8BitDo SN/SF30 Pro functionality over bluetooth (Rumble/Triggers/more)

[skloetzer]

Hello there, long time RetroPie user, first time poster here. Due to a lot of time on my hands in quarantine, I decided to build a new RetroPie and take up PSX emulation, so far only 16 bit machines.

I’m having difficulty getting my 8BitDo controllers to work properly though. In the past I always used the „Switch mode“ and after initially figuring out bluetooth a couple of years ago they always worked fine in mentioned application. Now I want to use the rumble feature for PSX games and I’m struggling.

tl;dr at the end.

After a lot of unsuccessful tweaking I set up a new system for troubleshooting using the latest available RetroPie image for Pi4 and updating it (System + RetroPie packages).

RPi 4, 8GB, Retroflag NESPI4 case
Official USB-C PSU
16 GB SD (boot)
500 GB SSD for ROMs
Retropie 4.7.19 (c167b3c5)
Emulationstation V2.10.0RP
RetroArch 1.9.7 (Sep 8 2021, 8373ac6)
crcerror shutdown script (for NESPI4 case)
2x SF30 Pro (Firmware v1.38)

Connecting the controllers as usual:

Bluetooth settings:

• pair both controllers
• Create udev rule for controller

Check RetroArch base settings:

• controllers recognized as „RetroPad“, changed to „RetroPad with Analog“

PSX (lr-pcsx-rearmed r22 36f3ea6):

• initially no buttons responsive

• in RetroArch RGUI

  • Quick Menu
    • Controls
      Port 1/2
      - Device Type changed from „RetroPad with Analog“ to „dualshock“
    • Options
      - Enable Vibration set to „on“

Results with xpad driver:

Switch Mode (Y + Start):
Controller name: Pro Controller
Controller status light: only first LED lit on both controllers
all buttons/analog working
no rumble (neither on connect nor in game)

DInput Mode (B + Start):
Controller name: 8bitdo SF30 Pro
Controller status light: only first LED lit on both controllers
all buttons/analog working
rumble upon connect, no rumble in game

XInput Mode (X + Start):
Controller name: 8bitdo SF30 Pro
Controller status light: only first LED lit on both controllers
Emulationstation input config: L2/R2 do not register
RetroArch base settings: L2/R2 able to register
rumble upon connect, rumble in game

macOS (Start +A): didn’t bother to test

The xpadneo driver did not change anything for the better (L2/R2 still not recognized in ES), had very sluggish control, lots of lag, basically unplayable.

After every configuration change, ES Input Configurations were cleared (Retropie Setup - emulationstation) and previous udev rules were deleted (/etc/udev/rules.d/99-bluetooth.rules).

It seemed to me that changing the controller mode to anything other than „Switch Mode“ creates absurdly long loading times (launching the libretro cores, about 20-30 s).

;tldr

I found the „best“ way to set up the SF/SN30 Pro (meaning complete button/trigger, analog and rumble support) is this:

• make sure xpadneo is not installed
• clear ES input configs
• delete existing udev rules
• pair both controllers in XInput Mode (X + Start)
• set up udev rule
• ignore missing L2/R2 in ES input config
• Open RetroArch base config and
  • add missing L2/R2 for both controllers separately
  • set Device Type to „RetroPad with Analog“ for both controllers
• additional system/game specific mappings using RetroArch RGUI
  • for PSX set both controllers to „dualshock“
  • make sure vibration is enabled in RetroArch

This lacks proper use of the indicator LEDs on the controllers though, both show a single LED on the left. Also the long loading times for the cores are a bit annoying.

So:

Has anyone ever been successful using the 8BitDo SF/SN30 Pro over Bluetooth on a RetroPie system with L2/R2 (analog) triggers AND rumble working correctly AND meaningful use of the status LEDs (1 LED: Player 1, 2 LEDs: Player 2, etc.)?

Any explanation for the long loading times?

Please tell me I’m missing something obvious here…

Thanks a lot,
Sebastian

EDIT: The different modes of the 8BitDo controllers and their implications as well as the cause of the missing L2/R2 triggers have been well described in this post, I was not able to find a solution in there though.

EDIT2: I ruled out UAS issues (SSD over USB3 SATA adapter) in regards to the loading times. UAS is disabled in the JMicro firmware, hdparm clocks read speed @ ~300 MB/s. Never mind the loading time question though, I tracked it down to a couple of duplicate ROMs (SD/SSD) that apparently caused that issue even on unrelated systems. After clearing every ROM and gamelist from the SD loading times are back to normal. The original text was therefore corrected.