="hat" id="0" value="2"/>
<input name="pagedown" type="button" id="7" value="1"/>
<input name="down" type="hat" id="0" value="4"/>
<input name="rightanalogup" type="axis" id="3" value="-1"/>
<input name="pageup" type="button" id="6" value="1"/>
<input name="rightanalogright" type="axis" id="2" value="1"/>
<input name="y" type="button" id="4" value="1"/>
<input name="x" type="button" id="3" value="1"/>
<input name="b" type="button" id="1" value="1"/>
<input name="a" type="button" id="0" value="1"/>
<input name="up" type="hat" id="0" value="1"/>
<input name="select" type="button" id="10" value="1"/>
<input name="start" type="button" id="11" value="1"/>
<input name="leftanalogright" type="axis" id="0" value="1"/>
<input name="leftanalogup" type="axis" id="1" value="-1"/>
<input name="leftanalogdown" type="axis" id="1" value="1"/>
<input name="leftanalogleft" type="axis" id="0" value="-1"/>
</inputConfig>
<inputConfig type="joystick" deviceName="USB Gamepad" deviceGUID="03000000790000001100000010010000">
<input name="left" type="axis" id="0" value="-1"/>
<input name="right" type="axis" id="0" value="1"/>
<input name="pagedown" type="button" id="5" value="1"/>
<input name="down" type="axis" id="1" value="1"/>
<input name="pageup" type="button" id="4" value="1"/>
<input name="y" type="button" id="3" value="1"/>
<input name="x" type="button" id="0" value="1"/>
<input name="b" type="button" id="2" value="1"/>
<input name="a" type="button" id="1" value="1"/>
<input name="up" type="axis" id="1" value="-1"/>
<input name="select" type="button" id="8" value="1"/>
<input name="start" type="button" id="9" value="1"/>
</inputConfig>
</inputList>

One thing I did notice is the USB Gamepad doesn't show the D-pad "Hat" buttons in any of the cfg's, it shows as axis but the d-pad in the SN30Pro shows "hat" in the cfg's. Also to note, all these controllers worked 100% before the upgrade and clean install. I did try to go back to the old equipment with a new install and had the same issues I currently have with the new equipment and install.

mitu

@jas51384 said in Bluetooth and USB not working in RetroPie:

One thing I did notice is the USB Gamepad doesn't show the D-pad "Hat" buttons in any of the cfg's, it shows as axis but the d-pad in the SN30Pro shows "hat" in the cfg's

That's fine, D-Pad is often represented as an axis, even if it's probably better suited as a HAT, but that shouldn't cause issues. I wonder then if it's not something else in the system that's causing this (version of SDL ?), since there hasn't been any significant changes in the input mapping scripts.

If possible, can you try installing on a LTS release (20.04) and see if that makes a difference ?

jas51384

@mitu
I believe I've tried 20.04 LTS but I will try it and post the logs and configs when I get it running. Also, I have this on a Gigabyte 970A-DS3P motherboard. I did read that Linux has issues with Gigabyte brand boards because of certain bios settings. I followed the steps outlined here GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3 during installation and after and everything seemed to work great. I did not use the USB hangs on x64 fix since I didn't have that issue. In the mean time I will get the 20.04 LTS install going and report back.

jas51384

@mitu
OK, I made some progress. The USB gamepad will work in Retroarch but it has a lot of lag. It's enough to really notice and the 8Bitdo is even worse and only works for a short time before it stops responding completely along with the keyboard. I did charge the 8Bitdo before this round of testing too.

jas51384

@mitu Log Files

es_input.cfg

USB Gamepad Verbose log

8Bitdo SN30 Pro Verbose Log

I noticed that they bothseem to be using a different driver than before. Shows "X" for the driver now and before it was "udev" for both.

mitu

@jas51384 Can you edit the /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg and explicitly set the input_driver to udev ? The auto-configurations generated by EmulationStation assume the usage of the udev driver.

jas51384

@mitu This is what the Input driver section shows in the Retroarch.cfg file:

# Input driver. Depending on video driver, it might force a different input driver.
# input_driver = sdl

# Joypad driver. ("udev", "linuxraw", "paraport", "sdl2", "hid", "dinput")
input_joypad_driver = "udev"

I changed sdl to udev and there is no change in the behavior. Here is the Verbose log file
it still shows "X" as the input driver. The input_joypad_driver does show as udev in the logs.

mitu

@jas51384 Actually, the input_driver=sdl is commented (the # at the beginning). The input_joypad_driver is present and I think the correct value is set (udev).
Can't understand why the auto-profile generated by EmulationStation is not used or loaded by RetroArch.
You can manually create a configuration for the profile - https://docs.libretro.com/guides/controller-autoconfiguration/#generating-a-joypad-profile. You'll need a keyboard to open the configuration menu (RGUI, F1) and map the button on the gamepad.

jas51384

@mitu What's strange is all this worked fine until the most recent update. The joypad is recognized in retroarch after using Ubuntu 20.04 but has bad lag. The 8Bitdo SN30pro is recognized by retroarch but once loaded into a rom the 8Bitdo and Keyboard stop working entirely forcing me to use the power button to shut it down. I'll try to map the joypad and see if it helps the lag but I won't be able to try it with the 8Bitdo because it all locks up.

mitu

@jas51384 said in Bluetooth and USB not working in RetroPie:

What's strange is all this worked fine until the most recent update.

You're referring to RetroPie's update or Ubuntu ? If RetroPie, then what version did you have before the update ?

jas51384

@mitu I'm referring to the Retropie update from 5 or 6 days ago. Since I did a fresh install on the day it was released and just did another yesterday. I believe it was the version just before this one but I can't remember because I didn't look beforehand.

mitu

There haven't been any significat updates recently, current version was tagged on Sept. 8 (4.7.19) and RetroArch had the same version since July. You may try and checkout the version before (4.7.18 was tagged in August, commit b8e) just to see if any changes before 4.7.19 have any effect on your installation.

jas51384

@mitu I'm just going by the top of the Retropie setup script. Shows version 4.7.19 last commit 7 days ago. I won't be able to try the older version until later today. Comcast has a nationwide network outage that is eaffecting my area. Hopefully t will be resolved this afternoon central time.

jas51384

@mitu said in Bluetooth and USB not working in RetroPie:

There haven't been any significat updates recently, current version was tagged on Sept. 8 (4.7.19) and RetroArch had the same version since July. You may try and checkout the version before (4.7.18 was tagged in August, commit b8e) just to see if any changes before 4.7.19 have any effect on your installation.

This is where my noob starts showing. How do I get that to download and install?

mitu

Assuming a fresh install, you'll need to use some command line commands:

cd $HOME/RetroPie-Setup
git fetch --unshallow
git checkout b8e5974

this will get you version 4.7.18, which you can use to perform an install.
To get back to the current version:

cd $HOME/RetroPie-Setup
git checkout master

jas51384

@mitu ok thanks, I'll report back.